We began this book Genesis, March 7th--last year. So I want to congratulate each of you who have been here for all of the studies. God bless you. I don't know who you are, but I've been here for all of them. And, man, it's been a good journey, learned a lot.
In chapter 46, 47, and 48, we followed Israel, Jacob, and his family toward Egypt. And we got to watch Jacob's meetings with Joseph. Some of his meetings with Pharaoh. labor during the final five years during which was then a tremendous time of famine worldwide.
And then watch his oversight of the government program to take care of every person under his concern. In all, when Jacob finally showed us there in Egypt, he would live 17 more years with his boy. And they would get to spend time in Egypt's delta, the grazing land of Goshen, at the time where the shepherds of Israel would spend many many years to come.Beginning in verse 28 of Chapter 47 and then going forward really through the end of Chapter 49, we're in the middle of tonight, God gives to us the final days and meetings of Jacob. He first meets with Joseph privately and he blesses Joseph's two boys, Manasseh and Ephraim. In fact, Jacob says "they're mine." They received a double portion, and he assigned them a place with the 12.
Prophecy is easy for the Lord.
Psalm 128 Your children are like olive plants around your table. Jacob had a big table.
Jacob wasn't that good of a dad. Ephesians 6:4 "Father's don't provoke your children to wrath but bring them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord." Did not bring them up in fear and admonition of the Lord.
admonition neuthesis, Greek word. Neuthetic means "to confront, correct, place it before someone's mind so that they consider it"--admonition. So God's desire is to put before our kids a hunger for the things God wants to do in their lives. His last years were certainly better than his early years.
The blessings speak to the character traits of the individual, to their behavior. He tells them what's coming in the near future, some of it in the very distant future. Notice that the chapter is written in Hebrew poetry not prose.
Zebulun (6th of Leah and her youngest, 10th overall) --will dwell by the haven of the sea....a haven for ships. His border shall join Sidon. Mentioned very little in the Bible, but when he is, it's in a favorable light. Not really by the beach, but God blocks this tribe together with Naphtali and Asher as "the way of the sea." commercial seafaring. It is the land of Zebulon and Naptali that is the Galilee of the Gentiles, there that "people sitting there in the darkness that have seen a great light.: God showed forth some of his greatest miracles in that area. 11 of the 12 apostles (Judah the exception) were from Galilee.
Moses later prophecies before he goes to die in Deuteronomy 33 that they will "Call people to the mountains and offer sacrifices of the righteous. They shall be partakers of the abundance of sea and the treasure of the sand." Ministry of gathering people together for the Lord in the last days. He's the fellow that's calling others to Mount Zion to offer sacrifices and to the tribes as well.
Moses later prophecies before he goes to die in Deuteronomy 33 that they will "Call people to the mountains and offer sacrifices of the righteous. They shall be partakers of the abundance of sea and the treasure of the sand." Ministry of gathering people together for the Lord in the last days. He's the fellow that's calling others to Mount Zion to offer sacrifices and to the tribes as well.
Dan--(1st boy born of proxy by Rachel's servant Bilhah) shall judge his people. "Dan" literally means judge. A serpent by the way and a viper in the path that bites the horses heel so that the rider falls backward. Joseph speaks of him as a wise judge. Sampson was a judge from the tribe of Dan. The judges in general were a blessing to the nation. They were sent at a time when the people were willing to repent, so they brought relief for a time. Dan inherited the land between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Sea, but because it was so close to where the Philistines were at the time, they didn't like it. They all moved north. They moved away from where God wanted them to be. Did not dwell in the land God gave them. Susceptible to false doctrine and false ways of life. And when the separation between the North and the South took place, Dan became one of the places early on that was set up to be a center of worship of idolatry. 1 Kings 12. Tel Dan--now a national park, unearthed original altars from this time, made of dirt, surrounded and protected. Stumbling block, viper to people, a poison to the life of the folks. "I'm waiting for your salvation, O Lord." First mention of salvation here. Bitten by sin. The viper that bites and the salvation that God brings.
