Jacob: Faith to Worship While Dying (Hebrews 11:21)

Good morning and welcome to Kootenai Church.

Ephesians Call to Worship and Congregational Singing

We're going to open up our service this morning with a call to worship out of the book of Ephesians. In chapter 5, verses 15 through 21, it says, Therefore look carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

On account of this, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not get drunk with wine, for this is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Let's stand this morning as we sing, come Christians, join to sing.

Christians, join to sing, Alleluia. Thanks to Christ our King.

For the scripture reading this morning, we please turn to the book of Psalms, to Psalm 46. Psalm 46, and I'm going to read from there here in just a couple of moments, but a couple of announcements before I do.

We have coming up next week the beginning of the evangelism class that you can sign up for on the sign-up sheet that is in the foyer. Peter Hammond is going to be teaching that and leading a group through that, and somebody has graciously offered to purchase all the books that you'll need for that.

So if you would like to be trained and equipped in evangelism and just personal evangelism or street preaching or anything like that, then that class is for you, and I would encourage you to sign up for that on the sheet that is out in the foyer.

And then in three weeks' time, June 3rd to the 4th is our conference, that's coming up, and we had a visitor with us a few weeks ago who, when they saw our advertisement for that conference with Daryl and Virgil online, they thought we were promoting critical race theory and Black Lives Matter and Marxism and woke Christianity.

They thought that the conference was us bringing those guys in to tell us North Idaho intolerant rednecks how to be more tolerant and loving and anti-racist. And as it turns out, that's not what that seminar is about or that conference is about at all.

So I'm grateful that we had the opportunity to clarify that with him. So if you were thinking that that's what that conference was about and that's your reason for not signing up, I'm just taking away any excuse you have for not attending that.

You can still sign up in the next couple of weeks, and I would encourage you to do so. I think one of the greatest threats that we have going on in the church today and is attacking us from every angle, politically, culturally, in our entertainment, in all of our institutions, is the social Marxism that's being pushed in every way, and it's creeping into the church.

I read a book, just finished one a couple of weeks ago, Wokeness and Christianity by Owen Strand, or Christianity and Wokeness, I forget which one he had first, but Owen Strand's book on that subject, and he just details in that book how ubiquitous the whole Marxist approach is in our culture and in the church, and it is taking over the seminaries, it is taking over the pastorates, it's taking over everything.

And if you want to be equipped to deal with that and think biblically about those issues, this conference is what you're going to want to attend. So I would just encourage you again to take a second look at that if you haven't already.

And they're going to be here teaching adult Sunday school class and preaching on the Sunday that follows that conference. And then one last thing that I mentioned a few…several months ago, actually, before…well, it was a long time ago now because it was back when COVID was a thing, that we had an Israel trip that was planned that got canceled.

We have eight spots available for that, so if you are interested in going to Israel with myself and Justin Peters and another pastor from Spokane, another church that we're partnering with, we have eight slots available.

And so if you want that, then please let me know. Talk with me afterwards. I'll give you some instructions on how to sign up for that. And for that conference…oh, back to the conference. Sorry. Not only do we have room available, we also have need for volunteers, if anybody would like to help with the preparation for that, the setup for it and clean up, talk to Shelley Cowell or to Kathy Conger.

Psalm 46 and Prayer for Comfort in Troubled Times

Now Psalm 46, for our Scripture reading, Psalm 46. For the choir director, a psalm of the sons of Korah set to Alamoth, a song. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. The holy dwelling places are the most high. God is in the midst of her. She will not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations made an uproar.

The kingdoms tottered. He raised His voice. The earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Come, behold the works of the Lord, who has wrought desolations in the earth.

He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariots with fire. Cease striving and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Let's pray together.

Father, it does seem as if we live in a world where the mountains are slipping into the sea and everything that we have once trusted and held fast to in this world are quickly changing and being taken from us.

And this can only serve to set our heart and our attention and our affections upon you and your goodness to us in your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a tendency to cling to the things of this world, to the comforts and the conveniences that it brings, and we pray that in the midst of all that is changing so fast around us and all of the turmoil while the nations rage that you would set our hearts and our minds and our affections upon the God of Jacob and that we would rest in you and in your goodness and in all the grace that you have shown us.

We pray that you would comfort our hearts and encourage us together, help us to see you, help us to see your attributes and your glory and to take comfort in the fact that you rule and reign over all.

