Transcript: Verse by Verse Study – Genesis Chapter 48:1 to Chapter 50:26 – Zac Poonen

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His heart was set on that.

And that is the type of person whom God can say He is the God of Jacob, because despite all his other failings, we can say that he desired to be in the place where God wanted him to be and he would not succumb to the temptations of the comforts of a more advanced country. And though his son is such a big person in that country, his son is almost the top ruler in that country, and yet he says, “No, my home is back there where God has called me to be. I am here temporarily, but my heart and mind is set on that which God has called me to.”

The Adoption of Joseph’s Sons

He says, “Now your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt, before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.”

Now, what we see in these coming two chapters, chapters 48 and 49, is Jacob speaking prophetically. He is speaking concerning his sons, prophesying concerning what is going to happen to them in the days and the years to come, in future generations.

The Contrast Between Isaac and Jacob

We can contrast this with Isaac, who could never say anything concerning what would befall Jacob or Esau. He never could gather Jacob and Esau and prophesy to them. Isaac had had an easy way through life. He had received everything freely from his father and lived a fairly comfortable life. He lived a good life, of course, but a fairly comfortable, easy life. There was not much discipline. So we find that at the end of his life, there is no prophecy either.

But Jacob had gone through the mill, we can say. He had been ground by God in the mill, and all his hopes were shattered. He had gone through frustrations, disappointments, discipline, difficulty, hardship, and through all that, he got a spiritual education. We can say that Jacob went through a real Bible school conducted by God.

The Power of Prophetic Words

And the result was that he had learned through all that, so that when he says something, few words – in fact, the words that he speaks to each of his sons are very few, less than half a minute almost to most of his children, and yet they were so prophetic concerning exactly what was going to happen hundreds of years later for them.

And we can say that this is the basis of prophecy, because that’s our calling in the Church, to be able to speak the word in such a way that we can help the people we speak to. And it’s not long sermons. There is a place for teaching, but prophecy can be very brief.

Jacob’s words of prophecy to his sons were, as I said, less than a half a minute to each of them, and they were so appropriate – in fact, that’s the word the Holy Spirit uses later on, appropriate to each one – beginning with Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

The Prophetic Vision of the Twelve Tribes

Now Jacob had twelve sons, beginning with Reuben and all the way down to Benjamin, and we know that there were twelve tribes in Israel. Later on, long after Jacob died and they came to the land of Canaan, there were twelve tribes. But the interesting thing we see is that God removed one of those tribes that descended from one of the sons of Jacob, the tribe of Levi, and made them priests, and said, “You are to have no inheritance, and you’re not even going to be counted with Israel.” And all the Levites were not counted among the twelve tribes. So we were left with only eleven.

So which are the twelve tribes then? The twelve tribes are ten sons of Jacob, their descendants, and instead of Joseph, the two sons of Joseph. That’s how it becomes twelve, later on in the Old Testament.

Now, how in the world did Jacob know that? That is by prophetic vision. He said, “Ephraim and Manasseh are going to be my sons, just like Reuben and Simeon. They are going to be part of my family. They are not my grandsons. They are my sons, just like Reuben and Simeon.” And that’s exactly what happened. We find that Ephraim and Manasseh became the heads of two of the twelve tribes of Israel, though Jacob didn’t know why that would happen. He just spoke as he was given utterance at that time by God.

But a man who has gone through discipline under God’s hand may not always know what he is speaking, but what he speaks will be exactly according to the need of those who hear.

Jacob’s Memory of Rachel

So he says, “Your offspring, were six that have been born after them, shall be yours. They shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance.” That means they are going to get an inheritance along with the other ten sons of mine. That was really prophetic.

And then he sees them. He remembers his beloved wife who died, “As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died to my sorrow in the land of Canaan, on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephraim.”

What a relationship he had with his wife, that so many, many, many years after her death, he still remembers her with great affection. A good example for husbands.

The Blessing of Joseph’s Sons

When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” And Joseph said, “These are my sons.” He said, “Bring them to me, that I may bless them.” And the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see.

Physically he was dim, just like Isaac. Isaac’s eyes were dim when he told Esau to go and get the venison. And Israel, that’s Jacob, who is now called Israel, his eyes were dim too. But the difference was that Isaac’s spiritual eyes were also dim, whereas Jacob’s spiritual eyes were crystal clear. And that’s quite a contrast. And that’s how we must come to the end of our lives.

