Genesis 48

When all the livestock were sold and they started to starve again, Joseph bought their land for the price of the food they needed to survive, and the people themselves pleaded for this to be done.

Joseph then made a law throughout the land that the people could stay on their property and continue farming it, but they’d pay one fifth of the harvest to Pharoah. This was a 20% tax.

Then we saw that Joseph’s favour amongst the people was great as he’d saved them and their families from starvation.

Finally, we saw Jacob making Joseph swear to take his body back to Canaan for burial after he died, which Joseph does.

We’re told in Hebrews 11 verse 21 that “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.” In this episode we’ll see this, Jacob’s last sickness and his blessing of the two sons of Joseph.

This chapter shows us again the spiritual growth of Jacob. He’s come a long, long way since his early days.

It’s easy for us to feel that it was a pity that this lovely faith which is displayed in Jacob’s last days weren’t present in his early life. But it’s also important for each of us to understand that the spiritual life and the walk of faith is a walk of growth and a development! It’s not some sort of lightning bolt experience which takes place in a moment of time. It’s described in scripture as a walk in the Spirit.

There was too much of the old nature in Jacob when he was a young man, and it’s taken a whole lifetime for the new nature to begin to show.

We’re all familiar with this in our own lives.

We get very little lasting satisfaction when we walk in the flesh compared to the peace, joy, and contentment as we turn from us to Him. Throughout our lives we begin to learn that the pressures of life, the frustration with this world, the anger, resentment and fear all last only as long as the time span in which we choose to walk in self, in the flesh. The moment we turn and put God in place of our flesh, things change. The words of that beautiful old hymn Turn your eyes upon Jesus become so true, “the things of this world grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

Friends don’t look for some sensational, earth-shaking experience that’ll suddenly make us fully grown Christians. Scripture tells us in 2nd Peter 3 verse 18 to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We see in Jacob that the fruit of the Spirit develops over time and through experiences and trials. But thank God for the possibility of growth in our lives and His patience with us. Also, we can thank Him that He doesn’t move in, as we would, and try to force growth. God very patiently dealt with Jacob, and He’ll deal very patiently with you and me.

Now we need to be aware of something in this chapter, chapter 48.

We’ve already seen that in the Bible names play a huge part spiritually and they’re said to be linked to our soul’s purpose and destiny. Many cultures believe that the name a person bears has a direct impact on their life’s journey.

Every person’s name and every place name is very important, but not only that, the placement of those names, the order in which they’re written, the surrounding text, the numbers associated with them all have a deep meaning.

We need to understand that what’s written in this chapter is so deeply meaningful to the family of Israel, to the world and to you and me that we can’t possibly delve deep enough into its treasure in this bird’s eye type of study.

A person could literally spend a lifetime just studying this chapter and not cover everything. For our purposes in this study, it’s important to know that every one of these treasures point to Jesus Christ. We’ve already seen enough of the life of Joseph to see a picture of Christ, but it goes much deeper than any of us can imagine.

So, in beginning chapter 48 I must admit to you that I feel terribly inadequate to attempt to put together this episode in a way that portrays even a tiny portion of its immense value. This has troubled me since we first started this home bible study and as I study each chapter in preparation for bringing an episode together I become ever more aware of my inadequacy to communicate such incredible wonders, especially in such a way as to give an accurate overview rather than an in depth study. How can I summarise such wonders in a way that paints an accurate picture but also encourages each listener to dig deeper and unearth these treasure for themselves.

I can only try my best.

Let’s begin Genesis 48:1-3,

Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, “Indeed your father is sick”; and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 

And Jacob was told, “Look, your son Joseph is coming to you”; and Israel strengthened himself and sat up on the bed. 

Then Jacob said to Joseph: “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 

It came to pass after these things means that this happened after the events in the last verses in chapter 47 where Joseph swears an oath to Jacob that his body will not be buried in Egypt, but he’ll be buried back in Canaan with Abraham and Issac.

Now Joseph comes to Jacob as he’s in his death bed.

Friends, notice here the sudden change in one verse from the name “Jacob” to the name “Israel.” As we’ve seen, and will continue to see throughout the Bible, there’s Jacob, the man of flesh and bones. He’s weak in his spirit, he’s weak in his body, and he’s troubled in his mind.

