For forty years I led you through the desert … yet your sandals did not wear out." Duet. 29:5
Jacob’s final words to his sons were brutally honest, and recalled painful events from the past. The brutal murders committed by Simeon and Levi. The sexual immorality of Reuben, when he slept with his father’s wife!
Jacob remembered these offenses years later, and rendered his judgment from his deathbed. What a difficult scene that must have been!
Jacob is on his deathbed and has not forgotten the promises God made to him and his descendants.
He pulls Joseph close and reminds him of these things.
Then, inexplicably, but in the providence of God, he crosses his hands so that his right of blessing was placed on the head of Ephraim, and not Manasseh the firstborn.
“I have traveled this earth for 130 hard years.”
This was Jacob’s response to Pharoah’s question, “How old are you?” Jacob was an old man who looked even older than his years. He had indeed lived a hard life.
He had deceived his own father. He had run for his life from his own brother. He fell victim to the deception of his uncle. He had wrestled with an angel. He had buried a father, a wife, and lost (or so he thought) a beloved son in a tragic accident.
For a few brief minutes these two ancients occupied the same stage, brought together by Joseph, the man they both respected. Other than that, however, they had nothing in common.
It is remarkable that God revealed to Jacob where he would die, and that his beloved son Joseph would be at his bedside, to “close [his] eyes”.
His grandfather Abraham was told that his descendants would be “strangers in a foreign land, where they [would]be oppressed as slaves for 400 years”, and that God would deliver them by a mighty hand. But it appears Abraham kept that to himself.
“So Jacob set out for Egypt with all his possessions…”
“And as they left, he [Joseph] called after them, “Don’t quarrel about this along the way!”
What thoughtfulness, what kindness these words convey! Isn’t this the heart of God?
“God is punishing us for our sins.”
Why does Joseph continue to play this cat and mouse game? Is he trying to extract a confession from them for the way they treated him, and deceived their father?
“May God Almighty give you mercy as you go before the man… But if I must lose my children, so be it.”
Jacob was distraught to hear that he must let Benjamin go back to Egypt with his brothers, for Joseph (the “man” Jacob refers to) had insisted upon it.
The situation was out of his control, and so he appeals to God Almighty for mercy. Along with that appeal, there is an acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty – “…so be it”.
Joseph had the upper hand now. He controlled all the cards. His brothers thought him harsh; they were bewildered by his actions toward them. And yet Joseph’s chief desire was to reconcile with his family.
How like the God of Job! As Katharina von Schlegel expressed it in her hymn written centuries ago, “Through thorny ways, [He] leads to a joyful end.”
“God has made me forget all my troubles.”
Joseph had concluded that the God of his fathers would find a way to bless him even in a strange land, and away from his family.
God’s plan was not only to bless Joseph, but to make him a blessing.
“Pharoah’s chief cup-bearer forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.”
Joseph was disheartened, but not despairing. Disappointed, but not dejected. Forgotten by man, but remembered by the LORD.
