What a way to wrap up your life: blessing others, worshiping God, a pilgrim to the end. Let’s continue with Jacob’s blessings. “Bread from Asher shall be rich, and he shall yield royal dainties” (Gen 49:20), but James warns, “Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you.” It […]
Read More… from September 10, 2021 — Blessing, Worshiping, Leaning On His Staff
Both the struggles and the victories are in God’s plan for His people, as we see in this lesson. It’s amazing how different children in the same family can be. So with Jacob’s sons. “Reuben,…my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength,…unstable as water, you shall not excel” (Gen 49:3-4). Oh, the burden […]
Read More… from September 9, 2021 — Jacob’s Prophetic Blessings
The portraits of these 12 men is hardly flattering, but it is fascinating. And God is at work! As Genesis 48 draws to a close, Jacob gives a confession of faith that encapsulates his life under the tutelage of God. It is included in the double blessing he gives Joseph by adopting Ephraim and Manasseh, […]
Read More… from September 8, 2021 — The Importance Of Self-Honesty
Strange, isn’t it? The one born first is never the firstborn. Because grace triumphs over law. In Genesis 47, Jacob acknowledges, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years” (v 9). Though the family is settled in Goshen, the patriarch still considers himself a pilgrim. He isn’t home yet. […]
It’s a Southern expression to evince surprise, the kind Jacob’s sons felt at meeting Joseph! Having been reunited with his long-alienated brethren, Joseph says there will be another five years of famine. Why not retrieve their old father, Jacob, and bring the whole family to Egypt? Sheep herding was a despised occupation there, so with […]
Life’s fiery difficulties, if accepted from God, can burn off the dross and make us pure gold. Following the unexpected meal in the Grand Vizier’s home, Jacob’s sons had left with a new supply of grain. But also, unknown to them, was their double payment, and Joseph’s cup in Benjamin’s sack. Stopped just outside the […]
“No chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward…” (Heb 12:11). Jacob’s sons head back to Egypt, their first load of grain gone. Simeon awaits in prison there, and Benjamin is compelled to go along, much to Jacob’s grief. In their saddlebags they carry double the money—the returned funds from the […]
Longfellow wrote, “Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small.” More than 20 years have passed since Joseph last saw his brothers, but he recognized them right away. They had come for some grain but would feel some pain before this was done. And why? Because Joseph longed to forgive his […]
Read More… from September 1, 2021 — Caught Between God’s Millstones
From outcast to upper crust! Joseph, Number 2 Man in Egypt, is about to get some visitors. The concluding section of Genesis 41 (vv 38-57) describes the meteoric rise of Joseph in Egypt, now age 30. He becomes second only to Pharaoh. The king’s signet, his authorizing signature, is entrusted to Joseph. He gets the […]
Read More… from August 31, 2021 — Look Who’s Visiting Egypt!