Gad--symbol is army camp. Warring people. Gad means "troops"---a troop will tramp upon him but he shall triumph at the last. Along with Reuben, he settled on the wrong side of Jordan (east). Because of this, they were always at war. If anyone wanted to get to Israel from that side, they had to go through Gad first. Gad means "troop." Settled for less than God had for them--no natural boundaries for Gad. He puts himself in tremendous difficulty. It's always problematic to be separated from God's people. They are the first to be carried away by the Assyrians. Elijah from Gad. Warring people. When the Lord returns, they will be given a victory in Him, but until then, that's kind of life outside the boundaries. It's a tough call, they made a bad choice.
Asher--bread from Asher will be rich and shall yield royal dainties. Asher settled later in northern Israel between Lebanon and Mediterranean Sea. This is where Elijah was sent during the famine to the widow of Sidon. This took place among the people of Asher. Many of the materials for the temple came from this area and tribe. They contributed much to the templ. A place of great refreshing, bread, satisfying things coming forth. Anna waiting in the temple when Jesus came to be dedicated--she was from Asher and pronounced those words over his life, "I can die now, I've seen the Lord."
Naphtali--deer let loose, uses beautiful words. Every time we find Naphtali involved in the scriptures, they tend to bring forth good counsel. One of the most beautiful areas in Israel to stay. We like it the most because when you go to Jerusalem things have been moved around, you have layers, things have been leveled, etc. But when you go to Naphtali, it's much the same as it was thousands of years ago, not much has been built, it's been left alone. Like a deer let loose, just kicking up her heels, she always blesses and seems to have abounding life.
Joseph- (1st of Rachel. 11th of Jacob)-v 22 "A fruitful bow by a well whose branches run over the wall. The archers have bitterly grieved him and shot at him and hated him. But, his bow has remained in strength, and the arms of his hands have been made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From there is the shepherd and the stone of Israel. By the God of your father who will help you and by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of Heaven above and blessings of the deep that lie beneath. And blessings of breasts and of the womb, and the blessings of your father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors. Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills, they shall be upon the head of Joseph and upon the crown of the head of him who has been separated from his brothers."
First in fruitfulness...if add two tribes together, at the second census of Moses, they were by far the most populous. Notice the poetic language--he's a tree that is fruitful that has a water source and actually grows up and over the fence. You can't contain the fruit; it just kind of expounds beyond its borders. He mentions in verse 3 that Joseph had faced such difficulty (archers bitterly grieved...hated him). Compared to what he faced, his sons and the tribes they represent would have to face much more difficult things from the world at large. Out of Ephraim came Joshua, by the way, to take the lead from Moses. That great military leader came from the loins of Joseph.
Then we read in v 24 that they were strong because of their faith in God. From him would come the shepherd (Jesus) and the stone (2nd coming reference), and it would satisfy all those who like Joseph, walked by faith. In verse 25 and 26, he ends with general blessings upon his family and upon his influence.
Here are some neat really poetic words which say some important things about Joseph. He was fruitful while he was away. Joseph had every reason to just sit down and die, to give up and quit, to grumble and complain. But instead of doing so, he's away from the land of promise, away from his family. No one loves and supports Joseph. but he continues to go forth and bear fruit. Wherever you see Joseph during those 22 years, blessings follow. Blessings in Potiphar's house. Blessings in the prison.
Joseph was fruitful even in the worst of places, just like a tree planted right next to water. He seemed to be able to sit there and enjoy wherever God placed him. He even named his son Ephraim, "fruitfulness" that's what it means. I've named my boy--"I've been fruitful man, God has blessed me, so much so." He kept his eyes on God all the years he was suffering, and God made him fruitful in the land of his affliction. And Joseph served well there, bringing the blessings of God everywhere he went.
I would say that you and I have an obligation, and one of them is that wherever we go, God's blessings should follow. When people hire you, when people have you around, it should be better than when you're not. They may not want to believe in your God, certainly Potiphar didn't, Pharaoh didn't, others didn't. But they couldn't deny that God was with Joseph. It was obvious. It was as plain as day. They couldn't get away from that truth. They had to face up to it and own up to it if you will. So that was a pretty awesome deal that Joseph was that man that was constantly fruitful in all of the years that he was gone, even to the point where his blessings now extended to the family.