A Warning About Growing Old

When I see some old believers who have been believers for many, many years, many, many years, they are advanced in age now, and they are so sour, and so bitter, and so demanding, so grumpy, and not full of the joy of the Lord, and imposing themselves on other younger people, I say, “Lord, save me from ever degenerating into an old man like that.” Think of that. It’s easy to end up like that if we have not worked out our salvation in our younger days. Very easy.

It’s because Jacob went through discipline that he ended his life in such a glorious way. We can say, well, that’s a long way before I become an old man, but that’s what everybody says. But time flits by so fast. In any case, there’s not probably time left for all of us to become old people, for the coming of the Lord is near.

It’s important that we grow in wisdom quickly, so that we can have a prophetic word for those who come to us.

The Crossing of Hands

And Israel said to Joseph, verse 11, “I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well.” And Joseph took them from his knees and bowed his face to the ground, and Joseph took them both. Ephraim, with his right hand, because Ephraim was the younger, he took Ephraim towards Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh, he took with his left hand towards Israel’s right hand, because Manasseh was the oldest, and brought them close to him.

But Israel stretched out his right hand. He couldn’t see which was which. But you see the leading of God, that he lays his right hand not in the normal way on these two, but he crosses his hands and puts the right hand on Ephraim’s head. Because the right hand was supposed to be the greater blessing than the left. And crossed his left hand on Manasseh, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the first one.

Jacob’s Testimony and Blessing

And he blessed Joseph. And he said that “God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,” this has been his experience and this has been his testimony, that though he went through rough paths, it was God who shepherded him. “And the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless these lads, and may my name live on in them, the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

Joseph’s Displeasure and Jacob’s Wisdom

And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, interesting, that though Joseph was such a good man and a very upright person, and very wise when it came to worldly administration, yet he did not have that discernment yet concerning his own children, which his father had. His father had gone through God’s mill and knew what he was doing. Joseph did not have that discernment. And in fact, it says, it displeased him.

And he grasped 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, this one is the first born, you made a mistake. Place your right hand on his head.”

His father refused and said, “I know my son, I know.” What beautiful words. “I know.” I am not so dumb spiritually, though I can’t see physically. I know what I am doing.

The Natural Mind Cannot Understand the Spiritual

The word of God says that the natural man cannot understand why a spiritual man does things in a certain way. 1 Corinthians chapter 2:14 and onward. It is foolishness to him. The natural mind, however sharp it may be, cannot understand why a spiritual person does and behaves in a certain way.

Jacob says, “I know. Yes, Manasseh will also become a people, he will also be great, however his younger brother shall be greater.” Here is prophecy. “His younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

This is no giving the blessing to the one who will bring the venison first. No, no, no, no. He has gone through the mill. He is not bothered about venison or curry or any such thing. He says, “I know what I am doing. I have no partiality here, and I am not going to go by your suggestion. Joseph, you are a good brother, but I know what I am doing, and your suggestion, though good, is not really the way God is leading.”

That which appears right to us naturally is very often not right spiritually.

The Fulfillment of Prophecy

And he blessed them that day, saying, “May you, Israel, should prance, blessing saying, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” Not like Manasseh and Ephraim. Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

And it is very interesting when you read through the scriptures towards the latter part of the Old Testament, after the days of Solomon, the days of Rehoboam, the kingdom of Israel to twelve tribes was split into two, and the northern kingdom comprised of ten tribes, and very often in the prophets, the ten tribes were called Ephraim. Ephraim was the combined name for ten tribes. It was the name by which the northern kingdom of Israel was often called. How right Jacob was concerning the future.

Manasseh, on the other hand, half the tribe of Manasseh we read in the book of Numbers and Deuteronomy, never even wanted to cross into Jordan. They stayed on the other side of Jordan. They said, “This beautiful land here, we’d like to stay here.”

Jacob’s Final Words to Joseph

And Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.” There again, his heart is not set on this advanced country of Egypt. His heart is set on the primitive land of Canaan, because that is where God has called him.

The important thing, brothers and sisters, is not to go to a land where things are comfortable and easy, but to be in the place where God has called us. Perhaps one percent of believers are gripped by that. But Jacob was one of those gripped by that.

He says, “I’ll give you one portion.” Here is the double portion, the birthright that went to Joseph. Joseph got the birthright. “I’ll give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

Jacob’s Prophetic Blessing Through Brokenness

I want you to turn to Hebrews 11. In verse 21, we read, “By faith, Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped,” and here is that beautiful phrase, “leaning on the top of his staff.” How did he bless the sons of Joseph correctly? Leaning on the top of his staff, and that staff reminded him that many years earlier at Peniel, God had dislocated his thigh and broken him.

