185 - God's Future Promises to Jacob's Sons - Dan to Joseph [B]

Hebrews Lesson 185    February 4, 2010

^NKJ John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The theme of the Chafer Conference coming up is going to be on creation and evolution. So you want to encourage anyone you know to come to the conference.  It's going to be I think it is going to be a very special time this year because we're going to have Dr. John Whitcomb speaking in the morning – actually the first session, which is in the afternoon on Monday and then Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning. He will be speaking on the creation in Genesis 1. He'll be also speaking. I think two of the lectures relate to the flood and that will be very, very helpful. He's written a number of books including the fact that he was the co-author with Henry Morris of the book The Genesis Flood, which really started the whole modern creationist movement. 

He has quite an interesting testimony. We will hear that at one session that we'll have either Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon when I'm going to have a panel set up with Dr. Whitcomb and Charlie Clough and Steve Austin. Steve Austin is the evening speaker. He's with the Institute for Creation Research - has a tremendous amount of work on geology. He will be speaking at night and you won't hear anything like what you will hear from him. You may not be able to comprehend it all, but neither do I. I'm not a scientist or a geologist; but I can understand the evidence and the conclusions and that's what's important for anyone I think - to hear someone articulate the details and the evidence because it builds your own confidence in the truth of the Scripture and helps to understand it even if you get lost in some of the details (some of the scientific details) because you don't really have a firm grasp of a lot of technicalities in geology. So that will be good. 

Steve Austin began to work with ICR when it started in 1972 and I talked to him on the phone yesterday and found out something that I had suspected because when he told me earlier when I had a conversation with him that he had started working with them in '72, I kept thinking, "I don't recall seeing your name until the early 80's. I didn't know you started as early as ' 72."

Then something clicked in the back of my head. I remembered hearing that there was a man who had written a number of articles for ICR; but he was still working on his PhD in science and he couldn't write under his own name.  He always had to use a pseudonym when he was writing for ICR because if it became known at the school where he was getting his PhD that he was a creationist he would lose his position. They would find a way to disqualify him and discredit him and remove him from the program. 

I asked him about that yesterday and he said, "Yep that was me." I forget the name he wrote under; but he told me what the pseudonym was and I remembered having seen that name back in the 70's. He has another interesting element to this whole history of the creationist movement. That is what those three men will tell us.

Charlie is important because he wrote his master's thesis at Dallas Seminary on the impact of the book The Genesis Flood among evangelicals. I think it was originally published in '61 and it had a tremendous impact. It was rejected by many conservatives in the 60's and later on because they have already sold out to some form of assimilation in accepting the conclusions of modern science in terms of the age of the earth, in terms of stratification, fossilization things such as dinosaurs could not have coexisted with men – things like that.  In fact one of Dr. Whitcomb's lectures (I think it will be the second night.) is going to be on dinosaurs and dinosaurs and men. So Charlie fits into this whole history because of his particular work that was done at that time.  He knew Dr Morris fairly well. There'll be some reminiscing about Dr. Morris who also mentored Dr. Austin. So that'll be good. We'll have a panel discussion and let them talk about these things.  I think that will help a lot of people understand where we've been, where we are, and where the creationist movement is headed in the future and some of the connections of things like climate change. 

There is so much that goes on today. In just the last week there's been more and more evidence coming out about how these conclusions about climate change and global warming and glaciers melting in the Himalayas and the melt off of the polar caps. These things have been put out by the UN Climate Committee. This evidence has been fabricated and misshaped based on this extremely skim evidence and some students dissertation plus an article in some backpack and hiking magazine things of that nature and what it exposes is the fact that science (the science community) is not this community of men of objective thought who are seeking truth; but that they have specific agendas that they bring to the evaluation of the data.  In most cases those who control the faculties of research departments, the grants, all of those things are men who have already decided that the evidence has to be interpreted in light of evolution which is what we saw it in the film that Ben Stein did on Exposed. 

