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Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might, the first sign of my strength,
excelling in honour, excelling in power.
4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel,
for you went up onto your father’s bed,
onto my couch and defiled it.

Listening to some of the Olympic results today, I heard that Johnny Brownlee came in fifth in the triathlon, and so was not in the medals. It was another Brit, a suitably modest young chap, Alex Yee, who took silver, and won the glory, and the media’s attention. At least, for the time-being. Getting to the Olympics in the first place, let alone coming in fifth in your field, is quite an achievement. But I note that the one we were previously excited about is quietly replaced by the next ‘hero’ who is put in the spotlight (for five minutes!). This is how life works for the most part, and you need to get used to the idea that there will be someone coming up behind you who will eventually eclipse you. If you happen to be ‘flavour of the month’ there will be another ‘month’ and another ‘flavour’ coming along. Well this a rather long-winded way of saying that in many areas of life there comes a time when you can’t do what you once did, or you can’t do it as well. This especially applies to sport, but not exclusively so. It works out in other arenas too. The years take their toll. Today’s gold medalist will eventually be yesterday’s gold medalist (and possibly a pundit for BBC sport!! It’s not all bad!) There can be an inevitable loss of excellence, or less of ability to produce that level of excellence, which has nothing to do with moral failure. As one of my friends says, it’s just ‘anno domini’.

But how sad it is when the fall from excellence is moral; when, for example, a Christian leader who has served impeccably up to a particular point, then blows everything in a moment, or moments, of madness. They ship-wreck their ministries, and often, tragically, others go down with the ship.

Reuben’s fall was moral. In prophesying over his sons, Jacob begins with the sons of Leah (3-15). Reuben, Jacob’s eldest son, lost his status as firstborn because of his sin with Jacob’s concubine, by which he violated his father’s honour (Gen.35:22). Therefore he would “no longer excel” among his brothers. Rather Joseph would (26).

‘An old sin he’d committed finally caught up with Reuben (35:22; Num.32:23), and he lost his privileges as the firstborn son. Jacob gave that blessing to Joseph and his two sons (1 Chron.5:1-2)…It’s difficult to find in Scripture any member of the tribe of Reuben who distinguished himself as a leader. The tribe declined in numbers between the Exodus and the entrance into the Promised Land (Num.1:20-21; 2:11; 26:7)…’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘The Wiersbe Bible Commentary’, pp.136,137.

Sins may be forgiven if we are repentant, but, as we saw yesterday, actions have consequences. We reap what we sow

PRAYER: Lord, life is a minefield, and you know where all the hidden mines are. Please help me to walk carefully through this world, looking to you at all times to be my Shepherd-Guide.

49 Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

² “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob;
    listen to your father Israel.

I often think about the quote: ‘We make our decisions, then our decisions turn around and make us.’ Sins can be forgiven, but unwanted outcomes can’t always be unpicked. David was forgiven for his sin, but the noble Uriah could not be brought back from the grave; David’s baby died, and people knew he was an adulterer. His reputation was tarnished; his example damaged, and there were serious consequences, especially in his own family.

‘How tragic to have to live with the consequences of forgiven sin.’

If only we would listen to our ‘fathers’, to those older and wiser we might be saved many a heartache. Their wisdom could inform our ways. But the young do not always want to listen to the grey heads, and often have to learn at the feet of bitter experience.

These ‘blessings’ of Jacob are among the earliest prophetic writings in the Bible. Jacob, under the direct inspiration of God, tells his sons about future things.

This ‘is a prophecy of what the sons could expect in the future because of their individual characters and the decisions they had made.’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.45.

PRAYER: Lord, help us to be willing to learn all we can, while we can, from those whose wisdom might be able to keep us from many a pitfall. Thank you for putting these wonderful friends all around us. They are gifts.

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 your 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.”

Bereavement comes to all at some point in life. There is no avoiding it. Some losses are so profound, they tear our hearts out, and leave us forever marked and changed. The loss of a parent is almost always excruciatingly painful – whatever their age. As C.S. Lewis observed, the grief we feel is the price we pay for all the love we shared earlier.

Joseph was about to lose his dad. But two things remained true for him (and they remain the case for all believers as they walk this deep, dark valley of tears):

• God was with him. Whoever else we may lose, we can’t lose God. Where can we ever flee from His presence?
• God still had a purpose for his life.

Life goes on. Nothing is surer. For a period we may feel that the world has come to an end. But we eventually realise that life goes on, and life is for living. We step into what may remain of our lives with ‘strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.’ God will never fail or forsake his own.

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 toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward 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 harm
—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] name will Israel pronounce this blessing:
‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”
So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

Jacob’s own experience was more or less repeated in the lives of his two grandsons (Genesis 25:23). What is interesting is that Jacob, now old and barely able to see, essentially performed a prophetic action in which “he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh” (20). From God’s perspective he got the blessing spot on. Historically speaking this was fulfilled. The tribe of Ephraim became the major tribe in the northern kingdom, after the division following Solomon’s reign.

