All right. If you would, turn to Genesis 48. We're starting to wind down the book of Genesis. And the end of the telling of the direct descendants anyway of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And we've seen where Joseph, Jacob's favorite son from his favorite wife, is the governor over all of Egypt under Pharaoh, next in line under Pharaoh. His father Jacob and all his brothers and their families and all their animals and whatever possessions they could load up and bring with them or have moved to the land of Goshen in Egypt. under the approval of not just Joseph, but Pharaoh has approved this also, out of respect for Joseph. So God has blessed this family greatly. We've been talking about this time of famine. There's been seven years of famine. The part of what we're going to study this week, he doesn't really go into the famine this time, so we don't know exactly what year into the famine they're in. Last time they were at the beginning, they were in year two of the famine. But we start seeing Jacob preparing for his own death. He's an old man. about to die. In verse 28 of chapter 47 it tells us that when he died he was 147 years old. And he was in the land of Egypt for 17 years. So if he was in the land of Egypt for 17 years and he didn't get there until about year two or year three of the famine, the famine's already over by this time. So that's just going along chronologically in that study. That's kind of how I see it anyway. But it appears as though, at least by the time we're at now, that it's a very good possibility that the famine's over with. And so they have settled in. Remember, the family originally did not go there to stay. They knew that God's promise was that the children of abraham were going to inherit the land of canaan that's what they expected uh... it's it's similar to what we see with things in the last days in the churches uh... the lord has made a promise that he's going to come back for us in the last days uh... but he hasn't told us when uh... he'd give us tells us to watch for certain signs of how things are going to be before He's coming. But we don't know an exact day or hour. We don't even know the exact year, to be honest. So, as it was with Jacob and his sons and their families, they knew the promise that God had given them. They just didn't know when it was going to happen. God had promised them that they were going to inherit the land of Canaan. They were going to possess it. And even all the way up to Moses this day and into Joshua when Moses died and things were handed over to Joshua to possess the land, they still never possessed all of it. What a lot of people then, and I believe a lot of people now don't understand is that promise that God gave to Abraham was much further in the future than we realize. It's not going to be until after the tribulation that they're going to inherit all of the land. And we think, well, and remember, God told them they were going to inherit it forever. What's that tell us? Eternity, is it not? They're going to possess the land of Canaan for all eternity. So, back to our study here in chapter 48. And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, behold, our father is sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And one told Jacob and said, behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee and Israel strengthened himself and set up upon the bed. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. You see that? An everlasting possession. Have they possessed it yet? No. Not completely. They never have completely. Even today. the ones that are in Israel today. They don't control all the land. And I'm not talking about just the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The land is much bigger than that. If you go to the book of Jacob, he tells us the layout of what God promised them. And it's much bigger. And so, we see again, we see the promise here that God has made to the And remember, he gave the promise originally to Abraham. It wasn't for all of Abraham's children, was it? If it was, Ishmael would have been included. Ishmael was banned from it. He was not included in the promise. The descendants of Ishmael were not included in the promise. They think they are. That's why you have the conflict over there today between the Jews and And the Muslims are claiming to be the descendants of Ishmael. They're claiming to be the promised ones in the line of Abraham. And they're wrong. That's not what God said. God promised. His promise was for the children of Abraham through Isaac, through Jacob. And remember, Jacob was the one that God changed his name to Israel. So it would be Jacob's sons that would be the 12 tribes of Israel. There's even some discussion about that, and we'll talk about that in a moment, but he made this promise, or he appeared, Jacob tells Joseph that God appeared to him at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed him. God appeared to Jacob several different times, didn't he? One, when he was on his way back to Padmaran to find a wife, and he went back to his mother's family. On the way back there, when he was coming back from there with his family, after leaving his father-in-law Laban, God appeared to him again. There's been some other times that God appeared to him. reassuring of this promise. And now, you've got to think that here Jacob is 147 years old. He's got to know by now that this promise is not going to happen in his lifetime. That's got to be for certain. And so he's preparing in this chapter and in the next chapter, he's preparing his sons for what's to come. He's making sure they understand the promise. And verse 5, And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine, as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. claims these as his sons, these two sons of Joseph. He claims them as his own. He