There's no objectivity there so the bastion of science really has a crumbling foundation when it comes to truth. It's just another element in cosmic system seeking to reinforce the devil's worldview. 

So this is going be a great conference. Encourage people to come, especially young people who are in high school, who are in college who need to hear what the biblical evidence is. I think this will have a tremendous impact as well as once we get some of these other things edited and put out, it will go throughout the world. 

There are I know 3 creationist organizations in Houston who have all gotten wind of this and they're all sending out information to their members to come to the conference so I think the Lord's going to use it in a lot of different ways. 

We are in Hebrews 11, but don't turn there. Turn to Genesis 49. Hebrews 11 is focusing on the importance of faith and is illustrating it in the life of numerous Old Testament believers. These Old Testament believers looked to things, to promises that were unfulfilled in their life. They went through times when they went through tremendous testing, suffering, adversity. They never saw that which God promised. They never had that empirical verification in their own lives that God fulfilled the promise that He gave them; and yet they did not give up. They did not wipeout spiritually. They did not reach a stage of spiritual retirement. That's a whole other issue. I could preach a sermon on that: that you do not retire from the spiritual life. I'm encouraged because in our congregation I don't see a whole lot of people who are reaching their golden years let's say and retiring and saying, "Okay. I've got the RV and I'll be in church maybe once a month and I'm gone." They're still involved in local church, which is as it should be. Once we get past a certain age and there are those today because of various choices that they've made in their past have been able to retire early. Some of these people have done what I think a lot more should do and that is get some training and be involved with a mission organization, be involved in the ministry, be involved in some way serving the local church. There' are a number of men and I think who come out of good solid teaching churches in the past 20 or 30 years who spent 20 years or 30 years serving in the military who thought perhaps they might have the gift of pastor teacher; but they think that ship that sailed. 

Well, there are a tremendous number of men who have after a military career after 20 or 30 years going back to seminary and gotten their degrees and have gone on into the ministry. Dan Ingram is one case in point. Another individual who fits that same pattern is Jim Dumas who works with Jim Meyers. We've had Jim visit here now and then when he is back from Kiev. He retired early from Southwestern Bell and was able to get a nice retirement deal. He also retired from the military in the reserves and so he was able to convert that retirement income and use that to give him a foundation where he could then serve on the mission field without being dependent upon a local church or believers to support him. 

That's a tremendous vision people should have. Just because you're 65 or 70 or 75 years old doesn't mean that it's time to be put out to pasture as a believer. Now you're worth something. You've learned something; you've got wisdom to pass on to a younger generation and great opportunities of service.  So we don't bail out when we get past a certain age. We don't give up just because things get tough. 

That's the point that the writer of Hebrews is emphasizing to this Jewish audience. Just because you're coming under persecution and rejection by your family and your peers and your Jewish friends because you have trusted in Jesus as Messiah and nothing has happened and you haven't seen promises fulfilled, your blessings your immediate blessings fulfilled to you, doesn't mean that somehow you made a bad decision. 

There are many times in this life when we are not going to see immediate gratification in spiritual things or answered prayer or things like that because of God's plan and purpose for our life. There may be postponed gratification to the point that we don't see the real blessing or rewards of our spiritual growth and our spiritual commitment until we are absent from the body and face-to-face with the Lord. That is why we have to walk by faith and not by sight. It's not based on empiricism whether it is the feelings of positive reinforcement from certain spiritual blessings or positive things that happen in this life. But we walk on the basis of the Word of God and when that is more real to us than anything else that we're experiencing in life, that's when we are finally beginning to get somewhere in our spiritual growth.

So the writer of the Hebrews is emphasizing this. In verse 21 he comes to another example in Jacob. He's gone through the patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob and now he says in verse 21:

^NKJ Hebrews 11:21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

He not only blessed each of the sons of Joseph, he also blesses all of his sons. We started with that study in Genesis 49 last time because it ends with the last two sons (Joseph and Benjamin) and focuses there a little bit on the blessing to Joseph which comes to his two sons (Ephraim and Manasseh) which is the subject of this event that is alluded to in Hebrews 11:21. 

