WEBVTT 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:12.000 We study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel. 00:00:12.080 --> 00:00:12.960 We have extra copies. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:16.079 If you would like one to follow along, raise your hand up real high. 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:20.559 Otherwise, we can also uh point you to the network here in the room. 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:25.280 And the uh password is up there if you would rather follow along on an online Bible. 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.199 There's one on our app, uh, the Village Chapel app. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:31.679 If you haven't gotten that, you might want to download that. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:32.399 That's always great. 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:38.079 We're studying the book of Genesis, and this is our last day in the book of Genesis. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:42.719 I always get a little sort of misty and blue when we're finishing up a book. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:46.640 It's been such a good friend to us in so many ways. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:54.079 I feel like it's one of those monumental things that happens uh, you know, about once or twice a year for us around here. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:57.119 By the way, how many of you have been with us since chapter one of Genesis? 00:00:57.280 --> 00:00:58.079 Raise your hand. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:00:58.479 Okay. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:03.039 How many of you are new to this church or new to our study since Genesis 1? 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:03.759 Oh, good. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:05.120 Just a couple of that's good. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:06.799 It's nice to have you along with us. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:13.200 Um Genesis begins to answer some of the really great questions that people have been asking for a long, long time. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:19.519 And I've been saying that since our study of Genesis began, answers questions like, where did everything come from? 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:29.760 Is this all just the you know, random collocation of atoms and chemicals, or was there a creator who designed and created everything and manages everything? 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:32.400 Is there why is there something rather than nothing? 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:40.400 A great uh philosophical question that goes way, way back to uh uh uh Leibniz and it and many have asked it ever since. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:43.280 Why is there this something rather than another kind of something? 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:48.799 Why do we perceive immaterial things like order, beauty, love, mercy, injustice, forgiveness, honor? 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:51.920 Why do how is it that we those can't be found under a microscope? 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:53.840 How do we perceive those things? 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:55.359 Why do we perceive them? 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:59.359 And how can we tell the difference between any of them at all? 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:02.959 This is really important questions for us to ask. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:04.799 Does human life have meaning and purpose? 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:06.400 What has gone wrong with the world? 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:12.400 How can we know right from wrong, and what has God done about what is wrong in this world? 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:19.039 And here we have in the book of Genesis the beginning of some answers to some of these really big questions. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:26.240 So ones that we, you may or may not have been with us when we've talked about some of those, but along the way, uh we post these up online. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:27.840 You're welcome to go back and listen to them. 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:32.479 It's all uh available to you on the website or on our YouTube channel. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:39.120 But here we have really theological realities like there is a God, a creator, and you are not him. 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:49.280 That's a great, I mean that's just that divides the world into a whole lot of, you know, right there, not that we're just simply trying to divide the world, but we want to know what's true, what's real. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:57.199 And we sense and experience the chaos in the world and the moral ambiguity and confusion and bankruptcy. 00:02:57.280 --> 00:02:59.840 All that moral bankruptcy is there's a reason for. 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:00.639 What is it? 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:03.680 And uh, we have in part forgotten our creator. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:08.639 We have in part forgotten who we are in the grand scheme of creation. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:16.159 And we've tried to assert ourselves in areas that we do not have any real right to assert ourselves. 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:18.960 So there are theological realities, cosmological claims. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:24.719 The universe had a beginning and a designer, uh, and and that designer wanted it to look like something. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:30.159 And odd as it looks sometimes, it's filled with beauty and wonder. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:31.439 And it's quite amazing. 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:41.919 And the more you look into all of that, you find science just confirming over and over and over again how intricate, how how delicately balanced everything is. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:46.639 Uh is that a random sort of accident, or did somebody actually plan that? 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:52.159 Very important questions begin to be answered, cosmological claims and questions. 00:03:52.319 --> 00:04:00.960 And then the personal hope, which we certainly have seen here in the book of Genesis, that human life has a design with meaning and purpose. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:05.280 We were created to bear the image of God. 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:11.039 Every single human person, whether you even believe in God or not, has this intrinsic value. 