Jacob Blesses Manasseh and Ephraim
One day, not long after Jacob and all of his family had moved to Goshen in Egypt, word came to Joseph, “Your father is failing rapidly.” So Joseph went to visit his father, and took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim
Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful, and I will multiply your descendants. I will make you a multitude of nations. And I will give this land of Canaan to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’
“Now, I am claiming as my own sons these two boys of yours, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born here in the land of Egypt before I arrived. They will be my sons, just as Reuben and Simeon are my sons.
“Yes,” Joseph told him, “these are the sons God has given me here in Egypt.”
And Jacob said, “Bring them closer to me, so I can bless them.” Jacob was half blind because of his age and could hardly see. So Joseph brought the boys close to him, and Jacob kissed and embraced them.
Then Jacob said to Joseph as tears ran down his weathered face “I never thought I would see your face again, but now God has let me see you and your children, too!”
“May the God before whom my grandfather Abraham
and my father, Isaac, walked—
The God who has been my shepherd
all my life, to this very day,
The Angel who has protected me from all harm—
May he bless these boys.
May they preserve my name,
and the names of Abraham and Isaac.
And may their descendants multiply greatly
throughout the earth.”
But his father refused. “I know what I have done, my son,” he replied.
Then Jacob said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will take you back to Canaan, to the land of your ancestors.
_________________
The tradition was that the primary blessing would be passed to the older son. The laying of the right hand indicated which son would receive the double portion. However, despite Joseph’s careful maneuvering to have his older son on the right side of his half-blind father, Jacob crossed his arms and awarded the double portion to the younger son.
🤔 Jacob was not a stranger to crossed blessings. When his mother was having a difficult first pregnancy, she went to a prophet to seek help from God. She was given a prophecy that she had twins and that the older would serve the younger. This was very much in contradiction to tradition, as was Jacob’s mixed-up blessing of Joseph’s two sons.
🍎 God has His own plans for the salvation of the world and His own ways of doing things. As He says in Isaiah 55:9:
🙁 Have some things you’ve been praying about played out differently than you were expecting❓️
☹️ Does it appear God is not even answering your prayers about something❓️
🤔 What can you learn from this situation with Jacob passing on blessings from God to his grandsons, while Joseph tries to manipulate things to come out the way he’s expecting them to, that will help you ‘let go and let God?’
Eliphaz Speaks Again
(THEME) What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
What would He gain if your ways were blameless?
The atheists say to God,
“Leave us alone!
• What can the Almighty do for us?
• Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
• What would we gain by praying to him?”
(Eliphaz says about them:)
Let them see their destruction with their own eyes;
Let let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty!
(CONCLUSION)
But Job, if you return to the Almighty,
then you will be restored;
If you remove wickedness far from your house.
then the Almighty will be your treasure,
He will be like fine silver for you.
Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty?
Surely then you will be able to lift your face to God?
This is a truth about God and in principle he is right, but in application he was totally off base.
🤕 There is a lot we can learn about responding to suffering from persecution (the meaning of Job) from this book of the Bible. In order to stay with the flow of these devotions about El Shaddai, I’m going to publish that in a separate blog before I move on to the next Name of God. But think about this one personal thing:
🍎 Do you sometimes come across as accusatory when talking with people who are having some kind of difficulty, or are suffering pain from some event or loss? ❓️
SETTING THE SCENE:
“Then I, John, heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, ‘Go and pour out on the Earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.’”
(Pray back to God 🙏)
Righteous are You, O Holy One;
Who is and who was. ♾️
You are righteous,
because You judge wickedness; ⚖️
You judge those who shed the blood
of Your saints and the prophets. 🩸
You give them blood as their judgment,
You pass judgment as they deserve.
Yes, Lord God, Almighty, 💪
True and righteous are Your judgments.
on the day of your judgment,
O God, Almighty. 💪
Every city will fall 🌃🏙🌆🌇
on that great and terrible day,
Every island will flee 🏝
from the outpouring of Your wrath,
The mountains will bow before You
and be no more. 🌋
But I will be sheltered
in the shadow of Your wings. 🦅
Your Only Begotten Son and my Savior,
Jesus Christ, ✝️
“Behold I am coming like a thief, 🥷
Like a thief in the night when no one expects it.”
“Blessed is the one who stays awake; 🪔
Those who are alert and ready
when the Bridegroom comes. 👰♀️
Blessed are those who buy robes from Him,
Robes of righteousness that cover their sin. 🥼
Blessed are those whose sins are covered when He comes, 🧍♂️🧍♀️
Who stand before Him without shame.
For God’s judgment will pass over them,
When that day comes.” 🕊
Thank You for warning me to be alert
and I will be! 👀
Thank You for Your robe of righteousness
that covers my sin. 🥼
Thank you for the forgiveness
in which I stand. 🧍♀️🧍♂️
Thank You that I don’t have to be afraid
of God’s Judgment Day. 🤲
Alleluia and Amen❗️
Leave a comment