After twenty years of discipline, broken him, and he leaned upon God. That staff was a symbol of his leaning upon God from that day. Leaning upon God, he blessed the sons of Joseph by faith, correctly. He did that by faith, by leaning upon God.

That is what faith means. So that is how true prophecy comes. True prophecy comes when a man has been so dislocated, his own strength, and all of us have a particular area where we have strength. For some people it is their intellect, for some people it is their money, for some people it is something else.

But where God has been able to break them, and they are dislocated and broken, and they learn to lean upon a staff, then they can prophesy by faith correctly. Otherwise it will be like Joseph, good brother, upright brother, but not broken like Jacob, and therefore not able to discern which of these two sons, what is going to befall these two sons in the future.

The Difference Between Good and Broken

It is very easy sometimes we see even good brothers not able to discern another son. You can be a good brother, and yet you may not have discernment concerning a need in the church, because there you have to be broken.

It is not enough to be a good brother like Joseph, you have to be a broken brother like Jacob. There is a difference. It is not enough to be a good upright brother like Joseph, you have also got to be a broken brother like Jacob who leans upon the top of his staff. Then you have discernment.

That is what we need, brothers and sisters, discernment, spiritual discernment. Otherwise we should go by our natural reason and say “this is like this and this is like this,” and we will be completely wrong. We may even be upset that a more spiritual brother has a different view than us on this. We wonder why.

Maybe you are a good brother, but you are not broken. That may be the reason. Joseph could not understand why Jacob did it that way. In fact he was displeased.

Have you ever been displeased or a bit upset that another brother does it differently from the way you would do it, and it has disturbed you? It is good to judge ourselves and see whether we have resisted brokenness and just been good. It is brokenness that brings discernment.

Jacob’s Final Prophecies

And then Jacob assembled all his sons and said, “I will tell you what shall befall you in the days to come.”

Think of the confidence this man has. He said, “I am going to tell you now, all of you. I have told Ephraim and Manasseh, now I shall tell you, the rest of you, what shall befall you in the days to come. Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel, your father.”

Even Abraham never did this. Isaac never did it. But Jacob, the man who was a crook, who was a grabber, who was a deceiver, what an encouragement to us that God could so change this man and break him that he ends his days in prophecy. In fact he prophesied and then it says he just got into bed and died.

What a wonderful way to die. To prophesy with our last breath and then it can be written of us “he just lifted up his legs onto his bed and died.” Wonderful. That is the tremendous thing that God can do when we are broken.

Isaac was not a grabber like Jacob. Isaac was not, humanly speaking, he was not so deceitful and a crook like Jacob. But yet God was able to do a greater work for Jacob because He broke him. We can be good brothers, but if we are not broken, we don’t come into prophecy, we don’t come into spiritual vision.

Reuben: The Tragedy of Seniority Without Spirituality

And then he calls Reuben and says, “Reuben, you are my firstborn, but you don’t get the birthright.” The birthright is already given to Joseph as we saw in Genesis 48:22. He says, “Reuben, you are the beginning of my strength, preeminent in dignity, preeminent in power, but you are unstable, uncontrolled as water, boiling over as water. You could not rule, you shall not have the preeminence because you went up to your father’s bed.”

He committed adultery with one of his father’s wives. He could not rule his own lust and therefore he was not permitted to rule his younger brothers. The principle that Jacob understood: you have to first learn to rule your own passions before God gives you authority over other brothers.

We can have a great lust to be considered an elder brother or an elder sister to others who are younger to us. God says, “You forget all that. Just first learn to control your anger and your irritation and your getting offended and your impatience. Get to rule over that before you seek to be an elder to other people, even to a young boy or girl.”

“You are the beginning of my strength.” In other words, you are the senior most brother in the church, but sorry, you are not going to get the birthright just because you are the senior most. There is no question of seniority in the kingdom of God. The birthright does not go to the senior most, to the one who has been the longest number of years in the fellowship in the church. He may not be spiritual.

He may not have overcome sins. He may not have spiritual vision. There are lots of people who have been in the church for many years who don’t have as much spiritual vision as somebody else who has come in for two or three years ago, because it is a question of faithfulness before God’s face. So, he says, “You missed it.”

When you look at the history of Reuben in the Old Testament, you find that there was not a single king of Israel, not a single judge and not a single prophet ever came out of the tribe of Reuben. Not a single king, not a single prophet in the whole history of Israel ever came out of the tribe of Reuben, even though he was the senior brother who has been longest in the church. What a tragedy! What a tragedy to be a senior brother and not have got victory over one’s lusts and to lack spiritual vision.