And then, there’s Israel. It’s Israel who strives with God, who declares His name, and who relies on Him for his strength and his speech. When Jacob speaks, it’s as Jacob the man. When Israel speaks, it’s for his God and under God’s inspiration.

Now, here comes Joseph, his favourite son, with his two son’s. Imagine the thrill it must have bought to the old man’s heart?

We need to note here that these two were adults, not little boys as is sometimes portrayed. By looking at Jacob’s age, his time in prison and the years of the famine in the last chapters we can easily work out that these sons were at least 19 years old and probably much older. They understood what was happening and the importance of their grandfather’s words.

Jacob never dreamed he’d ever see Joseph again because as we know he thought he’d been killed. Yet he not only sees Joseph, and sees him in his exalted position in Egypt, he sees Joseph’s son’s, his grandsons, as well. What a bonus for Jacob.

Now, he can clearly see the way that God had worked out the affairs of his life. Jacob’s been in Egypt for 17 years by now and he’s facing death, but he musters his strength to sit at the edge of his bed when he knows Joseph’s on his way.

Jacob begins to tell Jospeh of his life from the time God appeared to him at Luz or Lutz as some people pronounce it. Joseph begins with, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.”

He goes back over this time for a reason. He’s going to pass on the blessing of Abraham and Issac to Joseph and this reaffirming of what’s taken place is going to lead to that. He’s going to be sure that he gets the wording of God’s promise exactly correct.

This place, Luz if you remember from Genesis 28 and 35, is where Jacob met God twice and after the second encounter, where he wrestled with God, he renamed the place Bethel. But now he uses the original name.

It’s this second visit that Jacob’s referring to here.

He says, “God appeared to me there, and God blessed me.”

Now we see Jacob, the man of faith in verse 4.

and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’ 

Let’s pay special attention to God’s promise that Jacob mentions here. It runs throughout the whole Bible both through the Old and the New Testaments.

God made the promise to the line of the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and there’re three specific points to the covenant: (1) the nation, (2) the land, and (3) the blessing. But the two most important parts of the promise for Jacob in this moment with Joseph are (1) “I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people”; And (2) “and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.” This, of course is referring to the land of Canaan.

The third part of the covenant, “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” is the part that directly relates to you and me today.”

The reason that you and I are sitting down with the Bible right now is because God has already bought to reality two–thirds of this promise which He covenanted to these patriarchs thousands of years ago. One–third is still not fulfilled. The Jews don’t have the land of Israel yet in the fullness of these promises. Yes, they have a small part of it and through the Belfour declaration of 1948, Israel is now a state, but it’s certainly not universally accepted, and they continue to fight for their place in the sun so to speak. This is definitely not the total fulfilment of God’s promise to this nation.

When they get the full land grant from the hand of God, they’ll live there in peace. Noone’ll argue with God about the ownership of the land as they do every day at present.

As Micah 4 verse 4 says relating to this coming time,

But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. 

They’ll own property and pay no taxes and the borders of the promised land will be the original borders, far in excess of what they are now.

This speaks of the Millennium, and this is exactly what will eventually come to pass.

Verses 5 and 6 now,

And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 

Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 

What’s happening here?

Well Jacob’s adopting these two sons of Joseph into his family.

Now Jacob says of these 2, “As Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.”

Reuben and Simeon were the first and second born of Israel. Jacob received the two sons of Joseph as adopted into the family at the highest level, as if they were his own first and second born.

Reuben and Simeon, were disqualified from positions of status and leadership in Israel’s family because of their very serious sins in Genesis 34 and Genesis 35.

Jacob’s adoption of Manasseh and Ephraim explains why there are 12 tribes often listed in different combinations. Because of this adoption, there were actually 14 sons of Israel.

The 12 sons who were born to Jacob are; Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin. Now we have added by adoption Ephraim and Manasseh.

But wait, there’s no tribe of Joseph. Instead, we have the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, so we now have 13 tribes.

You see, what’s actually happened is that Joseph’s received a double portion of the blessing. The tribe that would have been Joseph is now Ephraim and Manasseh.

