Continuity

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him.
Genesis 49:28

One generation carries on after another. This is a recurring theme in Genesis where a repeating refrain is "these are the generations of...". This passage expands upon that theme with some specific blessings that Jacob gives to each of his sons, prophetically describing how each tribe will later come to function in the future nation of Israel.

From one couple, God populated the world. From human sins and choices, God has made Himself known, provided for access to Him, and graciously redeemed people to Himself. All of that is in Genesis. And it is told in the context of families. From Adam and Eve, to Noah and his sons, from Abraham and Sarai, on to Jacob and his sons. In all the story of human history told in the book, the clear denominator is family and home as relating to God and His grace and revelation.

So despite the vast cultural differences separating me from the patriarchs, I can identify with that common theme. I have a family and I relate to family. I am called to come to God in the context of my life and that includes family. And so I will trust and follow Him, while caring for the needs of those whom God has called me to love and need first -- family!

Technorati Tags: Generations,Family,Jacob

Old hands on young heads.

And he blessed Joseph and said,
        "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,
        the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys;
and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."
Genesis 48:15-16

Maybe it is just my current wistfulness, but a part of me identifies with the patriarchal blessing like never before. Age has a way of increasing your identification with generational moments in scripture. This is one of them. Right now my kids are adolescents. I have very little precious time left with them until they will be adults making decisions on their own. It is coming faster than I want it to arrive!

So when I read this passage where a grandfather through blessing passes on a spiritual heritage to grandsons, I sit back and think hard. I would call Jacob's story checkered with spiritual failure (on a good day) and marked by copious outpourings of God's grace. His sons were for the most part as spiritually inconsistent as he was (with the exception of Joseph and perhaps Benjamin). Yet God had chosen this patriarchal home to become his source of future and present blessing. And from this generation would arise the vast nation of Israel. Ephraim and Manasseh represented the work that God was going to do. Jacob knew this and as he aged, his heart grew closer to God so that now his finest spiritual work would occur with the blessings he would pass on to the tribes of Israel.

Grandpa Israel, the prophet and the patriarch, places feeble withering hands on two little grandsons and pronounces a future for their tribes that would come to pass. Ephraim would become strong. Joshua would arise from Ephraim's stock. That tribe would become instrumental in the kingdom only to fall away and be judged by God. But in the plan of God, the younger son would rise in prominence. Jacob foresaw this and passed it on with his prophetic blessing.

I am far removed from this culture and manner of God's dealings. I cannot expect the kind of prophetic insight into lives that Jacob was given by God. Still, my two children are important to God and He has wonderful and wise plans for them. I need all the wisdom from Him I can get to help guide them toward what God wants. It is not easy. They are now teenagers and well on the path of their independence. I feel that it is important to them to know God's guidance and my blessing for them as they seek to follow Him. Jacob's example gives me fuel for thought as I parent my kids the next few years.

Technorati Tags: Jacob,Blessing,Parenting

Take Me to Egypt

There are a lot of personal struggles behind my reflections on this passage. Let’s just say God has me in a place right now where I am powerless (I don’t like that feeling) and must trust Him to show Himself strong and provide comfort and strength not only for myself, but for others I care about. It is not easy to have circumstances break your routine. I think I see in Jacob some of what I should be. It is easy to stay in the Promised Land and starve. It is tougher to let God lead you to a strange land to be fed there.

Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.
Genesis 47:27

Take me to Egypt
to the foreign land
with strange people
and circumstances
that I can't understand

if in Egypt
I will find health
and blessing beyond
my present famine
and thrive in Your wealth

then take me there
by what means You choose
and in Your time I know
that what I will gain from You
will be worth the routine I lose

and temporary Egypt
may be just the place
where finally I find comfort
and health and food again
as mercy shines in Your grace

Take me to Egypt
and let me grow
beyond my comfortable home
and my desires and plans
by faith, Your grace I'll know.

Technorati Tags: Jacob,Trust,Guidance,Poetry

Enough guidance for the next few steps.

And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, "Jacob, Jacob." And he said, "Here am I."  Then he said, "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation."
Genesis 46:2-3

This chapter recounts a father/son reunion that has been a lifetime in the making. And it involved trusting God above all else. Jacob is at this time old and travel was a difficult proposition. His sons return to him with an official government delegation from Egypt with news that Joseph is alive and well. Jacob embraces a new hope, and makes the decision to travel to see his lost son once before he dies. Interestingly, there is  no anger at the other sons for their actions toward Joseph years before. There is just joy at the reunion.

And God meets Jacob along the way assuring him that he would make the journey and see his son. He assured him that it was in Egypt that his clan would grow to become a great nation. This was the plan of God all along. Of course, the story would eventually include hardship and slavery, but in God's grand tapestry, that would be used to draw a people to Him. For now, it was enough for Jacob to act in faith, trust God for the strength for the journey, prepare for the emotional reunion, and believe that his life would end in Egypt at God's design.

God rarely lets us in on all the ins and outs of His plans. We get glimpse to give us hope and that is enough to keep faith burning in our hearts. If we knew every nuance and every bump along the path, we might shrink back. But faith is there for us, as we need it, in incredible supply, from a God Who cannot exhaust His love and grace. 

