Genesis 48 (Bible Study)

Moore's Corner Church

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All right, before we look at Genesis chapter 48, let's bow in a word of prayer.

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Our Father, this evening, help us to approach your word with a receptive heart and help us to be willing to apply it to our lives.

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We just thank you for the blessings that you've given to us this week. We thank you for our church.

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We thank you for one another. And most of all, we thank you for the grace which is given to us in our

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Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray. Amen. Genesis chapter 48.

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Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, indeed, your father is sick.

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And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And Jacob was told,

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Look, your son Joseph is coming to you. And Israel strengthened himself, and sat up on the bed.

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

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

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

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They shall be mine. Your offspring, whom you beget after them, shall be yours.

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They will be called by the name of their brothers and their inheritance. But as for me, when

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I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go to Ephraim, and I buried her there on the way to Ephraim, that is

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Bethlehem. And Israel saw Joseph's sons. Who are these?

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They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.

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And the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. And Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.

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And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see your face, but in fact

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God has also shown me your offspring. So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his fist to the earth.

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

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

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For Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph. God, before whom my fathers

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Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.

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Let my name be named upon them in the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

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Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him.

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So he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

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And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn.

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Put your right hand on his head. But his father refused. I know, my son,

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I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great.

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But truly, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.

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So he blessed them that day. By you Israel will bless.

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Same may God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And thus he set

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

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Moreover, I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which

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I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.

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Israel worshiping God, says bowing himself on the head of his bed, or as Hebrews says, leaning on the top of his staff.

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But either way, we're getting the picture now of Jacob, a very old man, very weak.

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He's kind of having just to prop himself up. And that's what we see going into the next chapter.

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Chapter 48 verses 1 and 2 says, Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, indeed, your father is sick.

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And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

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And which one is the older son? Manasseh. Manasseh is the older one. Verse two.

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

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So Jacob's very old. He knows that he only has a very short time left.

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So he's going to bless his two grandsons. And by doing that, take them into the family officially.

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And then in the next chapter, we're going to read about his prophetic blessings upon his his children.

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So Jacob is recounting his life and God appearing to him, affirming the covenant that he had made with Abraham and Isaac, how the

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Lord would multiply Jacob and bless him, giving him the land. What does it say?

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As an everlasting possession. So what

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I want you to remember is with this promise that the land is yours. This is the

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Abrahamic covenant. So this is the covenant of promise. This is not the old covenant or the covenant of the law.

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The old covenant was made with who? Moses.

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And we know that the old covenant came and came and went. The old covenant was conditional, right?

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The covenant that God made with Abraham is everlasting and it is unconditional.

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So the law has come and gone. The people, of course, failed to keep it.

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Christ came to fulfill it. So now the old covenant of the law is obsolete.

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It has passed away. Now, that doesn't mean that everything written in the

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Old Testament scriptures has passed away. It doesn't mean that the things contained in the law are not true.

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It doesn't mean that they no longer apply. Well, some of the things do apply.

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Some of the things don't apply. So I just want you to have that set in your mind. The difference between the old covenant of the law and the covenant that God made with Abraham.

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And now Jacob is recounting how God appeared to him and confirmed it with him.

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So the covenant of promise, the law has passed away. But the covenant of promise, not only has it not passed away.

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It's never, never going to pass away. So I bring that up.

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Number one, because this is one of the main reasons why we still believe there is a future for Israel.

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Because God tells Israel, the man, I'm giving this to you as what?

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An everlasting possession and unconditional promise.

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So no Palestinian two state solution. Yeah. Two state solution.

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Probably that's not going to work. No matter what your opinion is, that's not going to hear more about it from now on.

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You just might. So that's number one. Why we still believe one of the reasons why we still believe there's a future for ethnic

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Israel. And all God's people said, amen. I wish all of God.

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Yeah, well, that's the thing. Those who hold to replacement theology say nay, but that's another sermon for another day.

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So that's number one. Number two, the promise is tied in with salvation.

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So we don't have time to look there. But if you went to Romans chapter four, you would see that the covenant that Jacob is talking about.

