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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven.
When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried."
"I will do as you say," he said.
"Swear to me," he said.
Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
Some time later, Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him.
When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed. Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.'”
"Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).
When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, "Who are these?"
"They are the sons God has given me here," Joseph said to his father.
Then Israel said, "Bring them to me so I may bless them."
Now Israel's eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too."
Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel's right hand, and brought them close to him.
But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim's head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh's head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn. Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May 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 delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth."
When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head, he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Joseph said to him, "No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."
But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations."
He blessed them that day and said, "In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.'"
So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
Genesis 47:28-31, 48:1-20
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Genesis, chapter 47 comes to a close, we find Jacob (also named Israel by God) near death, seventeen years after relocating from Canaan to Egypt. He had lived quite a life full of incredible ups and downs through his “a hundred and forty-seven” years.
With his time coming to an end, we find Jacob calling his beloved son, Joseph, asking him to make the following promise:
"If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried."
Out of respect for his father and his wishes, we read where Joseph swears an oath to do as Jacob requested.
The scriptures tell us that soon after this, Jacob becomes ill and Joseph is summoned to visit him which he does with "his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim”. As Jacob sits up in bed, we find him doing something very peculiar for through his words, he adopts Joseph’s two sons:
"Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine."
And with that, we read where Jacob asks Joseph to bring the two boys to him so he could bless them. Joseph does what his father asks and we see where he strategically positions his sons according to their age. Manasseh was the oldest, the firstborn, and so by custom, he deserved the birthright. Because of this, Joseph placed him on Jacob’s right. The younger son, Ephraim, was put on Jacob’s left.
Now all this happened so to make the matter of blessing a simple matter. All Jacob needed to do was reach out his right hand and place it on Manasseh and the left hand on Ephraim but as we see in this passage, things didn’t quite go as expected. For we read where Jacob crossed his arms as he reached out, placing his right hand on the head of Ephraim, the youngest, and his left hand fell upon the head of the oldest, Manasseh.
We read where all this caused Joseph to be "displeased", so much so that he "took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head", saying:
"No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."
In response, Jacob "refused" to do so, saying:
"I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations."
And with that, Jacob’s blessing was done as he put “Ephraim ahead of Manasseh” while proclaiming:
"In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.'"
And so it was.
The oldest son who was supposed to finish first finished second and Joseph had a problem with that.
Why?
Because Joseph perceived what was happening on worldly terms, not on the Lord’s. He only saw the switch as Manasseh losing his birthright, something his father Jacob knew all too much about. For you will remember how he and his mother Rebekah deceived his father, Isaac, so that he could gain the birthright that was rightfully Esau’s. And so, Esau ended up finishing second to his younger brother and now history was repeating itself as Ephraim, the younger, moved ahead of Manasseh, the elder.
All this led me to think about a question, I believe the Lord would ask us today. For how well do we handle coming in second in life when we believe we should have been first.
I don’t know about you but I have had my difficulties in the past through my sixty-five years of life.
You see, within our humanity, we seem to be very competitive by nature. Winning is everything and nobody seems to remember who was the runner up. As the old saying goes, “To the victor goes the spoils”.
And so we end up obsessing over finishing first, so much so that many people are willing to do almost anything, even sin, to avoid coming in second. We saw this play out in the worst way possible earlier in this Book of Genesis in the story of Cain and Abel.
You may remember that the two brothers brought offerings to the Lord. Abel brought his best while Cain didn’t and when God favored Abel, Cain’s jealousy and anger gave way to killing his brother in cold blood.
And then, in the story of Joseph, we found Jacob showing favor to Joseph, the first son born to his beloved, deceased wife Rachel. This special treatment led to Joseph’s brothers becoming jealous and wanting to kill him, just as Cain had done to his brother. Only intervention from his brother Reuben saved Joseph’s life but he was still sold into slavery before the brothers deceived Jacob to believe Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.
In both of these cases, and many others like them since, we see people unwilling to handle finishing second. And unfortunately, this happens even within the church.
Friends, we need to learn lessons from the scriptures and work hard to shed this need for being first in everything. For the scriptures make it clear that the body of Christ doesn’t have one part more important or greater than the others (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Instead, all the parts of the body are equally important to carry out the will and purposes of God the Father.
Further, we are all subordinate to God when it all comes down to it. He is, and always will be, first in everything and we’re all a very distant second. In His eyes, none of us rank any better than the next (Romans 2:11); we’re all sinners who fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23).
Now, in saying this, there is only one way that any person can be assured that they will finish first and be there forever. For all sinners are without hope short of the salvation that comes through the crucified and risen Savior, God’s only Son, Jesus Christ. Through Him, all believers are guaranteed to finish first together at the end.
In other words, in the final analysis, it’s not important who finishes first while we’re living in this world. It’s only important that we love one another, remain united in Jesus, and conclude the race together, all Christ believers in first place when we cross the finish line into the awesome glory of Heaven, abiding for all eternity with God the Father and Jesus, His Son.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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