So, Joseph’s divided into two tribes.

Wherever the tribes are listed throughout the Old Testament, they can be arranged different ways and still remain 12 tribes.

The twelve tribes are listed twenty times in the Old Testament. They’re listed in a different order each time. Sometimes by their mother in other words those from (Leah, Rachel, Zilpha, and Bilhah), their numeric order, their encampment, and more.

The Levites were exempt from military duties so, when the order of military march was given, there are still 12 listed, but they exclude Levi. Levi is left out on four occasions. Dan is also left out on three occasions, the most notable one in Revelation 7.

So, with this extra 13th tribe there’re more than 20 different ways of listing them in the Old Testament and still have 12 tribes. We’ll see this as we come to those instances.

As a number, 12 is often associated with government or administration in God’s eyes. There are 12 tribes (in whatever way they’re counted they’re always mentioned as twelve); 12 apostles; 12 princes of Ishmael; 12 pillars on Moses’ altar; 12 stones on the high priest’s breastplate; 12 cakes of showbread; 12 silver platters; silver bowls; and gold pans for the service of the tabernacle; 12 spies to search out the land; 12 memorial stones; 12 governors under Solomon; 12 stones in Elijah’s altar; 12 in each group of musicians and singers for Israel’s worship; 12 hours in a day; 12 months in a year; 12 Ephesian men filled with the Holy Spirit; 12;000 from each of the 12 tribes sealed and preserved through the tribulation; 12 gates of 12 pearls in heaven, and 12 angels at the gates; 12 foundations in the New Jerusalem, each with the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb; it’s length, breadth, and height are all 12,000 furlongs; and the tree of life in heaven has 12 fruits. The number 12 is special to God.

Now, Jacob hasn’t passed on the blessing to the 2 sons yet, that’ll happen in the next few verses, and we’ll see something else quite amazing there also.

Jacob now goes back to his lovely Rachel, his beloved wife and Joseph’s mother.

Now Genesis 48:7

But as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).” 

Notice here that Jacob speaks of coming out of Padan.

This is interesting because this is the only time Padan by itself is mentioned in the Bible. The other 10 times it appears it’s Padan Aram. There’s a reason for this and it has to do with an amazing hidden text that gives us an equally amazing forecast of the Lord Jesus. We don’t want to sideline this study and there’s simply not enough space to include it here, but I’m going to do a separate article on this as soon as time permits because it’s so amazing. It’s one of the countless proofs we have that the Bible comes from a source outside of our time dimension and that it was engineered by an intelligence high above that of any man who’s ever lived.

Friends, when you and I think of Bethlehem, we think of the birth of Jesus, but for Jacob Bethlehem is remembered for the death of his beloved and beautiful Rachel.

Rachel died beside him in the land of Canaan just a short distance from Ephrath which is Bethlehem and now with this lingering grief, Israel remembered her tragic death at the birth of their son Benjamin and her burial. We saw this in Genesis chapter 35.

Jacob’s on his deathbed now many years later and it’s still a heartbreak to him.

Verses 8 to 10,

Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?” 

Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.” And he said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.” Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. 

Notice that both Isaac and Jacob had trouble seeing when they got old? The brightness of the sun and the dust may have something to do with it. Even today there’s a lot of eye disease in Middle eastern countries. So, we notice here that Jacob didn’t recognise his grandsons.

“These are my sons, whom God has given me in this place,” says Joseph.

We remember that the names of Joseph’s sons were Manasseh (the firstborn) and Ephraim (the younger). The name Manasseh means forgetfulness, and the name Ephraim means fruitfulness. We saw this in Genesis 41.

Verses 11 and 12,

And Israel said to Joseph, “I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!” 

So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. 

He bowed down with his face to the earth: Joseph lived as a high official of Egypt for many years and had no contact with his father during that time. Yet it didn’t diminish the reverence and respect he had towards his father.

Verse 13,

And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. 

Joseph’s bringing the boys to their grandfather ready for the blessing about to be given to them. The one who would stand before Israel at his right hand would be the one with priority.

The right hand in the Bible always has the idea of the favoured position, because generally speaking, the right hand is the hand of strength and skill.