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:11.360 Why? 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:16.319 Because they were created, designed, created in the image of God. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:22.720 And so that changes the way I look at everybody else and changes the way I think about myself. 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:40.240 And as I look at everybody else and as I think about everybody else, this eliminates, when I think of them as created in the image of God, it eliminates any opportunity for any sort of mischief to creep into my thinking, like that I'm better than someone else. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:48.560 Or that someone else, because of the color of their skin or their lot in life, or the nation that they were born in, is somehow or another lesser. 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:59.680 And so you can see that we now have a theological basis for the elimination, and there's just no room for some of the biggest problems we have in this world right now. 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:03.120 There's just no room for those if we're Bible believers. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:07.120 And it's not just about us kind of convincing ourselves to be good humanists. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:11.839 No, there's a theological basis to all of this, a biblical basis. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:19.120 And it's profound and it goes way beyond the way I happen to feel in any one given moment of time. 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:23.680 So there's lots of purpose, uh, lots of hope, lots of meaning there. 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:30.879 Uh, God has done something about what is wrong in the world, and and the book of Genesis begins to explain what's wrong in the world. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:38.000 And that God, and the promise and the hope of all of what God will do about it begins there, runs all the way through to the book of Revelation. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:47.759 And if you if you pull a loose thread at one end of your Bible, the other end, it's all the pages all crinkled, because they all talk about this same hope that God is offering us. 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:57.839 So Genesis is a book of beginnings, it's a book of real life stories, real people, uh, walking through the kinds of things we walk through in life. 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:02.959 And yes, there are definitely some differences between our own experiences, modern times. 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:06.399 They didn't have the internet back then, they didn't have Twitter, and I'm so glad they did. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:08.800 And I'm so glad they didn't have social media back then. 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:10.879 It's really awesome when you think about it. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:13.279 Um, it can be used for good, that's true. 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:18.240 Um, but it also has all kinds of you know uh uh uh potential for disaster for us. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:24.079 But here we have a book of beginnings, a book of real life stories, and a book about God's redeeming love. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:30.160 And I'm so thrilled to have studied this book together with uh with you. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:34.560 So let's take a look then at these last three chapters as we come up on it. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:47.759 What we have just uh finished studying is how the Lord has arranged in this famine throughout the land, this seven-year famine, the Lord God has arranged for Joseph to be in a place called Egypt. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:56.800 And God has given Joseph favor with all the authorities in Egypt, and he's literally uh the VP in Egypt at this point. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:06:59.680 He's the vice pharaoh of Egypt. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:12.639 And he's he's he's he's a great manager, and he has literally been used by God to not only save his own family as they moved to Egypt, but he's literally saved the Egyptians. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:23.279 He's literally saved a lot of the world through the wisdom that God has given him in terms of uh storing up grain, being able to distribute it and manage it and all of that sort of thing. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:25.279 He's really brilliant in so many ways. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:40.240 But his family has now moved down there, including his brothers who we read about early on, uh, hated him so much when he when Joseph lived back up in the land of Canaan, hated him so much that at 17 years of age they threw him in a pit. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:42.240 They were gonna leave him for dead. 00:07:42.720 --> 00:07:51.120 Instead, they sold him to some Ishmaelite travelers that were coming through, and they knew he would be carried into slavery and bondage and probably never see him again. 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:59.199 And and for for 22 years, he's down there with no conversation with his family, and he's literally a slave in the household of Potiphar. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:04.319 He rises in the household of Potiphar because of the wisdom and the Lord being with him. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:08.560 We're told that over and over again in the book of Genesis, that God was with Joseph. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:14.560 It's really an interesting, powerful distinction that God was with him so much. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:20.319 And he rose to a great uh uh position in Potiphar's household. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:24.079 But then Potiphar's wife tried to have an affair with Joseph. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:28.319 He resisted, um, but yet was thrown in jail because she accused him anyway. 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:30.480 So he's falsely accused, thrown in jail. 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:43.679 The Lord comes along, gives him the ability to interpret some dreams for the for the baker and and and and uh um and the uh cupbearer of the Pharaoh, and it's just fascinating how you see these sequences go. 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:47.360 And it leads to him actually being brought into Pharaoh's household. 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:52.480 So from the pit to the palace, to the prison, and back to the palace again. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:54.559 His life going up and down like this. 