says, just as Reuben and Simeon are my own. And here's where some say the controversy is, is that well, doesn't that mean now that there's like 14 tribes? Well, no. If you go turn over to Revelation right quick, Revelation 21, where he's talking about the new city of Jerusalem. And he's describing the city, how it's going to look, how it's going to be built. Not how it's going to be built, but how it's built and what it's going to look like. In verse 12, and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel." There's only twelve children of Israel. Only twelve tribes of the children of Israel. So, now we know, you think, well, Jacob even had a daughter. That means he had thirteen children, right? but they didn't count the daughter. They counted, it was just the sons. He had 12 sons. Now, back in Genesis chapter 48, and I issue which thou begettest after them shall be thine and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. And so he's gonna give Ephraim and Manasseh, part of his inheritance. They're going to get an inheritance equal to the brothers of Joseph, in other words. Which you would think would probably not sit well with the other brothers, that the grandsons are going to, and they're not even the oldest grandsons, remember. Joseph's other brothers were married and had children. Some of them had multiple wives and had multiple children. But this is Jacob's favorite son, remember? This is the oldest son of his favorite wife. And as for me, when I came from Padden, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way. when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath. And I buried her there in the way of Ephrath, the same as Bethlehem." And again, we looked at that a few months back. Rachel died shortly after the birth of Benjamin. She only had two sons. Joseph and Benjamin, remember? Benjamin was the youngest. And was also the youngest of Abraham. I mean, not Abraham, of Jacob. Youngest of Jacob. When she died, he had her buried in Ephrath, which was the same place as Bethlehem. The name had just been changed. And again, we know Bethlehem as the place of the birth of Christ. So it was a special place. And also, if you remember, wasn't Bethlehem referred to as the city of David? Why? Well, supposedly that's where David was from. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said, who are these? Now, it appears as though Jacob has never seen his grandsons before. This is the first time. And Joseph said unto his father, These are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him, and he kissed them and embraced them. Where have we seen this before? Remember Esau and Jacob when they were with their father, and Isaac was an old age, he couldn't see very well either, could he? Matter of fact, his eyesight was so poor that he had to feel the arm of what was Jacob at the time, thinking it was Esau when he gave him the birthright. And so we see, I guess poor eyesight was was hereditary, you might say, in their case. And Israel said unto Joseph, now again, notice we've changed from Jacob, the name Jacob, to the name Israel. Why is that? Again, I believe, again, it's because he's referring to the head of the nation. The head of, not just the family, but to the 12 tribes. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face, and, lo, God hath showed me also thy seed. He never thought he would see Joseph again. Remember, Joseph was sold off into slavery by his brothers, but they had lied to their father and told him that they assumed that he had been eaten by a wild animal. They just found his coat covered in blood, and it was all a ploy by them uh... to get rid of him because of their jealousy of him being the favored son so he never thought he'd see joseph again and now not only is he getting to see joseph again god has showed him joseph's sons and i'm sure uh... jacobs hearts full of joy at this time, because he's getting to see his grandsons that he thought he would never, he never thought he'd get to see his son again, much less his grandsons. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. Now, it appears that these are young boys, don't it? He brought them out from between his knees. They weren't grown yet, were they? They were young. Fairly young, it looks like. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth, and this was out of respect for his father, not to worship his father. Notice there's nothing mentioned here of worship. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand, toward Israel's left hand. So he's facing Jacob or Israel facing him so he's got Ephraim in his right hand but in Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left hand toward Israel's right hand and brought them near unto him now remember Manasseh is the oldest one Ephraim is the younger one Why would he, knowing the tradition, if his father is going to bless them, as he's expected to here, as he has said he would do, the oldest one would be blessed first, traditionally. And he would do it with his right hand, is the way I understand the tradition. But Joseph puts Ephraim I'm sorry. Yeah, that's right. He puts Ephraim toward Israel's left hand. So it appears as though Joseph is doing the right process here. But watch what happens. And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head. He crossed over. Instead of going straight out, he went diagonal. laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn." It appears as though Jacob, or Israel here, knows what he's doing. It's not according to tradition. to the tradition of their day. And remember, it was a godly tradition. It was not some man-made thing. It was the way God had taught them. But if you remember, remember the stories we've been through in the scripture? In Genesis? How many times has God put the younger before the elder? Remember all the way back to Cain and Abel, didn't