Last time we made it through the tribe of Issachar. This time we'll start with the tribe of Dan in verse 16. 

^NKJ Genesis 49:1 And Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:

Now remember the term "last days" has to be understood dispensationally. Are we talking about the last days of Israel, which would be Daniel's 70^th week or are we talking about the last days of the church, or is it a term that is simply a synonym used in a generic sense for the future? I think that in this chapter it's more of that sense. It's not so much a technical eschatological term for the last days in Israel or certainly not the last days of the church. But I think it focuses on various trends and characteristics within the descendants of these sons and the tribes that come from them. 

^NKJ Genesis 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.

That emphasis on blessing has to do with his statement related to their future and what their destiny would be. That word blessing in Scripture has various senses. In some places it's a synonym for praise. When we "bless" God, that word means to praise Him. When people are blessed, that has to do with divine grace and provision in their lives. In context such as this it has to do with the inheritance that is being passed on from father to son. 

We've seen this chart, which gives us the line of the seed from Abraham through the promised seed Isaac and then the twins Esau and Jacob. It passes to the younger. The elder Esau shall serve the younger Jacob, a principle that we see again in the prophetic section here of Genesis 49 and 48 because it's the elder Manasseh that serves the younger Ephraim. Jacob married Rachel and Leah, Leah first then Rachel. Through Leah he first had 4 sons: Rueben, Simeon, Levi, Judah. Then through Rachel's handmaiden Bilhah he has Dan and Naphtali. Then through Leah's handmaid Zilpah he has Gad and Asher. Then Leah once again conceives Issachar and Zebulon. Then finally Rachel has Joseph and Benjamin. We'll be looking at just the last few of these and we're going to start with Dan in verse 16.

Now Dan has an interesting tribal area. As we see on the map that I have up on the screen, the area that's originally given to Dan is this green area here that's kind of L-shaped that begins over here on the coastal plains moves through the Shefela which is the coastlands and the foothills of the mountains as you move west into the hill country. It swings down. This area – Joppa is modern Tel Aviv. The area along here is really the highway that goes from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem so that was the area originally given to Dan. But they never did conquer the Canaanites that were there and finally about two-thirds of the way through the period of the judges, they decided to look for their own place. They leave and they migrate through Benjamin. There's this episode there with the Levite, the priest who is set up there with his private religion, and they sort of quasi-kidnapped him. He goes along willingly and they take him all the way up to the north here to Laish which is then renamed Dan. They conquer the Canaanites there and the settle up in this northern area of Dan in the far northern part of Israel so that it becomes proverbial when you talk about Israel (the land of Israel) from Dan to Beersheba. Dan is the far north and Beersheba is down here in the territory of Simeon down in the Negev. So "from Dan to Beersheba" describes the length of the land. That's like saying from El Paso to Beaumont for those of you just waking up now. It covers the whole territory in between.

^NKJ Genesis 49:16 "Dan shall judge his people As one of the tribes of Israel.

^NKJ Genesis 49:17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, A viper by the path, That bites the horse's heels So that its rider shall fall backward.

^NKJ Genesis 49:18 I have waited for your salvation, O LORD!

Now this certainly is a cryptic prophecy. Just what in the world does this mean? The word "Dan shall judge his people" is a play on words because the word for judge is very similar to the word for Dan. So "judge His people" is one of the tribes of Israel. This is a verb that means to judge or to govern. Though the word is often translated as judge it is much more inclusive than the modern concept of judging. It encompasses all facets and functions of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. The Hebrew-Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament defines the word as to rule or to control. 

I'm not really sure how this has played out in history or if it has been fulfilled in history because Dan has never played a significant role. The tribe of Dan has never played a significant role in the history of Israel. But it has played a significant role in the apostasy of Israel because of what happens under Jeroboam I as we studied in our studies on 1 Kings. This is a line that doesn't trace the migration that shows the beginning point and their end as they moved forward.