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:56.320 Does your life go up and down like that? 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:56.799 Yeah. 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:01.039 But the Lord was with Joseph, we're being told over and over again. 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:14.799 And here, when we come to chapters 48, 49, and 50, we're gonna see not only the death of Jacob, his father, long-lost father, hadn't seen for 22 years, and now he's now Jacob and the and the other brothers have moved to Egypt. 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:29.679 Joseph has been forgiving toward them, and he's actually arranged for them to live in the land of Goshen, the best of the land in Egypt, and to bring their flocks and their herds and be able to survive there, not only survive, but to thrive there. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:31.120 It's really amazing. 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:42.399 It came about, verse 1 says of 48, after these things, remember, they've been there, uh, let's see, they moved and have been in Egypt now for 17 years. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:45.679 Jacob, the brothers, have been there for 17 years. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:50.960 So Joseph's probably 56 years old at this point in time. 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:55.519 And after these things, Joseph was told, Behold, your father is sick. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:01.039 So Jacob is now sick after living in Egypt for 17 years. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:04.639 He's gonna die at the age of 147 years. 00:10:04.799 --> 00:10:07.440 Okay, and we'll see that, we'll read that in just a minute. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:13.279 But Joseph gets told that Jacob is sick, so he took his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:20.320 And remember, Joseph had these two sons with uh his wife Azenath, who is an Egyptian. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:29.360 And so it's interesting that these two who become namesakes of some of the tribes of Israel later, um, are actually of mixed race, all right? 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:31.279 So Manasseh and Ephraim come with him. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:34.639 When it was told to Jacob, behold, your son Joseph has come to you. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:36.960 Israel collected his strength, sat up in the bed. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:37.600 You can see this. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:51.840 I love the live-body detail of this, scooching up, pulling his pillows up behind him, arranging his, you know, his duvet cover, uh, whatever, whatever it was, and getting just getting himself set so he can actually talk with Joseph. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:59.840 And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Laz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:09.840 And he said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, I will make you a company of peoples, I will give you this land to your descendants, to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession. 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:15.679 That's really amazing, that that's what he's gonna drive home, those promises of God. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:20.240 And it's so important that we pass those promises along. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:34.480 It's so important that as we sing about God, as we as we sing about, as we sing scriptures, as we express ourselves to God, that we also remember to be mindful to pass these promises that God has made. 00:11:34.639 --> 00:11:39.919 Because really, this book, this library of books right here is all about the promises of God. 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:51.120 He's been in pursuit of a people he can call his own, and he has made very specific and certain promises that he intends to fulfill. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:12:01.120 And so Jacob passes that along to Joseph and tells him that God himself appeared to him and was in the land of Canaan, blessed be. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:05.200 And he said to me, All of this, he's getting the progeny and the place or the land. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:10.240 Now to your two sons, verse five, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they are mine. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:13.759 In other words, I'm gonna view Ephraim and Manasseh as my descendants. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:17.600 Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Reuben and Simeon are. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:48.159 He's getting ready to be 147, okay? 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:50.159 Uh if he's not already that. 00:12:50.320 --> 00:12:52.320 And this is an old man. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:56.320 And so his short-term memory could be gone. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:05.519 I mean, we all, I know I have to, when I go to the grocery store, when Kim says, Hey, can you go get some of the macaroni, cheese, milk, eggs, and bread? 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:11.759 I have to assign a number or something to it because I get there and she knows I'm gonna be calling her. 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:13.440 I just forget. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:16.799 What are these things you want me to get? 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:17.360 You know? 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:23.759 And here, sitting right there, you know, here Jacob says, Who are these? 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:26.879 And he, you know, he's his eyesight's bad. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:28.559 We're gonna read that in just a minute. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:31.840 But um he wants to know who they are, all right? 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:45.279 Um and and he tells Joseph, he's already told Joseph, hey, Ephraim and Manasseh, so he already knows their names, but when they step up, it's almost as if he has a little brain kind of a you know freeze thing happen, right? 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:46.000 Who are these? 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:46.559 Verse 9. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:50.320 Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me here. 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:53.360 So he said, Bring them to me, please that I may bless them. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:13:58.399 Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:03.279 Then Joseph brought them close to him and he kissed them and he embraced them. