Jacob is on his deathbed and blesses Joseph's sons with his Egyptian wife. The younger gets the greater blessing...how often does God not do things like the way of man.....turning things upside down....Jacob blessed these children like he did his own sons...so the grandsons were elevated in a way. Then Jacob blesses his own sons, and you will see that a blessing is not always a good thing. These sons will be the twelve tribes of Isreal.
Rueben, the oldest, finally bears the consequences for sleeping with his father's concubine.
Simeon and Levi finally bear the consequences of being so cruel to the nation that got circumcised and ambushed. Yes, their sister got raped, but they were cruel in their revenge of their sister.
Judah, the 4th oldest matured greatly in his faith. He wasn't good to Tamar, but he was willing to give his life for Benjamin. Jesus will come from this line...note the lion and the scepter reference...the rest of the blessings are pretty good and actually prophetic as to what is to come.
Jacob dies and has a huge Egyptian funeral; arguably the biggest funeral memtioned in the Bible. Jacob is embalmed. This is Egyptian belief that the body needed to be preserved for the next life. Jacob did not need this of course, but Joseph probably allowed this as a courtesy. Jacob is then taken to the cave that Abraham bought from the Hittites, where Abraham and Sarah are buried.
The brothers are then nervous that Joseph may take revenge; that Joseph was only tolerant of them because of Jacob. Genesis 50:20 has the famous line, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives". (Yikes, this smacks of Jesus on the cross!!)
Note Genesis 50:24 where Joseph says "God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Issac and Jacob"....cross reference this to Exodus 3:16.
Joseph ends this chapter in a coffin. This reminds me of Beth Moore's observation, "This is It????? After all that????" Sometimes God doesn't wrap everything up in a bow and give it to us.....there is more to come....300 years need to pass and then Exodus starts in our reading tomorrow!
Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.
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