Dan actually is one of the worst of all the tribes of Israel. It says that he's going to rule in the future and perhaps that has to do with a tribulation fulfillment. There are those who think that this has to do with the fact that the false prophet comes from the tribe of Dan and that may very well be. The word judge (which means to rule) indicates some sort of authority and since this has never happened historically; then it must happen at some time in the future.

Dan is a tribe which always brought up the rear in Israel; it was never a primary tribe. It was the first tribe to go into idolatry and that's described in that bizarre perverted little episode in Judges 18:30. They were also the last tribe to receive an inheritance in the land, which they failed to fully conquer. They failed to trust God in taking the land. They assimilated with the Canaanites in the land. Joshua 19:47-49 describes that and then just about every list of the tribes of Israel that involves merit Dan is listed last. For example in 1 Chronicles 27 the tribes are listed according to merit, and Dan is last. Dan is not mentioned among the 12 tribes that are listed in Revelation 7 when there is a listing of the 12 tribes and the 12,000 from each of the tribes that go into land.  Rather than Dan you have a reference to Joseph. Dan is also omitted from genealogy in 1 Chronicles 2-10. All of that adds up to the fact that Dan is of little significant historically in Israel, at least from a positive spiritual viewpoint. 

^NKJ Genesis 49:17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, A viper by the path, That bites the horse's heels So that its rider shall fall backward.

This is not a positive illustration. The serpent had no more of a positive image in Israel than it has in the United States. It's further in the poetic structure. 

^NKJ Genesis 49:17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, A viper by the path

So from serpent to viper you move from the general to the specific of a poisonous snake.

That bites the horse's heels So that its rider shall fall backward.

Dan is going to cause problems and is going to be the source of injury. That's the imagery that is set forth there. It is very likely that the ultimate fulfillment of this is in the Tribulation if this is prophetic, and I think there's a strong case for that; that Dan is going to play a very negative role among the Jews in the end times. We do have the picture of the serpent in Revelation 12:9 in terms of the great dragon who is cast out of Heaven who is called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He is cast to the Earth at that point. He is the serpent of old as described in that chapter in Revelation 12. Dan is the picture of this deception and is a picture of leading the nation astray and seems to be the source of oppression in the tribulation period. 

Issachar. 

^NKJ Genesis 49:18 I have waited for your salvation, O LORD!

…which seems to indicate a positive turning at the end. There's a movement there; but again I believe that issue of cryptic I'm not sure exactly what the long-term application of that is.

^NKJ Genesis 49:19 "Gad, a troop shall tramp upon him, But he shall triumph at last.

Verse 19 is going to focus on Gad. Now Gad is in the Transjordan. Trans means across the Jordan. The focal point of all these directions is always from Jerusalem. So across the Jordan is always across the Jordan from Jerusalem so the area to the east of the Jordan is considered the Transjordan. This is a modern Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh were in the Transjordan. Gad is in the middle. 

What we read here in verse 49:19 is rather short. 

^NKJ Genesis 49:19 "Gad, a troop shall tramp upon him, But he shall triumph at last.

Then verse 20 is going to focus on his brother Asher. These are two sons of Zilpah – Gad and Asher. Asher is said to be:

^NKJ Genesis 49:20 "Bread from Asher shall be rich, And he shall yield royal dainties.

So both of these prophecies are positive. They are both positive in the sense that though Gad is going to be beaten down historically in the end he will triumph. I believe that indicates to me especially in the tribulation period when you have a remnant that there will be a large percentage from the tribe of Gad. 

Asher is also emphasized in these verses as "bread from Asher shall be rich". This would emphasize the productivity of Asher. If you look at the map again Asher is located on the coastlands north of modern Haifa up into the area that is modern Lebanon up into Phoenicia. That was the tribal land given to Asher.  This is very productive farmland and is a source of tremendous agricultural production. This indicates that Asher will provide much for the nation.