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:04.559 This is so beautiful. 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:10.399 Um He may have already, I mean, these guys may be under 17 years of age themselves. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:17.039 He may have been living in Egypt, Jacob, when these little types were born. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:18.480 You know? 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:22.240 And so here he's got the two boys, and he kissed them and he embraced them. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:23.519 Granddad is doing this. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:28.159 Israel said to Joseph, then, and remember, Israel is Jacob, Jacob is Israel, same. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.840 The narrator swaps those names out all the time. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:37.440 I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:39.519 Grandchildren are a delight. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:43.039 And all the grandparents said, That's right. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:45.519 And so he, I never thought I'd see them as well. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:47.360 Joseph took them from his knees. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:50.000 So they're little enough to be on his knees, okay? 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:52.000 And bowed with his face to the ground. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:15:00.399 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. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:09.440 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. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:12.320 Although Manasseh was the firstborn. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:17.679 And here we have that reversal pattern that has run really throughout Genesis, hasn't it? 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:20.159 Jacob and Esau. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:34.159 Jacob was the younger one, and yet God spoke to Jacob and passed the promise to Jacob, and it was through Jacob's line that Israel, the nation, would be born, and that Messiah would actually come. 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:35.840 God has that right. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:41.519 Um, God is sovereign, it's his creation, every bit of it. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:48.639 So the divine prerogative, we we read about that throughout the book of Genesis. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:53.360 So he literally does that same thing that has been that has happened in his own life. 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:54.559 Verse 15. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:01.200 And he blessed Joseph and he said, The God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, walked, the God who has been my shepherd. 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:02.320 And I love that. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:04.080 All my life. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:08.879 To this day, the angel who's redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:14.399 I don't know if your English translation calls it lads there, but I thought, oh, so Jacob was British. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:16.240 He was like into soccer and stuff. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:17.840 The lad, you know, okay, that's good. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:22.480 Um, no, it's just another word for boys or young, young ones, okay? 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:29.840 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. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:38.159 And this again just kind of echoes the promise of God that was given to Abraham and Isaac, and then passed to Jacob. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:44.240 And now here he is, passing it on that same general promise, reminding his family of it. 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:48.879 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, it displeased him. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:50.240 It displeased Joseph. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:53.759 He grasped his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:58.080 And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. 00:16:58.240 --> 00:16:59.759 Place your right hand on his head. 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:03.039 But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:06.319 He also shall become a people, he also shall be great. 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:12.000 However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:18.319 And that's exactly what happens with Ephraim and Manasseh, if you know your Old Testament history. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:23.839 He blessed them that day, saying, By you, Israel shall pronounce blessings. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:26.799 Say, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:29.279 Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:33.920 Then Israel said to Joseph, and I love this verse, by the way, verse 21 is just so beautiful. 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:36.400 Behold, I am about to die. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:42.319 But God will be with you. 00:17:43.359 --> 00:17:53.839 And this God will be with you, that runs throughout Genesis, or throughout the Joseph narrative in Genesis, is said one more time, and we're reminded of that. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:58.400 The presence of the Lord at work in Joseph's life. 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:08.799 It's interesting because nowhere do we find God speaking to Joseph in the Joseph narrative, like he did, like God spoke to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:17.039 So if you're here today and you're wondering, well, I don't ever have any of those big supernatural experiences where God speaks to me, you're like Joseph then. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:20.319 The present that doesn't mean the presence of the Lord isn't with you. 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:29.680 So if you're longing for the presence of the Lord, please understand, the presence of the Lord is not restricted to only those who have supernatural sensational experiences. 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:30.240 Okay? 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:41.839 The Lord will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers, which is an interesting thing to say in Egypt when you're about to die and the famine is in the land. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:51.839 He knows something that God's revealed to him, that God will be bringing his people out in what we call the Exodus, which is, of course, the next book. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:53.039 So God will be with you. 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:54.240 What a blessing, what a promise. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:57.039 Joseph blessed by God's presence. 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:04.799 Others were blessed by being near to Joseph, who was near to God, and there's meaning there as well. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:13.200 We are here to be missional, we are here to serve our city, to bless our neighbors, to love our neighbors. 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:20.000 And here with Joseph, he's blessed Pharaoh, he's blessed Potiphar, he's blessed his brothers, he's blessed Jacob. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.720 The Lord has used him to bless so many people. 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:25.839 Even the Egyptians themselves have survived. 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:26.319 Why? 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:33.119 Because of the wisdom of God flowing through Joseph during this very difficult time of famine. 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:34.640 You have a shepherd? 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:36.720 Jacob said, I have a shepherd. 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:40.480 King David would later say, The Lord is my shepherd. 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:42.720 This is an image used throughout the Old Testament. 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:44.000 It's a beautiful image. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:47.440 We have a shepherd. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:48.640 He is God. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:50.480 We belong to him. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:52.240 We don't belong to ourselves. 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:54.799 This world we live in thinks we do. 00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:59.599 Everybody thinks everybody out there is trying to influence us to think we belong to ourselves, but we don't. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:04.400 We belong to our shepherd, who will protect, provide, and guide us. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:06.400 This is a really powerful chapter. 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:08.799 I'll read through the next chapter a little quicker. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:12.799 I'll give you one portion, verse 22 says, and a little bit of a mystery here. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:19.279 One portion more than your brothers, he says to Joseph, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:24.880 We don't really have any history on that that describes that particular event. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:28.880 That doesn't give me any kind of, you know, I'm not worried about that at all. 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:30.640 I mean, this is the book of Genesis. 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:34.559 It's covering years, sometimes in one verse. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:38.880 And so every detail of everybody's life and everybody's story isn't told. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:41.519 Then Jacob summoned his son. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:43.200 So he brings all the brothers in. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:46.720 This is really cool, verse one of chapter 49. 00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:54.559 And he's going to talk about some near and far fulfillment of uh as he begins, as he draws close to the time he's going to pass. 00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:58.559 He says, Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what shall befall you in the days to come. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:01.759 Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob. 00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:03.759 Listen to Israel, your father. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:06.160 And now there's going to be a bit of tough love. 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:11.680 There's going to be some blessing, but there's also going to be some, you're kind of a wild donkey, son. 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:12.720 You know, that kind of stuff. 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:14.480 Watch, we'll read through pretty quick, though. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:15.599 All right, so watch this. 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:24.160 Reuben, you're my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, preeminent in dignity, preeminent in power, but uncontrolled as water. 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:26.160 You shall not have preeminence. 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:28.319 Because you went up to your father's bed. 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:32.000 We read about that in uh uh Genesis chapter 35. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:37.359 Because you went up to your father's bed, you defiled it, and uh went up to my couch. 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:43.039 And he evidently Reuben struggled with lust if you're here today, and that's a issue for you. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:49.680 Please understand the Bible uh speaks to every little thing we struggle with in this world. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:53.839 There's some, if it's not stated specifically, they didn't have the internet, I got it. 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:55.599 They didn't have pornography, I got it. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:57.759 But that doesn't mean you don't lust. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:21:59.839 That doesn't mean you don't have a problem with lust. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.720 Lust. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:05.519 And Reuben evidently had a problem with that, as well as pride and rebellion and all of that. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:10.160 Verse 5 Simeon and Levi are brothers, their swords are implements of violence. 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:12.079 Let my soul not enter into their counsel. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:16.480 Let not my glory be united with their assembly, because in their anger they slew men. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:17.200 Remember that? 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:19.759 And in their self-will, they lamed oxen. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.400 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, their wrath, for it is cruel. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:28.559 I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:31.279 Now he's going from oldest to youngest. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:35.839 And about now the fourth guy has got to be getting a little nervous. 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:41.039 Yeah, it's just gonna take a break? 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:43.119 It's time for, let's get a little water. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:46.480 Judah, your brothers shall praise you. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:50.000 Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies, your father's son shall bow down to you. 00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:53.839 Judah is a lion's whelp or a lion's, a young lion. 00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:55.920 From the prey, my son, you have gone up. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:00.640 He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up? 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:08.640 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:11.759 Shiloh means one to whom it belongs. 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:12.799 The scepter. 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:16.880 Shiloh, another Old Testament term for Messiah. 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:20.400 Until Messiah comes, until God's Messiah comes. 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:25.440 And see, Jesus will be born to the tribe of Judah. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:27.279 Which is interesting, isn't it? 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:27.680 Yeah. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:29.759 Until Shiloh appears. 00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:34.319 To him shall be the obedience of the peoples. 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:35.920 And this is interesting. 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:43.920 That's really plural, and it foreshadows the nations falling before Christ in a beautiful way. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:47.759 He ties his full to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choice vine. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:56.000 He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes, his eyes are dull from wine or darker from wine, is another way to say it. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:58.000 His teeth white from milk. 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:01.680 So strength, power, these belong to Judah. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:07.200 Zebulun shall dwell at the seashore, shall be a haven for ships, his flank shall be toward Sidon. 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:19.359 Issachar, strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds, when he saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens and became a slave at forced labor. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:23.200 And again, an ancient version of probably a workaholic. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:29.839 You probably know somebody or are somebody who struggles with workaholism. 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:37.759 It's a tough thing to turn it off, to be present with the people in your household. 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:40.720 To be present with God. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:47.039 Dan shall judge his people. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:49.119 His name means to judge, actually. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:56.640 As one of the tribes of Israel, Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls back. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:59.440 For thy salvation I wait, O Lord. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:08.880 And this is like Jacob blurting out in the middle of here, he's running down the blessings and the and the difficulties that these uh his sons have experienced. 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:14.079 And he just blesses, he just yells out, For thy salvation I wait, O Lord. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:20.960 As for Gad, whose name means fortune, raiders shall raid him, but he shall raid at their heels. 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:23.279 As for Asher, his name means happy. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:28.319 His food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal dainties. 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:30.640 I love that. 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:33.359 That's just interesting live body detail. 00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:33.920 I love this. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:38.559 Naphtali, which means my struggle, is a dough let loose or set free. 00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:41.440 He gives beautiful words. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:50.720 Think the poet in your family, the songwriter in your family, the artistic person in your family that loves art and creativity and all of that. 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:57.119 Joseph, whose name means he will add, is a fruitful bow, a fruitful bow by a spring. 00:25:57.279 --> 00:25:59.200 Its branches run over a wall. 00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:01.039 The archers bitterly attacked him. 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:03.200 That's true, his brothers did do that, didn't they? 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:05.440 They shot at him, they harassed him. 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:11.920 Um, and his bow remained firm, his arms were agile from the hands of the mighty one from Jacob. 00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:29.119 From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel, from the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty, that's Shaddai, who blesses you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath blessings of the breast of the womb. 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:34.480 Blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:37.440 Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:39.839 And he just, I mean, here we are, Thanksgiving week. 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:40.480 This is awesome. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:44.240 He's just overflowing with gratitude here for the blessings. 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:45.680 The blessings are everywhere. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:49.200 And he's he's showing they're literally surrounded by blessings. 00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:58.640 Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills, may they be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:01.039 Benjamin, finally, to the youngest. 