Dr. Michael D. Halsey
"DESTINY AND DEATH"
GENESIS 49:1-50:26
It’s been a long journey through Genesis. It’s the foundational book of the Bible, a book, which, if omitted, leaves the rest of the Bible unintelligible. We’ve taken our time to go through it, and I hope its rewards have been that you have come to understand and appreciate more about who God is and what He’s done.
What our ancestors did affects us today. You live where you live because of what others decided to do generations, hundreds and hundreds of years ago. That’s what we’re going to see in Genesis—what the patriarchs did was passed on to their descendants in one way or another. In this section we have the deaths of two men who have consumed much of the book.
Jacob, by faith, and under divine inspiration, looks forward to the conquest and settlement of the land of Canaan and then beyond to a more glorious age, as he distributes blessings to his sons. As he does so, he evaluates each of his sons and will announce the participation of each one in the blessing of God.
There’s something that we all need, and if we don’t get it, it can make life dreary. Remember that as time goes by, their time in Egypt is going to get long and hard. What they need is encouragement for those hard days to come, days that will bring them into slavery.
I don’t know about you, but I tend to gravitate away from discouraging people. It’s great to be around an encouraging person, especially when we mess up, because he’s the type that says, “Yeah, you goofed it up, but let’s fix it together. Let’s go for it.”
What the Jews will need to hear again and again is what God has planned for them. One day, they’re going to get out of Egypt; one day, they’re going home. One day, God will fulfill the covenant. Did you notice that throughout the book of Genesis God repeated the Abrahamic Covenant over and over again to the same people? Why? Sometimes did it to give more detail, but every time He did it, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had to have found it to be encouraging. God hadn’t deserted them, even when they sinned. The promises were still intact.
On his deathbed, Jacob evaluates his sons one by one and carries the evaluation forward to their descendants. Bound up in their tribal ancestors were all the potential strengths and weaknesses of the descendants. Each tribe could see itself in the sons of Jacob.
In Genesis 4:29-50:26, we have the reports of the deaths of Jacob and Joseph. Jacob gives a farewell speech and then Moses records his death and the burial procession. It is very important to note that he dies, as his fathers before him, with the Abrahamic Covenant unfulfilled (Hebrews 11:39). The Abrahamic Covenant awaits fulfillment.
It’s here in this section that the theology of Joseph comes to the forefront: God’s sovereign plan used the evil of human beings, that God is able to turn human wickedness to serve His divine purpose. Since it was God’s will throughout to get him to Egypt and to move the family there, Joseph has no right to retaliate, as his brothers fear he might do. If there was ever any retaliation to be handed out, God would have to do it, Joseph wouldn’t.
As Moses draws his book to a close, he records the death of Jacob. Jacob tells Joseph to bur him in Canaan with his father and grandfather. He’s lived 147 hard years. Much of the problems in his life were of his own doing, as he made it hard on himself. The thing we can admire about Jacob and what makes him likeable to us is that through it all, he wanted God to bless him, but his methods weren’t of faith.
In 50:1-14, we have the record of his burial and the Egyptian mourning period which was just two days short of the mourning time for Pharaoh. It’s Joseph who leads the procession to Canaan. The next time there’s a pilgrimage to Canaan, who will lead it?—Moses! The next one will deliver the nation.
In Gen. 50:15-21, we see that now that their father is dead, tension arises among the brothers. They’re scared that Joseph will get even with them, so they beg for his forgiveness. They try to make Joseph think that Jacob had left this request. Joseph begins to weep when he hears that they think they have to beg for his forgiveness. Joseph’s statement is a classic: “You thought it evil against me, but God meant it for good.” No revenge.
In 50:22-26, Joseph dies and he leaves a request that when God comes to get them out, they take his bones with them to bury him in Canaan. This is the greatest demonstration of his faith of his whole life, Hebrews 11 says so. “God is going to get our people out of here and back to the land. His bones will become their Bible, as fathers and mothers will pass on the fact to their children that if they’re alive when the Exodus comes, they’re to take his bones with them. No pyramid for Joseph, but a coffin, so they can easily transport his remains.
We too are convinced that our future lies elsewhere, not of this earth.
Genesis ends with the family in Egypt. It ends with the people looking forward to the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, a day when the curse will be lifted.
As of today, God has yet to fulfill it; yet it will be when Christ returns.
The book that began with “In the beginning God,” ends with “in a coffin in Egypt.”
GENESIS EPILOGUE
Genesis has been the explanation for us for so many things—the universe, the solar system, the human race, marriage and family, languages, evil, nationalism, the cycle of the seasons, and the Jewish people. Jesus believed its facts were literal historical facts, therefore so do we.