‘Since Jacob was almost blind, Joseph positioned his sons so that the elder, Manasseh, would be closest to Jacob’s right hand…But Jacob would not allow it; guided by God, he had deliberately given Ephraim the status of “eldest son.” In doing so, he repeated the pattern we have seen earlier in the book of Genesis in which the younger brother gets the blessing that belonged “by right” to his elder brother.
Why did God establish this pattern? He did so to demonstrate that His choices are not based on natural descent, or on anyone’s “rights” or “merits”; rather His choices are based on grace alone. God sovereignty chooses who He wants to inherit His blessings. Therefore, should any one 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).’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.199

Earlier in Genesis we have seen Seth chosen over Cain, Shem over Japheth, Isaac over Ishmael, and Jacob over Esau. So the pattern continues. God moves in mysterious ways. He knows what He is doing even when we don’t. He’s in charge and we are not.

PRAYER: Lord God, help us to bow in wonder before your sovereignty, and trust your ways.

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counsellor?

“Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.” (Romans 11: 33-36)

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.”

A couple of things stood out to me in today’s short reading, and I could get no further:

• Joseph’s sense of stewardship (9). He recognised his sons as ‘gifts’ and not as ‘achievements’. God had been gracious, generous and good to him. (Note: “…the sons God has given me here” Underlining mine). He did not want to go to Egypt when he was sold there; and there were things that happened to him in the land of the pharaoh’s he would not have chosen. But it was right “here” in Egypt that God had very special blessings for him. His “sons” were among them (see 41:51,52). God can bring good out of the worst bad, and the Cross of Jesus shows this most clearly;
• Jacob’s sense of wonder (11). Don’t we so often find ourselves alongside him, open-mouthed?
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
The Lord repeatedly goes above and beyond anything we anticipated.

(In the conversation of both father and son notice this wonderful God-consciousness/God-centredness. They inhabit God’s world; they live in it, and suffer in it, as men deeply aware of the Lord. They live in Him. He is the ‘atmosphere’ they breathe.)

PRAYER: Thank you Lord, because not only do we see your goodness in the Biblical characters; in some ways, we step into their shoes. Without ceasing to be ourselves, we find we are similarly the recipients of your abundance. We thank you with all our hearts.

“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.”

When I was very young, Grandad Thompson, my paternal grandfather, lived with us, in Lancaster, for half of the year. He then went to live with his daughter and son-in-law (my aunt and uncle) for the other half. This arrangement came about because he lost his wife when he and she were relatively young. I remember walking with him to the cemetery on a Sunday afternoon, when he would place flowers on her grave. (I filled the water container for him, but sometimes I came closer to washing his shoes!). Grandad T was a kind, gentle man; he was a professing Christian and regular church-goer. After we moved to Wigan, around 1963, he would regularly visit at week-ends, or come on holiday with us. I felt blessed by his presence, to be in his company, to ride next to him in his car – even when there was no conversation. There was just ‘something’ about him.

Grandad Barbour was my maternal grandfather. Unlike Grandad Thompson, who lived only into his mid-60’s, Grandad B had a life-innings of 91. After he lost his wife, my Nana, in his 60’s, I used to spend regular school holidays with him in his humble, little old person’s bungalow in Lancaster. I could be with him for weeks at a time, and I never got bored. As with Grandad Thompson, I learned so much from him, from being around him. He taught his grandson by who he was, and through many fascinating stories from his long life. Unlike my other grandad, he was not a professing Christian, but I felt from him a reverence for God, and a respect for Christianity (and for my path in life).

A week or two ago, we had a small family gathering at Lancaster cemetery for the internment of my dad and step-mum’s ashes. It was my dad’s wish for his remains to be in the family grave, along with his mum and dad and other family members. Jilly and I arrived early for the ceremony, and driving around the area where I often walked with my other grandad, I was struck by the realisation that very little appeared to have changed in 50 years.

Anyway, the thought of grandfather Jacob blessing Joseph’s grandsons led to this admittedly personal train of thought. As far as I can remember, these two dear men never placed their hands on my head and formally blessed me. But in so many ways – ways they may never have realised – they blessed with their love, kindness, presence, interest, example and gift of time. I feel blessed to have known them as special ‘friends’. They were.

Grandparents have an important ministry. You can impart something to your grandchildren no school or college or money could ever give. Long after you have gone, they may well bless your memory.

Even if you don’t have children or grandchildren, the role of spiritual parent, or spiritual grand-parent, is still open. There are many young people who need the blessing of older people, and there’s more than one way to bless.

48 Joseph took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. 2 When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.
3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me 4 and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’
5 “Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 6 Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. 7 As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).

Jacob was coming towards the end of a long life. It was one lived under the blessing of God, in response to the call of God. But it was not a trouble-free life. For example, he was not immune from the heart-searing pain of loss (7), and he had not been inoculated against illness and death (1). His life had been ‘chequered’; his walk with God had been somewhat ‘up and down’. But at the end, he was able to give testimony to his family, and speak about the goodness of God. In all things, the Lord had been working for his good.

