Dr. Michael D. Halsey
“THE BEST THING JACOB EVER DID”
Genesis 47:28-48:22
INTRODUCTION
What do you think was the best thing Thomas Jefferson ever did and you could only pick out one thing? Would you say, “Writing the Declaration of Independence?” Or how about his presidency? What about the Louisiana Purchase? The Lewis and Clark Expedition?
What would you say was the greatest thing Jacob ever did? I remember reading somewhere that the greatest movie ever made was “Citizen Cane.” In that movie, Orson Wells did everything except one thing and he even tried to bribe the man who did the one other thing to let him have the credit for it. But that’s not important. What’s important is that “Citizen Cain” was the first movie he ever did. That would be a real bummer—the best thing you ever did was the first thing you ever did, so it was all downhill from the beginning.
As he nears the end of his life, he reaffirms his faith that God will fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant. He does this in Gen. 47:28-31 where he makes Joseph swear to him that he’ll take his body back to the land and bury it in cave that Abraham bought. He knows that the fulfillment of the covenant is tied to Canaan, not to Egypt. Egypt is only temporary for Israel.
When Jacob gets sick, Joseph comes to visit him. While they’re talking, Jacob tells Joseph that God had blessed him with the promise of innumerable descendants who will live in their own land in Canaan as an eternal possession. He told Joseph how God had promised to multiply his descendants (see Ex. 1:7).
During this visit, Jacob elevates Joseph’s sons to the place of heirs. They would have a share in the inheritance of the land when Israel goes back. This again shows Jacob’s faith. This reminds us of way later on in Israel’s history when Jeremiah will buy some land in Canaan during the time of the Babylonian Captivity because he knew Israel was coming back to the land. This was an act of faith.
In 48:8-22, Jacob blesses the younger child first. Jacob places his right hand on Ephraim’s head, his left on Manasseh’s. Manasseh was the older. When Joseph sees this, he moves to correct it. He brought his sons to Jacob, expecting Jacob to bless the older one first. Joseph was expecting God to work in a certain way. But Jacob crosses his hands and places his right hand on Ephraim.
Jacob is doing it the way God wants it done. It’s taken a long, long time for Jacob to come to this point. It’s been a long learning process. He remembers how his father, Isaac, had tried to bless the wrong one. Jacob isn’t going to do that. What we see here is a mature believer and the way he addresses God shows his maturity: “The God who shepherded me,” the Angel who delivered me” are tremendous statements of maturity.
When Joseph tried to reverse his father’s hands, he said, “This is the first born . . .” and that would have reminded Jacob of his past. He then tells Joseph that he knows what he’s doing.
The thing is, this is Jacob’s finest hour. Hebrews 11 says so. He’s different than Orson Wells—the best thing Jacob did was one of the last things he did. He shows that he knows the plan of God for the future and God’s purpose. He shows that he knows the elder will serve the younger; what irony!
God often reverses the natural order of things. It’s amazing that sometimes what we pursue doesn’t work out, but God blesses what we get into “accidentally.” My teaching at Luther Rice was a gigantic “accident” that I hadn’t planned on and didn’t pursue.
Think how often God pours on us the blessings that are so different than we were expecting and maybe that we wanted. God is sovereign.
God doesn’t crown what nature has begun; it’s not the likely ones that are most blessed. It’s not the “naturals.” It’s often the weak things of this world (I Cor.) and that confuses the powerful and it’s often the foolish things and that confuses all of us.
I can remember that we once had a missions conference at church and we had a whole group of missionaries that were trying to get to the mission field. There was this one that I really liked and so, all during the missions conf., I picked on him, made fun of him—this is a peculiarity of West Texans—those people we really, really like, we tease to no end.
This guy was a baggage handler for Continental Airlines. He was like me, he had a college degree in history, but what in the world are you going to do with that. Anyway, I made all kinds of fun of him, all good-natured of course, during the missions conference. Although I didn’t say it, I was thinking, “This fellow isn’t ever going to get to the mission field. He’s so quiet and he doesn’t present himself very well, but he’s a really nice guy. Too bad, he won’t make it. Well, what do I know—of all the ones at our conf., he was the first one to make it! And one he got over there, he did a great job. And his wife loved it, all the deprivation, and all the hardship in their adopted country.
God has worked with Jacob over the long haul. Don’t tell me you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. God can change people, no matter how long it takes.
Jacob’s finest hour is one of his last days. That’s a great thing. This stuff of “retiring” from serving the Lord is just that, stuff. The second president of Dallas Seminary, Dr. John F. Walvoord, said that the Lord used him more after he was 65 than before. Don’t stop being faithful; don’t quit, God can have your greatest years to be the latter ones.