Tragedy! Tragedy! That’s Reuben’s warning to all such. Think of what Reuben himself says in Genesis 42:22.

He says, “You remember the time when Joseph was in the pit,” Genesis 42:22, “and Reuben answered saying, didn’t I tell you, don’t sin against the boy and you would not listen.” What is he saying? “I as your elder brother,” and I’ll tell you something, those days, those who were the eldest in the family had tremendous respect from the youngers, but not Reuben. He told them something, he says, they told him to go and mind his own business.

He wouldn’t listen. He had no influence because he was unstable, not steadfast. Seniority doesn’t make us elder brothers or bring other people to have confidence in us. It is steadfastness.

Simeon and Levi: From Curse to Blessing

Simeon and Levi, verses 5 to 7, is the next two and three in the family that Joseph, Jacob prophesies about, Genesis 49:5. “Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are implements of violence.” You remember they killed the Shechemites who had defiled Dinah, their sister.

“Let my soul not enter into their counsel.” He says, “I will have no fellowship with them in that spirit of revenge that they had. Let not my glory be united with their assembly, because in their anger they slew men, in their self-will they lamed oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.”

There was a curse that came upon Simeon and Levi, and the wonderful thing we see here is that that curse was cancelled later on. In Exodus 32, when the children of Israel were worshipping the golden calf, Moses came down and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will stand with me against all these idolaters?”

We read that in Exodus 32, that the tribe of Levi came forth and said to Moses, “We will stand with you.” And they went forth, and they stood against their own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters. They really were radical towards their relatives. And the Lord said, “The tribe of Levi is going to be the priests.”

The priests will come from the tribe of Levi. That’s the day God chose the priests. They didn’t know that was the selection for priests that was going on there. Supposing Moses had announced, “Now we are going to select the priestly tribe. Who will come out on my side?” Oh, all twelve would have run out.

Very often when God tests us, we don’t realize that God is testing us for a privilege, for a ministry. But that day, because Levi took the stand with Moses for the Lord, they were appointed as priests, and this curse that came from Jacob was cancelled.

And the blessing came upon them. It’s amazing how we can see that, that though in our past there may have been so many things wrong, yet it can all be cancelled out if we take a stand for the Lord, even against our own family members.

Judah: The Lion and the Scepter

Verse 8 to 12, we read about Judah. “Judah, your brothers shall praise you.” Judah means praise. And in the journey in the wilderness, God had appointed a particular order in which the tribes were to march. And right in front, the first tribe to lead the congregation of Israel was Judah, symbolizing that in God’s church always praise must lead the church. Just like Jehoshaphat, he appointed right in the front of the army people who would praise the Lord.

Judah, meaning praise, was to be in the front, in the marching order in the wilderness. And “Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s son shall bow down to you.”

“Judah is a lion’s wealth,” and there you think of the lion of Judah that we read of in Revelation. You see what fantastic prophetic vision Jacob had? “From the prey, my son, you’ve gone up, he couches, he lies down as a lion, as a lion who dares rouse him up.” Three times he uses that word, the lion of Judah.

“And the scepter,” the scepter is the rod of the king, “shall not depart from Judah.” And we see in the history of the kingdom of Judah, of Israel and later on of Judah after Israel got divided, it was the tribe of Judah that had kings all the way. David, the most famous of them, beginning with David, and all the way up to Jesus Christ, who was born of the tribe of Judah.

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until Shiloh,” that is the prince of peace, “comes.”

This is the first place in the Bible where we read a prophecy that the Messiah would come through the tribe of Judah. It’s amazing the vision that God gave to Jacob, this man who had started out so badly but whom God broke and gave him such a prophetic vision. “And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.” To Jesus Christ will be the obedience of the people.

“He ties his fold to the vine” and so on.

The Remaining Sons

Then he goes, it’s very interesting, he skips the, he’s going in order, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah. That’s in the right order. Now the fifth son is Issachar, but he doesn’t go to the fifth son, he skips straight over to the tenth one.

The tenth one is Zebulun. He says, “Zebulun shall dwell at the seashore, and he shall be a haven for ships, and his flank shall be toward Sidon.” And perhaps there is a reason why he went from the fourth to the tenth son, because Zebulun is the son whose tribe is Zebulun. He got the area of Canaan’s land in which were Nazareth and Galilee, where the Lion of Judah, the one who when He would come, would grow up.

And here was Jacob prophesying that years later when the land of Canaan would be divided up, Zebulun, the tribe of Zebulun would get a property near Sidon, beside the sea, and they would be involved in commerce. And that’s how we read of Zebulun there.