The right hand is associated with God’s strength, His favour, and His help. This is why Jesus is described as sitting at the right hand of God the Father in Mark 14:62.

In light of this watch what happens next.

Joseph guides Ephraim (the younger son) towards Jacob’s left hand and Manasseh (the older son) to his right hand. You see, Manasseh, as the oldest, is to receive the more honoured and the more powerful blessing from Jacob’s right hand and Ephraim being the younger son is to receive the lesser blessing from the left hand.

Now to verse 14,

Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. 

Did you see what happened here? Even though Jacob couldn’t see too well, he could tell what Joseph was doing. Joseph was pushing the older son to the position of Jacob’s right hand and the younger son toward the left hand. So, what did old Jacob do? Well, he just switched hands. He crossed his hands and put his right hand on Ephraim, the younger son.

Why did he do this? There’s no doubt that he affection for both boys because they were the sons of his favourite son Joseph. He knowingly gives the blessing to the younger. One reason may have been that he was the younger and he had received the blessing. So, he passes the blessing on to the younger son here.

Also, there’s an interesting principle that runs all the way through the Scriptures. For instance, in the choice of David as king, David was the youngest of the sons of Jesse. Why did God choose him? God’s giving you and I a picture of a great spiritual truth.

God doesn’t accept primogeniture, which is a fancy name for the automatic right of possession or privilege to the oldest person in a family. God will never accept it. There must be the new birth. Therefore, God doesn’t pay attention to our natural human customs.

We say that the oldest boy has the responsibility in a family. Well, the oldest is not the one whom God always chooses. See, God doesn’t choose the natural man. He never chooses a person through natural ability.

We really need to learn this truth in our day!

Now, God can certainly use natural talent, but it’s got to be dedicated to Him! That talent must be yielded to Him to be used of Him.

So, we see here old Jacob crossed his hands as he laid them on the heads of his grandsons so that he gave the younger boy the priority.

Ephraim is to become the leader above Manasseh. Later on, we’ll see that the tribe of Manasseh marched under the banner of the tribe of Ephraim in the wilderness march, as described in Numbers. Joshua came out of the tribe of Ephraim, and there were many great men from that tribe. It became the tribe with priority, there’s no question about it.

Verse 15,

And he blessed Joseph, and said: “God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has fed me all my life long to this day, 

“The God who has fed me all my life long to this day.” Boy, does Jacob reach a spiritual height here.

Verse 16,

The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them, And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” 

“The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads.” He has nothing to boast about except a wonderful Redeemer. And they did “grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth” just as he said.

Now we’re at Genesis 48:17-18

Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 

And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” 

Watch old Jacob’s reaction to this in verse 19

But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.” 

Jacob tells Joseph he knows exactly what he’s doing and says that Manasseh will become a multitude of nations as well and that’s important to see, however, Joseph needs to accept that Ephraim has received the senior position because he himself is not the oldest, either. He happens to be one of the youngest, and yet this double portion blessing is given to him through his sons.

To verses 20 and 21,

So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’ ” And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 

Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. 

Notice once again Israel is the name used because he’s giving glory to God.

Genesis 48:22,

Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.” 

That is, Joseph, through his two sons, would have a greater inheritance than the other brothers would have.

This apparently was a personal gift made by Jacob to Joseph.

We read about this in the Gospel of John chapter 4 verse 5,

So, He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And we see in the next verse in John that place is where Jacob’s well is where the woman of Samaria met the Lord Jesus many centuries later.

Joseph was buried on a ridge near this place.

Two tribes have now come from Joseph, and they needed more territory, and this was a parcel of land which Jacob first bought from the Amorites. The Amorites later they took it back by force, but then Jacob returned the compliment, and he reclaimed it by force. It’s been an area of controversy right up to the present time. It’s that area of modern Israel that’s known as the West Bank.

I just wish I had the ability and the time to go deeper into chapter 48 because there’s a wealth of treasures here.

Next time we’re going to see old Jacob’s death. We’ll also see another remarkable example of the faith that Israel now walks in.

Until then friends keep the Lord close to you through His precious Word because He’ll be with you always and He’ll never leave or forsake you even if sometimes you feel that He has.