Technorati Tags: Guidance,Providence,Jacob

Joy woven from sorrow.

And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Genesis 45:7-8

I believe that the tears of joy that Joseph wept at his "unveiling" to his brothers came from two sources. The first was the joy in seeing the change that was occurring as circumstances and age began to humble his brothers. This was for him a moving moment, considering that he had endured slave status, had been falsely imprisoned and forgotten there, and had been exalted not only to Pharaoh's court, but to chief administrator of the surplus wealth of Egypt. His life was an emotional rollercoaster! This was just another part of the ride.

But the second source of the tears of joy is pure spiritual insight. Joseph has managed to slowly stitch together how the providence of God has cared for him and his family. This is overwhelming. God used the most horrendous things that happened to an innocent young man for His glory and the salvation of many souls. Think about all the bad actions God managed to weave around in order to sovereignly provide for His covenant with Israel. Joseph was favored unfairly by his dad, creating family strife. God gives the young man revelatory dreams to help him cope and serve notice to the family of a future for him. Joseph has no control over his brothers' disdain. He is sold into slavery, and God sends him to the captain of the Pharaoh of Egypt where he excels. He is falsely accused of sexual assault, God makes sure that because of Potiphar's status, Joseph ends up in a royal prison where he eventually interprets the dreams of two members of Pharaoh's court. Then God uses the dreams of Pharaoh to pull Joseph from the pit to the position of prime minister over all of ancient Egypt in one day. God uses the famine to bring Joseph's family back to him, where he serves in power, and the dreams of a boy are brought to fruition for the glory of the God of the covenant.

God's providence is beautiful. It brings joy. It moves us with emotion. It must, for when we see the wisdom of His ways, we see His love, His holiness, His justice, and His power. All of that is condensed down to this intense moment that Joseph has with His brothers. All that they had done that was bad, had somehow been turned by God for His purposes. He cannot change. He will not be undone by human will, no matter how bad we sin. And Joseph knew this. It was literally the story of His life.

Technorati Tags: Joseph,Sovereignty,Providence,Joy

Change of Heart.

For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.' Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.
Genesis 44:32-34

Changed hearts are seen in Judah's appeal. The ESV Study Bible describes the change succinctly:
"Building on what he has already said, Judah petitions Joseph to let Benjamin return to his father in Canaan in order to prevent him from dying of grief at the loss of a second son. To make this possible, Judah offers to take Benjamin's place and become Joseph's slave (Gen. 44:33). For Judah, this would be preferable to witnessing his father's distress if Benjamin remained in Egypt (Gen. 44:34). The selfless attitude of Judah stands in sharp contrast to what he previously displayed when arguing that Joseph should be sold into slavery (see Genesis 37:26-27). On that occasion, Judah cared little about the impact that this would have on his father."

God has used the plans of Joseph to test his brothers in such a way as to prove their character and convince Joseph that there was real change that had gone on in them since his separation from him. Witnessing Judah's appeal made Joseph aware of what was happening in the mean hearts of his brothers. They had changed. The biggest evidence has to do with their relationship with Israel, their father. They had little regard for how Joseph's faked death would affect him. In fact, part of what they did in selling Joseph into slavery was meant to get back at their father's partiality to him. But know, as they have lived with their father's grief over many years, they are hurting for the old man. Judah's intervention and offer of himself in Benjamin's place shows that they had grown to care for their family, their father, and his feelings.

This represented everything that Joseph longed to see in them. And it will set the scene for what will occur in the final chapters of Genesis, where a happy family reunion is made. It is that sort of real-life drama that makes this book so interesting and compelling to read. It is rooted in who people are as they relate to God and one another. And the tale of Joseph is a wonderful and rich tapestry of human experience.

Technorati Tags: Joseph,Repentance,Change,Providence

Another Egyptian Expedition

So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
Genesis 43:15

This is now the second time in the midst of the seven year famine in which Joseph's family has been forced to go to Egypt and purchase grain. They must stand before their brother again. This time they are in a different place. They have learned a measure of honesty by bringing with them double the price of the grain in order to return to Joseph his refund on their first purchase. And they must bring Joseph's brother Benjamin with them as well. All in all, it is again an unnerving business trip ahead of them.

They are treated with much honor on this second excursion into Egypt. Joseph receives them into his own home. He prepares a feast for them. Benjamin is honored with five times the portion of any of the others, even as they all eat and drink and party like never before. They must have felt very strange to have this Egyptian governor take such notice of them.

God's providence is slowly bringing to the forefront changes in character and commitment within Jacob's sons. They offer to repay for the first purchase of grain... something that Joseph refuses to accept, telling them that God somehow returned their money to them. There are so many clues coming to them that this is Joseph, yet they remain in ignorance of what is really going on. I believe it is to show us the change taking place in them as they now must deal with circumstances beyond their limited control. They will see the work of sovereign God in the story when it all comes out!

Technorati Tags: Joseph,Sovereignty,Providence