Second of all, that Joseph, according to the scriptures here, was faithful while he was by himself. Isn't it interesting to you that Joseph did better than most of us do, and he had no one to help him, no one to confide in, no one to share with, no one to hold up his arms. And so what did he do? He did the wisest thing you could do; he moved himself closer to the Lord, right? Didn't have a lot of guys to turn to, so he just had to turn to the Lord, and then look to Him, and allow nothing to interrupt that relationship with God that he had been established with Him, that nothing would take him away, so he's like this tree planted by this water source but his water source is the Lord. The Lord was at Joseph's disposal, and for 22 years in isolation, he stayed in that place where he becomes really the living example of "Abide in me. And let my words abide in you. And you will bear much fruit." Joseph did.
And one thing that I love about Joseph's example is that he stays in place regardless of what others do around him and continues to experience the goodness of God though he has very little support. That's a pretty good example. And notice that the Lord makes mention of that, "Your bow remains strong by the hands of Almighty God. Your eyes were on the Lord. You didn't try to go it alone.
When Joseph was bountiful, when things went his way, Joseph continued to be a servant. When he got to Potiphar's home, and he was made in charge of the whole house, he was very careful to represent whom he was serving well. Didn't take advantage of his place, didn't serve himself. Said to the wife, "You know your husband has been so good to me. God forbid that I should violate that trust." Same thing when he went into the prison. Same thing when he became second in command. And then one day, he went from jail guy to second in charge of the world. And it might have been "Now's my time. I'm going to take care of me. And now's the time to serve me," but we don't see that in Joseph's life. We see him wanting to bless others. And so notice you read here in verse 22 that the branches just flow over the wall. Like his neighbor's avocado tree.
Joseph's life was like that, he would so abound that he would just be bountiful, right? He would give over to others, and the Lord speaks out of Joseph through Jacob's words to him. And you have to ask yourself, is that you and your life in Christ, or is it only about what you can get out of it all, y'know? Jesus said there in John chapter 7, "If you believe in me as the scriptures said, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water." And certainly part of that is this blessed life of service that you find in Joseph. So Joseph is the guy who certainly is our example.
I was thinking about Israel today since we're kind of getting ready to make our plans to be over there at the end of April. The two big waters in Israel are in the north the Sea of Galilee and in the south the Dead Sea. And the Sea of Galilee has several sources. Two of them come out of two different countries. And part of the fight in Israel sometime is to keep those waterways clear and not be cut off because Israel relies on all of its water coming out of the Sea of Galilee.
But it has an outlet too. The Jordan River takes that water south. And along the way, people use it, and we baptize in it, and sometimes it overflows. But many times it's just there's not enough rain, and people work real hard to preserve water at every step.
But it eventually gets down to the Dead Sea which is an awful body of water in the sense that there's no outlet. So it only takes. All it does is take. It'll take water and take it. It's undrinkable. You can't plant in it. You can't use it. In fact, we have you float in it because it's so salty, but if you happen to roll over and get in your face, you won't see for three or four hours. It's that bad. If you shave, don't shave for a week before you go in it, argh! The thing is worthless. It just takes up all of this desert land, and it just rots away. It's got sink holes and you can't, it's just, there's good for literally nothing. They've tried to get something out of it, but there really isn't much good to be had because it's always taking.
Here's Joseph. Joseph's the Sea of Galilee. He's taking in from the Lord, giving out, taking in, giving out, just blessed. And then there's that Dead Sea, the one that just kinda sucks all of the life out from everybody. And it's appropriately named; it's called the "Dead Sea," nothing grows in it because it just takes and takes and takes and takes. Not Joseph--when he was bountiful, he was abundant in his giving, right? He was like a tree next to water growing over the fence into somebody else's yard. He had more than he could deal with. He gave it away.
And according to verse 23 when he was under attack, he remained steady. I like that because I hear so often from people, "I was doing better with the Lord until so and so showed up. And so and so sometimes is the wife, sometimes is a brother or sister, sometimes some guy they don't like, "O man, then this guy came into my life, and now I'm just all messed up." Really? Joseph had more reasons to quit, and it didn't bother. He had a lot of arrows shot at him. Y'know, think about it. Arrows of jealousy from his brothers. Arrows of treachery as they sold him off. Arrows of temptation from Mrs. Potiphar. The false accusation from her. The neglect from the butler and the forgetfulness. And every step along the way, he just went "Well Lord, You know." You know, the arrows flew and Joseph was faithful.
