Final Days of Israel (Jacob)

Jacob (also known as Israel) had faithfully walked with the living Sovereign LORD God as He commanded Abraham, and God’s ministering Angel had protected Jacob from Satan’s harms and evil. Jacob had twelve sons and one daughter named Dinah, and the twelves sons were named as follows: Reuben (Jacob’s oldest), Simeon, Levi (priestly tribe), Judah (Jesus’s descendent), Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph (father of Ephraim and Manasseh), and Benjamin. Before his death, Jacob humbly instructed his son Joseph and then his other sons to carry him out of Egypt and bury him in the Promised Land of Canaan (Israel-Palestine), where his grandparents - Abraham and Sarah, his parents - Isaac and Rebekah, and his wife Leah were all buried. In his dying breath, Jacob had future hope, knowing that the living Sovereign LORD God would bless and be with his sons as He had promised, and He would bring Jacob and his twelve sons from Egypt back to the Promised Land of Canaan, which He had promised to Abraham and Isaac. 

 

As Jacob neared the end of his life, Jacob gave his twelve sons - the Twelve Tribes of Israel - his final blessings. Joseph heard his father Jacob was very sick and dying, so he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to see his father, Jacob. Then, Jacob informed Joseph and his two sons that God Almighty (El Shaddai) had appeared to him in Luz (Bethel) in the land of Canaan (present-day Israel-Palestine), and God Almighty had blessed him with the divine promises of Abraham and Isaac: the land of Canaan and numerous descendants. Jacob also said that God Almighty promised to make him fruitful and multiply his descendants into a great nation, and give him and his descendants the land of Canaan (Israel-Palestine) as an everlasting possession, as He had promised to Abraham and Isaac. 

 

Then, Jacob blessed and, importantly, adopted Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, as his descendants and co-heirs with his other sons, such as Reuben and Simeon. In other words, Manasseh and Ephraim were now Jacob’s sons, and Joseph now would receive double blessings from Israel through his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Significantly, Jacob blessed Ephraim with the divine and covenant blessings of his grandfather Abraham and father Isaac over Joseph’s firstborn and oldest son, Manasseh. Jacob blessed Ephraim, the younger son, with the primary blessings to be greater and to multiply with many descendants more than his older brother and firstborn son, Manasseh. Notably, Jacob was also the younger son of Isaac and Rebekah, and he received the blessings of the firstborn over his brother Esau. Many years later, Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim became large and powerful tribes in the Promised Land. Ephraim became the leading tribe in the northern kingdom of Israel, and the entire northern kingdom was occasionally referred to as Ephraim. 

 

After blessing and adopting Joseph’s sons, Jacob called and gathered his twelve sons so that he could provide final blessings and also some curses on each of his sons. Jacob trusted in the living Sovereign LORD God for hope and salvation that would come through his family. Notably, Jacob anticipated that his sons Judah and Joseph would be preeminent amongst his sons, and Judah and Joseph received Jacob’s important blessings. The firstborn son, Reuben, was stripped of his birthright as Israel’s firstborn son because Reuben could not control his desires and had sexual relations with his father’s concubine, Bilhah. Moreover, Simeon and Levi received Jacob’s curses to be scattered because of their uncontrolled anger, cruelty, and violence towards people and animals when Shechem harmed their sister Dinah. Judah largely absorbed Simeon’s land, and Levi, who eventually became the priestly tribe of Israel, never acquired their land; however, Levi’s land was scattered among his brothers in Canaan. 

 

Significantly, Jacob praised and blessed his fourth son, Judah, and Jacob promised that Judah’s brothers would also praise and bow down to him. Judah’s mother was named Leah. Moreover, Jacob predicted Judah would defeat all his enemies with his fierce, lion-like dominance. Likewise, Jacob predicted that Judah would be a strong lion’s whelp, and a ruler (king) would come from Judah’s family as previously promised to Abraham and Sarah. Finally, Jacob promised that a scepter and lawgiver shall not depart from Judah’s family to lead people to obey the living Sovereign LORD God. Judah became the leading tribe in southern Israel.  Reuben, Simeon, and Levi forfeited their rights of leadership, and Jacob assigned the leadership role to Judah. Later, Judah would become the leading tribe of Israel because of Ephraim and northern Israel’s sins and wrongdoing against the living Sovereign LORD God and violation of his commandments. From the tribe of Judah came the victorious King David, King Solomon, and most importantly, the promised Christ Jesus, who is our Lord and Savior forever. The prophet Isaiah promised that a Redeemer would come from the house of Jacob, who would save and bless the world, and that Redeemer is Christ Jesus. 

 

Importantly, Jacob gave the covenant blessings and the divine right of the firstborn upon his son, Joseph. Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son, and he was considered a prince amongst his brothers. Jacob predicted victory would come through Joseph’s two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. Such Old Testament heroes and warriors as Joshua (Hoshea), Deborah, and Jephthah came from the family line of Ephraim, who descended from Joseph. As mentioned earlier, Joseph’s son Ephraim became the leading tribe in northern Israel, and his descendants became numerous and powerful.

 

Jacob lived in Egypt (the land of Ham) for seventeen (17) years, and he died at the full age of 147 in Egypt, bringing his life of struggle and sorrow to an end. As Jacob instructed, his sons returned his body to Canaan (present-day Israel-Palestine), along with his son, his wife Leah, and his family, including Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah. Jacob’s twelve sons and the Egyptians honored Jacob at his death, and Jacob was mourned for seventy days. After Jacob’s death, his sons all returned to Egypt.

 

Now that Jacob was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful and worried that Joseph would avenge and retaliate against them for all the wrongs and hurts they caused Joseph. So, Joseph’s brothers sent a message to Joseph pleading for his forgiveness for all the cruelty and sins they had caused him, and they also offered to become Joseph’s servants. When Joseph received his brothers’ message of forgiveness, Joseph wept, and then his brothers bowed down once again at Joseph’s feet seeking his forgiveness. Then, Joseph informed his brothers not to be fearful or sad because the living Sovereign LORD God in His divine plan and wisdom allowed Joseph’s mistreatment and sale into Egyptian slavery to save his entire family and the world from the severe famine. Despite his brothers’ previous wrongdoings and evil deeds against him, Joseph showed his fellow brothers kindness, forgiveness, mercy, goodness, and love. Amazingly, Joseph lived the teachings of Christ Jesus!

 

Joseph and his brothers, along with their families, lived in Egypt, and Joseph lived a long life of blessings, eventually seeing his great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Before Joseph’s death, Joseph assured his brothers that the living Sovereign LORD God would come and lead his entire family out of Egypt, bringing all of Israel’s children back to the Promised Land of God—Canaan (Israel-Palestine) — as He had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then, Joseph made the sons of Israel (Jacob) promise to return his bones from Egypt to the Promised Land when the living Sovereign LORD God returns Israel’s family to the Promised Land. 

 

Joseph’s death marked the end of Genesis and the patriarchal period of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. However, the lives and teachings of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph have impacted the world forever because they reveal hope, trust,  and God’s eternal promises leading to the Messiah of God - Jesus the Savior of the world! The living Sovereign LORD God is faithful and a loving Good Shepherd, and He keeps His covenant promises and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love and keep His commandments. Therefore, the righteous must continue to live with faithful obedience and trust in the King of the Universe - the good and merciful Sovereign LORD God of heaven and earth until God’s glory covers the earth. 

 

For everything that was written in the past in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. Romans 15:4.

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