You are in the heavens and you do as you please. Be glorified amongst us in our hearts and in our affections, in our minds as we think about you, as we praise you and sing to you. Be honored here and glorified in us and in your church.

Both now and forever we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

This morning we're going to sing a new song called Cling to Christ. So would you please stand with us as we sing.

Most of the loss is gain for those who know your soul.

I the psalmist says in Psalm 19, who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also, keep back your slave from presumptuous sins. Let them not rule over me. Then I will be blameless and I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Yahweh, my rock and my redeemer.

You may be seated.

Hebrews 11:17–22 and the Faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph

Turn now please to Hebrews chapter 11. Turning to Hebrews chapter 11. We're going to read together verses 11, sorry, verse 17 through verse 22.

Hebrews chapter 11.

Beginning at verse 17. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son. It was he to whom it was said, In Isaac your descendants shall be called.

He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which also he received him back as a type. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come. By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones.

Let's pray together.

Our Father, it is our desire that you would be honored and glorified in your word and our understanding of your word. We pray that you would give to us the insight that we need and that your spirit would be our teacher and our guide today.

Help us to understand what the intention of the Spirit of God is in pointing these things out to us, that we may give honor and glory to you in obedience to your word, and that you would increase our faith and our confidence in your word and our trust, not only in Christ but in the truth of your word and in the glories that are to come.

We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob. This is the third of these three patriarchs. These are the three founding patriarchs of the nation of Israel. These are three men to whom God attaches his own name in Scripture.

You see it when you read through Scripture and you read of the God of Jacob or the God of Isaac or the God of Abraham, or when they're all three put together, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and sometimes just in a shortened form, the God of our fathers.

And by fathers, usually the author means the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob being the fathers. God attaches his own name to these men's name throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament.

So, for instance, when Moses was commanded to lead the children of Israel up out of Egypt in the Exodus, we read in Exodus 33, verse 16, Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me saying, I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.

That is a passage that is quoted by Jesus in the New Testament, Matthew 22, 32. I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of the living. Stephen, during his trial and his testimony prior to his martyrdom in Acts chapter 7, says the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate when he decided to release him.

Sorry, that wasn't Stephen, that was Peter in Acts chapter 3. So that description, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is connected to God because of, or those names are connected to God's name because of the covenant that God made with those three men, or actually he made it with Abraham and then reconfirmed and reiterated the promises of that covenant to Isaac and then confirmed and reiterated the promises again to Isaac's son, Jacob.

So as we study the Old Testament plan of salvation, we go all the way back to Abraham and we cannot divorce God's plan of salvation from the Abrahamic covenant. It is only inside of the Abrahamic covenant that salvation is offered to or provided to Gentiles.

Outside of that, there is no salvation promised to Gentiles, but because of God's work through and in the Abrahamic covenant and in time, the study of the doctrine of salvation, God's plan of salvation through history, is rooted and grounded in the promises that God made to Abraham.

And that name is attached to those men, God's name is attached to those men because those men and the promises that God made to Abraham specifically, those men determine how we understand the Abrahamic covenant, determines what it is that's going to happen in the future.

Our understanding of future events comes back to the promises that God made to those three men. So our study of faith and what it means, the working of God, the providence of God, the promises of God, God's plan of salvation, the future, the history of the world, all of it comes down to, is rooted in this Abrahamic covenant, these three men.

Our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And these are imperfect men, but they still left us a legacy of faith. And we're seeing that even in the midst of their imperfections and their idiosyncrasies and their sin and their blatant failures, God still used these men and He still worked through these men.

And our next example now is in verse 21 in Hebrews 11 and it is Jacob. We've looked at Abraham in verse 17, Isaac in verse 20, and now we turn our attention to Jacob. And our pattern here is going to be the same that we've done in the last couple of weeks.

And we have to jump right into the story of Jacob because last week I ran up against the clock in our study of Isaac and I could have divided that into two messages. Mercifully for you, I didn't. It was only one message.

But I have even more material to go through with Jacob because Scripture says so much more about Jacob than it does about Isaac. So our pattern is going to be the same. We're going to in a moment go back to the book of Genesis, but I want you to just observe the details of chapter 11, Hebrews verse 21.

Observe the things that are mentioned here so that when we go back to Genesis, then we will see how it is that the author makes mention or what it is that the author is referring to here in Hebrews 11.

