A Deathbed Adoption - Genesis 48:1-22
INTRODUCTION:
When we left Israel and Joseph two weeks ago Israel was nearing the time of his death and had just made Joseph promise to carry his body out of Egypt and burying him in the cave that Abraham had purchased as a burial place for his family in the land of Canaan. Chapters 48 and 49 are the final words and acts of Israel before he dies. As we talked about two weeks ago Israel’s 17 years in Egypt were his best years spiritually. He lived out those years so that he might leave a legacy of a man of faith who walked with God. Upon arriving in Egypt, he told the Pharaoh that he had not attained to the years of his father and grandfather and I had said this was in reference to his age, but also in reference to his spiritual walk with God. But these last two chapters shows that Israel’s faith has grown in the land of Egypt and he has faithfully walked with God his final 17 years, and he wants to die knowing that he has completed the business God has given him to do in the way in which God wanted it done. No more conniving and deceiving, he is finishing up his life in a way that is pleasing to God, he is leaving a legacy.
Part of that legacy is making sure that Joseph and his family are not excluded from the family of Israel once he has died. Israel wants to be sure that they know that they are not Egyptian, but that they are Israelites and so this morning from his deathbed he makes that clear. Let’s pray and then get into the Word of God.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Genesis 48:1-22. This chapter is the chapter of the firstborn, when Israel summoned his firstborn to bless him with the birthright and the blessing of the covenant. Please stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God and follow along as I read.
Genesis 48:1-22,
“Now it came about after these things that Joseph was told, ‘Behold, your father is sick.’ So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. When it was told to Jacob, ‘Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,’ Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed. Then Jacob said to Joseph, ‘God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and He said to me, “Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.” Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. But your offspring that have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance. Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).’ When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, ‘Who are these?’ Joseph said to his father, ‘They are my sons, whom God has given me here.’ So he said, ‘Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.’ Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. Israel said to Joseph, ‘I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well.’ Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the ground. Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him. But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn. He blessed Joseph, and said, ‘The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.’ When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped 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 one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.’ But 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 shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.’ He blessed them that day, saying, ‘By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying, “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!”’ Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers. I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.’” (Genesis 48:1–22, NASB95)[1]
THE FIRSTBORN SUMMONED (Genesis 48:1-4)
The wording of verse one in the English does not quite give us the full meaning of what is written here. Someone was sent to Joseph to inform him that Israel was sick, that he was bedridden and Joseph needed to come. Joseph understood the urgency and the importance of this summons, Israel was dying and there was unfinished business that had to be taken care of. Joseph took with him his two sons born before the seven years of famine. These were not young boys, they were young men. They were born before the seven years of famine began, Israel came to Egypt at the end of the second year of the seven and had now been in Egypt for 17 years. Manasseh and Ephraim were most likely young men in their early twenties. They had certainly become acquainted with their grandfather, but Joseph brings them with him knowing this may be the last time that they will see him before he dies.
Joseph’s arrival is announced to Israel and my Bible version says Israel collected his strength and sat up in bed. Other versions say that he summoned his strength or rallied his strength, the meaning is it was with effort and all that was left in this frail, ill, dying man to bring what strength he had left and sit up and finish the task before him, and he is faithful to God to finish it to the end and God gives him the strength to finish it. He begins his conversation with Joseph not talking about the difficulties of his life, or the weakness and sickness that is plaguing him in his last days, instead he speaks of God Almighty and what He had done for His servant. He recounted for Joseph how God had appeared to him at Luz, which Jacob named Bethel, and had promised him the covenant that He had given to Abraham and Isaac, God had blessed him and had told him that God was going to make him fruitful and numerous, that his family was going to grow into a company of peoples, or in other words, into a great nation and God also promised to give the land of Canaan to this nation that was his family as an everlasting possession. Jacob recounts what God Almighty had done for him, so that Joseph might understand that he is an important part of God’s plan. Years earlier when Israel had given Joseph the coat of many colors it was a declaration that Joseph was the firstborn, the one who would receive the birthright and the blessing, and Israel recounts this experience to Joseph to let him know that he is still the possessor of the rights of the firstborn, he will receive the birthright and the blessing. That birthright and that blessing would not be found in Egypt, but in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. So Israel is about to tell Joseph how he will receive his inheritance.
MANASSEH AND EPHRAIM ADOPTED (Genesis 48:5-12)
Israel tells Joseph that his birthright will be realized in his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Israel is going to adopt as his own. Israel says they will be sons to me just as Reuben and Simeon are sons to me. All other sons born to you will be yours, but when they come into their inheritance in the land of Canaan they will be called by the names of your sons that I have made my own, Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph as the firstborn would receive a double portion of the land through his two sons. Then Israel remembers his true love, his beloved Rachel and how she had died in his arms after giving birth to Benjamin. She left him as they were journeying down to Hebron. They were just out of Ephrath, or Bethlehem as it later was called, there outside Ephrath Israel had buried her in the land of Canaan, in the land of promise. For a moment husband and son remember a wife and mother and share a moment of grief. Then Israel catches some movement within his room. He is almost blind from his old age and possibly he remembered another old blind man who was deceived into believing that this old man was someone he was not. So, he quickly asks who else is in the room, who are these? Joseph is quick to answer that these are his two sons, whom God has given him. The sons that they had been speaking about just minutes before. Israel asked that they be brought near him so that he can bless them. Joseph brings them near and Israel kisses and embraces them and then he said to Joseph, I never imagined, or hoped that I would see you face again, but God, the God of grace has allowed me not only to see you, but also your children as well. Then my version says, “Then Joseph took them from his knees…” these young men certainly were not sitting on Israel’s knees, but he was most likely sitting on the edge of the bed and they were knelt down beside him, and this phrase might better be translated that Joseph took them from before his knees, the phrase has to do with adoption removing them from his knees as a symbolic gesture to say that they have come from his loins. They are now his sons and Joseph, the great governor of Israel, bows before his father in honor and also to show his obedience in allowing his sons to become the sons of Israel. Manasseh and Ephraim are no longer recognized as the sons of Joseph, but are now reckoned among the sons of Israel. Israel would now have 13 sons, but Levi will receive no inheritance in the land, their inheritance would be God himself, so again it is the 12 sons of Israel that will become the twelve tribes of Israel.
EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH BLESSED (Genesis 48:13-20)
Joseph then carefully guided his sons again near to his father that they might receive the blessing that goes with the birthright. He moved Manasseh near his father’s right hand because he was the oldest, and Ephraim near his father’s left hand because he was the second born. For the fifth time in the book of Genesis we meet a reversal of birth order. God had chosen Abel, not Cain; Isaac, not Ishmael; Jacob, not Esau; and Joseph, not Reuben; and now God would choose Ephraim over Manasseh. When Israel placed his hands on the heads of Joseph’s sons he knew what he was doing, he was following the leading of the Spirit of God. The phrase translated in my Bible “crossing his hands,” literally means “consciously directing his hands.” As he blesses Joseph by blessing his sons Israel uses three different phrases to describe God. First, he called Him the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, recognizing that this is the same God that they have always worshiped and followed. Just because they are in Egypt, the land of many gods, they still worship the one true God who Abraham and Isaac worshipped, they have not been swayed by the pagan practices in Egypt. Second, Israel referred to God as the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day. Israel finally understands that God is the one who has cared for him, directed him, orchestrated all the events that surrounded him and Israel has found that God is a good and caring shepherd and never allowed him to go in need of anything. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Finally, Israel describes God as the angel who redeemed him from all evil. Often in the Old Testament when God appears in bodily form He is called the Angel of the Lord, and Israel understands that because of the way he lived his life there were many times that evil should have overtaken him, but God in His mercy and grace and because of His covenant promises preserved Israel and gave Him another chance to walk by faith and not by sight. Now that this aged man can no longer see, his spiritual vision is clear and he can see God for who He truly is and for what He has truly done in Israel’s life and for Israel. Israel asks that this God of Abraham and Isaac, this God who is the Good Shepherd and the Redeemer that He will bless the sons of Joseph and that through them the names of Israel, Isaac and Abraham may live on and may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. In other words, may they be fruitful and multiply and grow into large tribes in the land of their inheritance.
Joseph noticed that Israel’s right hand was on the head of Ephraim instead of the elder Manasseh and tried to move it and told his father that he had mixed up the boys. But Israel assured Joseph that he knew what he was doing and that Manasseh would become a great multitude, but that Ephraim would be greater still, so great that he will become like a multitude of nations. Then Israel finishes his blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh by predicting that there will be a blessing in the nation of Israel that will be: “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!” And like so many other times in this book God chose the second born over the first born. As the son of the birthright Joseph was to have a double portion of the land and in Ephraim and Manasseh he received a double portion because they each received a portion.
JOSEPH’S DOUBLE PORTION (Genesis 48:21-22)
Israel’s final word to Joseph before he speaks to all his sons is to make it clear that he is receiving a double portion. First, he tells Joseph that he is about to die, but he promises Joseph that God will be with him and will bring the nation of Israel back to the land of their fathers, the land of promise, the covenant land. Then he says, I give you one portion more than your brothers, and in the only placed mentioned in the Bible he says the extra portion is that which he took from the Amorite with his sword and his bow. We do not know when this occurred, but we know from Joshua that Joseph was buried near Shechem and this is possibly the land that Israel took with his sword and bow from the hand of the Amorite. Possibly he had to reclaim the land he had purchased there after the incident with Dinah when Simeon and Levi killed all the males in Shechem. Ezekiel 47:13 in describing the division of the land during the millennium mentions that Joseph will receive a double portion in the land. Israel had now established the birthright upon Joseph and given the blessing to Ephraim and Manasseh. Next he will speak to all his sons, but that is for next Sunday.
CONCLUSION:
As we close this morning I want to spend a few minutes relating this reversal of birth order to the Christian life. A saying that we have in our Bibliology class on Thursday nights is the New Testament is contained in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is explained in the New Testament. Why so many times does God reverse the birth order and chose the second born over the first born? As I said God chose Abel, not Cain; He chose Isaac, not Ishmael; Jacob, not Esau; God chose Joseph, not Reuben and Ephraim, not Manasseh. Also I want you to recognize that in choosing Joseph God was replacing Leah (the elder) with Rachel (the younger). Another reversal of birth order.
Can we see the cross pictured in the crossing of Israel’s arms? The sinner’s birth order is reversed when he or she puts their faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, when a person agrees that they are a sinner and believes that Jesus death on the cross paid the penalty for their sin and that He was buried and three days later was resurrected from the dead. When we believe this John chapter three describes us as born again, born a second time, it is the second born that God receives, not the firstborn. The second birth made possible because of our Lord Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. The New contained in the Old, the Old explained in the New. Why does God chose the second born in the Old Testament, so we when we trust Christ and are born a second time can be chosen by God to be adopted as His children, not as infants or little children, but as full grown sons like Ephraim and Manasseh, with all the rights and freedoms and privileges of full grown sons.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995