And then we go to the fifth son, Issachar, where he’s 14 to 15. “He’s a strong donkey lying down between the sheepfolds. When he saw that a resting place was good, the land was pleasant, he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens.” Various prophecies concerning these sons that were literally fulfilled in the history of Israel. Some of it we have not exactly located, some of it we can see clearly.

“Dan shall judge his people,” because Dan means judge, he’s one of the tribes of Israel. And we can say one of the judges of Israel was Samson, who came from the tribe of Dan. “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path.” You see, not very good things that he says about Dan here. “That bites the horse’s heels, so the rider falls backward.”

That he’d be subtle like a serpent. He was the son of one of the servants, one of the servant women. It’s likely that he was probably one of the ringleaders in getting Joseph sold off, and one of the ringleaders trying to get Joseph knocked out and killed, when Joseph came to see them. He was, we can say, one of the black sheep of the family.

Joseph’s Prophecy Over the Twelve Tribes

And it’s interesting that in the history of Israel too, the tribe of Dan was the first tribe that went into idolatry. In the book of Revelation chapter 7, where the twelve tribes of Jacob are mentioned, Dan is not even mentioned. He was the bad boy of the family, as far as he knows. And I think verse 18, all of a sudden we wonder what that verse means.

“For thy salvation I wait, O Lord.” It’s almost as though Jacob has seen through this naughty boy and says, “I wonder when he’ll get salvation. I wait for it, Lord. I wait for salvation for this lad.”

From his naughtiness and his evil nature, like a serpent in the way that bites the horse’s heels. A horn snake in the paths. Verse 19, as for Gad, raiders shall raid him, but he shall raid at their heels. In other words, they’ll be alternately defeated and victorious.

And that was the history of Gad too. As for Asher, his food shall be rich, he shall yield royal dainties. Asher was another tribe that was located in one of the richest parts of Canaan in the north, and that was also prophesied here. Naphtali is a doe let loose, he gives beautiful words.

Naphtali was the other tribe that was located in the north. We read in Matthew 4:15 that Jesus began to preach in the areas of Zebulun and Naphtali. Then verse 22, “Joseph is a fruitful bow, a fruitful bow by a spring, its branches run over a wall.”

“The archers bitterly attacked him, and shot at him and harassed him,” harassed by his brothers, “but his bow remained firm.” That means he did not compromise. And his arms were agile, and he stood for the Lord. But Jacob reminds him that his hands were made strong by the mighty one of Jacob.

“From there, that is the shepherd and the stone of Israel.” In other words, he is telling Joseph that the reason why you did not compromise, and why your bow abode in strength, and why your arms were agile, was because you were strengthened by the mighty one of Jacob, the shepherd and the stone of Israel. All of Jacob’s blessings came from Him, “from the God of your father who helps you by the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breast and the womb, the blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.”

Later on from his tribe came Joshua, from the tribe of Joseph, who led the Israelites into the land of Canaan.

The Prophecy Over Benjamin

Now here is something which is very interesting when we come to verse 27.

This is the last boy now, and you know how the last son in a family, or the last child in a family is always petted, and pampered, and spoiled. And particularly when Jacob had one out of his four wives was his favorite, and his favorite wife Rachel had only two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, and one of those two sons disappeared, he thought dead. Benjamin must have been the darling of Jacob’s heart in every way. He must have looked a little bit like his mother Rachel, and everything would have made Jacob really pamper and spoil Benjamin.

And one would think that, humanly speaking, when he came to prophesy over Benjamin, he’d say, “Oh God will really give you the best.” But see what he says. There we see how Jacob does not prophesy according to the natural mind. “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf.”

There we see a spiritual man who has been cleansed from partiality towards a particular child. It’s a tremendous lesson for fathers to learn. If we can learn to prophesy like this, to be cleansed from this partiality. Yeah, Benjamin is my favorite child, but God says he’s a ravenous wolf.

“In the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the spoil.” Cunning as a wolf. From the tribe of Benjamin came King Saul. And we read in the history of Israel that the tribe of Benjamin was a fierce tribe, exactly like this ravenous wolf.

Freedom from Partiality

But it’s very interesting to see there that Jacob does not go by his natural preferences. I must confess that in my life I’ve seen probably very few fathers who attain to this freedom from partiality. Even among those who understand the new and living way. Very few take it seriously to cleanse themselves from partiality towards their children.