he? Abel was the favored son there, wasn't he? Because he followed the commandments of God. If I remember right, I believe Noah was not the eldest. Neither was Abraham. Abraham had an older brother. Isaac was not the oldest brother of Abraham. Remember Ishmael? Jacob, the same way. God is forming a pattern here anyway, and then you get all the way, if you go further, remember David and Solomon? They were not the oldest sons in the family, were they? But they were chosen for God, chosen by God for what he had planned. And he blessed Joseph and said, God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long until this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads and let my name be named on them in the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. From what I understand, you get further into, well, if you go into the story of Moses and into the Exodus, those that were of Ephraim's line did outnumber the line of Manasseh. I think it's been said it was like 8,300, if you can figure it out. There was like 8,300 more in that original group that left out of Egypt in Ephraim's line there, more than Manassas. So he was greater, and eventually his family would be greater. And he says, let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. So they were, the promise here is they're going to be a great multitude. But notice that Israel here, Jacob, praises God even through all the hardships he's been through. And Jacob's had a rough time of it. Partly it's on his own because of his conniving and cheating of his brother. He got done the same way when it came to finding a wife. He had trouble with his father-in-law trying to leave and then go back to Canaan. He's had trouble with his own family, had trouble with his daughter, had trouble with his sons, overreacted, way overreacted to that situation, didn't they, and wiped out a whole city. He lost Joseph for a time, thinking he was dead. And thought he was going to lose Benjamin when the governor of Egypt requested that Benjamin come to him. Thought he was going to lose him. Thought he was going to lose Simeon because the governor of Egypt held Simeon prisoner until they brought Benjamin. And then his famine. You know, he had a good possibility he could have lost everything he had ever Everything that he had built up, everything that he had amassed as an inheritance for his children, he could have lost it all because of this famine. But what happened? He says, the God which fed me all my life long until this day, God took care of me through it all. The angel which redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads. Notice that word angel is, the A is capitalized. This is not an ordinary angel. This is the angel of the Lord. He's asking God to bless Ephraim and Manasseh. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. And he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused and said, I know it, my son. I know it. Jacob knew exactly what he was doing. Why? Well, I believe God told him. God instructed him on what to do and who to do it to. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations." being trained up in the way he was trained up, understood. And this wasn't just a custom with Abraham's descendants. This was a custom in that part of the world. And it is the same custom in many parts of the world today, where the oldest is the one who will inherit the most when the parents pass away. It's not always that way, but that's the general custom. And it was then. Joseph recognized this, and he thought his father had made a mistake. But remember, there's no mistakes with God, is there? There was a purpose in this. And Jacob understood the purpose, or at least knew of the purpose. And when Joseph tried to correct him, Jacob actually does the correcting. He tells him, no, this is the way it's supposed to be. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die, but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Not Joseph himself, Now, he will in death, but as far as going back to the land of his fathers, his descendants will go back. They will leave Egypt, and it'll take them a while, take them a few years and a few hardships, but they will go back to the land of their fathers in Canaan. Jacob says he says I die He's about to die and He knows his life is short It's It's it's got to be a hard thing for Joseph because remember he's missed out on a lot with his father You know he was what was it like 26 20 over 20 years and that he was in Egypt before his father came to him again. He met his whole, mostly his whole, the early part of his adult life is gone. And he, but now, remember, Joseph was also, in his early years, stayed at home. Now his father would send him out to the herds with his brothers to check on him, but for the most part, he stayed at home with his mother. And his mother taught him, and also his father when he was there, but his mother mostly taught him the ways of God. How else would Joseph have survived through what he went through in Egypt? Because he believed in God. Verse 22, Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the land of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. So he's telling Joseph what he's leaving him for an inheritance. It's a portion. which I took out of the hand of the Amorites, is property, land, that he fought for and took away from the Amorites. It's a portion that he's given to him. And there's other things. Next week, when we get into the next chapter, chapter 49, Jacob goes on to his other sons and gives them tells them what he's going to leave with them, blesses them also, gives them instruction on what's going to happen. And then at the end of that chapter, we see the death of Jacob. And they begin to take him back, take his body back to Canaan to be buried there with Abraham and Isaac. So we'll stop there for this morning.