Daily Scripture Reading Genesis 47:27 - 48:16
Modern society is a television and image based society. Since young people are better looking than old people, our society tends to value youth and looks over age and experience. Younger generations do not value the wisdom that the older generations have accumulated.
In fact, there is a trend in the world today where young people are encouraged to cut off contact with their parents if their parents do not approve of their lifestyle and other choices.
Today’s passage illustrates the opposite mentality, where younger generations revere and bow down before older generations. I am not suggesting young people today should bow down before their parents, but it would be good if they had more respect and deference for the wisdom and guidance of their parents.
During the seven years of famine, the Egyptian people had to buy all their food from Joseph. When they ran out of money, they sold their animals to Joseph in exchange for food. When they ran out of animals, they sold their property and themselves. The end result of the famine was that all land, cattle, and crops belonged to Pharaoh, and the Egyptian people were mere slaves.
Gen. 47:27 ¶ Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they took possession of property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.
When Joseph told his family to move to Egypt, he promised to provide food for them so that they would not become impoverished (see Genesis 45:11). Therefore, the descendants of Jacob did not lose all their possessions during the famine as did most of the Egyptian people.
Gen. 47:28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years.
Gen. 47:29 ¶ Then the days for Israel to die drew near, and he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand under my thigh and deal with me in lovingkindness and truth. Please do not bury me in Egypt.
Gen. 47:30 But I will lie down with my fathers, and you will carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.”
Gen. 47:31 Then he said, “Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed.
Notice the word “swear”. In our culture, we make agreements binding by putting them in writing, signing them, and getting them notarized. In their culture, they made agreements binding by swearing oaths.
Gen. 48:1 ¶ Now it happened after these things that Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.
Gen. 48:2 Then it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” so Israel strengthened himself and sat up in the bed.
Gen. 48:3 Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,
Luz was the place where Jacob saw the ladder reaching up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending on the ladder, while Yahweh stood above it. That happened when Jacob was on his way to visit Laban in order to find a wife (see Genesis 28).
Twenty or so years later, when Jacob returned from Laban with wives and children, he went to Luz again (see Genesis 35).
Gen. 48:4 and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply, and I will make you an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.’
Jacob received promises from Yahweh during both visits to Luz.
Gen. 48:5 So now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.
Jacob had twelve sons. Joseph was one of them; however, when we list the twelve tribes of Israel today, we don’t list Joseph as a tribe, we list Ephraim and Manasseh as two of the tribes. The reason there are still only twelve tribes is because the tribe of Levi became the priestly tribe and is not included in the list of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Gen. 48:6 But your kin that have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance.
Gen. 48:7 Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”
Gen. 48:8 ¶ Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons and said, “Who are these?”
Gen. 48:9 And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.”
Look at the word “bless”. A blessing was a combination of an inheritance and a prediction about the future.
Gen. 48:10 Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
Gen. 48:11 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your seed as well.”
Gen. 48:12 Then Joseph took them from his knees and bowed with his face to the ground.
Take note of the phrase “bowed with his face to the ground”. This was a son bowing down before his father. This indicates there was a formality between generations that does not exist today. Younger generations had a reverence and respect for older generations which our society has lost.
I don’t believe we should return to the practice of younger generations bowing with their face to the ground. However, it would be good if younger generations had more respect for older generations.
Since modern society is a television and image based society, and since young people are better looking than old people, our society tends to value youth and looks over age and experience. Younger generations do not value the wisdom that the older generations have accumulated.
This is a loss to younger generations, because they make mistakes they could avoid if they would listen to the advice and wisdom of their elders.
Gen. 48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him.
Manasseh was the older son. When Joseph brought his sons to his father, he had Manasseh at his left hand and Ephraim at his right hand, so that Manasseh, the older, would be at the right hand of Jacob. In their culture, being at the right hand mattered, especially when receiving a blessing.
Gen. 48:14 But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn.
Again, in their culture it was significant that Jacob laid his right hand on the younger, not the older.
Gen. 48:15 And he blessed Joseph and said,
“May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has been my shepherd throughout my life to this day,
Gen. 48:16 The angel who has redeemed me from all evil,
Bless these boys;
And may my name live on in them,
And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
There is a trend in the world today where young people are encouraged to cut off contact with their parents if their parents do not approve of their lifestyle and other choices. Today’s passage illustrates the opposite mentality, where younger generations revered and bowed down before older generations. I am not suggesting young people today should bow down before their parents, but it would be good if they had more respect for their parents. Young people are making mistakes they could avoid if they would listen to the advice and wisdom of their elders.
Who do you know who has cut off contact with their parents because they think they are wiser than their parents?
What mistakes do you see younger people making that they could avoid if they would take some advice from older people?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”