It’s a very difficult thing to cleanse ourselves from, but he who is wholehearted to partake of the divine nature will see that God is impartial and will really seek to be impartial himself. He who has ears to hear let him hear. “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what the father told him, what he said to them when he blessed them,” and this is the verse I was telling you earlier. “He blessed them, every one, with the blessing appropriate to him.”

Prophetically he gave each one exactly what was needed for him, without partiality, without preference. I’ve seen people prophesying in charismatic meetings. It’s all so shallow. It depends on this pastor goes and prophesies over somebody and if he likes him he’ll say something good, if he doesn’t like him he’ll say something bad.

That’s not prophecy, that’s just a deception. That’s like Isaac saying, “Bring me the venison and I’ll give a good prophecy over you.” There are pastors like that. You bring them the venison, they’ll give a good prophecy over you.

But Jacob’s not going to be fooled by venison or any such thing. “You may be my favorite son, Benjamin, but I’ve got to tell you exactly what God’s shown me.” Oh, I long to be a father like that. I want to be a brother like that who is being disciplined so that there’s no partiality at all towards any human being, towards any brother in the church, to speak exactly what is right, without any human attachment, to see as God sees.

That’s what we should long for. If we let God discipline us, we can be like that. That what we speak will be appropriate to each person, without partiality. Long for it, dear brothers and sisters.

That’s our calling. Long for it. Think that a crook like Jacob could become like this in the end of his days. God could work on him.

There’s hope for every one of us. If we are wholehearted, this partiality is really a wretched thing. If we don’t take it seriously, it will remain with us till our dying day. We’ve got to root it out and cleanse it out.

Partiality towards one another in the church. You’ve got to cleanse it.

Jacob’s Final Instructions and Death

Then he charged them.

His eyes are on Canaan. He says, “Don’t bury me in this advanced country, take me back to the primitive country of Canaan. Bury me with my fathers in the cave of Ephron the Hittite.” None of these fancy pyramid tombs for me.

That old cave down in primitive Canaan is good enough for me. That’s why God’s called me. “There they buried Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and his wife Rebecca. There I buried Leah.”

And when he finished charging his sons, he prophesied right up to the last breath. Verse 33, “he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.” What a wonderful way to end one’s life. What a wonderful way to end one’s life.

I hope it challenges us and encourages us that God could make so much out of a man who started life as a crook and a cheat and a deceiver and a grabber. That he submitted to God’s disciplines. I believe it’s one of the greatest examples in the Old Testament of what God can do in a man who’s just like us. If we submit to God’s disciplines, he can make that crook into a prophet.

That’s what we see in Jacob’s life. Anyone, guys, no partiality with God. What He did for Jacob, He’ll do for us. But we have to give the right answer when He says, “What’s your name, Lord Deceiver?”

“Jacob.” We’ve got to give the right answer when He asks us, “What’s your name?” “Yeah Lord, this is the truth, this is what I am.” That’s the man whom God changes.

Joseph’s Burial of Jacob

And Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, chapter 50, verse 2. And the physicians embalmed Israel. Now forty days were required for this.

Such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. And when the days of mourning were passed, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh. Remember this.

Now we’ve got to understand this picture clearly.

We can say, comparing it to today’s world, we can say Joseph was like, say, the man next to the President of the United States of America, or something like that. Who’d say, maybe he went out from some primitive country like India and became the top man in America. And he took his father over and his father says, “No, my home’s back in the old land where I came from.” And this man, who’s the top ruler in another country, goes up to Pharaoh and says, “I’ve got to go back to Canaan.”

My home is there. You see, Joseph is not ashamed to stand up to the world’s greatest monarch and tell him, “My home’s in Canaan. I’ve got to take my dad’s body over there to bury him there.” Not in any of the fancy tombs of Egypt.

Think of that. Think to say, though I’m here in Egypt and I’m a ruler, I refuse to identify with this country. I want to be identified with the country in which God has called me. That’s something we see.

He was not afraid. He was not afraid of what Pharaoh would think. “Look at this fellow. After all that I’ve done for him all these thirty, forty years, now he still wants to go back to Canaan.”

He was not afraid. He says, “Now let me go up and bury my father in Canaan.” I’m sure Pharaoh would have been glad to make a fantastic, at least a small pyramid for Jacob. But no, they wanted to go back to Canaan.

Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father.” And Joseph went up to bury his father and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house and all the elders of the land of Egypt. All the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household, they left only the little ones. And they went up with him, chariots and horsemen, as a great company.

And they made a lamentation at the threshing floor of Etah at verse 10. And when the inhabitants of land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning, they said, “This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians.” And thus his sons did for him as he had charged them. For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre.

