Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near to him. Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude upon the earth.”
When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”
His father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a multitude of nations.” He blessed them that day, saying, “Israel will bless in you, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’ ” He set Ephraim before Manasseh.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 16, 17, 19 14. And Israel stretched out his right hand. Seeing…
14. And Israel stretched out his right hand. Seeing his eyes were dim with age, so that he could not, by looking, discern which was the elder, he yet intentionally placed his hands across. And therefore Moses says that he guided his hands wittingly, because he did not rashly put them forth, nor transfer them from one youth to the other for the sake of feeling them: but using judgment, he purposely directed his right hand to Ephraim who was the younger: but placed his left hand on the first-born. Whence we gather that the Holy Spirit was the director of this act, who irradiated the mind of the holy man, and caused him to see more correctly, than those who were the most clear-sighted, into the nature of this symbolical act. I shall avoid saying more, because we shall be able to inquire into it from other passages.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 17, 20 God’s judgments is oft times contrary to man’s, and…
God’s judgments is oft times contrary to man’s, and he preferreth that, which man despiseth.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13–20 Gen 48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in…
Gen 48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought [them] near unto him.
Ver. 13. Both, Ephraim in his right hand.] The right hand hath the pre-eminence of the left among most people: yet not so among the Turks; their soldiery especially. The right hand they hold uppermost ibr the clergy, and the left for a soldier: because it gives a man possession of his companion’s sword. Thus do both orders converse without the depression of either, saith mine author. {a}
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{a} Sir Henry Blunt’s Voyage.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20 right hand was more honourable both in Scripture account,…
The
right hand was more honourable both in Scripture account, and amongst the Gentiles.
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Laid it upon Ephraim’s head; which was a rite used often, and in divers cases, as in the conferring of offices either sacred or civil, as Num 8:10; Deu 34:9; Act 6:6; 13:3; and among other things, in giving benedictions, as Mat 19:13.
Guiding his hands wittingly; this proceeded not from chance, or the mistake and weakness of his eyes, but from design, and the wisdom of his hands. Heb. He disposed his hands prudently, or, he dealt wisely with his hands. Here was a double wisdom showed.
1. Human, by which he gathered that Manasseh was the eldest, because Joseph placed him towards his right hand.
2. Divine and prophetical, by which he foresaw Ephraim’s advantage above Manasseh, and wisely suited the ceremony to the substance, giving the greater sign of honour to him, to whom God designed the thing.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv13–20 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right…
And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand,.... He took Ephraim his youngest son in his right hand, and led him up to his father, by which means he would stand in a right position to have his grandfather's left hand put upon him:
and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand; Manasseh his eldest son he took in his left hand, and brought him to his father, and so was in a proper position to have his right hand laid upon him, as seniority of birth required, and as he was desirous should be the case:
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and brought them near unto him; in the above manner, so near as that he could lay his hands on them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 19 The God who fed me all my life long…
The God who fed me all my life long unto this day - As long as we have lived in this world we have had continual experience of God's goodness to us in providing for the support of our natural life. Our bodies have called for daily food, and we have never wanted food convenient. He that has fed us all our life long will not fail us at last.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 16, 18, 20 Verse 14. Israel stretched out his right hand, c.]…
Verse 14. Israel stretched out his right hand, c.] Laying hands on the head was always used among the Jews in giving blessings, designating men to any office, and in the consecration of solemn sacrifices. This is the first time we find it mentioned but we often read of it afterwards. See Nu 27:18, Nu 27:23; De 34:9; Mt 19:13, Mt 19:15; Ac 6:6; 1Ti 4:14. Jacob laid his right hand on the head of the younger, which we are told he did wittingly - well knowing what he was about, for (or although) Manasseh was the first-born, knowing by the Spirit of prophecy that Ephraim's posterity would be more powerful than that of Manasseh. It is observable how God from the beginning has preferred the younger to the elder, as Abel before Cain; Shem before Japheth; Isaac before Ishmael; Jacob before Esau; Judah and Joseph before Reuben; Ephraim before Manasseh; Moses before Aaron; and David before his brethren. "This is to be resolved entirely into the wise and secret counsel of God, so far as it regards temporal blessings and national privileges, as the apostle tells us, Ro 9:11; See Clarke on Ge 25:23. But this preference has no concern with God's conferring a greater measure of his love and approbation on one person more than another; compare Ge 4:7, with Heb 11:4, and you will see that a difference in moral character was the sole cause why God preferred Abel to Cain." - Dodd. The grace that converts the soul certainly comes from the mere mercy of God, without any merit on man's part; and a sufficiency of this is offered to every man, Tit 2:11-12. But it is not less certain that God loves those best who are most faithful to this grace.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 17, 19 Gen 48:15. The God who fed me, &c. —…
Gen 48:15. The God who fed me, &c. — As long as we have lived in this world we have had continual experience of God’s goodness to us in providing for the support of our natural life. Our bodies have called for daily food, and we have never wanted food convenient. He that has fed us all our life long will not fail us at last.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 17, 19, 20 Changing. Hebrew, "making his hands intelligent;" or giving to…
Changing. Hebrew, "making his hands intelligent;" or giving to understand, by forming a cross with his extended hands, that he had some particular reason for so doing. (Haydock) --- By the preference given to Ephraim, he forshewed his royal dignity, in giving kings to the ten tribes, (Eusebius) and that his tribe would surpass that of his brother in glory and numbers; (ver. 19,) and lastly, give birth to that great leader, Josue; who, as a figure of Christ, should introduce the Israelites into the promised land. (Menochius) --- The custom of imposing hands on a person, is of high antiquity, and is still practiced in the Christian church in the ordination of her ministers. (Numbers viii. 10; Acts vi. 6.) See Matthew xix. 13; Numbers xxvii. 23. (Calmet) --- The cross of Christ is the source of all our exaltation. A preference for the younger children is generally observable in Scripture; being intended to shew that the Church, though chosen later out of all nations, should obtain the preference over the synagogue. (Theodoret) (Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v13 Joseph took them both--The very act of pronouncing the…
Joseph took them both--The very act of pronouncing the blessing was remarkable, showing that Jacob's bosom was animated by the spirit of prophecy.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 17, 20 14. Guiding his hands wittingly — Literally, he made…
14. Guiding his hands wittingly — Literally, he made wise his hands. “Instructing his hands,” says the Targum Onk.; his hands acted as if wise, and crossed each other, to symbolically express the prophetic preference of Ephraim to Manasseh. “The sacred writer minutely details this wonderful manifestation of inspired prescience. By events like this were the chosen people incessantly indoctrinated in the great truths of the divine foreknowledge and supervision of all human plans, while at the same time human and secondary causes are never ignored.” — Newhall.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20 13. Ephraim in his right hand] i.e. so that…
13. Ephraim in his right hand] i.e. so that the right hand of Jacob might rest on Manasseh the elder. The gesture of benediction, by the laying on of hands, signified the communication of rights and privileges. As in the story of Isaac (ch. 27), the blessing by the head of the house, on his deathbed, was irrevocable. The person who received it could not be deprived of it.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv14, 15, 19, 20 (14) Guiding his hands wittingly.—The LXX., Syriac, and Vulg.…
(14) Guiding his hands wittingly.—The LXX., Syriac, and Vulg. translate, “placing his hands crosswise;” but the Targum of Onkelos favours the translation of our version. There is some amount of philological support for the rendering of the three chief versions; but it must mainly rest upon their own authority, which is, however, very great.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right…
And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel"s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel"s right hand, and brought them near unto him. Joseph naturally expected that Jacob s right hand would fall upon the head of Manasseh, as the firstborn, although with regard to even this a doubt might have been suggested if he had remembered how Isaac had been preferred to Ishmael, and Jacob to Esau.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom…
Gen_48:15-16
And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, &c
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Jacobs deathbed
When St.