Don't let difficulty determine who you're going to believe and how. Joseph didn't. And he becomes that example to us of just steady as he goes. And according to verse 24, and 25, and 26, it was the blessings of God upon a man who believed God and trusted in God that kept him all of those years. So quite a word from the Lord through his father to this young man, and now not such a young man, 56 years old, who's hearing from his dad, and it all rings true, right? This is a man that God could greatly use. And you get some more insights into Joseph's way of life here, poetically.
First in fruitfulness...if add two tribes together, at the second census of Moses, they were by far the most populous. Notice the poetic language--he's a tree that is fruitful that has a water source and actually grows up and over the fence. You can't contain the fruit; it just kind of expounds beyond its borders. He mentions in verse 3 that Joseph had faced such difficulty (archers bitterly grieved...hated him). Compared to what he faced, his sons and the tribes they represent would have to face much more difficult things from the world at large. Out of Ephraim came Joshua, by the way, to take the lead from Moses. That great military leader came from the loins of Joseph.
Here are some neat really poetic words which say some important things about Joseph. He was fruitful while he was away. Joseph had every reason to just sit down and die, to give up and quit, to grumble and complain. But instead of doing so, he's away from the land of promise, away from his family. No one loves and supports Joseph. but he continues to go forth and bear fruit. Wherever you see Joseph during those 22 years, blessings follow. Blessings in Potiphar's house. Blessings in the prison.
Joseph was fruitful even in the worst of places, just like a tree planted right next to water. He seemed to be able to sit there and enjoy wherever God placed him. He even named his son Ephraim, "fruitfulness" that's what it means. I've named my boy--"I've been fruitful man, God has blessed me, so much so." He kept his eyes on God all the years he was suffering, and God made him fruitful in the land of his affliction. And Joseph served well there, bringing the blessings of God everywhere he went.
I would say that you and I have an obligation, and one of them is that wherever we go, God's blessings should follow. When people hire you, when people have you around, it should be better than when you're not. They may not want to believe in your God, certainly Potiphar didn't, Pharaoh didn't, others didn't. But they couldn't deny that God was with Joseph. It was obvious. It was as plain as day. They couldn't get away from that truth. They had to face up to it and own up to it if you will. So that was a pretty awesome deal that Joseph was that man that was constantly fruitful in all of the years that he was gone, even to the point where his blessings now extended to the family.
Second of all, that Joseph, according to the scriptures here, was faithful while he was by himself. Isn't it interesting to you that Joseph did better than most of us do, and he had no one to help him, no one to confide in, no one to share with, no one to hold up his arms. And so what did he do? He did the wisest thing you could do; he moved himself closer to the Lord, right? Didn't have a lot of guys to turn to, so he just had to turn to the Lord, and then look to Him, and allow nothing to interrupt that relationship with God that he had been established with Him, that nothing would take him away, so he's like this tree planted by this water source but his water source is the Lord. The Lord was at Joseph's disposal, and for 22 years in isolation, he stayed in that place where he becomes really the living example of "Abide in me. And let my words abide in you. And you will bear much fruit." Joseph did.
And one thing that I love about Joseph's example is that he stays in place regardless of what others do around him and continues to experience the goodness of God though he has very little support. That's a pretty good example. And notice that the Lord makes mention of that, "Your bow remains strong by the hands of Almighty God. Your eyes were on the Lord. You didn't try to go it alone.
When Joseph was bountiful, when things went his way, Joseph continued to be a servant. When he got to Potiphar's home, and he was made in charge of the whole house, he was very careful to represent whom he was serving well. Didn't take advantage of his place, didn't serve himself. Said to the wife, "You know your husband has been so good to me. God forbid that I should violate that trust." Same thing when he went into the prison. Same thing when he became second in command. And then one day, he went from jail guy to second in charge of the world. And it might have been "Now's my time. I'm going to take care of me. And now's the time to serve me," but we don't see that in Joseph's life. We see him wanting to bless others. And so notice you read here in verse 22 that the branches just flow over the wall. Like his neighbor's avocado tree.
Joseph's life was like that, he would so abound that he would just be bountiful, right? He would give over to others, and the Lord speaks out of Joseph through Jacob's words to him. And you have to ask yourself, is that you and your life in Christ, or is it only about what you can get out of it all, y'know? Jesus said there in John chapter 7, "If you believe in me as the scriptures said, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water." And certainly part of that is this blessed life of service that you find in Joseph. So Joseph is the guy who certainly is our example.
