Jacob Finished Well Hebrews 11:21 and Genesis 48

Overview Genesis 48 and 49 detail the final moments of Jacob’s life. Reconciled to his son Joseph, whom he presumed dead for many years, we are drawn into an encounter between three generations that is intensely meaningful, emotionally charged and compellingly faith-filled. ‘Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed’ ready to declare a blessing over his grandsons (Ephraim EFF-RAY-HIM and Manasseh MAN-ASS-ER), no ‘small talk’ is recorded, rather Jacob uses this moment to ‘preach, pray and promise blessings over the two boys. Preaches (verses 3-4). Jacob shares what is essentially his testimony, how he had a powerful encounter with God in Luz (worth reading Genesis 28: 10-17) which he described as ‘awesome’. He repeated to his grandsons the promise he received regarding the plans of God to gather to himself a ‘community of peoples’ from every nation that is the church of Jesus Christ. We should keep reminding one another of all God has done in our lives, especially those closest to us – pointing to and celebrating just how ‘awesome’ our God is. Joel 1:3 “Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation” – Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever”

Prays (Verses 5-20). There are many things happening in this passage of scripture, but let’s focus on a couple of particularly striking things that Jacob says. A) Again we find the ‘younger’ prominent over the ‘elder’, something that Joseph reacts strongly to and which Jacob is resolute about. The significance of this is not easily understood by us, as we don’t live in a ‘Patriarchal’ society. What we are able to discern is that Jacob breaks with ‘tradition’ and ‘worldly wisdom’, themes that recur throughout the scripture (like Jesus being with ‘sinners’ rather that ‘respectable’ people). The scholar Brueggemann sees the broader significance of Jacob’s resolve to bless the younger over the elder: “Jacob refuses because at the last this God accompanies the Crucified One who leads the band of … all those excluded by the claims of primogeniture (the right of a firstborn), merit, and reason.” In other words God’s gift of salvation can never be received on the grounds of any ‘right’ due to hard work, position in the family or moral supremacy but only through faith in Christ’s triumph. B) In verse 15, Jacob describes God as his ‘shepherd’ despite the fact that he has had a largely miserable life; bad relationship with his Dad/terrible relationship with his brother/loved Rachel – but was deceived into marrying Lead/laboured 14 years for Rachel – and discovers her to be barren/His daughter is raped/two of his sons avenge this by killing an entire village/one of his sons Reuben sleeps with one of his wives/his sons told him that Joseph whom he loved to bits had been killed/Rachel his most loved wife died during childbirth! In Ch. 47 he described the days of his life as ‘few and evil’ and yet ‘God has been my shepherd all my life long to this day’. This is the first occasion that God is described as being a shepherd in the Bible, it is worth noting that Jacob himself was a shepherd and thus would have first-hand experience of this dynamic. Sheep are not the sharpest animals, when they are lost they don’t come running to their shepherd when he approaches, rather they resist and run off. When we experience difficulty and trouble we too can react to God like that, rejecting Him on account of our ‘lostness’ but as a Good shepherd he will not leave us, if necessary he will grab hold of us, place us upon his shoulders and carry us to safer terrain, we must learn to trust Him. This is how Jesus put it in John 10: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” Promises – in verse 21 Jacob makes a promise ‘God will be with you’. When Jesus commissioned his disciples in Matthew 28 he made a similar promise ‘Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). This is a promise of assurance something we all need to know, especially when we are struggling and God seems to be distant, during moments like these Psalms like Psalm 23 can be tremendously comforting. Despite knowing he was moments away from death, Jacob was equally certain that His God would remain close to Ephraim and Mannaseh, something he was eager for them to know too. Questions Upon his death-bed Jacob shared his testimony with his Grandsons – why do you think he chose to share about his encounter with God in Luz, see Genesis 28:10-17. (It was a life changing moment in God’s presence/ He received the promise given to Isaac and to Abraham) We are often reluctant to talk about death in our society, but this is an opportunity for us to be challenged, Jacob finished his race well, what does a ‘well finished race’ look like? If you found yourself in Jacob’s position, facing your final moments on earth with all your loved ones around you, what would you want your last words to be? Jacob described God as a ‘shepherd’ – what does it mean for God to be a shepherd? And what does it mean for us to be sheep? The promise that God will always be with us is very powerful, have there been particular times in your life when you’ve known the presence of God? Have you ever known a powerful encounter with God as Jacob knew in Luz? How did it change you? Prayer It would be great to pray for one another that we would know the presence of our ‘Good Shepherd’ and that we would know his closeness and presence in our lives.