Genesis 50:22-26

Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father’s house. Joseph lived one hundred ten years. Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

I have found that, most of the time in this life, it is a mistake to take an oath. To promise that something will happen or a promise to do something can easily be disrupted by any number of common things that happen in life. As humans, we simply do not know the future; except for when God tells us.

Joseph gives a prophesy here in the form of an oath. He promised that God will visit the Hebrews and bring them up out of the land of Egypt and take them back to Canaan. God had made it clear to him, as He did to his father Jacob that they were to leave Egypt someday and go back to the land that was promised to their fathers. So, Joseph made them promise to take his bones back with them. I imagine that this became a source of hope for the Hebrews later as we learn in the next book of the Bible: Exodus.

After living 110 years and seeing some of his great-grandchildren, Joseph died. With the death of Joseph we come to the end of the first book of the Bible. Genesis has answered many questions about our lives here on earth. It has explained how we got here and why. It explained why there is pain and suffering in the world. It explained that there really is a God and that He cares about us even though we are a fallen race. We also learn that God has promised to save mankind someday. This book provides us the background for why mankind needs salvation and starts us on the journey to uncover God’s plan to save the us.

Genesis 50:15-21

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all of the evil which we did to him.” They sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying, ‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.

It’s amazing how long guilt can affect a person. It proves that going against your conscience is not worth it! After all this time, and after all that Joseph had already said and done, his brothers were still afraid that he would get them back for what they did to him. It broke his heart to see them suffering with this guilt.

God doesn’t want you and I to suffer with guilt anymore. It is true that we were guilty, but because Jesus died to take the punishment for our guilt, we should stop being guilty and trust that God is no longer holding it against us.

Notice how Joseph answered his brothers. He explains that he is not in the place of God. How I wish that leaders today would think like Joseph! God tells us that He is the one who is to take revenge. We are not to do it ever. We have no authority to do it because we are all sinners. If God tells someone to do his work of punishment that is very different, but that us usually done through governments and according to law. This is one of the things that a Christian republic keeps people safe from. This is probably why so many presidents of the United States lived out this kind of leadership. Only God can properly give out revenge.

Finally, notice that Joseph told them that even though they intended to harm him, God intended to use the whole thing for good. In fact, He ended up saving His chosen people along with the Egyptians. Joseph told them that He would continue to nourish them and their little ones. That is the kind of leadership we need to have and live today.

Genesis 50:7-14

Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt, all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. There went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days. When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. His sons did to him just as he commanded them, for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. Joseph returned into Egypt—he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

A wonderful honor was given to the Hebrews by Egypt when Israel died. They lamented so much that the Canaanite people named a place after it. It must have been a wonderful procession because all of the servants of Pharaoh and the elders of his house were there.

It appears to me that the Egyptians who were alive at that time had come to love of the God of Israel. This is the true God of Egypt as well as all of us who need salvation. God is a God who saves. All of these people had watched as the God of Israel had warned Pharaoh in a dream about the coming famine and as He provided a Hebrew slave who believed in God, to guide them to safety. In response, they gave great honor to Israel and His God.

How I wish the our nations today would understand the importance of loving Israel’s God and honoring His people. Israel’s God has become our God and His people have become our people, because our God is a God who saves. It is God who has chosen Israel and given them the position to tell us who God is and what He is like through this Bible that we read. When we honor God’s people, we honor the God who chose them and the one that saved us.

Genesis 50:1-6

Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him. Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel. Forty days were fulfilled for him, for that is how many the days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.

When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’”

Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury your father, just like he made you swear.”

One thing that I notice about Genesis is that people do a lot of weeping. The Bible tells us that we cry because of sin. When sin is taken away, so will crying. Even though we cry in this life, we can be encouraged because a day will come when God will take away all of our tears.

This is a very interesting part of the Bible for historic reasons. Here we are told that the Egyptians had a forty-day embalming process. I have never studied this fact, but I know that it is true because it is recorded here. It provides yet another fact that can be verified about this time in Egypt.

It is interesting to me that the Egyptians wept for Jacob. This surprised me at first because we learned earlier that they tended to separate themselves from from Hebrews and shepherds. It would appear that Jacob and Joseph were dearly loved by this time. This makes sense because it shows the genuineness of what we read in chapter 47 verse 25 where it tells us that they were thankful to Joseph for saving their lives. They were not angry with Joseph for taking their money or for not just giving them their food instead of making them pay for it.

