Three weeks ago, God’s Word taught us that Jacob and his family arrived in Egypt after Joseph had revealed his identity to his brothers. Jacob met Pharaoh and blessed Pharaoh as though he is the greater of the two, because through faith in the Lord and His promises Jacob is the greater. Joseph began to provide for his father, his brothers, and their families throughout the remaining days of the famine.

By the end of the third or fourth year of the famine, Egyptian citizens were in real trouble. They tried to grow crops, but the crop production faltered in the famine, and they had to buy food to supplement their meagre crops. Their money ran dry. Joseph didn’t personally profit from selling food to the people. The profits from the food sales went to Pharaoh.

During the years of plenty, Joseph taxed Egypt twenty percent of their grain crop and put it in storehouses. Then he sold the Egyptians and others the grain during the famine. Having ran out of money, the Egyptians ask Jospeh for food. Believers may agree or disagree, but some early church fathers and commentators suggest that for Joseph to give them food would eventually demoralize Egypt. Similar debates surround our own nation—especially during this government shutdown. Economics, economic policy, and governance is a tricky thing.

So, Joseph doesn’t simply give them food. He sells it for their animals. While they lose a bit of their property, they are relieved of the responsibility for feeding themselves and their animals.

The following year, the people still aren’t able to grow enough food, and they need supplemental food just to literally survive the famine. The Egyptian people offer to become sharecroppers. Essentially, they would rent their land from Pharaoh, giving him a fifth of the produce, and they would keep the four-fifths for themselves plus any needed food supplements. Joseph agrees, puts the governmental program in place, and the people are thankful. Moses writes that the basics of the program remained even to his own day.

Few in this church were alive during the Great Depression. Few in this church know what it’s like to be in such dire need as to not know when your next meal will come, if ever. The famine devastated the lands of Egypt and Canaan to the point that entire families—such as Jacob’s—were migrating in order to survive. Some number of weeks ago, we heard Joseph tell his brothers that even though they had wickedly sought to do him harm, God intended it for good to save many families from the famine, and to preserve Jacob’s family and all the promises God had made to Jacob. The famine was no joke and brought devastation, but the Lord put Joseph in position to lead the nation, help many people survive, and preserve his own family.

Scripture doesn’t speak one way or the other on the nature of this governmental policy, so to say Joseph’s policy must be copied or to call it sinful would be a misreading of Scripture.

The patriarch Jacob arrived in Egypt when he was 130 years old. When he senses the day of his death approaching on the horizon, he has something very important on his mind. He calls for Joseph to visit him. He requests of Joseph—not just as a son but as a high governmental official—to make sure he isn’t buried in Egypt. He desires to be buried in the family cemetery—that one piece of land which Abraham owned in the land of Canaan. The request is of such importance that Jacob makes Joseph swear—solemnly promise—that he will fulfill this request. When Jospeh says, “Yes,” Jacob bows his head in worship.

Why was this a big deal for Jacob? Just as many years before, when Jacob was wrestling a stranger who turned out to be God Himself, and Jacob wouldn’t let Him go without a blessing, so now in his advanced age, Jacob absolutely will not let go of God’s promises. He trusts the Lord to make him into a great nation, to give them the land on which he desires to be buried, and to Redeem the world of all evil. Jacob’s faith guides his actions.

Sometime after Joseph promised to bury Jacob in the family cemetery, Joseph receives word of his father’s illness. It’s perceived that he doesn’t have much longer to live. After Jacob and Joseph were reunited, it sounds as though Jacob had been inspired by the Lord to undertake a particular action. So, when Joseph heard of his father’s illness, he brought his sons—who were probably in their twenties—to visit grandpa one last time.

When Joseph arrives, Jacob tells the story of one of the times that the Lord appeared to him. He recalls the special promises God had made to him—the same promises God make to his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham. He mentions the great nation and the land—all from which the Savior would arrive one day. In recalling these promises, Jacob reminds Joseph of what they surely had discussed before—and the reason Joseph specifically brought his sons: Ephraim and Manasseh.

In the hearing of these two sons of Joseph, Jacob claims them—adopts them—as his own sons. Just as his other sons like Reuben and Simeon (the firstborn sons of Leah) will receive an inheritance of the land, so will Ephraim and Manasseh (the grandsons of the firstborn son of Rachel). In blessing Joseph’s eldest sons—making them inheritors of the promise (for they would later become two of the tribes in the land of Israel)—Jacob also blessed Joseph. If Joseph’s sons become two of the tribes, then that means Jacob has blessed Joseph with the inheritance rights of the firstborn. Joseph—through Ephraim and Manasseh—gets a double portion of the inheritance. As he extends this blessing upon the son and grandsons of his beloved wife Rachel, Jacob can’t help but reminisce about her and the grief he has experienced since her death.

Jacob’s eyesight has been weakening, so even though he can see people, he can’t tell faces very well. He asks Joseph, “Who are the men with you?” Joseph tells him that they are the sons he was just talking about. Jacob declares that it’s time to bless them. He gives them a hug and kisses them. With thankfulness to God, Jacob is still marveling at the reality that he not only gets to see the son that he long thought had been dead, but he gets to see that son’s children as well. It just seems too good to be true! Yet, here they are—with him in the room.

Joseph intentionally positions his sons to receive the blessing so that the oldest will receive the greater blessing. It was customary for the son who would receive the greater blessing to be on the right side and the other son on the left side. However, God doesn’t operate the way we do. Isaac—the second born of Abraham—received the blessing over Ishmael. Jacob—the second born of Isaac—received the blessing over Esau. Now, Jacob crosses his hands so that Ephraim—the second born of Joseph—receives a blessing over Manasseh. Joseph doesn’t like what he sees and speaks up to correct his father, but his father isn’t mistaking things. As someone put it, “Jacob was a patriarch, and as he transmitted the Lord’s blessing, he acted with prophetic insight.”

The message of Jacob’s blessing is incredible. He speaks of God in a threefold—triune—manner. “The God before whom my fathers… walked, the God who has been my shepherd… the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil.” The thrice mention of the Lord is an allusion to the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son (who is the Angel of the Lord encountered by various people in the Old Testament). The word “angel” means messenger. Sometimes the mention of angels are creatures called angels. Sometimes men are referred to as angels. Sometimes the mention of an angel (as described by Jacob in this blessing) is the Word who was made flesh. We know Him as Jesus. Just as Jesus redeemed Jacob from all evil, so He redeems you from all evil—from sin, death, the devil, and hell.

The heart of the blessing is for the triune God to be with Ephraim and Manasseh and their descendants, along with all the other sons of Jacob. He prays that his children carry on his name, and that the Lord fulfill His promise to make them a great nation. Jacob declares that Ephraim and Manasseh will both be great, but Ephraim will have pre-eminence. Scholars point out that after the days of Solomon, when the kingdom split into two, the largest tribe (Judah) reigned to the south. The second largest tribe (Ephraim) ruled the other nine northern tribes.

Jacob promises to Joseph a mountain slope that was taken from the Amorites. This is mysterious as there’s no mention of this in Genesis. So, some scholars believe Jacob obtained land through a battle not mentioned in Scripture. Others suggest that it’s a future promise of a portion of the land to be taken from the Amorites when the Israelites enter the Promised Land under Joshua.

Jacob (who named God had changed to Israel) reminds Joseph that, even though the family is temporarily residing there, Egypt isn’t their home. He declares that the Lord (who promises to be with you always) will be with Jacob’s family as they live in Egypt, becoming a great nation. God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would one day give their descendants the land of Canaan and bless the world through the One who redeems from all evil—Christ Jesus. Amen.