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:04.079 He's a ravenous wolf or a raven wolf. 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:05.920 His name means son of the right hand. 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:09.279 Remember, Benjamin and Joseph, full brothers. 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:13.519 Joseph, half-brothers with all the other brothers in some way, right? 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:15.680 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:19.200 In the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the spoil. 00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:32.799 And the tribe of Benjamin, well known later on for being archers, you know, for being able to, in a battle, to be able to fight like that and slingers with the sling, right? 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:36.240 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, verse 28 says. 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:39.279 And this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:44.559 He blessed them, every one, with the blessing appropriate to him. 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:48.559 Then he charged them and said to them, I'm about to be gathered to my people. 00:27:48.640 --> 00:28:01.519 Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpilah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan. 00:28:01.599 --> 00:28:08.960 This is down near Hebron, kind of near the Dead Sea, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site. 00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:16.240 There they buried, Jacob's telling Joseph, there they buried Abraham, which would be Joseph's what? 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:17.680 Great-grandfather, right? 00:28:17.759 --> 00:28:18.720 Or yeah. 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:22.319 They buried Abraham and his wife Sarah. 00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:25.119 There they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah. 00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:27.359 And there I buried Leah. 00:28:27.440 --> 00:28:31.680 And you kind of half expected him to say Rachel, because Jacob loved Rachel. 00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:34.799 We were told explicitly that he loved Rachel. 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:38.240 And he got fooled into marrying Leah first, right? 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:41.119 By Laban, if you remember the story. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:44.799 Isn't it interesting that he says he wants to be buried there, though? 00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:50.480 The field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth, when Jacob finished charging his sons. 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:52.400 This is so beautiful, intimate right here. 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:59.519 He drew his feet into his bed, he breathed his last, and was gathered to his people. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:00.319 Oh. 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:04.799 A very powerful and sacred moment. 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:10.720 Any of you who have ever been around someone who has passed, as I have on numerous occasions. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:12.000 Really powerful. 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:14.880 There's a little more that will happen here. 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:22.000 The narrator in chapter 50 will just talk a little bit about what happens after this. 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:26.480 Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. 00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:28.319 Now Joseph is a weeper. 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:30.240 I don't know if you're a weeper or not. 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:33.119 I'm a bit of a weeper sometimes over certain things. 00:29:33.279 --> 00:29:38.799 We've been told six times, now this is the sixth time, Joseph breaks down and weeps. 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:42.799 We'll be told one more time that he does it, and that's a really important one. 00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:44.720 Watch for it in the coming verses. 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:49.039 Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father. 00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:50.640 You may or may not know this. 00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:55.279 The ancient Egyptians were brilliant at embalming bodies. 00:29:55.519 --> 00:29:57.359 You've heard of mummies, right? 00:29:57.519 --> 00:29:57.839 Okay? 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:02.160 So they're really, I mean, you can look it up online, some of the different steps that they take. 00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:04.400 It's really interesting to do a little bit of reading on that. 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:06.400 Don't have time to go into it today. 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:09.759 But he commanded his physicians to embalm Israel. 00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:14.799 For 40 days were required for it, for such is the period required for embalming. 00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:17.680 And the Egyptians wept for him 70 days. 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:29.680 So they're literally having an official 70-day period of mourning in Egypt, and the Egyptians are also mourning for Jacob as he dies, right? 00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:36.079 And when, and by the way, a Pharaoh, the time of mourning for a Pharaoh was only 72 days. 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:43.839 So do you see how respected Jacob has been over the years that he's had in Egypt? 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:53.599 When the days of mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have favor in your sight, please speak to Pharaoh, saying, My father made me swear. 00:30:53.759 --> 00:30:59.599 Behold, I am about to die in my grave, which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, and there you shall bury me, therefore. 00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:02.319 Please let me go up and bury my father, and I will return. 00:31:02.480 --> 00:31:07.279 So Pharaoh said, verse 6, go up and bury your father, as he made you swear. 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:14.160 So Joseph went up to bury his father, and you realize how long it's been since Joseph has been back in the land of Canaan? 00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:17.519 Thirty-nine years. 00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:22.799