Because of the severe famine throughout the land (Genesis 42), Jacob and all of his family had departed from Canaan in order to reside in Egypt (Genesis 46-47). Joseph had risen to power in Egypt (Genesis 41) and God used him to preserve the forming nation of Israel. Furthermore, Pharaoh gave Joseph’s family the land of Goshen and because Goshen was away from the mainstream it allowed them to settle in Egypt without being influenced by the culture. Jacob celebrated about being reunited with his son, Joseph, whom he believed was dead; however, the time of Jacob’s death was near so he requested that Joseph bury him back in the land of Canaan (Genesis 47:29-31). After Joseph’s promise to Jacob, his health began to fail and he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to see Jacob before his death (48:1). Frail and nearly blind, Jacob sat up in his bed and said, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’ And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine” (48:2-5). Jacob’s adoption of Joseph’s two sons was an expression of gratitude and provided them with the same inheritance as his own sons.
Jacob called Joseph’s two sons to him and pronounced a blessing on them, but the blessing of the firstborn was bestowed upon Ephraim instead of Manasseh, the oldest (48:6-16). Joseph attempted to correct Jacob’s apparent mistake by switching Jacob’s right hand of blessing to the head of Manasseh (48:17-18), but Jacob refused saying, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations” (48:19). Jacob then turns his attention to Joseph saying, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow” (48:21-22). Through his words to Joseph, Jacob expressed his confidence that God would eventually return them to Canaan to inherit the land God had promised to them. Although Jacob’s life had been filled with hardship, he trusted that God would fulfill His promise, even if he never lived to see it come to pass.
Dear God, give me faith like Jacob.