Verse 21, I want you to notice three things. First, the instance that is chosen here to highlight Jacob's faith is something that was done in his dying moments. And as it turns out, it is much closer to his dying moments than Isaac's blessing of his two sons.

Isaac thought he was dying. Jacob actually was dying when he blessed both the sons of Joseph. And this is something that we highlighted last week that for Isaac and Jacob and Joseph, these three men, the example of faith that's given in Hebrews 11, 20, 21, and 22, these are all things that came from their dying moments or something that happened at the end of their life where, at least in Isaac's case, he thought he was dying.

And we would have to observe that and ask why is it that the author chooses instances from the lives of these three men that pertain to moments when they were dying? Why does he do that? Certainly, there are other examples from the lives of those men that the author could have cited.

For instance, he could have said concerning Isaac, by faith, Isaac prayed and Rebekah, his wife, conceived after 20 years of barrenness. He could have done that. For Jacob, he could have said, by faith, Jacob returned to the land of Israel with his four wives and all of his children and was reconciled to his brother Esau.

Or, by faith, Jacob wrestled with God and asked for God's blessing and would not let God go until God blessed him. For Joseph, he could have said, by faith, Joseph rebuffed the advances of Pharaoh's, I don't know if you use the word rebuffed, but avoided the advances of Pharaoh's wife in faithfulness to God because he didn't want to sin against God.

There are examples of faith from all three of these men that he could have cited, but instead, the author zeroes in on these examples of faith in their dying moments. And I think that the reason for that is to show how their faith was present and preserved them all the way to the end of their lives.

So it's not just a faith that they had in the beginning that petered out over time. It's not a faith that waxed and waned and grew strong and grew weak and then was absent from their lives in their dying moments.

No, these men were as strong in faith at the end of their life when they were lying on death's bed and the specter of death hung over their head like dark, foreboding clouds. Their faith was strong in those moments, and in those moments, they're still expressing their confidence in God and what God had promised to give them.

And second, I think the reason that these examples are cited from the moments of their death is to show us that really their faith was in a resurrection. Their faith was in what God was going to give them in the resurrection.

These promises would be fulfilled, not in this life, but in the life that is to come. And these men would enjoy the full reception of and the full benefit of all of these blessings, not in this life, but in the resurrection.

Second, I want you to notice that the act of faith is in blessing his descendants, just as with Isaac in verse 20. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. Well, verse 21, by faith, Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph.

So this is an act of faith that is conferring upon Joseph's sons blessings that Jacob himself had received from Isaac. And third, I want you to notice in Hebrews 11, 21, that it is in faith while he was dying, he worshiped.

His dying moments were worshipful moments. It is in his death, it is in faith, that he is not only blessing Joseph's sons, but he is also leaning on the top of his staff and worshiping God as he is dying.

So faith of Jacob is active in dying, in blessing, and in worshiping. And that would be our three-point outline if we were sticking here, but we're not. We're going back to Genesis. So turn back now to Genesis 28.

And we're going to notice Jacob dying and blessing and worshiping in Genesis 28. Now, when we last left Jacob, he had just robbed the blessing from Esau. And so the Jacob that we're talking about here is the same Jacob who finagled his way into the birthright and then into the blessings.

It's the same Jacob whose ignoble shenanigans we looked at last week. And we're going to fast forward through Genesis from chapter 28. We're going to go all the way to chapter 48 today. So we're going to be giving an overview of 20 chapters.

I know.

And so I need to set a little bit of a context for this. And some of this, some of what I'm about to say here is going to be a trivial interest to you. But I want to do some math and overlap some lives here so we have some idea of the order of these events and the ages of what's unfolding for us in the lives of these patriarchs.

So you are welcome to check my math for two reasons. Number one, I am the product of the public school system. And number two, I did not pay attention when I was in the public school system. So I have two strikes against me already.

So feel free to examine this as I go through it. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Abraham was 175 years old when he died. Which means that when Abraham died, Isaac was how old?

75 years.

Yep.

You're all with me to this point, right? Because we're not all public school students here. You're all with me to this point. So Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Abraham dies at 175. Isaac, when he married Rebekah, was 40 years old.

Genesis chapter 25. She was barren for 20 years. And when Isaac and Rebekah conceived, and the twins, Jacob and Esau, were born, Isaac was 60 years old. Now if Isaac was 75 years old when Abraham died, and Jacob was born when Isaac was 60 years old, that means that Jacob was how old when Abraham died?