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The promise is tied in with salvation. So Abraham believed

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God and what it was accounted to him for righteousness. How was

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Jacob saved? Because you're such a good guy. No, obviously not.

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He was saved because whatever God told him, he believed it. And then he acted upon it and followed through.

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So in verse five, Jacob, in a sense, we could say adopts

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Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And you notice he says they are mine just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.

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Of course, Reuben and Simeon are his own children. Ephraim and Manasseh's grandchildren.

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He says they're mine just as these others are mine. So what is he saying? Yeah, he adopted them as his own sons.

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So theoretically, you say, well, it's a given. Well, no, Jacob could have chosen not to do this.

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He could have chosen not to fully accept them. After all, their mother was an Egyptian. They were born and raised in Egypt.

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So by accepting them, they're now his own children. And this does what? It guarantees them an inheritance along with all the other children.

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And what's the inheritance? What? The land. Yeah, a portion of the land.

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And of course, 400 or over 400 years later, when the children of Israel enter into the promised land, the tribe of Joseph is split in two.

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Now it's two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. And in that, we see that Joseph gets a double portion.

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Joseph and Benjamin, instead of them inheriting two territories, now they inherit three.

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So they're still preferred. All right. Any questions or comments so far?

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Raymond. 16. Okay. The angel who has redeemed me from all evil.

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Yep. Is that part of the reason he gets cast in?

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Well, you'll have to expand on that when we... We're going to stop at that verse and we're going to talk about it.

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So we'll address that in just a moment. Okay. So Israel goes on to speak about the death of his wife,

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Rachel, and how she was buried in Bethlehem. And he's now remembering the major events of his life.

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You know, when someone comes to the end of their life, I suspect this is a pretty common thing to kind of remember all the major events.

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So that's what he's doing, his encounter with God. And no doubt, one of the things that he remembers,

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I mean, what's kind of the big significant event before any of this started, before he had a family.

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It was when him and his mother conspired to trick his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing.

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So that has to be somewhere in his mind. And we're going to see something somewhat similar, not with any trickery or deceit.

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But look at verse eight. Then Israel saw Joseph's sons and he said, who are these?

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Who are these? Well, doesn't he know? Well, why doesn't he know?

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He can't see. So you remember when him and his mom tricked Isaac, how were they able to do it?

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Yeah. Isaac, his eyes were dim. So he couldn't see. So things are kind of starting to line up a little bit like it was with him and his father.

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Verse nine, Joseph said to his father, these are my sons whom God has given me in this place.

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And he said, please bring them to me and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age so that he could not see.

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Then Joseph brought them near and he kissed them and embraced them.

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So we're going to see something similar to what happened before. Verse 12.

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So Joseph brought them from beside his knees. It sort of sounds like the kids are like really little or so, but they're probably older at this point.

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One Bible teacher is listening to speculated. They were teenagers, maybe 20 years old, something like that.

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But whatever the case, verse 12. So Joseph brought them from beside his knees and he bowed down with his face to the earth and Joseph took them both.

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Ephraim with his right hand towards Israel's left hand and Manasseh with his left hand towards Israel's right hand.

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And he brought them near to him. Okay, so what's he trying to do?

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Trying to get his father's right hand on his right son. Right.

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So in Joseph's mind, Manasseh, he's the elder.

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He's going to get the blessing. Joseph already has this figured out. This is what needs to happen. So dad's blind.

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So let's make sure. So I'm going to bring Manasseh to his father's right hand.

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Well, why the right hand? The right hand is a position of honor, right? It's a position of authority.

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We think of Christ who is seated at the right hand of God, the father.

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And this would have been normal that the eldest son gets the greater blessing. But what happens?

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I mean, it's lined up. He's right there on the right hand. What is Jacob do? He's switching.

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He crosses his arms. No, he knows what's happening.

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Verse 14. Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head.

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Who was the younger in his left hand on Manasseh said, guiding his hands.

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Knowingly for Manasseh was the first born. Yeah. So Israel knows exactly what he's doing.

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Joseph, it was a valiant effort. I mean, he, he tried, he did what he could, but wasn't to be.