Then the next tribe that's mentioned is Naphtali. 

^NKJ Genesis 49:21 "Naphtali is a deer let loose; He uses beautiful words.

Now the tribe of Naphtali is just to the east of Asher. This is in the area of Galilee. A predominant part of Galilee would be under Naphtali as the center of the northern part of Galilee just north of the Sea of Galilee. This would include the areas of the cities of Tiberius, Capernaum where Jesus lived. All of the areas where Jesus ministered in His Galilean ministry were for the most part were in the area near Naphtali. Positive things are said about Naphtali. 

He is the sixth the son of Jacob and he's the second son of Bilhah. It's a reference to the fact that he is one who moves around. The word translated "deer" here is the word for a young deer and it's often used as a synonym for swiftness. The idea that he is a deer that is let loose is that he has been sprung from a trap. Naphtali is pictured as a deer that is about to be caught in a trap or has been trapped and is able to get loose and then to escape the danger. 

This could have been fulfilled in a couple of different instances in the Old Testament. In Judges 4:6 Barak who is the general who won't go to war unless Deborah goes with him is from the tribe of Naphtali. He is able to defeat the enemies of the king of Hatsor and the Canaanites. He traps them at the battle that occurs there in Judges 5 and has victory over them. 

Also we know that there are 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali who we who are going to be regenerate during the tribulation period so they will also have a tremendous ministry. That kind of thing could be an illusion to beautiful words. Often the phrase "beautiful words" alludes to the gospel. That could be an allusion to future evangelist ministry from the tribe of Naphtali. But as I said those are 3 pretty cryptic prophecies and it's hard to be much more specific as to what is involved there.

Then we come to more detailed prophecy, which is Joseph. We're on much surer ground in understanding the prophecy of Joseph. This covers several verses from verse 22 through verse 26 where we're told that Joseph is a fruitful bough. 

^NKJ Genesis 49:22 "Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a well; His branches run over the wall.

That's a very easy image and metaphor to understand. 

^NKJ Genesis 49:23 The archers have bitterly grieved him, Shot at him and hated him.

^NKJ Genesis 49:24 But his bow remained in strength, And the arms of his hands were made strong By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),

^NKJ Genesis 49:25 By the God of your father who will help you, And by the Almighty who will bless you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

^NKJ Genesis 49:26 The blessings of your father Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

So there is a special blessing that goes to Joseph and this ends up because he receives the double blessing. He receives this through his two sons who are the Manasseh and Ephraim. He gets a double blessing, which means that – he is the second to the youngest, but as the younger of except for one of the brothers – he is the younger whom the elders will serve, following that principle that the oldest serves the younger. He is the one who receives the double portion (the double blessing) that should go to the firstborn. But he is far from being the firstborn.

Joseph was the first son born to Jacob and Rachel who was the real love of his life. Rachel had been barren for many years and unable to conceive and have a son though that was her desire. Finally after Leah had had 6 and each of the concubines had two each finally God allowed her to become pregnant and she conceived and then she gave birth to a son. Now she is one of several women in the Scriptures who were barren and that is up not just my accident. Their barrenness is emphasized because it is a picture of the fact that only God brings life where there is no life. It is a picture of the fact that with the patriarchs of Israel that the nation of Israel is miraculously born because Sarah the wife of Abraham was beyond childbearing years and she was barren and she never could have children until there was a miraculous conception and birth of Isaac. 

Then Isaac married Rebekah and Rebekah was barren until finally God allowed her to conceive. And now Rachel! So here you have the 3 wives of the 3 patriarchs of Israel are all unable to conceive until God miraculously enables them to conceive and give birth demonstrating that the nation of Israel is brought into existence in a miraculous way and they have a special divine mandate. When she is able to finally conceive and give birth to Joseph, she cries out in Genesis 30:24.

^NKJ Genesis 30:24 So she called his name Joseph, and said, "The LORD shall add to me another son."