I was thinking about Israel today since we're kind of getting ready to make our plans to be over there at the end of April. The two big waters in Israel are in the north the Sea of Galilee and in the south the Dead Sea. And the Sea of Galilee has several sources. Two of them come out of two different countries. And part of the fight in Israel sometime is to keep those waterways clear and not be cut off because Israel relies on all of its water coming out of the Sea of Galilee.
But it has an outlet too. The Jordan River takes that water south. And along the way, people use it, and we baptize in it, and sometimes it overflows. But many times it's just there's not enough rain, and people work real hard to preserve water at every step.
But it eventually gets down to the Dead Sea which is an awful body of water in the sense that there's no outlet. So it only takes. All it does is take. It'll take water and take it. It's undrinkable. You can't plant in it. You can't use it. In fact, we have you float in it because it's so salty, but if you happen to roll over and get in your face, you won't see for three or four hours. It's that bad. If you shave, don't shave for a week before you go in it, argh! The thing is worthless. It just takes up all of this desert land, and it just rots away. It's got sink holes and you can't, it's just, there's good for literally nothing. They've tried to get something out of it, but there really isn't much good to be had because it's always taking.
Here's Joseph. Joseph's the Sea of Galilee. He's taking in from the Lord, giving out, taking in, giving out, just blessed. And then there's that Dead Sea, the one that just kinda sucks all of the life out from everybody. And it's appropriately named; it's called the "Dead Sea," nothing grows in it because it just takes and takes and takes and takes. Not Joseph--when he was bountiful, he was abundant in his giving, right? He was like a tree next to water growing over the fence into somebody else's yard. He had more than he could deal with. He gave it away.
And according to verse 23 when he was under attack, he remained steady. I like that because I hear so often from people, "I was doing better with the Lord until so and so showed up. And so and so sometimes is the wife, sometimes is a brother or sister, sometimes some guy they don't like, "O man, then this guy came into my life, and now I'm just all messed up." Really? Joseph had more reasons to quit, and it didn't bother. He had a lot of arrows shot at him. Y'know, think about it. Arrows of jealousy from his brothers. Arrows of treachery as they sold him off. Arrows of temptation from Mrs. Potiphar. The false accusation from her. The neglect from the butler and the forgetfulness. And every step along the way, he just went "Well Lord, You know." You know, the arrows flew and Joseph was faithful.
Don't let difficulty determine who you're going to believe and how. Joseph didn't. And he becomes that example to us of just steady as he goes. And according to verse 24, and 25, and 26, it was the blessings of God upon a man who believed God and trusted in God that kept him all of those years. So quite a word from the Lord through his father to this young man, and now not such a young man, 56 years old, who's hearing from his dad, and it all rings true, right? This is a man that God could greatly use. And you get some more insights into Joseph's way of life here, poetically.
Well finally we get to Benjamin (2nd of Rachel, 12th) Jacob's last son born in his older age and we read, "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he devours the prey. At night, he divides the spoil." Rachel, Jacob's favorite wife, died as Benjamin was being born. Jacob says of Benjamin he's going to be a warrior tribe, and indeed he was. He's only given 400 square miles. When the land is given out, oh Benjamin gets just this little place. But both Sauls in the Bible are from Benjamin--the Old Testament Saul and the New Testament Saul both came from this warring tribe.
So verse 28 "All of these are the 12 tribes of Israel. This is what their father spoke to them. He blessed them. He blessed each one according to his own blessing. And then he charged them and said to them "I'm to be gathered to my people, now bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephram the Hittite which Abraham bought with Ephraim as a field of possession as a burial place.
I bet some of those boys would have rather just missed this meeting. But we will have an account before the Lord too. Do your best now. Live in a way that on that day God will have a reward for you. "Don't lay up for yourself treasures on the earth. Lay up for yourself treasures in Heaven. I'm going to stand before the Lord one day. Earth is a time for employment. Heaven is a time for enjoyment. So get busy man. Don't waste time. Don't waste effort. It's an important time that you run now and store up now. There's an evaluation day waiting for you.
He wants to be taken back to Canaan and where Leah, Abraham, and Isaac. He associates himself with the patriarchs. Is there life after death? Yup. He's been "gathered to his people." Jesus--Concerning the death, that they rise, have you not read the book of Moses? So Jacob goes to live, not to die.