And after he had buried his father, verse 14, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

The Brothers’ Fear and Guilty Conscience

Now, we come to another part where we see the attitude of Joseph’s brothers.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph should bear a grudge against us and pay us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him?” You see, a guilty conscience can give us many fears. Sometimes a man may be there, like Jacob, to protect us. We say, “Oh, it’s all right now, this man will help us out of our problem.”

And then the man dies, or the man is transferred, or goes away. And this guilty conscience begins to bother us again. The guilty conscience brings many fears. And the guilty conscience of these brothers, particularly the ten, bothered them.

And they thought, “Now Joseph will take revenge on us.” And that teaches us something about their own nature. There’s a verse that we considered when we studied the book of Proverbs, I don’t know whether you remember it, in Proverbs 27:19, which says that “as in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man.” That means that when I come into a particular situation with another human being, I expect that that human being will behave in the same selfish self-centered way that I usually behave in.

That’s the meaning of that verse. That I see in his heart, he may have very good motives, but because I am not so spiritual to have such good motives, I imagine that he must be having selfish motives, because I see in his heart a mirror, this verse says, that shows me the condition of my own heart. So when Joseph’s brothers thought that Joseph will now take revenge on us, they were actually seeing a reflection of what was in their own heart, that if they were in Joseph’s position, they would have taken revenge. And very often the evil motives that we attribute to other brothers and sisters for the reason, “Ah, I know why he did this, he did that with this type of motive,” we don’t say it, but we think like that.

Why do we think like that? Because we ourselves act with such selfish self-centered motives that we can’t imagine that any brother or sister would act from any pure motives. “That must be a selfish motive, because I am selfish myself.” And if only we can be honest there and say, “Lord, I am just seeing a reflection of my own heart.”

That’s not a picture of his heart, I can’t even see his heart, only You can see it. But I am imagining, what I see is a mirror. I imagine that he will act in the same selfish way as I do. I imagine that he’ll take revenge like I do.

But Joseph was far from that. Joseph didn’t have any thoughts of revenge in his mind at all. And so they went up to Joseph, and I think they invented a story here, I don’t think it was really true, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying,” they have to invent something. They are quite capable of that.

Joseph’s Brothers’ Deception and Fear

Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers for their sin.” If Jacob wanted to say that to Joseph, he could have said it himself before he died. Why did he have to leave a message with his ten brothers and say, “Go and tell this to Joseph after I am dead?” That’s a story, an invention, to protect themselves, just like we know how we can invent stories to protect ourselves when we are in the soup, in some situation.

“Your father said this, you know, please tell Joseph to forgive their transgression. Now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.”

Joseph’s Tender Heart

And Joseph wept. You see something of Joseph’s heart there? He says, “Oh my brothers, you lived with me for all these years in Egypt and you think I am so evil. I am so sad that you still have such bad thoughts about me, that you think I am going to take revenge on you now just because Jacob had died.”

He wept. He wept that they could be so evil. He was really a tender-hearted man. The man God used in Egypt was a tender-hearted man.

And his brothers came and fell down and said, “We are your servants.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid.” Here is a very beautiful word, “Am I in God’s place? Am I in God’s place?”

The Question: Am I in God’s Place?

A very good question for us to ask ourselves in our relationships with other people. Am I in God’s place? It’s amazing, my dear brothers and sisters, how many people I have seen who try to take God’s place towards another brother. Do you know that when you take revenge, you are taking God’s place?

There is a verse in Deuteronomy 32:35, where God says, “Vengeance is mine.” It’s quoted in Romans chapter 12, towards the end of Romans 12, Deuteronomy 32:35. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. But Joseph knew that before Deuteronomy was written.

Joseph lived hundreds of years before Deuteronomy was written, but he knew it, because he had the Spirit of God, which taught him that revenge is God’s business. “Am I in God’s place to take vengeance on you? No sir, I will never do that.” Do you know the number of ways in which we can act like God towards other brothers and sisters?

When I lord it over others, what am I doing? I am being like God towards other people. When I want other people to obey me and submit to me, I am being like God to them. There are many husbands who are like God to their wives.

They need to ask themselves this question, “Am I in God’s place?” Are you in God’s place, my dear brother, acting like God towards somebody else? Humble yourself, that’s the spirit of Lucifer, who wanted God’s place. Joseph knew that that is not the right spirit.

Practical Applications

“Am I in God’s place” is a question that we can profitably ask ourselves in many situations. There are many people who treat the people who work under them just like God. Even God wouldn’t be so strict and hard the way some people are hard on the people they employ, who work under them, their subordinates. Ask yourself this question, “Am I in God’s place?”