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So it's not a mistake. Joseph thinks it is. And he's going to try to correct his father in a moment.

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But, you know, let's not miss that. There's significance, not only significance. There's prophetic significance to the blessings.

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Going back to Abraham, blessing Isaac, the younger son, Isaac blessing

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Jacob, even though he didn't want to or intend to, it happened. And what's the significance?

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Those were the two children that God wanted. Those were the two children that God reaffirmed the covenant with.

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God did not affirm the covenant to Ishmael. God did not affirm the covenant to Esau.

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So the blessing and God's plan. They go hand in hand.

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No pun intended. So in verse 15, and of course this happens.

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Ephraim is, is going to be blessed and Ephraim ends up greater.

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That tribe ends up greater than the tribe of Manasseh. Two great tribes, but Ephraim was, was far superior.

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All right. No, no comments or Marcus. Again, the question, what was his motive in this?

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Because this is what happened two generations before. So he figures that's just the way it should go.

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Joseph's motivation or Jacob's? Jacob's. Why is Jacob doing this?

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Is this because he just figures. I don't know. The second son is supposed to be the favorite one nowadays.

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Yeah, it is a pattern. Maybe God told him.

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God impressed it upon his son. I don't know. Does anyone have a. Well, maybe he's just trying to say, well, it's okay.

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Could be. It's hard, hard to say what his motivation is. Dennis. Remember is that when the kingdoms were divided after Saul and Solomon, the southern kingdom was referred to oftentimes as Judah.

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The northern kingdom, a lot of times referred to as Ephraim. Yeah, right.

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I believe so. So Ephraim was kind of the preeminent tribe of the northern kingdom.

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So, yeah, you're right. The ten tribes were called Ephraim. So the only tribe that ended up greater than Ephraim is

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Judah, which, of course, is where Christ descended from. So, yeah, good.

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Good point. So it's God. What? The Lord is driving this.

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Yes. Yeah. He gives him the motivation to do this.

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And who wins in the end? Ephraim is not in the

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Judah. You know, it's like someone today, a Christian could read this and figure, well,

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I'm going to try this when I'm older. I'm going to bless my kids and I'm going to predict what. Well, obviously, this is something special and God's involved.

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Whether God told him, gave him a dream. If he just knew it in his spirit, we don't really know. But no doubt

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God is involved. God was influencing the whole situation. Absolutely. I think that he had,

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Jacob had, at some point in time, had a life of prayer.

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And he still, I mean, if you go back to the other chapter, he looked at, you know, God, Jacob had some experiences with God.

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God spoke to him about certain things. You know, he had to be aware of this.

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It wasn't just a, I'm going to do it this way. I think that God had an influence in his actions.

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Good. All right. Verse 15. Israel now blesses Joseph. And you can really see his whole change of attitude.

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You remember how we've gone along and Jacob at times just sounds kind of pessimistic.

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Just in general. At one point, he says, everything is against me. That's how he felt.

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And you think of all the things that he's gone through in his life, having to go into hiding because his brother wants to kill him.

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So he had to live as a fugitive. What Simeon and Levi did in killing the men of Shechem, he was worried that the tribes of the land were going to come and wipe him out.

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So he probably had to live for months or years, not wondering if tomorrow we're all going to die.

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What happened with Ruben? Of course, that would have been a scandal. And then of course, the whole famine situation where the brothers kind of get into trouble with this man in Egypt, who's actually

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Joseph and he doesn't know. And then at one point he feels like he's sending Benjamin to Egypt.

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And that's the last time I'm going to see him. That's how he felt. Everything is against me. So he's kind of pessimistic.

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But now we see something totally different. Verse 15, and he blessed

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Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac walked, the

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God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads and let my name be upon them in the name of my fathers,

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Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

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So just in this statement, you know, he's talking about how God has been with him every step of the way throughout the years.

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He he knew that. But there were times where he didn't feel like God was working with him.

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He just saw a lot of bad things. He told Pharaoh, you know, my days were fewer than my father's and more evil.

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But now he can kind of see the big picture. And I think that pessimistic man is now a little more thankful than he was years ago.

