Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you think of your ancestors, at least those you knew personally, how would you describe the ‘heritage’ or ‘family legacy’ which they passed to you? As you’ve lived your life, how have your life choices affected that which you inherited and what will your family legacy be like when you are ready to pass it on to your descendants at the end of your life? I’m not necessarily talking about the financial value of your family estate, rather, I’m talking about your family reputation, the accomplishments and contributions to society of your family, the Spiritual condition of your family.
I left you yesterday contemplating a very significant family legacy, that of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. He and his large family had moved temporarily to the lush lands of Egypt, along the Nile River, during a terrible and widespread famine. Prince Joseph, second in authority only to the Pharaoh of Egypt, was one of Jacob’s sons and while sold to be a slave by his brothers and taken to Egypt at age 17, through a series of amazing circumstance and God’s hand of blessing, at age 30 Joseph was promoted from the dungeon to the palace by the Pharaoh and put in charge of managing both the 7 years of bounty and the 7 years of famine.
Evidently Joseph excelled in his leadership role so much that long after the famine was over Pharaoh still had Joseph in a senior leadership role in his government. I’m sure Joseph watched closely to be sure his father Jacob was enjoying his old age in the bounty of Egypt. Sadly, as time passed it appears neither Jacob nor Joseph was giving any thought to Jacob’s family returning to the legacy of the Covenant Land God had given to their ancestral family. Egypt was simply too enjoyable, too profitable, too comfortable!
But have you noticed my friends, that as people near the time when they presume, they will soon die, their life and legacy gain a new priority? Evidently as Jacob neared what he believed was soon to be the end of his life, he reflected a great deal on where he was… Egypt, and where God had told him to settle his family…Bethel in Canaan, several hundred miles to the north. (Gen. 35:1)
Jacob called his son Joseph to his side and said these important words of reflection: “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers. And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.” (Gen. 48:21,22) Do you hear Jacob admitting his legacy failure?
Rather than Jacob fulfilling his responsibility to lead his sons and their families back to the land God gave them as their Land Legacy, Jacob is now passing that responsibility to his son Joseph. Do you also see Jacob has evidently already assigned to each of his sons a portion of that land as their inheritance, but to Joseph he gives a second portion of land as an additional blessing. That tells me that while Jacob refused to lead them back to Canaan, he is trying to entice them to go back by giving them land inheritance. But of course, in order to receive that land inheritance, they’d have to leave Egypt and claim their land and live there and Jacob knew that would be a very hard decision for his sons, in fact one he himself had failed to make!
Genesis 49 is a very interesting chapter as Jacob calls each of his sons to his side and pronounces over each son his ‘fatherly blessing’. In truth what Jacob is doing is predicting what each of their future’s will be and the family legacy each of them will pass on to their children and grandchildren. As you read through this chapter it’s painful, for of the 12 sons, only two, Joseph and Judah, appear to be Jacob’s sons who will be blessed, and their families will become a great blessing to the future nation of Israel. If you look closely, there’s a prediction of both the future King David, and King Jesus Christ. I see it in Genesis 49:10 “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until He to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be His.”
And then it appears that finally, in his very old age, Jacob gathers all his sons around him and makes this powerful declaration to them: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place… There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah.’ When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.” (Gen.49:29-33) Now look around this scene my friends. Jacob was 147 years old. We can presume by now he is father, grandfather and great-grandfather to a huge family of probably more than 300 descendants. Do you hear Jacob’s appeal that his sons recognize their privileged family heritage of this God ordained family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons? Do you hear Jacob calling them to understand the Covenant Land is NOT Egypt but is the region where their ancestors are buried and the land God Himself had defined by its borders?
Genesis 50 tells us Prince Joseph immediately took the lead in the process of fulfilling his father Jacob’s dying desire. Look at this description of what happened: “Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father, Israel. So, the physicians embalmed Jacob, taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for Jacob 70 days!” (Gen. 50:1-3) What do you see here my friends? Do you see Jacob being referred to by his God given name, Israel? Do you see there are physicians who are assigned to Joseph’s service, again a reminder of the very high position Joseph had in Pharaoh’s court? Do you see Jacob being given the same embalming honor as that given to Egyptian royalty? Do you see Egyptians observing an official time of 70 days of mourning for the father of Prince Joseph? Does all that tell us how honored and revered Prince Joseph was in Egypt at that time?
It also shows me Jacob and his entire family had become far more Egyptian than they were the descendants of Abraham, a people living a Covenant with God! Time, affluence, popularity, influence can INSULATE us from God, do you agree? So what are the things that might be building an insulation barrier between you and the God who made you, loves you and wants a close relationship with you, my friends?
As we pause here today, watching what’s happening in Jacob’s family as their father has died and Egyptians are mourning, and Jacob’s sons are preparing for the long journey back to Canaan to bury their father. What do you suppose is their understanding of, their respect for and the value they place in the family heritage and legacy passed to them from their father Jacob, their grandfather Isaac and their great grandfather Abraham? And what do you most value about your family heritage my friends? Finally, I ask one more question: how do you describe the Spiritual family heritage you have?
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 48:21-50:3.
Choose below to read or listen.
Genesis 48:21-50:3 Genesis 48
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Genesis 49
Genesis 50
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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