This word "add" in Hebrew is the word yasaph, which is where the word Joseph comes from. It means to increase or to continue. God has added to her a son.

Joseph begins his prophecy with this blessing in verse 22 that talks about how Joseph has already been blessed by God. He's a fruitful bough. He has done much. He is the one who through the dreams that God gave him while he was in prison was able to inform the Pharaoh of the coming famine and through his wisdom and planning they were able to lay aside the stores that would not only did the Egyptians through the famine but also get his own family through the famine as they brought Jacob and the sons. Seventy came down with Jacob from the area of Canaan and were then provided for because of Joseph's wisdom. So he is a fruitful bough. He has had much the production already. 

And he's not just a fruitful bough, but he is said to be by a well or a spring (an active spring). This is in the desert. This is a plant that is by a permanent water source and so it is going to grow faster and stronger and be more productive than anything around. The imagery of course ultimately also goes back to the fact that he in his spiritual life is firmly planted in his relationship with God and in the Word of God. 

You have the same kind of imagery all the way through Scripture. Psalm 1 is a very famous place where we see that the person who is blessed by God and focuses on God is like a tree planted by the waters. So the same imagery is used again and again in Scripture to refer to the believer that is firmly planted in the Word of God and Word of God is a source of spiritual blessing. 

This produces tremendous growth, which is indicated by the third phrase.

His branches run over the wall.

There's much growth there and much production.

^NKJ Genesis 49:23 The archers have bitterly grieved him, Shot at him and hated him.

This depicts the adversity that he has encountered in his life. He has encountered a tremendous amount of opposition and antagonism.  He received antagonism and hatred from his own family. His brothers sold him into slavery. First they thought they would murder him and then they decided to make a little money on the deal and sell him into slavery. 

As a slave in Potiphar's house he was falsely accused of rape by Potiphar's wife, who had attempted to seduce him, but he resisted it. In prison he was ignored and forgotten by those he helped and he was left to languish alone. There he learned that he must trust and rely upon God because God alone is our source of happiness. God alone in the source of stability and until we learn to trust Him in those dark places then we can never be truly successful in our Christian life. He learned to handle the pressure by relaxing and focusing on God. 

As a result of being planted and rooted in God, he was blessed in many ways. He was blessed while he was a slave in Potiphar's house, he was blessed while he was in prison, he was blessed when he came out of prison, and he was before Pharaoh and he served Pharaoh after interpreting the dreams and providing for the future of the Egyptians. 

So he is a picture throughout Scripture of the successful believer. Any believer can do the same thing. We have more than he did. We have a completed canon of Scripture, and we have the indwelling Holy Spirit and the power of God the Holy Spirit. But the basic issue for us is the same as for him. It's volition. Volition is what makes the difference between the brothers that were failures and Joseph because he made the decisions to focus on the Lord.  When it comes right down to it, volition is not simply a matter of choice; it's a matter of dedication and commitment in a particular direction. It's a matter of commitment to a course of action and so that calls upon us to be mentally focused and to concentrate. 

One thing I've discovered as I get little older is that I don't concentrate like I did when I was younger. But I'm sure glad I established some of these habit patterns when I was younger because the longer we go without them the harder it is to reestablish it. But we need to do that. The more that I study the Word the more I see that the key issue in the spiritual life is mental. It has to do with mental discipline and mental focus and we have to make those decisions to be consistent in our application of the Word and when we go through those hard times and the fires of adversity become intense that we have to be able to focus and concentrate and blot out of our minds the distractions that are there that come from all of that, all the distress of life and the adversity of life and keep our focus on Lord because He is the endgame. 

We may never understand why we're going through the things we're going through or how God is using them in our life spiritually and we're not asked to understand those things. We're not expected to understand those things so that we can then apply them. We are simply to trust Him. That is the whole focus in Hebrews 11. We're to walk by faith and not by sight. 

Faith is the evidence of things hoped for the assurance of things not seen. So we have to learn to focus on the reality of God's Word.