Paul wished to select from the history of Jacob an instance of faith, he took the scene described in the text, when Joseph brings his two sons to the deathbed of his father. The text is therefore to be considered as one in which faith was signally exhibited.
I. Jacob seems to make it his object, and to represent it as a privilege, that he should take the lads out of the family of Joseph, though that family was then one of the noblest in Egypt, and transplant them into his own, though it had no outward distinction but what is derived from its connection with the other. Faith gave him this consciousness of superiority; he knew that his posterity were to constitute a peculiar people, from which would at length arise the Redeemer. He felt it far more of an advantage for Ephraim and Manasseh to be counted with the tribes than numbered among the princes of Egypt.
II. Observe the peculiarity of Jacobs language with regard to his preserver, and his decided preference of the younger brother to the elder, in spite of the remonstrances of Joseph. There was faith, and illustrious faith, in both. By the Angel who redeemed him from all evil, he must have meant the Second Person of the Trinity; he shows that he had glimmerings of the finished work of Christ. The preference of the younger son to the elder was typical of the preference of the Gentile Church to the Jewish. Acting on what he felt convinced was the purpose of God, Jacob did violence to his own inclination and that of those whom he most longed to please.
III. Jacobs worshipping (referred to in Heb_11:1-40.) may be taken as proving his faith. What has a dying man to do with worshipping, unless he is a believer in another state? He leans upon the top of his staff as if he would acknowledge the goodness of his heavenly Father, remind himself of the troubles through which he had been brought, and of the Hand which alone had been his guardian and guide. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The last days of Jacob
I. WE SEE HERE THE BEAUTY OF FILIAL PIETY. Jacob was only a shepherd, and Joseph was an exalted and powerful statesman. Had there been a trace of meanness and pride and self-seeking in the son, he might easily have waited till the patriarch was dead before doing him honour. Death often compels a child to respect a neglected parent. But Joseph was a great man, so great that the distinction of station had no influence upon his mind. Like many other great men, his personal attachments were intense, and his loyalty to his family was deep and unchanged. Besides this, his father was the heir of the covenant whose mercies would enrich him more than all Egypts lands, and he could not alienate himself from that future commonwealth of Israel to which his faith pointed. This journey of Joseph to his father shows the man, and the man of God. He felt that the less was to be blessed of the greater.
II. WE ARE INTERESTED IS JACOBS OWN VIEW OF HIS LIFE. When Israel strengthened himself for this last interview, and there came to him a flash of his old prowess and undaunted vigour, his memory was aroused, and the past in its great features lay spread out before him. The dark parts of his life seemed to remind him of Divine mercies, and from the summit he had gained appeared to him only as the shadows of summer clouds on distant hills.
III. THE BLESSING WAS A SOLEMN ACT OF PROPHECY, FAITH, AND WORSHIP.
IV. SEE HERE THE DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY, Oldest son, the most promising child, does not always, perhaps not usually, share the largest part of the joys and honours of life. Parental hopes are often thwarted, and we desire in vain to change the manifest development of character and circumstance. In the history of nations, outside Israel, we witness the same phenomenon, and wonder why the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong; why smaller states eclipse greater ones, and why heroes and leaders spring from such unexpected quarters. All is of God. In the workings of redemption around us every day we meet the same fact. One is taken and another left. Nor can we read the reasons. (E. N. Packard.)
The blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh
I. ITS NATURE AND PROSPERITY.
1. They were blessed in the person of Joseph. He is blessed in his sons (verses 15, 20). The principle is recognized of blessing mankind in the name and for the sake of another.
2. With the covenant blessing. Not with that of the gods of Egypt, though he had cause to be grateful to that nation. He would have his children to know the true fount of blessedness. He invoked the blessing of the God of his fathers (verse 15). The assurance that others have shared the gifts of grace with us is a support to our faith. We of the Church belong to a holy nation, which has a great and venerable past.
3. With the blessing of which he himself had experience. The God which fed me all my life long until this day (verse 15). He felt that God had tended and cared for him like a shepherd.
4. With a different blessing for each. He bestows the larger blessing upon the younger (verse 19).
II. ITS OUTWARD FORM. It was conveyed by the imposition of hands (verse 14). The blessing was not merely a wish or a hope, but a reality, This laying on of hands was the outward means or symbol of its conveyance. Outward forms impress, they steady the mind, and assist contemplation. The blessing was as real as the outward act which accompanied it, the reality of nature leading on to the reality of grace.
III. ITS WARRANT.
1. The covenant position in which God had placed him. He stood with his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, in the same covenant relation with God (verses 15, 16).
2. The act was Divinely directed. Old Jacob crossed his hands, and thus in bestowing the blessing reversed the order of nature (verses 14, 17). He refused to be corrected by Joseph, for though his sight was dim, his spiritual eye discerned the will of God. He guided his hands wittingly, with full knowledge of the decree of the Most High. God, who distributes His gifts as He will, prefers the younger to the elder. Nature and grace often take cross directions. (T. H. Leale.)
Jacobs prayer for the sons of Joseph
I. THE GLORIOUS PERSONAGE ADDRESSED. The Angel, &c.
1. The title of this glorious personage.
2. His achievements.
II. THE INTERESTING PRAYER PRESENTED.
1. What is sought? Bless.
(1) Knowledge and wisdom.
(2) Genuine religion.
(3) That God may make them extensively useful.
2. Who should thus pray?
(1) Lovers of their species.
(2) Patriots.
(3) Parents.
(4) Sunday-school teachers.
(5) Fellow. Christians. All who love Jesus Christ.
3. The manner of presenting this supplication.
(1) Under a consciousness of the necessity of the Divine blessing.
(2) In strong faith.
(3) In connection with our own efforts. (J. Burns, D. D.)
The last days of Jacob
I. THE HEIRS OF THE BLESSING--A SURPRISE.
1. The adoption of Josephs two sons to be reckoned among the patriarchs, equal with Jacobs own sons, while Joseph personally is left out, was doubt]ass a surprise.
(1) Because Josephs personal character would seem to warrant the perpetuity of his own name in tribal pre-eminence.
(2) Because this adoption increased the tribes to thirteen.
(3) We find, however, that this was a conscious, or unconscious, anticipation of the elimination of the tribe of Levi, by its elevation to priestly honour in place of the first-born.