Israel was embalmed. 40 days. Egyptians mourned for 72 days.. It'd be interesting to find this cave. If a Pharaoh died, the morning period was 72 days. Jacob basically received a state funeral. After Jacob's death, the brothers were concerned that Joseph would seek revenge. But Joseph viewed life through the sovereignty of God. Followed the route that Moses would to bury him...long journey.
The boys were afraid of Joseph. Guilt has a tough time going away, doesn't it? Joseph was pretty nice, but maybe it was for dad. Now that he's gone, there's nothing to inhibit his hatred. They came up with a scheme. Send someone to say dad's last words were to forgive us and all of our sin. Upon hearing this, it immediately brings Joseph to tears, to embracing them. He says to them without hesitation, "Look I'm not God. I know where your hearts were. You wanted to hurt me. There was evil driving you. You were guilty for what you did and how you did it. But, let's face it, God is over all of our evil even. He's in charge of us even when we are not doing the right thing. And God had a better plan. And look, we're all alive today. And I got to spend 17 years with my dad. And all of the Egyptians have been saved because God had a plan to get me here. Look, I'm not angry with you. I'm not upset with you. It's between you and the Lord when it comes to your guilt. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm rejoicing in the work God has done. God meant it for good. God has blessed.
I bring this up because it's a great way to end this book with Joseph. It seems to me, we would be the wisest if we would look at the difficulties that we face from the lives of others in view of the overwhelming sovereignty of God. He was able to look beyond the wickedness of men to the goodness of God. It kept him from those 22 years of separation, and it keeps him now. He literally says to his brothers "look, I got no beef with you. God's doing good stuff." But when it comes to right and wrong, or to getting even, Joseph was able to rest in the sovereignty of God which gave Joseph great freedom. He didn't for five minutes want these guys to worry. He say "look, I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to take care of your kids. God's been good to us, so let's just let it lie."
Whenever you step out to serve the Lord, you'll always gonna find critics. You can make it your lif'se goal to track them down to try and correct them, or challenge them, or argue with them. As a young pastor, whenever I heard somebody said something mean about me, I would go find them. I'd go and confront everything I could because that's the way I used to live. But eventually, that's your whole life. You're no longer praying or loving people. You're forever defending yourself. It doesn't do you any good. It's just the enemy's way of getting you off track, isn't it? And it slows down your service. So at some point in my life, I just decided "who cares." You know, ultimately, God's the only one that I want to hear from. And I'm only really concerned with what He thinks. I mean, I'm concerned with what you think, don't get me wrong, but not as much as what He thinks. So, please the Lord and let it fall where it will. Sometimes you suffer because you're an idiot and sometimes you suffer because you're doing the right thing, but leave it with the Lord.
I always think of that Nehemiah 6 passage--when they were finally making progress as a people and serving the Lord, Nehemiah gets invited to lunch by some crooked guys. Remember that guy Sanballat and Geshan? Come on, let's have a meeting and ee'll go to the cafe of Ohno.--"Oh no, we won't." The valley of Ohno that's where we're going to have lunch. He sent messengers back to say "We're doing a great work. We can't come down. Why should the work cease, and why should I leave it to talk with you? I think that's pretty good advice. He didn't want to be bothered with it. It doesn't do any good to Just make sure the Lord's happy with you. I think that's all you want.
Covers the life of Joseph's many years in five verses. Not very much. We read in verse 22--"So Joseph dwelt in Egypt. He lived to be 110. Saw Ephraim's children to their 3rd generation. And then Joseph said to his brethern, "I'm dying, but God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. And God will surely bring you out of this land. God shall surely visit you, and you shall carry my bones from here. And Joseph died. He was 110, and they embalmed him and put him in a coffin in Egypt." Now, it interests me as Joseph's life kind of comes to a kind of abrupt halt, not very much lead up or after, that of all of the things in Joseph's life that the Lord might have chosen to pick to put in Hebrews 11 as an example of real faith, He picks this one. "Take my bones with you when you leave." Of all the things of faith. I'm thinking man, there are so many good things He could pick. He picks one that is future. Eyes upon the promises of God. He cries out in faith, "take my bones with you when you go because the Lord's coming for us." Living in faith is great, but dying in faith is best. Five verses cover 54 years.
