FRIDAY 10 September 2021 “A Double Inheritance” Genesis 48

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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

Do you remember what was going on in your life 20 years ago today, September 10? It was a Monday, just like almost any Monday, except for a few passionate, dangerous men, they were putting the final plans on a scheme which would change our world forever. On this Monday, September 10, 2001, anyone who might have seen them would never have imagined what they were planning to do. By the end of the day tomorrow, Tuesday, September 11, most of those men and thousands of others were dead, and much of the world was traumatized.

As you look back, what events, what relationships, what choices, in your life and mine, have had the most impact on shaping who we are today? The world’s population has gone from about 6.18 billion people in September 2001 to about 7.80 billion people today! Hundreds of millions of people have died, and hundreds of millions have been born in the past 20 years. Very likely several have died and several have been born into your extended family in these years. Tomorrow and this weekend we’ll look more closely at some Scriptures that give us fresh perspective on the events of Sept. 11, 2001. For today, let’s continue our journey with Jacob, for he is, like you and me, at a moment of life review and reflection.

In Genesis 48 Jacob is nearing the end of his life, he’s in his old age. Have you ever spent much time with folks in that season of their lives, when they know the end of their life is near? They are normally very reflective, spending lots of time reviewing the story of their life, as they remember it. So… what story will you have to review when you are in those days, my friends? I’m sure you’ve noticed, the story of your life is one event, one experience, one decision after another, day after day. You and I have written the story of our lives one day at a time. Jacob had lived a life with many disappointments, too many of those caused by his own poor choices. Now at the end of his life, I think he’s living in this strange balance of deep gratitude that he’s had 17 years in Egypt near to Joseph and his family, but at the same time the regret of knowing the famine has been over for 12 years and his large family is now well rooted in Egypt, and they have no desire to return to their God-given homeland in Canaan.

The Genesis record says: “Some time later Joseph was told, ‘Your father is ill’. So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim to visit Jacob. Jacob said to Joseph, ‘God Almighty, (El Shaddai) appeared to me at Bethel in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land, as an everlasting possession, to your descendants after you.” (Gen. 48:1-4) We’ve looked at the two times Jacob had encounters with God at the place called Bethel (Gen. 28 & 35) and how God reaffirmed with Jacob in that place, the Covenant He had begun with Abraham.

As Jacob neared the end of his life, those two very powerful encounters with God, stood out in his memory as among the most life changing, legacy defining experiences of his life! Please notice my friends, God fulfilled His promise to Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons and one daughter. They had all married and were building families. As Joseph stood before his old father Jacob, nearly 40 years had passed since he had been sold as a slave by his brothers.

Joseph had married in Egypt, and his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim had been born in Egypt. But on this day, Jacob wanted to do something very special to be sure Joseph was included in Jacob’s legacy and inheritance. Amazingly, Jacob said to Joseph: “Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you after them will be yours. In the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers.” (Gen. 48:5,6) This was monumental! Jacob knew that eventually his family would return to the Covenant land God had promised them, and when they did, the land would be divided up with each of Jacob’s sons’ families receiving a large province of the country.

With this action, Jacob was saying Joseph would not receive one section of land for his family, but rather a double portion. Joseph would receive TWO provinces of the God given Covenant land, and they would be given each in the name of one of Joseph’s two sons. Thus Manasseh and Ephraim, grandsons of Jacob, would be counted as equal to any of the other SONS of Jacob in the distribution of land! Almost 400 years in the future, this would become reality as Joshua led the delivered Hebrew slaves from 40 years of wandering in the desert, into the “Promised Land” and divided up the land among Jacob’s descendants according to the tribes led by Jacob’s sons, including Joseph’s two sons. You can see this recorded in Joshua 16.

The Genesis record then gives us a glimpse into a very tender and special moment: “Now Israel’s (Jacob) eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh close to Jacob and he kissed them and embraced them. Jacob said to Joseph, ‘I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me so see your children too!” (Gen. 48:10,11) Jacob then prayed a great prophetic blessing over the two boys. And then Jacob said to Joseph: “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers.” The word “you” which Jacob used was plural. He was talking to Joseph and his two sons, but he was talking about ALL his descendants, who by then were nearly 100 in number, but by the time Jacob’s descendants finally crossed the Jordan river to head into that ‘promised land’ would number over 1 million Hebrew people. Since God had changed Jacob’s name to Israel, these people would be known as the ‘children of Israel’, the nation of Israel, the Jewish people.

Now I’d like to invite you, all of you who are on the “Walking with Jesus” journey with me, to take some time today in reflection on your life and your descendants. What will your kids and grandkids cherish most about you, your life and your legacy when you have stepped into eternity? While Joseph and his brothers knew something of the great heritage of theirs which reached back through Jacob to their grandfather Isaac and their great grandfather Abraham, in truth, I suspect Jacob grieved deeply that he had not passed along to them much of an understanding of the Covenant God El Shaddai, who Abraham had known so well. I imagine he also grieved that so much of his life story was marred by the scars of deceit and deception.

And finally, I believe Jacob was nearing the end of his life with perhaps his greatest regret of all… he had allowed his family to become enamored by the bounty of Egypt, and now they had no interest in returning to the God given Covenant land of their heritage. While he had requested that his body be buried with his parents and grandparents, he could do nothing more to influence his kids and grandkids to return back to Canaan. Their roots were now deeply planted in Egypt and every day they became more Egyptian than Hebrew.

May I ask… who are your descendants becoming, my friends? Do you see a spiritual strength and heritage growing in them, or are they too enamored with the bounty of the land where they live? My friends, let’s end our time praying for our descendants right now and asking God to show us how we can use however many years we have left, to pour into our descendants the God honoring spiritual heritage which they will treasure long after we are gone. I have found another wonderful worship song for you today. . .

Today’s Scripture is Genesis 48.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“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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