(4) We also find that this adoption was a mark of special honour to Joseph, in having a double inheritance in his sons, and also in having the birthright forfeited by Reuben, on account of his sin (Gen_48:22; 1Ch_5:1-2).
2. This adoption of Josephs two sons was by Divine direction.
II. THE CHARACTER OF THE BLESSING IS SUGGESTIVE.
1. The elevated glow of the dying patriarch must be regarded as the result of the Divine power that wrought upon him.
2. The spirit and terms of the blessing are very touching and instructive.
(1) Gratitude for the care, protection, and guidance of God is here beautifully expressed.
(2) The reference to the Angel that redeemed him is a suggestive allusion to the quality of Jehovah and His Angel.
3. The sovereignty of God in the expression of His choice of the younger over the elder must be fully recognized.
III. THE PATRIARCHS PERSONAL CONDITION WHEN THE BLESSING WAS BESTOWED.
1. Physical.
2. Mental.
3. Spiritual. Lessons:--
1. The sovereignty of God.
2. Divine sovereignty is not exercised in unreasoning arbitrariness, but in perfect harmony with the laws of justice and love.
3. Learn how gloriously a child of God can die. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
Jacob owning Divine care, and blessing his grandchildren
I. To ILLUSTRATE THE TEXT.
1. Here is Jacobs recollection and acknowledgment of the Divine goodness and care. He acknowledgeth God, as the God of his pious ancestors, and as his constant preserver and benefactor.
II. TO CONSIDER WHAT INSTRUCTIVE LESSONS AGED CHRISTIANS MAY DRAW FROM HENCE.
1. It is their duty to recollect and acknowledge their long experience of Gods goodness and care.
(1) It will promote and cherish your gratitude to God.
(2) It will tend to prevent your murmuring under the burdens and infirmities of age.
(3) It will promote your continued activity in Gods service.
(4) It will encourage your prayers and your hope.
2. It is the duty of aged and dying Christians to bless and pray for their descendants.
(1) It is a becoming expression of your faith and trust in God and regard for your children.
(2) It will be likely to make a good impression upon their hearts, and so qualify them for the Divine blessing.
(3) It is the way to procure the Divine blessing for them.
Concluding reflections:
1. Let children desire and value the prayer and blessing of their aged, dying parents.
2. Let the children of good men labour to secure the blessing for themselves. (J. Often.)
The last days
There is a splendour peculiar to the meridian sun. There is a majestic and uncontrollable energy, and boldness, with which it spreads light and blessedness on all around. The sun shining in its strength is a grand and exhilarating sight. But there is a still deeper interest attendant on its decline; when the warm and mellow tints of evening soften the dazzling brightness of its ray; and when surrounded, but not obscured by clouds, and rich in a golden radiance, on which the eye lingers with chastened and inexpressible delight, it sinks below the horizon. It is with similar feelings that we regard the faithful servant of God, when he comes towards the close of a long, consistent, and useful life. It is when viewed in this light, that the last hours of the patriarch Jacob become valuable to us. All is resolved into the Divine care. All the vicissitudes of his course, when thus scrutinized, by the accurate discernment of one who from long experience could not be deceived, appear but as evidences to him of the gracious and providential guardianship of his Almighty Friend and Father.
1. He admits without reserve the providential care of God through a long life. God Almighty that appeared unto me in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, hath fed me all my life long unto this day. Many there are whose last years savour of a very different spirit from this. They have set out in life with false and unwarranted expectations of prosperity. They began without God for their friend, and they lived a life of business or of folly. They never cherished any hope, but the hope of extracting happiness from a world which was never calculated to give it. And what has been the result? Year after year has brought its disappointments.
2. There is another essential point of difference between the experience of this venerable Patriarch and yours. Jacob recognizes fully the gracious, as well as the protecting care of his God. In looking back upon his way, he broadly and joyfully admits the truth of Gods redeeming mercy. This is the great secret of the exalted sublimity of his character, and the serenity of his end. We can recognize then in the creed of Jacob, precisely the same ground of hope as that of which we ourselves now rest. As truly as we see
Christians in the full confidence of the faith of the gospel approaching their dying hour, and saying, I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain; so truly do we see Jacob in the exercise of the very same faith--a faith in a nameless Saviour. Learn that you can leave no better blessing to your children and your friends, than the mantle of your own piety--a measure of your own Christian hope. The last lesson is encouragement. Be encouraged to seek the Lord early, and to trust him through life. Jacob is one of an innumerable host of instances adducible in proof of the faithfulness of God. He will never fail them that trust in Him. (E. Craig.)
Josephs blessing
1. Though Ephraim and Manasseh were each constituted heads of tribes, yet they were blessed in the person of their father Joseph. Here, as elsewhere, God would exemplify the great principle on which He designed to act in blessing mankind in the name and for the sake of another.
2. Jacob, though now among the Egyptians, and kindly treated by them, yet makes no mention of their gods, but holds up to his posterity the living and true God. In proportion as Egypt was kind to the young people, such would be their danger of being seduced; but let them remember the dying words of their venerable ancestor, and know from whence their blessedness cometh.
3. The God whose blessing was bestowed upon them was not only the true God, but the God of their fathers; a God in covenant with the family, who loved them, and was loved and served by them. God, before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, did walk. How sweet and endearing the character; and what a recommendation of these holy patterns to the young people! Nor was He merely the God of Abraham and Isaac, but Jacob himself also could speak well of His name; adding, The God who fed me all my life long unto this day! Sweet and solemn are the recommendations of aged piety. Speak reproachfully of Christ, said the persecutors to Polycarp, when leading him to the stake. Eighty six years I have served Him answered the venerable man, during all which time He never did me an injury; how then can I blaspheme Him who is my King, and my Saviour? Hearken, oh, young people, to this affecting language! It is a principle dictated by common prudence, Thine own friend, and thy fathers friend, forsake not: and how much more forcibly does it apply to the God of your fathers!
4. This God is culled the Angel who redeemed him from all evil. Who this was it is not difficult to decide. It was the Angel, no doubt, with whom Jacob wrestled and prevailed, and concerning whom he said, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
5. The blessing of God under all these endearing characters is invoked upon the lads, their forefathers names put upon them, and abundant increase promised to them. Surely it is good to be connected with them that fear God; yet those only who are of faith will ultimately be blessed with their faithful predecessors. (A. Fuller.)
A bit of history for old and young
1. Our text tells us that Jacob blessed Joseph, and we perceive that he blessed him through blessing his children; which leads us to the next remark, that no choicer favour could fall upon ourselves than to see our children favoured of the Lord. Joseph is doubly blessed by seeing Ephraim and Manasseh blessed.
2. Those of us who are parents are bound to do our best, that our children may be partakers with us of the Divine inheritance. As Joseph took Ephraim and Manasseh to see their aged grandfather, let us bring our children where blessings may be expected.
3. Furthermore, observe that if we want to bless young people, one of the likeliest means of doing so will be our personal testimony to the goodness of God. Young men and women usually feel great interest in their fathers life-story--if it be a worthy one--and what they hear from them of their personal experience of the goodness of God will abide with them. This is one of the best ways in which to bless the lads. The benediction of Jacob was intertwisted with his biography; the blessing which he had himself enjoyed he wished for them, and as he invoked it he helped to secure it by his personal testimony.
