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Genesis 49:14-15:

^‘’Issachar is one tough donkey
crouching between the corrals;
    When he saw how good the place was,
how pleasant the country,
    He gave up his freedom
and went to work as a slave.’’ (The Message)

This makes me think that the ‘’good’’ and ‘’pleasant’’ place we have in Jesus causes us to gladly be His slaves.

‘ I love, I love my Master,
I will not go out free,
For He is my Redeemer;
He paid the price for me.
I would not leave His service,
It is so sweet and blest;
And in the weariest moments
He gives the truest rest.

I would not halve my service,
His only it must be!
His only, who so loved me,
And gave Himself for me.
Rejoicing and adoring,
Henceforth my song shall be,
I love, I love my Master,
I will not go out free.’  Lyrics: Frances Ridley Havergal (verses 1 and 3).

Warren Wiersbe’s comments are helpful as always:  ‘We today think of a donkey as an ignoble beast of burden, but in Old Testament times, kings rode on donkeys (1 Kings 1:38ff.). The image in Genesis 49:14-15 is that of a strong people who weren’t afraid to carry burdens. The people of Isaachar were hardworking and devoted to the soil. They were content with their lot and made the most of it. This tribe produced no great heroes, but their everyday labor was a help to others. After all, not everybody in Israel was called to be a Judah or a Joseph!  Of Leah’s six sons, three lost God’s best blessings because of their sins: Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. They remind us that purity and self-control are essential to godly character. Zebulun and Isaachar were everyday people whose tribes served others but weren’t especially known for their exploits. We need farmers and merchants if the machinery of life is to run smoothly.’

Genesis 49: 13: Beside the seaside…

‘Zebulun will live by the seashore
    and become a haven for ships;
    his border will extend towards Sidon.” NIV

If the boundary lines have fallen for you in ‘’pleasant places’’ (Psalm 16:6), you don’t have to feel embarrassed or apologise for the fact, or have regrets. The thing is to be wherever God calls you, whether in city, town or village; in the country or by the sea. Every bit of the world is scarred by sin. This is true even of the most spectacularly beautiful places.The thing is to be the best servant of God you can be in that environment, enabled by His grace. Live for him there. The whole world needs saving, and if you’ve ever been to the seaside you will know that it needs redeeming!

Warren Wiersbe makes this point in his Old Testament Commentary:

‘While not directly on the Mediterranean coast, the tribe of Zebulun was assigned land close enough to the sea to make the transport of goods profitable for the people. Zebulun was located on an important route that carried merchandise from the coast to the Sea of Galilee and to Damascus. Moses said, “For they shall partake of the abundance of the seas” (Deut. 33:19 nkjv; see also Josh. 19:10-16). For the most part, the Jews weren’t a seafaring people, but the tribe of Zebulun did business with the Phoenicians east of them and provided imported goods to the people west of them.’

PRAYER: Thank you Lord that you place us where you want us. May we shine for you wherever that is.

Genesis 49:8-13: Kingdom come

In these days of political turmoil, it is good to remember that the unshakeable Kingdom of God has already come, is coming, and one day it will be here in all its fullness. This remarkable prophecy may have been partially fulfilled in the reigns of kings David and Solomon, but it finds its FULL- filment in Jesus. Looking back, with the perspective of history, we can clearly see that Jacob was talking about the Lord Jesus, even if he didn’t know it at the time.

‘’The scepter will not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
    and the obedience of the nations shall be his.’’

 This is Jesus (see Matthew 28:18; Philippians 2:9-11; Revelation 5:5, 9; see also Daniel 7:13,14).

One day we will have the Leader we desperately need. In fact, we already have Him, but we don’t all want Him.

Prayer: Lord, in these politically turbulent days, we pray for the coming of your righteous Kingdom here in our land. May your will be done on earth even as it is in heaven.

Genesis 49:3-7: Bad company.

In Jacob’s words we have some of the earliest prophetic material in the Old Testament. Primarily, Jacob was speaking about the future of the tribes which would grow from his sons. In reading about ‘’Simeon and Levi’’ I recall the words of Psalm 1:1:

‘’Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.’’

 Bad company can corrupt, and although we should love everyone, and forgive all those who have hurt us, there are some people we shouldn’t get too close to, or allow them near us, because they will pose a danger. We can end up like the good apple in a bowl of rotten fruit. Certain forms of contact will lead to contamination. May God give us the wisdom to sniff out the peril, and the resolute courage to say:

‘’Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly…’’

 When you think it was their dad distancing himself from them, that’s quite something.

Simeon and Levi’s anger erupted into the massacre of the Shechemites (34:25-31). God arranged it that the two tribes would not be able to ‘assemble’. The tribe of Simeon was eventually absorbed into the tribe of Judah (Joshua 19:1,9), and the tribe of Levi was given forty-eight towns to live in across Israel. So they were scattered ‘’in Jacob’’ and dispersed ‘’in Israel’’.

Genesis 49:1-4: Consequences.

” Then Jacob called for his sons and said: ‘Gather round so that I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

In ‘extra time’ Jacob scored a few ‘goals’! Some of them were prophetic.  As Jacob addressed his sons, he followed the birth order, beginning with Leah’s six boys (3-15).