15.

Which means that Esau was how old when Abraham died? Carry the one. Also 15, because Jacob and Esau were twins. I know some of you are like, okay, I missed the math somewhere. That's it. They were twins.

So he was also 15 years old. Now Esau married at the age of 40. Esau married at the age of 40, which means Jacob was how old when Esau married? Keep testing him. 40 years old, right? Now as soon as Jacob had stolen the birthright blessing from Esau, it says that Jacob was commanded by Isaac and Rebekah to go to another land outside of there and to not take a wife from the sons of the Canaanites, but instead to go back to Rebekah's family and take a wife from there.

And at that time when Esau heard what Jacob was commanded, he went and took another wife and added them to the wives that he already had, which means that when Jacob stole the blessing from Esau, he was how old?

At least 40. Now in your mind, how old did you picture Jacob being when he and Rebekah finagled that whole thing and worked together to take that from him? What were you thinking, 18, 20, 22, 15 years old, maybe something like that?

He was minimum 40 years old when he stole the blessing from Esau. Then Jacob departed from the land of Canaan and he was gone for at least 15 years. He worked seven years for Leah and he worked seven years for Rachel and by the time he comes back into the land, he has four wives, the handmaids or the maids of both of those two women, plus 11 of his 12 sons are born and he's had daughters who have been born in the meantime as well.

So if Jacob was 40 years old when he stole the blessing from Esau and then he fled the land for at least 15 years, we could probably estimate, we know that when he came back to the land that he reconciled with Esau and then at some point buried Isaac who died at the age of 180 and Jacob then was 120 when he and Esau buried Isaac.

He would have been 120 years old and then Jacob is 130 by the time he gets down into the land of Egypt. Now why do I go through all of that? To simply say that the age of Jacob and Esau when Jacob stole the blessing from him, Jacob would have had to have been minimum 40 years old.

He could have been older than that because there's a large window in which those events could have happened. We know that by the time he comes back to the land of Canaan, which is the land of Israel that was promised to him, the promised land, by the time he comes back there he had to have been old enough to have conceived 11 of his 12 children.

So he's an older man which would put him probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 or 80 years old. I'm guessing. Scripture doesn't nail that down unless there's some detail that I'm unaware of. So these are old men to whom these events are happening in Genesis as we read them.

Now, let's fast forward through the life of Jacob. First, Isaac, after Jacob steals the blessing from Esau, Isaac sends him away to get a wife and when he does so, he reaffirms the covenant that God made with Abraham and confers these blessings upon Jacob not just a second time but also recognizing the providence of God that God was involved in orchestrating the events that happened as they unfolded in his providence.

He used the deception of Jacob in deceiving Esau to get the blessing upon Jacob, which is where God had intended it to go from the beginning. In chapter 28, verse 3, Isaac, as he's sending Jacob away, reconfirms the blessing that God would give to him.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. May he also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.

So there, Isaac is simply recognizing that God's hand has been involved in this and I'm sending you away, but even though you're going outside of the land that God has promised to Abraham and to me and now to you, God is going to give to you everything that he has promised to Abraham.

So now, Jacob is now the promised seed. Chapter 28, verse 10, then Jacob departed and here's where God reconfirms the blessings to Jacob. Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set.

And he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head and lay down in that place. He had a dream and behold, a ladder was set on the earth and its top reaching to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south.

And in you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you.

And Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it. He was afraid and said, how awesome is this place. This is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.

So Jacob at that moment got a vision, a glimpse into heaven and in that moment God took the opportunity to reconfirm the blessings and to.

Remind Jacob.

That what was promised to Abraham was not the heaven into which Jacob was looking and was nothing that was going to be given to him when he died and went to heaven. Again, the promise has to do with the land.

Verse 13. The land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your descendants and your descendants will be like the dust of the earth. And this is confirmed to Jacob before he has a wife or any children.

He is single, he has no descendants and God has reiterated to him, though you're going out of the land, I'm going to bring you back here and I'm going to fulfill all of my word just as I promised to Abraham and to your father Isaac.

In chapter 29, Jacob meets Rachel and then he is tricked into taking a woman that he did not love. There's a little bit of poetic justice in that, is there not? You kind of read that and you have a hard time feeling sorry for Jacob when he gets sort of tricked into that.

He wakes up with a wife that he didn't bargain for after working seven years for her and then he has to work another seven years for Rachel. She bears children to him, chapter 30. Kids are born to him.