4. One thing further: I want you to note, that Jacob, in desiring to bless his grandsons, introduced them to God. He speaks of God before whom my fathers did walk: God who blessed me all my life long. This is the great distinction between man and man: there are two races, he that feareth God, and he that feareth Him not. The religion of this present age, such as it is, has a wrong direction in its course. It seeks after what is called the enthusiasm of humanity, but what we want far more is enthusiasm for God. We shall never go right unless God is first, midst, and last. All this is introduction; so now we must come at once and plunge into the discourse.
Jacobs testimony, wherewith he blessed the sons of Joseph, has in it four points.
I. First HE SPEAKS OF ANCESTRAL MERCIES; he begins with that God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk. As with a pencil he sketches the lives of Abraham and Isaac.
1. They were men who recognized God and worshipped Him, beyond all others of their age. God was to them a real existence; they spake with God, and God spake with them; they were friends of God, and enjoyed familiar acquaintance with Him.
2. They not only recognized God, but they owned Him in daily life. I take the expression, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, to mean that He was their God in common life. They not only knelt before God when they prayed, but they walked before Him in everything. This is the kind of life for you and for me; whether we live in a great house or in a poor cottage, if we walk before God we shall lead a happy and a noble life, whether that life be public or obscure. Oh that our young people would firmly believe this!
3. They walked before God; that is they obeyed His commands. His call they heard, His bidding they followed. To them the will of the Lord was paramount: He was law and life to them, for they loved and feared Him. They were prompt to hear the behests of God, and rose up early to fulfil them. They acted as in the immediate presence of the All-seeing.
4. To the full they trusted Him. In this sense they always saw Him. We sometimes talk about tracing Him. We cannot trace Him, except as we trust Him; and because they trusted, they traced Him.
5. They enjoyed the favour of God, for this also is intended by walking before Him. His face was towards them: they sunned themselves in His smile. Gods love was their true treasure. God was their wealth, their strength, their exceeding joy. I say again, happy sons who have such ancestors! happier still if they follow in their track! So Jacob spoke of Abraham and Isaac, and so can some of us speak of those who went before us. Those of us who can look back upon godly ancestors now in heaven must feel that many ties bind us to follow the same course of life.
6. There is a charm about that which was prized by our fathers. Heirlooms are treasured, and the best heirloom in a family is the knowledge of God. The way of holiness in which your fathers went is a fitting way for you, and it is seemly that you maintain the godly traditions of your house. In the old times they expected sons to follow the secular calling of their fathers; and although that may be regarded as an old-world mistake, yet it is well when sons and daughters receive the same spiritual call as their parents. Grace is not tied to families, but yet the Lord delights to bless to a thousand generations. Very far are we from believing that the new birth is of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man. The will of God reigns here supreme, and absolute; but yet there is a sweet fitness in the passing on of holy loyalty from grandsire to father, and from father to son. A godly ancestry casts responsibility upon young people. These Ephraims and Manassehs perceive that their fathers knew the Lord, and the question arises, Why should they not know Him? Oh my beloved young friends, the God of your fathers will be found of you and be your God. The prayers of your fathers have gone before you; let them be followed by your own. A godly ancestry should invest a mans case with great hopefulness. May he not argue, If God blessed my ancestors, why should He not bless me?
II. Now he comes to deal with PERSONAL MERCIES. The old mans voice faltered as he said, The God which fed me all my life long. The translation would be better if it ran, The God which shepherded me all my life long.
1. He spoke of the Lord as his shepherd. Jacob had been a shepherd, and therefore he knew what shepherding included: the figure is full of meaning. There had been a good deal of Jacob about Jacob, and he had tried to shepherd himself. Poor sheep that he was, while under his own guidance he had been caught in many thorns, and had wandered in many wildernesses. Because he would be so much a shepherd to himself, he had been hard put to it. But over all, despite his wilfulness, the shepherding of the covenant God had been exercised towards him, and he acknowledged it. Oh dear saints of God, you to whom years are being multiplied, give praise to your God for having been your shepherd. Bear your witness to the shepherding of God, for this may lead others to become the sheep of His pasture.
2. This shepherding had been perfect. Our version rightly says that the Lord had fed Jacob all his life long. Take that sense of it, and you who have a daily struggle for subsistence will see much beauty in it. Mercies are all the sweeter when seen to come from the hand of God. But besides being fed Jacob had been led, even as sheep are guided by the shepherd who goes before them. His journeys, for that period, had been unusually long, perilous, and frequent. He had fled from home to Padanaram; after long years he had come back again to Canaan, and had met his brother Esau; and after that, in his old age, he had journeyed into Egypt. To go to California or New Zealand in these times is nothing at all compared to those journeys in Jacobs day. But he says, God has shepherded me all my life long; and he means that the great changes of his life had been wisely ordered. Life ends in blighted hope if you have not hope in God. But with God you are as a sheep with a shepherd--cared for, guided, guarded, fed, and led, and your end shall be peace without end.
III. Thirdly, bear with me while I follow Jacob in his word upon REDEEMING MERCIES. The Angel which redeemed me from all evil. There was to Joseph a mysterious Personage who was God, and yet the Angel or messenger of God. He puts this Angel in apposition with the Elohim: for this Angel was God. Yet was He his Redeemer. Brothers and sisters, let us also tell of the redeeming mercies of the Lord Jesus towards us. You remember, too, when that pinch came in business, so that you could not see how to provide things honest in the sight of all men; then Jesus revealed His love and bade you think of the lilies and the ravens, which neither spin nor sow, and yet are clothed majestically and fare sumptuously. Many a time has the Lord delivered you because He delighted in you.
IV. Jacob has spoken of ancestral mercies, personal mercies and redeeming mercies, and now he deals with FUTURE MERCIES, as he cries Bless the lads. He began with blessing Joseph, and he finishes with blessing his lads. Oh dear friends, if God has blessed you, I know you will want Him to bless others. There is the stream of mercy, deep, broad, and clear; you have drunk of it, and are refreshed, but it is as full as ever. It will flow on, will it not? In closing, I wish to bear a personal testimony by narrating an incident in my own life. I have been preaching in Essex this week, and I took the opportunity to visit the place where my grandfather preached so long, and where I spent my earliest days. Last Wednesday was to me a day in which I walked like a man in a dream. Everybody seemed bound to recall some event or other of my childhood. What a story of Divine love and mercy did it bring before my mind! Among other things, I sat down in a place that must ever be sacred to me. There stood in my grandfathers manse garden two arbours made of yew trees, cut into sugar-loaf fashion. Though the old manse has given way to a new one, and the old chapel has gone also, yet the yew trees flourish as aforetime. I sat down in the right hand arbour and bethought me of what had happened there many years ago. When I was a young child staying with my grandfather, there came to preach in the village Mr. Knill, who had been a missionary at St. Petersburg, and a mighty preacher of the gospel. He came to preach for the London Missionary Society, and arrived on the Saturday at the manse. He was a great soul-winner, and he soon spied out the boy. He said to me, Where do you sleep? for I want to call you up in the morning. I showed him my little room. At six oclock he called me up, and we went into that arbour. There, in the sweetest way, he told me of the love of Jesus, and of the blessedness of trusting in Him and loving Him in our childhood. With many a story he preached Christ to me, and told me how good God had been to him, and then he prayed that I might know the Lord and serve Him. He knelt down in that arbour and prayed for me with his arms about my neck. He did not seem content unless I kept with him in the interval between the services, and he heard my childish talk with patient love. On Monday morning he did as on the Sabbath, and again on Tuesday. Three times he taught me and prayed with me, and before he had to leave, my grandfather had come back from the place where he had gone to preach, and all the family were gathered to morning prayer. Then, in the presence of them all, Mr. Knill took me on his knee, anal said, This child will one day preach the gospel, and he will preach it to great multitudes. I am persuaded that he will preach in the chapel of Rowland Hill, where (I think he said) I am now the minister. He spoke very solemnly, and called upon all present to witness what he said. Then he gave me sixpence as a reward if I would learn the hymn--
God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.