There had been a lot of suffering in Egypt, but because of God’s help through Joseph, many people were thankful to Joseph and His God. So, Joseph was allowed to go and bury his father in Canaan.

Genesis 49:28-33

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his blessing. He instructed them, and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried Leah: the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.” When Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered to his people.

The Bible teaches us that death is not the end. Here we read that instead of saying that Jacob died, it says that he was gathered to his people. The reality is that the human soul is immortal. When we are near-sighted and only live for today, we act inappropriately because, in reality, we will all live much longer on the other side.

I am told that the cave in the field of Machpelah is still there to this day, once again demonstrating the historical basis for Genesis.

Another thing to notice is that, although Jacob’s second wife was given a good burial, it was his first wife Leah that was buried in the family cave. I believe that God wishes to honor a first marriage, even if it is far from perfect, as I have mentioned before. Judah, who was blessed above his brothers by Jacob, came from Leah who was to be the mother of the Messiah to come.

I believe that Jacob’s request to be buried in Canaan, served as a reminder to his children not to get too comfortable in Egypt and be ready to move back to the land that God had promised. This is the same for us as believers today. Our real home is in our Father’s house with Jesus. It is important that we don’t become too comfortable here. It is possible to wake up one day and discover that we are slaves in a land that isn’t ours.

Genesis 49:27

“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf.
In the morning he will devour the prey.
At evening he will divide the plunder.”

I don’t claim to know the specific application that God intends for this prophesy to Benjamin. I do know that later this tribe was to become very strong militarily even though it wasn’t always used for good. This may also be a prophesy about Jesus and His future kingdom on earth.

One of the things that is commonly overlooked about Jesus is that, as the Messiah, He is a warrior. He isn’t meek and mild, even though He is gentle to his own sheep like a shepherd is. When it comes to wolves and lions, He tears them apart. If you know about the history of David in the Bible, you know that he lived this out. He would be very tender toward the sheep, but he killed a lion and bear with his own hands while protecting them. David was a vicious warrior.

One thing that is often overlooked about war is the fact that it is necessary in order to maintain a healthy family. The family is almost always under attack in some way or another. Satan is called “the god of this world.” The Bible tells us that he seeks to devour Christians. He is also against the purposes of God. God’s purposes in this world are often promoted through the physical human family. After all, every human being is made in the image of God and Satan is only an angel. It isn’t a big surprise that He would want to attack every instance of that image that he can.

My point is that Satan stands to gain far more from a passive man than God does. If men are passive, they will allow Satan to come in and destroy their families without putting up a fight. When Jesus said to turn the other cheek, He didn’t intend for us to allow Satan to come in and destroy our families. God expects us to fight for them just as He fights for us.

Our war in the world today is not usually a physical one. We are usually fighting against spiritual forces that war against the minds of our families and ourselves. We fight human nature in the family which is actually an internal enemy as well. God may also call us to physically defend our families against those who desire to harm them.

Fortunately, Jesus knows about war and He will be the strength behind our battles. Someday, Jesus the Jewish Messiah will personally subdue His enemies and set up a kingdom on earth in order to protect the entire human family.

Revelation 19:11-16 :

I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has names written and a name written which no one knows but he himself. He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called “The Word of God.” The armies which are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure, fine linen. Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written,

“KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Genesis 49:22-26

“Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine by a spring.
His branches run over the wall.
The archers have severely grieved him,
shot at him, and persecute him:
But his bow remained strong.
The arms of his hands were made strong,
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
(from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),
even by the God of your father, who will help you;
by the Almighty, who will bless you,
with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that lies below,
blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.
The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of your ancestors,
above the boundaries of the ancient hills.
They will be on the head of Joseph,
on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.

I don’t know what this part means but I do see some symbolism in what is said about Joseph here that compares to what we see in Israel. It says here that “Joseph is a fruitful vine” who’s branches have “run over the wall.” That’s what we see in Israel today. God has made Israel very prosperous. Their prosperity even crawls up over the boarders of their country and into the countries of others around them.

Unfortunately, Israel’s neighbors continue to fire rockets into their walls and it grieves them today, but God has continued to bless them and make them strong. In fact they have one of the strongest militaries in the world. I don’t believe that this is what this passage is talking about specifically, however. We know this because we know who the “Mighty One of Jacob” is and He has yet to return and save Israel. Notice that this Mighty One is referred to as a Shepherd and a Stone or Rock of Israel.

When Jesus, who is God, comes, He will be the one who saves and strengthens Israel. He will bring a good economy to the whole earth when He wears the crown in Jerusalem.