Joseph does that and as part of that we develop our skill in what we call the faith-rest drill. It is a drill because it's something we have to practice over and over and over again. Usually we don't like doing drills. 

When I was a kid and I was taking piano lessons I had to get up every morning and I had to practice for thirty minutes every morning. I hated doing that, but I had to do that. When I was in band when I was in junior high and high school, we had to come in three or four days a week and we have to log in a certain amount of time in the practice room. When I was in high school, we just had all these technique drills we had to play over and over again. There's nothing worse than that. There's nothing melodious about it. There's no great tune there. You're just playing drills again and again and again. But they develop and improve your ability to perform when you are with the rest of the band or orchestra and playing. 

So we go through these drills. In many other areas of life whether it's dance or whether it's business; whether its' football any kind of athletics; there is always these drills and its discipline again and again and again. What that boils down to over and again is just that one word volition. Our lives are the product of the decisions we make and the way we do things is the way we've decided to do them and sometimes we have to take a good hard look and say, "You know, we have settled for second best in what we're trying to do and we have to set our standards a little higher and we have to press on because the issues have an eternal value." 

We have to remember the promises of God and we have to utilize them. 

2 Peter 1:3 – one of my favorite passages:

^NKJ 2 Peter 1:3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

He didn't leave anything out. His grace didn't drop something. He didn't forget.

"Oh yeah, that's right. There's that one problem area in your life and I failed to provide for you."

So you have an excuse as to whine…  No! There's no whining in the Christian life. He has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness and it is through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. That's what we see in Joseph. He is learning. He's building that personal relationship with God, trusting Him and learning to apply the promises. The main promise he has is the promise of the seed and the promise of inheritance, which has not been fulfilled in his life or in the life of Abraham, Isaac, or his father Jacob. He is focusing on the future.

^NKJ 2 Peter 1:4 by which

That is the character of God.

have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

That is by claiming those promises then we are able to imitate God and reflect His character in our life. Joseph is a picture of the believer who is focused on God and as a result grows to maturity and is a blessing for all those around him.

 That's the focal point that we see coming up in the next verse.

^NKJ Genesis 49:24 But his bow remained in strength, And the arms of his hands were made strong By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),

In verses 24 and 25 we have 5 different names of God that emphasize 5 different aspects of His character. The first is the mighty hands of Jacob. The word hand is often used in Scripture as a metaphor for the omnipotence of the power of God. It is in the hands of a person that the strength of the upper body is carried out in whatever a person is doing. If they're an artist and doing sculpture work (doing something working with their hands. They are craftsmen) it is the skill of their hands that they produce what they're going to produce. Hands is a metaphor for the power of God, and it is a reference to the phrase in the previous clause "the arms of His hands." That is, the arms of Joseph. Joseph's arms were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. It is not our strength but God's strength. It is not our power; it's God's power. We cannot do it in our own power. We try to do it on our own apart from promises, apart from consistent application of the Word and we will always fail. But when we're trusting in God, He is the one who will lift it up. The hands emphasize His omnipotence. 

Mighty God emphasizes also His omnipotence. The phrase "mighty God of Jacob" is use 6 times in the Scripture. For example Psalm 132:2:

^NKJ Psalm 132:2 How he swore to the LORD, And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

This goes back to God's manifestation of Himself to Jacob and Jacob is going through all of those growth stages that he went through as he has his initial deceptive spat with his brother Esau and then he has to run for his life and go live with the relatives up north in Haran. There he has the battles back and forth with dear old cousin Laban who's going to out connive. Laban is tricking the trickster Jacob and Jacob is trying to trick Laban and Jacob is always working to get control of things to bring about the blessing.

God is just sitting back saying, "One of these days you are going to run our of gas and then you finally going to trust Me" which is what happens. God shows that He is the mighty one in Jacob's life. 

^NKJ Isaiah 1:24 Therefore the Lord says, The LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, "Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries, And take vengeance on My enemies.