Warren Wiersbe says, ‘…Jacob’s words were a revelation of human character and conduct as well as of divine purposes. Three of the sons learned that that their past conduct had cost them their future inheritance (vv.3-7), for we always reap what we sow.’ ‘The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (OT)’, p.136.

Actions have consequences! May the Lord cause us always to consider our ways. Although fresh application to the blood of Jesus can be made at any time for cleansing from sin, we may well have to live with the painful results, even of forgiven sin.

Genesis 48:21-22: Confident to the end.

^“21 Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of you  fathers. ²² And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.’ NIV

Jacob was a dying man but his final words exuded confidence in God and belief in His presence. He knew that the Lord had been with him all through his life, and he was confident that Joseph would experience the Lord’s faithfulness to the end.

Dr.Alan Redpath, wrote an article for a Christian youth magazine when he was in his 70’s (does anyone remember ‘Buzz’?!!). In it he said something like this: ‘I know I’m in injury time; but I’m aware that a goal scored in injury time can make all the difference!’               I think old Jacob scored a few in ‘injury time’, don’t you?

PRAYER: Lord, even in old age, make me a ‘striker’ for your Kingdom.

Genesis 48:15-16: A dying prayer.

¹⁵ Then he blessed Joseph and said,

Before we consider the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh, I want to highlight the words of Jacob found in the middle part of the blessing ‘ceremony’. There are many gifts age can convey to youth, but today’s short passage highlights two:

1. The gift of testimony: In his dying words, Jacob testified to the fact that ‘’the God’’ who had been his ‘’Shepherd’’ all his life had been a good shepherd to him. He had been through much, but he had come through. The Lord had brought him through many a deep, dark valley. So Jacob could testify to the faithfulness of God. I became a pastor at the age of 21, and over the years it has been my privilege to sit with many a seasoned saint. How often my heart has burned from hearing their stories;
2. The gift of prayer: Let us pray blessing over them; let us pray they will grow greater than we have been and achieve more than we have done. Let’s ask that the church of the future – the church some of them lead – will be bigger and stronger than the church of today. May we sincerely desire their success.

PRAYER: Lord God, You who have been so kind to us; we thank you for our children and young people. We pray for your Hand of blessing upon them all through their lives. We ask that there will be ‘giants’ among them, who will achieve more in their day than we have done in ours. We ask this for the glory of your Name

Genesis 48:8-20:Sovereign choice.

^“8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, ‘Who are these?’⁹ ‘They are the sons God has given me here,’ Joseph said to his father.Then Israel said, ‘Bring them to me so that I may bless them.’¹⁰ Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.¹¹ Israel said to Joseph, ‘I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.’¹² Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. ¹³ And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right towards Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left towards Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. ¹⁴ But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.¹⁵ Then he blessed Joseph and said,‘May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully,the God who has been my shepherd  all my life to this day,¹⁶ the Angel who has delivered me from all ha   – may he bless these boys.May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,and may they increase greatly on the earth.’¹⁷ When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸ Joseph said to him, ‘No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.’¹⁹ But his father refused and said, ‘I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.’ ²⁰ He blessed them that day and said,‘In your[a] name will Israel pronounce this blessing: “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.”’So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.” NIV

The right hand was regarded to be the place of honour. As Manasseh was the firstborn, Joseph would have expected him to be given the special blessing. But in a prophetic action, Jacob, who could hardly see, crossed his hands and gave this to Ephraim. Generations later, Manasseh and Ephraim would become two of Israel’s most important tribes. But in giving the primary blessing to Ephraim, Jacob foresaw that Ephraim’s descendants would be even greater than Manasseh’s – and this came to be.  In giving Ephraim the status of the oldest son, Jacob repeated a pattern we have seen earlier in Genesis, in which the younger brother gets the blessing that ‘by right’ was thought to belong to the older one (if you recall, Seth was chosen over Cain, Shem over Japheth, Isaac over Ishmael, and Jacob over Esau). This shows that God’s choices are not based on natural descent, or on anyone’s perceived ‘rights’ or ‘merits’, but rather on grace alone. He is Sovereign and He does as He pleases.

Tom Hale, in my view, comments helpfully:

‘Therefore should anyone of us seem for a period to be especially blessed or favoured by God, we must always remember that it has come about not by our own doing but rather by God’s grace (1 Corinthians 15:10).’ ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.199

Genesis 48: 8-11: More than can be asked or thought.

^“8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?”⁹ “They are the sons God has given me here,” Joseph said to his father.Then Israel said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.”¹⁰ Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.¹¹ Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.” NIV

Warren Wiersbe makes this general comment about chapter 48:

‘It’s a good thing to be able to end your life knowing you’ve completed God’s business the way he wanted it to be done’ The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (OT), p.135.

May God help us all to end well. Yes, to live well, but also to finish well. We can live in a way that takes little or no consideration of the finish line. But one day we will all cross it. I want to run well to the end of my days, and not stumble at the last.

One mark of concluding life well is when a person can look back with gratitude, rather than bitterness, disappointment and regret. Jacob was so thankful. God had done ‘’immeasurably more’’ than He anticipated (see Ephesians 3:20, 21).

And this God is our God, for ever and for ever!