I was made to promise that when I preached in Rowland Hills chapel that hymn should be sung. Think of that as a promise from a child I Would it ever be other than an idle dream? Years flew by. After I had begun for some little time to preach in London, Dr. Alexander Fletcher had to give the annual sermon to children in Surrey Chapel, but as he was taken ill, I was asked in a hurry to preach to the children. Yes, I said, I will, if the children will sing God moves in a mysterious way. I have made a promise long ago that so that should be sung. And so it was; I preached in Rowland Hills chapel, and the hymn was sung. My, emotions on that occasion I cannot describe. Still that was not the chapel which Mr. Knill intended. All unsought by me, the minister at Wotton-under-Edge, which was Mr. Hills summer residence, invited me to preach there. I went on the condition that the congregation should sing, God moves in a mysterious way--which was also done. After that I went to preach for Mr. Richard Knill himself, who was then at Chester. What a meeting we had! Mark this! he was preaching in the theatre! His preaching in a theatre took away from me all fear about preaching in secular buildings, and set me free for the campaigns in Exeter Hall and the Surrey Music Hall. How much this had to do with other theatre services you know. After more than forty years of the Lords loving-kindness, I sat again in that arbour! No doubt it is a mere trifle for outsiders to hear, but to me it was an overwhelming moment. The present minister of Stambourn meeting-house, and the members of his family, including his son and his grandchildren, were in the garden, and I could not help calling them together around that arbour, while I praised the Lord for His goodness. One irresistible impulse was upon me it was to pray God to bless those lads that stood around me. Do you not see how the memory begat the prayer? I wanted them to remember when they grew up my testimony of Gods goodness to me; and for that same reason I tell it to you young people who are around me this morning. God has blessed me all my life long, and redeemed me from all evil, and I pray that He may be your God. You that have godly parents, I would specially address. I beseech you to follow in their footsteps, that you may one day speak of the Lord as they were able to do in their day. Remember that special promise, I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me. May the Holy Spirit lead you to seek Him this day; and you shall live to praise His name as Jacob did. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Jacob blessing Josephs children
I. First of all, THE REFERENCE TO JACOBS FOREFATHERS: he says, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk. How various must be the thoughts suggested to all our minds by that same expression--God, before whom my fathers did walk! How many of us can say that it was the God of Abraham before whom our fathers did walk? How many must be constrained to say that it was the god of this world . . . before whom their fathers did walk! It is an awful question which we read in the prophet, Your fathers, where are they? How solemnly it recalls the history of our own youth! How solemnly it bids us ask, Were those we loved in the flesh in Christ, or were they out of Christ? But I stay not to dwell upon that: it is clear that the feelings which were in the mind of the patriarch were those of joy and gratitude; he knew who was the God of his fathers; he knew that their God was his God. In the expression, therefore, God, before whom my fathers did walk, he doubtless had reference to the sovereign grace of God, which had called Abraham from the midst of an idolatrous nation, to be the father of the faithful--to be he in whose seed all the families of the earth should be blessed. His mind, therefore, was filled with lone to that God who had made Abraham to differ, and who had so mercifully kept Abraham, even to the end.
II. But, secondly, let us speak of THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT WHICH IS HERE GIVEN OF JACOBS EXPERIENCE when he says, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil. He appears here, I think, to refer to Gods providential care of him, as well as to the spiritual mercies vouchsafed to him, when he says, the God who fed me all my life long. For he would refer to His support in his early days at home. He would refer also to the manifest way in which Gods presence was vouchsafed to him at the time he was in the family of Laban; and even perhaps now he was referring also to the mysterious manner in which God had been pleased to allow his son--his beloved son Joseph--to be taken from him for a times when he was constrained to exclaim, All these things are against me. But now, having been taught of God the reason of the Lords dealings; having seen how good was brought out of evil; having perceived that the Lord had sent Joseph before him, so that he might be the instrument in the Lords hand of feeding him in the time of want and famine, he says, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day. But I apprehend that, grateful as the patriarch must have felt for these temporal mercies, his feelings upon this point were very far less intense than they were for those spiritual mercies which God had so graciously vouchsafed to him; for we see him also saying, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. The Angel who redeemed. And who was this Angel whose blessing he was invoking? Had it not been the Angel of the covenant, the very expression made use of by the patriarch must have been the language of blasphemy; but, instead of that, we know that it was the Angel of the covenant, even the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and from that we gather what the nature of those spiritual mercies are to which the patriarch more especially alludes: The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.
III. But, thirdly, we must remark upon THE BLESSING WHICH IS INVOKED: the patriarch says, bless the lads. He doubtless desired that there should be daily food provided for them; he doubtless desired that Gods care should constantly watch over them; but there was something far greater than this he desired for them. He desired the full blessings of Gods redeeming love, so that he might be able to feel that that Angel which had redeemed him from all evil would also redeem those children which were before him, and that they might have all that comfortable experience which he himself enjoyed. And what could be the groundwork of such anticipations existing in the aged patriarchs breast? Think you, he considered that they would merit these blessings at the hands of God, while he disclaimed all merit himself? There were no feelings of this kind in his breast, for he had been taught of God; but he knew what God he had to deal with; he felt that he had to deal with a covenant-keeping God, and he was assured that all those blessings which he besought were covenant mercies in Christ Jesus. (H. M. Villiers, M. A.)
Jacob blessing Joseph
I. WE ARE TO CONSIDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND THE IMPORT OF JACOBS BLESSING: And Jacob blessed Joseph. But more particularly--
1. Contemplate the persons before us: Jacob, Joseph, and his two sons.
2. Mark now the place where these persons met.
3. Remember the time when these persons met. It was the time of Jacobs death.
4. Observe the import of the solemn action in our text. It is a dying blessing! God-bless the lads! God is the author of every blessing. We are, secondly--
II. To CONSIDER THE INSTRUCTION WHICH THE BLESSING CONVEYS.
1. This blessing teaches the nature of true religion. It is walking before God.
2. This blessing teaches the benefits of practical godliness.
3. This blessing teaches the advantages of pious parents. The God of my fathers. The children of pious parents have the advantage of religious instruction. Again: such children have the advantage of fervent and constant prayer for their eternal welfare. Further: such children have the advantage of religious example. Finally: such children, like Jacobs sons, may have the advantage of their parents dying testimony and last blessing.
