Reading 3
Genesis 47: 28-31; 48; 49: 28-33; 50: 7-10
A.J.G. In our reading yesterday, we considered the part of Jacob’s life during which he was governed by the light of God’s house, with the desire to be ourselves formed in piety—God being brought into all that concerns us—recognising that God dwells in His house; and we are His house.
This morning, we have been occupied with the portion that envisages the formation of Jacob in spirituality, relative to the place that Joseph occupies in his affections. We can only become spiritual if Christ has His place in our hearts. The Spirit operates faithfully to give us the consciousness that the assembly is linked with Christ on high; so that it is impossible to find our life where Christ is not. The apostle Paul says to the Colossians, “your life is hid with the Christ in God”, chap 3: 3. All Jacob’s exercises previously considered reach their culmination in that Jacob leaves all that is natural so to say so as to find his life in Joseph and in the sphere where Joseph is supreme.
The final section of the life of Jacob that we are going to consider brings out his spirituality. He is presented here as a man great enough to bless Pharaoh (Gen 47: 7) and to bless the sons of Joseph, chapter 48. He is also seen here as a worshipper. We read in chapter 11 of the epistle to the Hebrews: “By faith Jacob when dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped on the top of his staff”. The Spirit of God underlines these two features as to Jacob: he is great enough in dignity to bless men; and he is a worshipper for God. Chapter 48 underlines Jacob’s spirituality in a very striking way. If on the one hand he is precise, with intention, although what is of natural power is weakened: “But the eyes of Israel were heavy from age: he could not see” (v 10), on the other hand, he is called “Israel” and his spirituality reaches the highest degree when he is elevated in one part of this chapter as representing God Himself, as father. When Joseph brings his sons into Jacob’s presence, it is right to consider him not as a figure of Christ, but as a man capable of weakness; Jacob here is more spiritual than Joseph; it is Jacob who adjusts Joseph and maintains a spiritual perspective.
Rem. Are we to insist, for the young ones specially, on the fact that the second son of Joseph must be before the first?
A.J.G. Yes. The first man must be displaced in us by the second Man, Christ.
There is in this passage a particular insistence on the fact of God’s sovereignty. Before he was born, God had said as to Jacob, that the greater (the elder) shall serve the lesser (the younger), so that the whole of Jacob’s blessing came to him by the sovereignty of God; it is on this same principle that he acts as to Manasseh and Ephraim.
A deep impression of God’s sovereignty greatly helps as to worship. God has the right to do what he pleases. He will always do what is best, and in wisdom and power. He brings in an order of blessing that surpasses all that we could think.
I have read part of chapter 47 to draw attention to Jacob as a worshipper. It is said that Jacob saw seventeen years in Egypt after he had come down to Joseph, seventeen years in which Jacob is characterised by dignity and spiritual power until his death.
In chapter 48, Jacob retraces his whole history, beginning with Luz, which is Bethel, the house of God. He could consider his spiritual history and we discern his character as a worshipper in his language that he uses in verses 15 and 16, where he testifies of his appreciation of God. In the light of Christianity, we can discern in the three Persons mentioned, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God that shepherded me all my life long to this day, the Angel that redeemed me”, an allusion to the three Persons of the Godhead in these words. First, the God of Abraham and Isaac—the Father, then God … my Shepherd—the Lord Jesus; finally, the Angel that redeemed me from all evil—the Spirit, who is often represented by “the Angel” in the Old Testament. It is remarkable that Jacob should finish his course with a full appreciation of God; he invokes the blessing of this God on Joseph and the sons of Joseph.
Ques. Would you add something as to “the Angel”?
A.J.G. We find a similar expression in chapter 23 of the book of Exodus: 20, 21. It is a very evident allusion to a Person greater than an ordinary angel, an allusion to God Himself. In the English Bible, “Angel” is written with a capital letter in this chapter as also in Exodus 23: 23. In the book of Judges (chap 13: 18-20) we also find something similar, but that is rather a reference to the Lord, so that it may be God Himself, or the Lord, or the Spirit who are represented under the figure of an Angel in the Old Testament. In chapter 2 of the book of Judges, there is also a similar allusion to God Himself, with “the Angel of Jehovah”, who can say “I made you to go up … and have brought you to the land … and I said …”. God presents Himself to Jacob in this character as testimony to His work in Him.
In chapter 48, Jacob rises in dignity to the point of being able to be considered as a figure of the Father, and he speaks to Joseph as to his sons; he claims them as being his own: “Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon”, v 5. He even adds: “let my name be named upon them” (v 16); and Jacob “kissed them, and embraced them”, v 10. We have a touching picture there of the Father to whom sons by adoption are brought by Christ, led nearer and nearer to Him—“he kissed them, and embraced them”—and with the Son Himself, His own Son. We are impressed by the way in which the Father desires to lead us into His nearness, showing us His own affections towards us.
Rem. We find expressions of tender affection and of great intimacy.
Rem. According to the gospel of Luke, the father “covered him with kisses”.
A.J.G. That is at the same time the expression of love and of full forgiveness. The heart of the Father rejoices in His sons, His sons by adoption (in this passage in particular). The position of sons is conferred upon them: it is said, “… as Reuben and Simeon”. This shows the position which has been conferred on us as gift. We are called “children of God”, it is a question of generation, just as Joseph’s sons are the descendants of Jacob; but the position of sons is a gift on God’s part and this especially in view of His own pleasure. Jacob says here: “thy two sons … shall be mine”, v 5.
Rem. It is “Israel” who speaks like this.
A.J.G. Yes, that shows his spirituality; his weakness is only as to what is natural, but he reaches the highest degree of spirituality in this chapter.
Rem. In verse 10, it is said, “But the eyes of Israel were heavy from age: he could not see”; although verse 8 confirms to us that “Israel beheld Joseph’s sons”. It seems to be contradictory.
