Story 75 Rachel’s Blessed Children
The next blessing Jacob gave was for his son, Joseph. Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh had already been blessed, and each of them would be considered equal to the rest of Jacob’s sons and their tribes. Joseph would be counted as two, receiving the double portion of inheritance from his father.
It is important for us to understand why this was such an important issue. Why were the blessings of Jacob spelled out so carefully at the end of the book of Genesis? In the limited space that God had to convey his message of salvation of the world, why would he give so much to this?
Well, the book of Genesis was written by a man named Moses. He was the mighty servant of the Lord who led the nation of Israel out of Egypt four hundred years after Jacob and his family moved there. By that time, they had grown to the size of two million people! Each of Jacob’s sons had tens of thousands of descendants! Each of those sons had grown into a huge tribe.
As Moses brought them back to the edge of the Land of Promise, each tribe was going to need their own vast section of land. They would each want their own positions of power and influence over the nation, and they would each have to decide as a clan if they would be faithful to the Lord. The stories of the father of each tribe and the blessings of Jacob on each of his sons was an important guide for the people. It would determine how the entire nation would be established! The blessings that started out as a quiet conversation at Jacob’s death bed would determine the fate of millions of God’s children!
The story of Joseph tells about a man who lived a beautiful, humble, and
remarkably righteous life. While his other brothers lived as the wealthy grandsons of mighty Abraham, they were wicked and immoral, living in Canaan and seeking impure things. Meanwhile, Joseph did just the opposite. He stood faithful to God even when his life had been destroyed. He was sold into slavery by his own family. Then as a slave, he fled from the impurity of Potiphar’s wife and was thrown into prison for it. Yet there was no trace of anger or bitterness while he worked away in prison. Rather, he served God with all his heart, seeking to bring about the best good possible in everything he did.
God was able to bring great and wide blessings to the world through Joseph’s faithfulness, and God used him to deliver the holy family of God in spite of their terrible sin against him. His tremendous, breathtaking mercy became God’s source of healing to the family of Abraham. His willingness to forgive his brothers is one of the most brilliant pictures of God’s grace in the entire Bible. Joseph was a lot like our Lord and Savior.
Joseph stood strong in faith so that he understood that everything, even the horrible things, were gifts from God. The Lord would take everything, even the things that men meant to use for evil, and turn them into something magnificently good! Joseph’s extreme, potent, and faithful trust in God made him the best model of godliness for the nation of Israel. He was the one who showed the way. His life was the one that pleased their God. And so Jacob blessed him with high and glorious honors;
“‘Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring,
whose branches are climb over a wall.
With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility,
But his bow remained steady,
his strong arms stayed limber,
because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
because of your father’s God, who helps you,
because of Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above,
blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb,
Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains,
than the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.’”
Genesis 49:22-26
Because of God’s lavish blessings on Joseph, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh that came from him would have many healthy and strong children. Their fields would have plenty of crops that gave abundant food. Even when under attack, they would remain calm and sure, just as Joseph had in the hard days of his life. Joseph was a prince among his brothers. He and his tribes were set apart for a special, sacred work.
All of us have an opportunity. Will our lives be a model of the grace and righteousness of Jesus Christ like Joseph was? Or will our lives reflect the sin and curse that Satan has brought into this world, like Reuben and Simeon and Levi? What are our true loyalties?
The book of Genesis offers us a choice: Are we on the side of the serpent, or are we on the side of the Most High God? Who are we waging our battle for? In all of history, there are only two sides to choose from, and they lay before every person and every society.
Yet Joseph was not the only son to meet with high honors as Jacob blessed. It was not through his line that the kings of Israel would come. That regal position was given to the tribe of Judah. We now know that it was through the lion of Judah that the Messiah would come. The Lord Jesus was his descendent. Why was Judah, a man who sinned so grievously and had so much to repent from, chosen for this honor over Joseph? Perhaps because in his lavish grace, the Savior came to redeem sinful men in need of true repentance. The great forefather of Christ was a perfect example of the ones for whom Jesus came to save.
The final blessing of Jacob went to his youngest son:
“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning he devours his prey,
in the evening he divides his plunder’” (Gen. 49:27)
The nation of Israel would one day enter into a dangerous land where there were hostile, vicious enemies all around. Peace and happiness would not come automatically or easily. Throughout their history, their enemies were always ready to invade them, destroy their farms and homes, and take their wives and children into slavery.
In those days, cities and lives were easily lost in war. It was rare to go a whole lifetime without having your village become a battleground. Having courage and skill to fight were necessary for survival.
It was only after the wars were won and the enemies kept far away that the normal, gentle ways of life became possible. Crops could be planted, watered, and harvested. Their flocks could grow large and plentiful. The young could grow and marry and raise their families, and the old could rest with their grandchildren gathered around them. Their whole world depended on the skill of their warriors to keep the peace. Everyone’s life became a terrible tragedy when the men of the nation would not stand as warriors against their enemies.
Jacob said that Benjamin’s tribe would become like a mighty power and protector. His courage would bring victories against those enemies. Once they were destroyed or too afraid to attack again, it would bring great peace and prosperity to the nation of Israel. Benjamin’s tribe would share the peace they won with the other tribes of Israel, dividing the plunder earned by their courage and strength.
In the history of Israel, Jacob’s blessing came gloriously true. The tribe of Benjamin became known for its bravery and power in battle. They fought valiantly in the wars against the Moabites and they joined with Deborah in her grand war against the Canaanites. Some of King David’s mightiest warriors came from the tribe of Benjamin. The first king of Israel also came from Benjamin’s tribe. King Saul was a commanding warrior for the nation, liberating the tribes from many of its enemies and keeping peace by making Israel too dangerous to attack.
When Jacob finished giving his blessing to Benjamin, he was finished. But his poetic words would live on in the minds of his descendants for every generation after. The destiny of each tribe was clearly marked out according to the righteousness of their forefather. Through the stories of the lives of Jacob’s son, the Lord set before the nation of Israel shining models of righteousness and grave warnings through their wickedness and repulsive sin. Yet the one who received the greatest honor was the son of repentance. The man whose life was steeped in sin, but faced it and turned in true repentance was the example the world needed to have set before it. It was Judah’s greatest Descendent, Jesus Christ, who would pay the price so that the true repentance of sinners could meet with the lavish grace of a holy God.