Am I acting like God towards that person? Am I imposing my personality on that person, such that the person doesn’t have freedom to be himself? There is a tremendous lust in our flesh to be God towards other people. You find, for example, I will give you a test of this.

Supposing you find a secret delight in your heart when you find some brother having confidence in you, and coming to you for advice, or some sister coming to you for advice and having confidence in you, and you find secretly your heart is delighted. Shall I tell you, my brother or sister, there is something of the spirit of Lucifer there that makes your heart delighted, that you can be God to that brother. You can be God to that sister, giving advice. Cleanse yourself.

Cleanse yourself. We are not to be in God’s place towards any other person. It’s got to bring a fear in our hearts when we see that people take our advice. A fear, a holy fear, “Am I in God’s place?”

I fear, Lord, this person is taking my advice so seriously. I fear, “Am I in God’s place?” That’s the right spirit. That is the man whom God appointed in Egypt.

Joseph’s Understanding of God’s Sovereignty

“As for you,” he understood Deuteronomy 32:35, before it was written. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” He understood Romans 8:28, before that was written. What a man Joseph was.

Think to be able to know a scripture which is not even written. Think to be able to know a scripture from experience, which is the spirit of Christ, but it’s not there. You haven’t read the word, but you know it. That’s how the Spirit can lead us into all the truth.

“You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. In order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.”

“I will do good to you. I will do the very best to you people.” In fact, Joseph doesn’t try to rub it in by saying, “You fellows did such a lot of evil to me and you did this, don’t you remember you did this, and don’t you remember you did that, and don’t you remember, but I shall be so magnanimous and gracious and I shall forgive you.” You know there are some people who forgive like that.

True Forgiveness vs. Pharisaical Forgiveness

“I don’t forget all the wretched things that you have done to me, but I shall forgive you.” Do you see the pious humbug of a Pharisee putting on the garments of humility there? I remember hearing of, it wasn’t here, it was in another place, not in Bangalore, where a sister had a difficulty with another sister and then she went up and told her, “Yes, I was a bit disturbed by your attitude towards me, but I have decided to die to myself.” Do you see the pious Pharisee who has put on the garments of death to self?

Can you see through that hollowness? Can you see through that humbug? That sister couldn’t. And that sister told me, that’s how I know about it.

I said, “Lord, give her light. Let her see. She can’t see. She can’t see the Phariseeism in that.”

“You have treated me like this, but I shall forgive you because I am so spiritual.” That is the unsaid part. “I shall forgive you. I shall be gracious.”

“I shall die to myself and forgive you.” Joseph has not got any of that humbug. He says, “God worked it out for good.” He says, “I’ll do good to you.”

No reminding the other person of all that they did. That’s spirituality.

Joseph’s Final Years and Death

Joseph lived there for the age of 110. He saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons.

He told his brothers, verse 24, “I am about to die.” And twice he says, in verse 24 and 25, “God will surely take care of you and bring you back to that land,” to that primitive land of Canaan, away from this advanced society because that’s the place where God wants us to be. Joseph made the sons of Israel saying, “God will surely take care of you and you’ll carry my bones up from here.” He identified himself with Canaan’s land, the place where God had called him to be.

So Joseph died at the age of 110 years and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

The Message of Genesis

Just in closing, let me mention, it’s very interesting to see how the book of Genesis begins and how it ends. You know the first verse in Genesis? “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

And then the last words are, “a coffin in Egypt.” It’s quite a contrast. That’s the result of sin. And from that book, we see the examples of these men and we see that they were very ordinary men, just like you and me.

There are warnings, there are encouragements, examples for us to follow, warnings for us to be careful of, dangers to avoid, shining examples of men who did not even have a Bible with them, no old covenant, no new covenant, and yet who lived by the Spirit of Christ. Think of Joseph. What a wonderful character to study, to see how much, what a height he could attain to without scriptures, without any verses, because he was open to God. At the age of 17 he was getting visions of God, I’m sure he was getting it right on till the end of his life.

That’s the secret, brothers and sisters. It’s not just knowledge of the Bible, it’s being open to God. That’s what we see in the book of Genesis. Noah, Abel, Abraham, Enoch, they were open to God.

They walked with God means they heard what God had to say to them. They didn’t have just dry academic knowledge of some scripture, they didn’t have any scripture. They were open to God and that’s what made them the men they became. And that’s what God desires from us, an openness to Him, to hear Him, to walk with Him.

That’s the message that comes through the book of Genesis to us from these characters.

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