A.J.G. This only brings Jacob’s spirituality into relief and supports what we are saying: he could not see on account of his natural weakness; but by his spirituality, “Israel beheld Joseph’s sons”. God had said that Joseph would put his hands on his father’s eyes; so Jacob’s eyes are controlled by Joseph and he saw things from a spiritual point of view. It underlines the principle that the younger comes before the older and that every blessing for man is only in the second Man, the Man from heaven.
Rem. The expression used by Paul in the epistle to the Ephesians, “filled even to all the fulness of God” could be applied to Jacob at this moment in his life.
A.J.G. Yes, in some measure. The way in which Jacob speaks of God in verses 15 and 16 shows, if we apply this to ourselves in the present time, that Jacob is now in the full light, having acquired a full appreciation of the Name of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Ques. Would you say that Joseph appeared to accept with difficulty the principle that the elder must be servant to the younger?
A.J.G. Yes; as great as Joseph had been, he failed a little in this chapter; he removed his father’s hand. Jacob has the spiritual energy to refuse, and he says: “I know”.
Rem. The spiritual man does not make a mistake.
A.J.G. But the most spiritual may fail sometimes. Here Jacob is presented as a supremely spiritual man; he can maintain the truth and has fully accepted that every blessing comes from God’s sovereignty. It is in this alone that we can be glorified; that we are the objects of God’s sovereignty.
Rem. Abraham also accepted this principle with difficulty, and would naturally have refused to drive out Ishmael.
A.J.G. That is true; but the Spirit does not make a mistake and Sarah expresses the Spirit’s voice. She is very positive in expressing that there must not be a rival to Christ. And Sarah is used to adjust Abraham. We need to be ready to hear the voice of the Spirit. God says to Abraham, “in all that Sarah hath said to thee hearken to her voice”.
At the end of chapter 49, Jacob is approaching death in a spiritual way; he is concerned with the “cave” and with “the field” and with those who are buried there—an allusion to those who are asleep in Jesus and occupy a glorious position assured by purchase. When we approach the end of our lives down here, or we have occasion to bury our dead, it is good to take account of this position. All that happened at Mamre (Hebron), divine purpose in figure. We commit our loved ones to the grave in the light of God’s purpose.
Jacob reviews in his mind all those who have been buried in this light: “There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebecca his wife; and there I buried Leah”. He considers the glorious position of the saints in figure; Christ assured it by purchase and here Jacob is full of the glory of this position.
Ques. Why is Rachel not there?
A.J.G. Rachel represents Israel; she is not buried there in fact. This chapter speaks in a typical way of the special part of those who form part of the assembly.
Rem. Jacob has a special appreciation of the purchase which the circumstances recall.
A.J.G. Yes. The Lord has secured this position by His death and the more we think of those who are asleep in Christ, the greater our appreciation of the position becomes; Jacob mentions the number; all will leave the tomb in an instant.
Joseph also insists that his bones should be carried there. The great point is that the position has been bought at a great price, which shows how it is sure. It is a position that belongs to Jacob and his family; that is to say, that the position of our death in Christ belongs to us. In fact, “the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thess 4: 16) “then we, the living who remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall be always with the Lord”. It is good to think, as we approach the end, that we shall be “caught up together”, together with Paul, John, Stephen … all those who have worked so much in the service and all the loved ones also who have served in the shadows, all will be there and we with them “together”. Jacob is so to say full of this thought, it is the perspective of a spiritual man on the point of death.
Rem. Jacob’s spirituality reaches such an elevated level that his influence is felt even after his death.
A.J.G. It is important to grasp indeed that God is not a God of the dead but of the living.
It is striking to see how the Spirit of God enters into the details about the burial of Jacob; the last stage mentioned is the “threshing floor of Atad”. The threshing floor suggests the separation of what is of God from all that the natural man is, it is on the threshing floor that the chaff is removed, separated from the good grain. This gives a very encouraging point of view of the death of the believer. Through a Christian’s whole life, the Spirit is active on this line, the separation of what is of Christ from what is of the flesh; and death consummates this fully, it is a marvellous deliverance: only what is of God remains in the believer. It is remarkable that Jacob’s history, illustrating God’s work in the believer, ends on a threshing floor.
Ques. Why is he called “Jacob” at the moment where it is mentioned that he gathered his feet into the bed and expired, Gen 49: 33?
A.J.G. What do you think of that?
Rem. It seems to me that it is to show that it is “Jacob” who died and not “Israel”.
A.J.G. The fact that he “gathered his feet into the bed” underlines his spirituality; he has control of his feet.
Rem. Is it the same as his commanding his sons?
A.J.G. That is yet another mark of his power: God had accorded that to Abraham who could command his sons …
Rem. It is said that he was gathered to his peoples. Jacob is added to this great family of faith.
A.J.G. Yes. God gathers the objects of His work in their own place. He gathers us with His own, everything that concerns us being in the hands of Christ. The Lord Himself says, “And this is the will of him that has sent me, that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up in the last day”, John 6: 39.
Rem. It is said that Joseph “made a mourning for his father of seven days”, chap 50: 10.
A.J.G. That is entirely suitable. We grieve the loss of a saint in whom God has worked; it is normal that we should have these feelings and this regard. Jacob had been a good influence in Egypt for seventeen years, and even the Canaanites considered the mourning for Jacob as “a great mourning of the Egyptians”. Joseph also grieved the loss in this sense.
Rem. “His peoples” is no doubt an expression similar to “the bundle of the living”.
A.J.G. Something similar, yes, but “the bundle of the living” is mainly about the present time. It is a reference to what we have said, that is to say that God would desire that every object of His work should be set together in their place, but each family has its particular place.
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