4. This blessing teaches the importance of educating the young. (J. Cawood, M. A.)
An old mans blessing
I. A DISTINCTION OF BLESSING. Jacob was, doubtless, divinely guided to make this distinction. The choice he made was inspired by God; and Gods will was discerned and obeyed. We may learn to avoid pride, envy, and ambition, and to abide by Gods will and the Divine disposal of events and circumstances (comp. 1Sa_2:7; Psa_75:6-7; 1Co_12:11).
II. A CONTINUITY OF BLESSING (read Gen_48:15; Gen_16:1-16, and note the reference to Abraham and Isaac).
III. A FUTURITY OF BLESSING.
IV. A UNITY OF BLESSING. The lots of one and another among Gods people may differ. But all that is good, and hopeful, and blessed, comes from the One source of blessing--the One God, Guide, Deliverer. Conclusion: Let us ask ourselves these questions: Are we trying to learn from our elders Gods truth? Are we seeking to live as those who look for Gods blessing as the best thing? Do we wish to hand down the truth and premises of the Lord to those that come after us (Psa_78:3-4)? (W. S. Smith, B. D.)
And he blessed Joseph
In blessing his seed, he blesses himself. In exalting his two sons into the rank and right of his brothers, he bestows upon them the double portion of the first-born. In the terms of the blessing, Jacob first signalizes the threefold function which the Lord discharges in effecting the salvation of a sinner. The God, before whom walked my fathers, is the Author of salvation, the Judge who dispenses justice and mercy, the Father, before whom the adopted and regenerate child walks. From Him salvation comes, to Him the saved returns, to walk before Him and be perfect. The God, who fed me from my being unto this day, is the Creator and Upholder of life, the Quickener and Sanctifier, the potential Agent, who works both to will and to do in the soul. The Angel that redeemed me from all evil is the all-sufficient Friend, who wards off evil by Himself, satisfying the demands of justice and resisting the devices of malice. There is a beautiful propriety of feeling in Jacob ascribing to his fathers the walking before God, while he thankfully acknowledges the grace of the Quickener and Justifier to himself. The Angel is explicitly applied to the Supreme Being in this ministerial function. The God is the emphatic description of the true, living God, as contra-distinguished from all false gods. Bless the lads. The word bless is in the singular number. For Jacobs threefold periphrasis is intended to describe the one God, who wills, works, and wards. And let my name be put upon them. Let them be counted among my immediate sons, and let them be related to Abraham and Isaac, as my other sons are. This is the only thing that is special in the blessing. Let them grow into a multitude. The word grow in the original refers to the spawning or extraordinary increase of the finny tribe. The after-history of Ephraim and Manasseh will be found to correspond with this special prediction. (Prof. J. G. Murphy.)
The redeeming Angel
I wonder if you know who the Angel is? Who do you think is the Angel that redeemed him from all evil? Do you know what the word angel means? It means a messenger--a good messenger. And the angels in heaven are so called because they carry messages. It is a nice thing to carry messages, if we carry them well. If we carry kind messages, and do it in an accurate way, like Christ, it is being like the angels in heaven--it is being like Jesus Christ. I hope you will be all good messengers. Perhaps you will have a very important message to carry, and you ought to do it well. I have a very important one to carry to-day. Therefore I am an angel, for ministers are angels. But it is not an angel from heaven, it is not a minister, it is not a common man, that is meant here. Jesus Christ is meant--Jesus Christ is the Angel. I want to help you now to understand another word. What is it to be redeemed? Which redeemed me from all evil. Can you think? Does redeemed mean saved me, delivered me? Is it the same as if it said, The Angel that delivered me from all evil? Not quite. That would only be half the meaning. If I were to save you from being drowned, and it was no trouble to me to save you, and if I did not expose my own life, I should not redeem you; but if I did it at great danger, at great pain, or at great loss to myself, then it might be called redeeming. To redeem is to save at great cost to ones self; because the word means buy--to buy back. Therefore, if I spend a great deal of money, and become much poorer by it, in order to do you good, then I redeem you. That is the meaning of the word redeemed. Did you ever think what was the value of your soul--how much? When I see something very valuable, I sometimes say, How much did it cost? How much did that watch cost? How much did that diamond cost? How much did your soul cost? Thousands of thousands of pounds? The earth? The world? All the stars? Everything that was ever made? Much more! It cost Jesus Christ, who made everything--the life of Jesus Christ! And how had He redeemed us from sin? A poor heathen, who had become a Christian, wanted to explain how he became a Christian to another heathen who did not know anything about it; and he took a little worm--a poor, little, miserable worm; and he put the worm on a stone; and he put all round the stone where the worm was some straw. He then lighted the straw, and when it was all blazing he ran through the lighted straw, and took up the little worm in his hand when it was wriggling in the fire. The hot fire had scorched and drawn it up. This, he said, is just what I was--a poor, miserable worm, with afire all round me; and I should have died, and gone to hell; but Christ ran in, took me up in His arms, and saved me; and here I am, a saved one. I will tell you a remarkable thing which happened in a town in the West of England. One Sunday a clergyman was to preach a sermon. The people in the town did not know him--he was a stranger there; but he was known to be a very excellent clergyman, and a very clever man. A great many people went to hear him preach; and when the prayers were over, the clergyman went into the pulpit. The congregation noticed that he seemed to feel something very much; for he was silent some time, and could not begin his sermon. He hid his face in his hands, and the congregation thought he was unwell; but he was not. However, before he gave out his text, he told them something like this: I want to say something. Fifteen years ago I was in this town, and I was in this church. I was then very young, and I came to hear the sermon. That evening three young men came to this church. They were very wicked young men. You may suppose how wicked, for they came not only to laugh, but they came actually to throw stones at the clergyman. They filled their pockets with stones, and determined they would throw at him. When the sermon began they were sitting together: and when the clergyman had gone on a little way, one said to the other, Now throw! now throw! This is what they said, Now throw at the stupid old blockhead I now throw! The second said, No; wait a little; I want to hear the end of what he is saying now, to see what he makes of it. They waited. But presently he said, Now you can throw: I heard the end of it; there was nothing in it. The third said, No, no; dont throw: what he says is very good; dont hurt the good old man. Then the two others left the church, saying something very wicked; they swore at him, and went away very angry, because he had spoiled their fun in not letting them throw. The clergyman went on to say: The first of those three young men was hanged some years ago for forgery; the second was a poor, miserable man, brought to poverty and rags, miserable in mind, and miserable in body; and the third is now going to preach to you! Listen! So the Angel redeemed that poor boy (for he was only a boy when he went to throw stones) from all evil. It is not only sin; there are other evils. There are a great many troubles in life, are not there? Have not you a great many troubles? I am sure you have some. It is a great mistake to say to children, Oh! you have no troubles. I think children have quite as many as grown-up people--perhaps more. But people often say to children, You have no troubles now; you have them all to come by-and-by. That is not the case. I believe you have quite as many troubles