Israel was embalmed. 40 days. Egyptians mourned for 72 days.. It'd be interesting to find this cave. If a Pharaoh died, the morning period was 72 days. Jacob basically received a state funeral. After Jacob's death, the brothers were concerned that Joseph would seek revenge. But Joseph viewed life through the sovereignty of God. Followed the route that Moses would to bury him...long journey.
The boys were afraid of Joseph. Guilt has a tough time going away, doesn't it? Joseph was pretty nice, but maybe it was for dad. Now that he's gone, there's nothing to inhibit his hatred. They came up with a scheme. Send someone to say dad's last words were to forgive us and all of our sin. Upon hearing this, it immediately brings Joseph to tears, to embracing them. He says to them without hesitation, "Look I'm not God. I know where your hearts were. You wanted to hurt me. There was evil driving you. You were guilty for what you did and how you did it. But, let's face it, God is over all of our evil even. He's in charge of us even when we are not doing the right thing. And God had a better plan. And look, we're all alive today. And I got to spend 17 years with my dad. And all of the Egyptians have been saved because God had a plan to get me here. Look, I'm not angry with you. I'm not upset with you. It's between you and the Lord when it comes to your guilt. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm rejoicing in the work God has done. God meant it for good. God has blessed.
I bring this up because it's a great way to end this book with Joseph. It seems to me, we would be the wisest if we would look at the difficulties that we face from the lives of others in view of the overwhelming sovereignty of God. He was able to look beyond the wickedness of men to the goodness of God. It kept him from those 22 years of separation, and it keeps him now. He literally says to his brothers "look, I got no beef with you. God's doing good stuff." But when it comes to right and wrong, or to getting even, Joseph was able to rest in the sovereignty of God which gave Joseph great freedom. He didn't for five minutes want these guys to worry. He say "look, I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to take care of your kids. God's been good to us, so let's just let it lie."
Whenever you step out to serve the Lord, you'll always gonna find critics. You can make it your lif'se goal to track them down to try and correct them, or challenge them, or argue with them. As a young pastor, whenever I heard somebody said something mean about me, I would go find them. I'd go and confront everything I could because that's the way I used to live. But eventually, that's your whole life. You're no longer praying or loving people. You're forever defending yourself. It doesn't do you any good. It's just the enemy's way of getting you off track, isn't it? And it slows down your service. So at some point in my life, I just decided "who cares." You know, ultimately, God's the only one that I want to hear from. And I'm only really concerned with what He thinks. I mean, I'm concerned with what you think, don't get me wrong, but not as much as what He thinks. So, please the Lord and let it fall where it will. Sometimes you suffer because you're an idiot and sometimes you suffer because you're doing the right thing, but leave it with the Lord.
I always think of that Nehemiah 6 passage--when they were finally making progress as a people and serving the Lord, Nehemiah gets invited to lunch by some crooked guys. Remember that guy Sanballat and Geshan? Come on, let's have a meeting and ee'll go to the cafe of Ohno.--"Oh no, we won't." The valley of Ohno that's where we're going to have lunch. He sent messengers back to say "We're doing a great work. We can't come down. Why should the work cease, and why should I leave it to talk with you? I think that's pretty good advice. He didn't want to be bothered with it. It doesn't do any good to Just make sure the Lord's happy with you. I think that's all you want.
Covers the life of Joseph's many years in five verses. Not very much. We read in verse 22--"So Joseph dwelt in Egypt. He lived to be 110. Saw Ephraim's children to their 3rd generation. And then Joseph said to his brethern, "I'm dying, but God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. And God will surely bring you out of this land. God shall surely visit you, and you shall carry my bones from here. And Joseph died. He was 110, and they embalmed him and put him in a coffin in Egypt." Now, it interests me as Joseph's life kind of comes to a kind of abrupt halt, not very much lead up or after, that of all of the things in Joseph's life that the Lord might have chosen to pick to put in Hebrews 11 as an example of real faith, He picks this one. "Take my bones with you when you leave." Of all the things of faith. I'm thinking man, there are so many good things He could pick. He picks one that is future. Eyes upon the promises of God. He cries out in faith, "take my bones with you when you go because the Lord's coming for us." Living in faith is great, but dying in faith is best. Five verses cover 54 years.
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| Credit: ANNA MARSZALKOWSKA |
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