Isaiah 1:24 refers to the Lord of the Army's (of hosts) as the Mighty one. Israel is the alternate name for Jacob. 

^NKJ Isaiah 49:26 I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, And they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. All flesh shall know That I, the LORD, am your Savior, And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."

So this becomes a title for God. He is not only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but He is the Mighty One of Jacob. This blessing goes back to Isaiah 48:15 where Jacob had referred to God and the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac. 

Now the second title that is used of God in this passage is that He is the shepherd. The idea of a shepherd is something I have thought through for years and years because the shepherd is the metaphor for the pastor. The English word pastor is just another word, a synonym, for shepherd. When we think of a shepherd, there are a lot of different things the shepherds do for sheep. But the Bible is very clear as to where this metaphor is to be applied in terms of using this term shepherd. It applies to the leadership of Israel. In Jeremiah they're bad shepherds (false shepherds) that are leading the people astray. They're bad leaders. The key element I think in the terms pastor and shepherd is to emphasize leadership. The pastor does it through teaching. That's why in Ephesians 4:11-12 you have the gifts that are given there that are related to the local churches: the apostle, the evangelist and the pastor-and-teacher. Those two words are linked together in a grammatical way as a tight figure of speech called a hendiadys. The way that the pastor leads is through teaching. That's how he feeds that sheep. That takes us back to John 10:21 when Jesus has that interchange on the beach with Peter and says:

^NKJ John 21:17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Feed My sheep.

That is defining the role of the pastor. He feeds the sheep. He doesn't go and do a lot of other things that the shepherd metaphor might imply. The Scriptures use this again and again. For example in Psalm 10:23 David writes:

^NKJ Psalm 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

I think in some ways that sets the tone of that whole psalm. It's a wonderful psalm. We've all read it, heard and I've taught it before. But how is to shepherd manifested in this psalm?

^NKJ Psalm 23:2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

^NKJ Psalm 23:3 He restores my soul;

See the activeness of the Lord as shepherd is related to leadership.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.

^NKJ Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

The rod and the staff have to do with moving the sheep along in terms of discipline, in terms of punishment in terms of protection. This is leadership.

^NKJ Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

All of these have to do ultimately with God leading the believer in his life and providing for him.

So the third phrase that's used to refer to God; He's called the Stone of Israel. This is the word eben where we get the word later on ebenezer. The Lord is the Stone of help. Here God is the eben, our helper. This is our stone, the stone of Israel. For example in Genesis 28:13, this relates back God's faithfulness to His promises, to the idea of a stone or a rock is that which is immovable and unshakable.

In Genesis 28:13 God reiterated the promise to Jacob that He had given to Abraham and to Isaac. Again and again we have this imagery of faithfulness, the imagery of God's consistency and that He will not depart from His promise.

^NKJ Genesis 49:25 By the God of your father who will help you, And by the Almighty who will bless you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

So He is the almighty, once again emphasizing His power. He is the one who is powerful enough to bring about that which He has promised. The word for almighty here is sheddai, which emphasizes the idea of the all-sufficient one or the sustainer because He is the one who provides. El sheddai was first used of the Lord in Genesis 17:1. It's a title that's used 48 times in the New Testament. 

^NKJ Genesis 49:26 The blessings of your father Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

Notice the reminder again of the adversity of how he was mistreated by his brothers.

So when this talks about all of these blessings, it talks about the totality of these blessings that will come up on him as the one is at the head of the family now.  He is the one who is portrayed as the real leader, the one who now oversees the double portion of the blessing 

So we go from Joseph and his prophecy concludes in verse 26 to Benjamin. In verse 27 Benjamin is portrayed a ravenous wolf. 

^NKJ Genesis 49:27 "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he shall devour the prey, And at night he shall divide the spoil."

We'll come back next time, wrap up with Benjamin, and then look at the specifics of the double blessing to Ephraim and Manasseh before we go back in Hebrews 11:22 and move forward into Moses. 

Let's bow our heads in closing prayer.

Illustrations