as we have; but Christ redeems you from all trouble. Now there are two ways Christ can do it. Perhaps Christ will say, Trouble shall not come to that boy or girl. That is one way; but He could do it another way. He could say, Yes, trouble shall come; but when it comes, it shall be turned into joy. I will make him so happy in his troubles, that he shall be glad. His sorrow shall be turned into joy. Which, think you, will be the best: for trouble not to come at all, or, when it comes, to be turned into joy? I will tell you now about God redeeming a little girl in another way. Her name was Alvi, but she was always called Allie. She was three years old; and one day little Allie jumped upon her fathers knee, and said, Pa, whens spring? Her papa stroked her little curly head, and patted her on her cheeks, and she looked up and smiled, and said, I fat as butter. She said again, I loves my pa, I does; I loves my pa. And her papa loved her very much. She said, Whens spring, pa? The father said, Why do you want to know when spring is? Do you want to see the pretty flowers, and hear the birds sing, and play in the sunshine? She said. No, pa; me go to church in spring. Do you wish to go to church, Allie? Very much, pa. Why, Allie? God there, God there! And do you love God, Allie? Oh! so much, papa, so much! Well, my dear, papa said to little Allie, to-morrow is spring; spring will be to-morrow. And little Allie jumped down from her fathers knee, saying, To-morrow! to-morrow! Allie is so happy! To-morrow! to-morrow! to-morrow! And she went about the house singing, Allie is so happy! To-morrow, to-morrow, to-morrow! Allie so happy! That night Allie was very tired; she wanted to go to bed an hour before her proper time. During the night she fell into a burning fever, and they sent for a doctor. When he came, he shook his head and said, Too late! too late! nothing can be done. They sent for four doctors, and all said, Too late! too late! And when the morning came, little Allie was dead; she was gone to heaven. Her mamma stood and looked at her, and thought of what she had said the day before--To-morrow, to-morrow! Allie so happy to-morrow! And she wiped away her tears at the thought. So God redeemed little Allie. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The dying blessing
A few days previous to his death, Dr. Belfrage, of Falkirk, hearing his infant sons voice in an adjoining room, desired that he should be brought to him. When the child was lifted into the bed the dying father placed his hands upon his head, and said in the language of Jacob: The God before whom my fathers did walk, the God who fed me all my life long to this day, the Angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the lad. When the boy was removed he added: Remember and tell John Henry of this; tell him of these prayers, and how earnest I was that he might become early acquainted with his fathers God. Happy are they who have their parents prayers.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v15 Gen 47:9. - Gen 48:15 - Gen 48:16.
Genesis
TWO RETROSPECTS OF ONE LIFE
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Gen 47:9. - Gen 48:15 - Gen 48:16.
These are two strangely different estimates of the same life to be taken by the same man. In the latter Jacob categorically contradicts everything that he had said in the former. ‘Few and evil,’ he said before Pharaoh. ‘All my life long,’ ‘the Angel which redeemed me from all evil,’ he said on his death-bed.
If he meant what he said when he spoke to Pharaoh, and characterised his life thus, he was wrong. He was possibly in a melancholy mood. Very naturally, the unfamiliar splendours of a court dazzled and bewildered the old man, accustomed to a quiet shepherd life down at Hebron. He had not come to see Pharaoh, he only cared to meet Joseph; and, as was quite natural, the new and uncongenial surroundings depressed him. Possibly the words are only a piece of the etiquette of an Eastern court, where it is the correct thing for the subject to depreciate himself in all respects as far inferior to the prince. And there may be little more than conventional humility in the words of my first text. But I am rather disposed to think that they express the true feeling of the moment, in a mood that passed and was followed by a more wholesome one.
I put the two sayings side by side just for the sake of gathering up one or two plain lessons from them.
1. We have here two possible views of life.
Now the key to the difference between these two statements and moods of feeling seems to me to be a very plain one. In the former of them there is nothing about God. It is all Jacob. In the latter we notice that there is a great deal more about God than about Jacob, and that determines the whole tone of the retrospect. In the first text Jacob speaks of ‘the days of the years of my pilgrimage,’ ‘the days of the years of my life,’ and so on, without a syllable about anything except the purely earthly view of life. Of course, when you shut out God, the past is all dark enough, grey and dismal, like the landscape on some cloudy day, where the woods stand black, and the rivers creep melancholy through colourless fields, and the sky is grey and formless above. Let the sun come out, and the river flashes into a golden mirror, and the woods are alive with twinkling lights and shadows, and the sky stretches a blue pavilion above them, and all the birds sing. Let God into your life, and its whole complexion and characteristics change. The man who sits whining and complaining, when he has shut out the thought of a divine Presence, finds that everything alters when he brings that in.
And, then, look at the two particulars on which the patriarch dwells. ‘I am only one hundred and thirty years old,’ he says; a mere infant compared with Abraham and Isaac! How did he know he was not going to live to be as old as either of them? And ‘if his days were evil,’ as he said, was it not a good thing that they were few? But, instead of that, he finds reasons for complaint in the brevity of the life which, if it were as evil as he made it out to be, must often have seemed wearisomely long, and dragged very slowly. Now, both things are true-life is short, life is long. Time is elastic-you can stretch it or you can contract it. It is short compared with the duration of God; it is short, as one of the Psalms puts it pathetically, as compared with this Nature round us-’The earth abideth for ever’; we are strangers upon it, and there is no abiding for us. It is short as compared with the capacities and powers of the creatures that possess it; but, oh! if we think of our days as a series of gifts of God, if we look upon them, as Jacob looked upon them when he was sane, as being one continued shepherding by God, they stretch out into blessed length. Life is long enough if it manifests that God takes care of us, and if we learn that He does. Life is long enough if it serves to build up a God-pleasing character.
It is beautiful to see how the thought of God enters into the dying man’s remembrances in the shape which was natural to him, regard being had to his own daily avocations. For the word translated ‘fed’ means much more than supplied with nourishment. It is the word for doing the office of shepherd, and we must not forget, if we want to understand its beauty, that Jacob’s sons said, ‘Thy servants are shepherds; both we and also our fathers.’ So this man, in the solitude of his pastoral life, and whilst living amongst his woolly people who depended upon his guidance and care, had learned many a lesson as to how graciously and tenderly and constantly fed, and led, and protected, and fostered by God were the creatures of His hand.
It was he, I suppose, who first gave to religious thought that metaphor which has survived temple and sacrifice and priesthood, and will survive even earth itself; for ‘I am the Good Shepherd’ is as true to-day as when first spoken by Jesus, and ‘the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall lead them,’ and be their Shepherd when the flock is carried to the upper pastures and the springs that never fail. The life which has brought us that thought of a Shepherd-God has been long enough; and the days which have been so expanded as to contain a continuous series of His benefits and protections need never be remembered as ‘few,’ whatsoever be the arithmetic that is applied to them.