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So what does that tell you? God can redeem when God redeems. He can even redeem our bad attitude.

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So look at what he can do it all the time. Yeah, you remove

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God from your thinking or God's plan and what's happening. Yeah, you're probably going to be pretty pessimistic and have a bad attitude.

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All right. So we don't want to miss what's stated in verse 16.

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The angel who has redeemed me from all evil. Now, you had asked, is that what's the question?

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I'll give you a second to think about it. You're talking about earlier out. No, they were blessed even without Christ coming.

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Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're reading my mind here.

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Okay, so you're on the right track. No, that's good.

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So the angel who has redeemed me, and most of you know what the word angel means messenger, right?

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The Hebrew word Malik means either number one, a human messenger or a representative, or it can mean an angelic messenger.

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That's what we usually think of. You hear angel. You think of a heavenly angel, or it can refer to a theophonic messenger.

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Okay, so you've heard theophany, right? We've talked about this.

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A theophany is a physical or at least a visible manifestation of God, and a

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Christophany is a manifestation of Christ in the old testament before he was born in Bethlehem.

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So I think that's what this is. The angel who has redeemed me.

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This is a theophany or a Christophany that even though Jacob, what's he saying?

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If I can phrase it this way, verse 16, Christ who has redeemed me from all evil.

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Now, obviously, Jacob wouldn't have had that vocabulary. He didn't know the name of Jesus or Christ or the whole concept of the

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Messiah. It just wasn't really known. Certainly not the way we know it, but isn't

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Christ, we believe the angel of the Lord in the old testament. Who's the one who redeems

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God, redeems through Christ. So the angel, the messenger.

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Yeah, I believe this is a veiled reference or a foreshadow of Christ.

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Jim, you had your hand up. I think that Jacob was very well aware of that. Because if you remember from previous chapters, he had encounters with angels.

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And this is just a combination of that in this statement. And yes, that angel was

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Christ. Right. And you consider what Jesus said, no man comes to the father except through me.

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I mean, if that's true throughout all ages, then even

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Jacob had to go through Christ. Well, you never knew of Christ. Christ isn't in the old testament.

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No, he's everywhere. It's just a matter of figuring it out. So going back to what we said about the covenant of promise,

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Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And what he knew is contained in the book of Genesis.

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And that statements in Romans as well. Obviously, Abraham didn't know anything about the cross or the resurrection.

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Israel didn't know anything about the cross or the resurrection, but he believed

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God. And I know I made this point before, but believing the old testament scriptures is one in the same as believing

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God. So sometimes of all the things that God told

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Abraham or God told Israel, did Jacob pick and choose? All right,

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Lord. Yeah. Oh, I believe you here with the promise. And then God tells him something else. And I can't believe that.

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I mean, do you see that? No, he, he believes God, whatever God says, he believes.

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So that's very little amount of information. But now we have the whole Bible. We have 66 books.

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All of it is the word of God. So as believers, we are required to believe all of God's word.

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And that's how, you know, a true believer. They might be challenged by things in the

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Bible. Some of the things in the Bible, they might not even like. Okay.

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Remember when the Lord told Abraham to sacrifice your son, Isaac. I don't know that he was all that excited about it.

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He struggled with it, but he accepted it. So a true believer who's being taught by the

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Holy spirit is going to accept all of God's words.

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Okay. Look at verse 17. Now, when

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Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him.

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So he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manassas head.

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And Joseph said to his father, not so my father, for this one is the firstborn.

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Put your right hand on his head. But his father refused and said,

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I know my son. I know. And he also shall become a people.

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And he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.

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One of the reasons why the 10 tribes are called Ephraim is because Ephraim was so much bigger and stronger.

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And then verse 20. So he blessed them that day saying by you, Israel will bless saying, may

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God make you as Ephraim and Manassas. And thus he set Ephraim before Manassas.

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And finally, in verse 21, Israel tells Joseph that he is about to die.

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So next time in chapter 49, we will read about Jacob's prophetic blessings that he bestows upon his 12 sons before he's gathered to his people.