‘Jacob recounted to Joseph the promises God had given to him at Luz (Bethel), when Jacob was fleeing from Esau (Genesis 28:13-14). These promises had only just begun to be fulfilled: Jacob’s numbers had increased to seventy; and he owned two tiny parts of the “promised land”: the burial plot near Mamre and a ridge of land taken from the Amorites (verse 22).
Jacob spoke of the gift of the land as being an everlasting possession (verse 4); once before, God had spoken of the land this way (Genesis 17:8).’ ‘Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.198.

May those of us blessed with children so live that we leave them a rich spiritual legacy.

“Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power.” Psalm 145:4.

‘Surrounded by so great
A cloud of witnesses,
Let us run the race
Not only for the prize,
But as those who’ve gone before us.
Let us leave to those behind us,
The heritage of faithfulness
Passed on thru godly lives.
After all our hopes and dreams
Have come and gone,
And our children sift thru all
We’ve left behind,
May the clues that they discover,
And the mem’ries they uncover,
Become the light that leads them,
To the road we each must find.’ (From ‘Find us faithful’ by John Mohr).

27 Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
28 Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. 29 When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favour in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.”
“I will do as you say,” he said.
31 “Swear to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

God is as good as His Word. None of His promises will ever fall to the ground. It is important to see verse 27 as the fruition of God’s Word to Jacob (46:3). God had proved Himself faithful to this man. Jacob had trusted Him and gone down to Egypt. He had been there for seventeen years already and he, and his family, were experiencing the blessing of God. They were living in the middle of the fulfillment of His Word. Now Jacob’s request to be buried back in Canaan was also an act of faith (see 46:4).

“By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshipped as he leaned on top of his staff” (Hebrews 11:21).

He was still a man of faith upon his death bed.

‘Egypt was a haven for Jacob and his family, and there God protected them and built of them a great people. But Jacob knew that Egypt was not his home, Canaan was; and he wanted to be buried there with others who had made the same pilgrimage of faith. He was a testimony in life, and he wanted to be a testimony in death. Despite his mistakes and failures in life, Jacob ended well.’ Warren W. Wiersbe, ‘With the Word’, p.44.

We can all thank God that it is not perfection He seeks, but faith:

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Jacob wanted his bones to rest in the land promised to Abraham and his descendants, that is Canaan. The bones of Abraham and Isaac were already there in the cave near Mamre, which Abraham had bought from the Hittites as a burial plot (Genesis 23:17,18). (Derek Kidner makes the rather lovely point that Jacob had already been reunited with his “fathers”, verse 30, before he was “buried” with them).

PRAYER: Lord God, please help me to walk by faith, not by sight, all the days of my life – and even in death itself.

18 When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, 21 and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,[c] from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.
23 Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. 24 But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.”
25 “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”
26 So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—still in force today—that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s.

Jesus taught in Matthew 5:2: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The poor in spirit are the spiritually bankrupt. They know their bankrupt condition and they are not afraid to admit it. So they find the door to the Kingdom opened to them. I thought about these words of Jesus when I read Genesis 47:18. Similarly the people admitted their abject poverty to Joseph, but also their willingness to be his slaves; to be his in entirety. He could have them ‘lock, stock and barrel’ as it were. These were the same people who experienced the salvation Joseph made possible (25).

‘They were willing to serve their saviour…We shall never know the real blessedness of living, its peace and joy and strength, till we have utterly surrendered to Christ’s supremacy.’ F.B.Meyer.

Tom Hale again helps us with potential difficulties in this chapter:

‘Joseph’s actions sound cruel to our modern ears, but in ancient times such actions were considered proper – and still are in many parts of the world. Joseph was not “exploiting” the people; he was giving them the means to survive. He gave them seed to plant, and allowed them to keep four-fifths of all the produce for themselves. Yes, the people had lost their ownership of the land, but they now had both food and security. And they were grateful’ ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.198. (In a footnote Hale underlines the generosity of Joseph’s policy saying, ‘Today in many parts of the world, tenant farmers get to keep only half the produce for themselves.’)

‘See how we depend upon God’s providence. All our wealth would not keep us from starving, if rain were withheld for two or three years. See how much we are at God’s mercy, and let us keep ourselves always in his love. Also see how much we smart by our own want of care. If all the Egyptians had laid up corn for themselves in the seven years of plenty, they had not been in these straits; but they regarded not the warning. Silver and gold would not feed them: they must have corn. All that a man hath will he give for his life. We cannot judge this matter by modern rules. It is plain that the Egyptians regarded Joseph as a public benefactor. The whole is consistent with Joseph’s character, acting between Pharaoh and his subjects, in the fear of God. The Egyptians confessed concerning Joseph, Thou hast saved our lives. What multitudes will gratefully say to Jesus, at the last day, Thou hast saved our souls from the most tremendous destruction, and in the season of uttermost distress! The Egyptians parted with all their property, and even their liberty, for the saving of their lives: can it then be too much for us to count all but loss, and part with all, at His command, and for His sake, who will both save our souls, and give us an hundredfold, even here, in this present world? Surely if saved by Christ, we shall be willing to become his servants.’ Matthew Henry.

PRAYER: ‘Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free. Force me to render up my sword And I shall conqueror be. I sink in life’s alarms When by myself I stand; imprison me within thine arms, And strong shall be my hand.’ George Matheson