Maids bear children. You can just look through the narrative as I'm fast-forwarding here. Jacob actually ended up with four wives and a whole bunch of children and it's very difficult at this point not to hear the lyrics of a 1990's Rich Mullins song echoing around in your head, right?

Jacob, he loved Rachel and Rachel, she loved him and Leah was just there for dramatic effect.

Am I the only one.

That knows that song? A couple others? Yeah, the world is best as I can remember it. It's this whole story that we're hearing here. If you listen to the song, then you know where this is going. In chapter 31, Jacob ends up leaving Laban and tricks Laban out of some of his herd after Laban had taken advantage of him on numerous occasions.

In chapter 32, he prepares to meet Esau. Now the last time he saw his brother Esau was right after he had tricked him out of the blessing and Esau was in a murderous rage waiting for his father Isaac to die so then he could kill Jacob.

So Jacob was fearful and in chapter 32, verse 11, he, in praying, prays for deliverance from his brother Esau but he reminds God of the promises that God had made to him. Verse 11, deliver me I pray from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau for I fear him that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children.

And now he's speaking to the Lord and he reminds the Lord for you said I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea which is too great to be numbered. Now Jacob is terrified at the prospect of meeting his brother because the last time he saw Esau, Esau was kind of giving him one of those nods like yeah our paths are going to cross again and when it does it's not going to be good for you.

Dad will be dead and we will reconcile all of this at some point. You can run away now but our eyes will meet again. That was the last Jacob saw of Esau and now he is about to meet Esau, be reconciled, approach Esau and he is fearful that Esau has not had any of his anger assuaged and he is going to be equally as angry as he was when he left him and of course he has every reason then to fear for his life.

So he reminds God look you said all of my descendants and here I have them. Four wives and all these kids. These are the ones to whom you have promised this land. So I'm just reminding you Lord before I go meet my brother these are the ones you have to keep them alive them and me.

Just remember that tomorrow when we meet. And then Jacob wrestled with God. Chapter 32 verse 24. Then Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. This is the angel of the Lord. Pre-incarnate appearance of the Christ.

And when he saw that he had not prevailed against him he touched the socket of his thigh. So the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then he said let me go for the dawn is breaking.

But he said I will not let you go unless you bless me. So he said to him what's your name? And he said Jacob. And he said your name shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.

Then Jacob asked him and said please tell me your name. But he said what is it that you ask my name? Or why is it that you ask my name? And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel. For he said I have seen God face to face yet my life has been preserved.

He understood that he was wrestling with somebody who was in physical appearance and physical form God in the flesh. Or some sort of a physical manifestation of God Yahweh. Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Peniel and he was limping on his thigh.

This is what most commentators believe is the conversion experience for Jacob. Now it's hard to know for certain but it seems as if Jacob's demeanor changes from this point forward. From this point forward he has been now physically handicapped.

He is limping after the socket of his thigh has been put out of socket. So now he's having a hard time walking and what is he about to do? He's about to meet his brother Esau. And he might wish at that moment that he at least had the ability to run from Esau if things kind of soured.

But now he doesn't have the ability to run from Esau. Now he is really dependent upon the Lord. And his demeanor and his attitude from this point forward change. Notice that his name has changed to Israel and I'm not going to refer to him as Israel but just as Jacob.

I'm having a hard enough time keeping Abraham, Isaac and Jacob separate in my mind as I'm rattling off names. I'm not going to add Israel to the mix. But Jacob's name, the name Jacob meant heel grabber.

The name Israel means God's fighter or he who strives with God. And that's truly just as good of a description of him as was the name Jacob. Because he ends up in the course of his life fighting with his brother, his father, his father-in-law, his wives and now he's wrestled with God.

And he's physically handicapped and must now rely upon God for protection. Genesis chapter 33 here's where he meets Esau. Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked and behold Esau was coming and 400 men with him.

That would just strike terror into your heart. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. He put the maids and their children in front and Leah and her children next and Rachel and Joseph last.

Now here's a man who grew up in a home where daddy played favorites and didn't even try hiding it from him and he has done the same thing. Now he has put the wives, the maids and the children that he has with them out in front and then Leah in the middle and then Rachel and Joseph very last.

Rachel was the woman that he loved in the beginning. It was his favorite wife and now he has a favorite son and it's Joseph. If you're one of those kids and you're up at the front of that line, what are you thinking?