The other contradiction is equally eloquent and significant. ‘Few and evil’ have my days been, said Jacob, when he was not thinking about God; but when he remembered the Angel of the Presence, that mysterious person with whom he had wrestled at Peniel, and whose finger had lamed the thigh while His lips proclaimed a blessing, his view changed, and instead of talking about ‘evil’ days, he says, ‘The Angel that redeemed me from all evil.’ Yes, his life had been evil, whether by that we mean sorrowful or sinful, and the sorrows and the sins had been closely connected. A sorely tried man he had been. Far away back in the past had been his banishment from home; his disappointment and hard service with the churlish Laban; the misbehaviour of his sons; the death of Rachel-that wound which was never stanched; and then the twenty years’ mourning for Rachel’s son, the heir of his inheritance. These were the evils, the sins were as many, for every one of the sorrows, except perhaps the chiefest of them all, had its root in some piece of duplicity, dishonesty, or failure. But he was there in Egypt beside Joseph. The evils had stormed over him, but he was there still. And so at the end he says, ‘The Angel . . .redeemed me from evil, though it smote me. Sorrow became chastisement, and I was purged of my sin by my calamities.’ The sorrows are past, like some raging inundation that comes up for a night over the land and then subsides; but the blessing of fertility which it brought in its tawny waves abides with me yet. Joseph is by my side. ‘I had not thought to see thy face, and God hath showed me the face of thy seed.’ That sorrow is over. Rachel’s grave is still by the wayside, and that sorest of sorrows has wrought with others to purify character. Jacob has been tried by sorrows; he has been purged from sins. ‘The Angel delivered me from all evil.’ So, dear friends, sorrow is not evil if it helps to strip us from the evil that we love, and the ills that we bear are good if they alienate our affections from the ills that we do.
2. Secondly, note the wisdom and the duty of taking the completer and brighter view.
These first words of Jacob’s are very often quoted as if they were the pattern of the kind of thing people ought to say, ‘Few and evil have been the days of the years of my pilgrimage.’ That is a text from which many sermons have been preached with approbation of the pious resignation expressed in it. But it does not seem to me that that is the tone of them. If the man believed what he said, then he was very ungrateful and short-sighted, though there were excuses to be made for him under the circumstances. If the days had been evil, he had made them so.
But the point which I wish to make now is that it is largely a matter for our own selection which of the two views of our lives we take. We may make our choice whether we shall fix our attention on the brighter or on the darker constituents of our past.
Suppose a wall papered with paper of two colours, one black, say, and the other gold. You can work your eye and adjust the focus of vision so that you may see either a black background or a gold one. In the one case the prevailing tone is gloomy, relieved by an occasional touch of brightness; and in the other it is brightness, heightened by a background of darkness. And so you can do with life, fixing attention on its sorrows, and hugging yourselves in the contemplation of these with a kind of morbid satisfaction, or bravely and thankfully and submissively and wisely resolving that you will rather seek to learn what God means by darkness, and not forgetting to look at the unenigmatical blessings, and plain, obvious mercies, that make up so much of our lives. We have to govern memory as well as other faculties, by Christian principle. We have to apply the plain teaching of Christian truth to our sentimental, and often unwholesome, contemplations of the past. There is enough in all our lives to make material for plenty of whining and complaining, if we choose to take hold of them by that handle. And there is enough in all our lives to make us ashamed of one murmuring word, if we are devout and wise and believing enough to lay hold of them by that one. Remember that you can make your view of your life either a bright one or a dark one, and there will be facts for both; but the facts that feed melancholy are partial and superficial, and the facts that exhort, ‘Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice,’ are deep and fundamental.
3. So, lastly, note how blessed a thing it is when the last look is the happiest.
When we are amongst the mountains, or when we are very near them, they look barren enough, rough, stony, steep. When we travel away from them, and look at them across the plain, they lie blue in the distance; and the violet shadows and the golden lights upon them and the white peaks above make a dream of beauty. Whilst we are in the midst of the struggle, we are often tempted to think that things go hardly with us and that the road is very rough. But if we keep near our dear Lord, and hold by His hand, and try to shape our lives in accordance with His will-whatever be their outward circumstances and texture-then we may be very sure of this, that when the end comes, and we are far enough away from some of the sorrows to see what they lead to and blossom into, then we shall be able to say, It was all very good, and to thank Him for all the way by which the Lord our God has led us.
In the same conversation in which the patriarch, rising to the height of a prophet and organ of divine revelation, gives this his dying testimony of the faithfulness of God, and declares that he has been delivered from all evil, he recurs to the central sorrow of his life; and speaks, though in calm words, of that day when he buried Rachel by ‘Ephrath, which is Bethel.’ But the pain had passed and the good was present to him. And so, leaving life, he left it according to his own word, ‘satisfied with favour, and full of the blessing of the Lord.’ So we in our turns may, at the last, hope that what we know not now will largely be explained; and may seek to anticipate our dying verdict by a living confidence, in the midst of our toils and our sorrows, that ‘all things work together for good to them that love God.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v16 Angel (See Scofield "Heb 1:4")
Angel (See Scofield "Heb 1:4")
redeemed Heb. goel, Redemp. (Kinsman type). Isa 59:20 (See Scofield "Isa 59:20").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14, 17, 19 his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head
his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head
Placing the right hand on Ephraim's head was the sign that he would receive the greater blessing. (See: Symbolic Action)
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Israel blessed Joseph
Here "Joseph" also stands for Ephraim and Manasseh. Since Joseph is the father, he is the only one mentioned here. (See: Synecdoche)
The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked
Serving God is spoken of as if it were walking before God. AT: "The God who my grandfather Abraham and father Isaac served" (See: Metaphor)
who has cared for me
God has taken care of Israel like a shepherd takes care of his sheep. AT: "who has cared for me like a shepherd cares for his animals" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
the angel
Possible meanings are 1) this refers to the angel that God sent to protect Jacob or 2) this refers to God who appeared in angel form to protect Jacob.
protected me
"delivered me"
May my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac
Here "name" stands for the person. The phrase "my name be named in them" is an idiom that means a person is remembered because of another person. This can be stated in active form. AT: "May people remember Abraham, Isaac, and me because of Ephraim and Manasseh" (See: Metonymy and Idiom and Active or Passive)
May they grow into a multitude on the earth
Here "they" refers to Ephraim and Manasseh, but it stands for their descendants. AT: "May they have many descendants who will live all over the earth" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
Jacob
right hand
Ephraim
Manasseh
firstborn
bless
God
ancestor
Abraham
Isaac
walk
angel
name
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14, 15, 17 48:14 The right hand was for the head of…
48:14 The right hand was for the head of the firstborn, and Jacob was deliberately giving that position to the younger son. That pattern was followed for four consecutive generations: Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over Reuben, and Ephraim over Manasseh. Many years later, Ephraim became the leading tribe in the northern kingdom, superior to the tribe of Manasseh. The entire northern kingdom of Israel was occasionally called Ephraim (see study notes on 2 Chr 28:12; Isa 11:13; Ezek 37:15-28; Hos 6:4; Zech 9:10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.