JACOB’S JOURNEY TO BLESSING MANASSEH AND EPHRAIM
Tuesday – May 8, 2018, Iyar 23, 5778
Greetings and welcome back to this wonderful faith building Bible Study from the Book of Hebrews. We are studying in the Book of faith, Hebrews (number nineteen), and from the faith chapter (number eleven). Eleven as you may recall is the number of alignment, alignment with God. The more we align with God the greater our faith and the manifest fruit of faith. Now, let’s pickup with our teaching concerning Jacob, Joseph, and the blessing of Manasseh and Ephraim (sons of Joseph). Let’s read our primary text aloud and them jump right in.
Hebrews 11:20-22 (KJV)
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
We left off our study yesterday with Isaac and why he did not go into Egypt which is the equivalent of relying on the world system (devil) instead of the Blessing. Isaac believed God, had unwavering faith, had seen firsthand the fruits of obedience, of loving God. There is no evidence that Isaac had to pray about staying in the Promised Land. Initially he went to the local king Abimelech, king of the Philistines who lived in what is now known as the Garza Strip. Selah. Isaac no doubt knew the story of how Abram and Sarai had gone into Egypt. However, God appeared to him and told him to sojourn (stay) in the land of Promise. God assured Isaac that He would not leave him and that the Blessing would be at work in Isaac’s life and so it was.
For a moment let’s consider the carnage that has been loosed in the world, the earth, due to a lack of faith which is disobedience. Consider that Abram went in unto Hagar, an Egyptian, and she bore him a natural son named Ishmael. He is generally considered the father of the Arabs. Do you suppose that is a problem now some four-thousand years later? The lack of obedience to the laws of God, faith in and love of God, has led to all the carnage in every arena around about us starting right with Adam and Eve. How do despots like Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and so on arise? Lack of faith, a lack of the called-out ones (Church – Ecclesia) understanding their position in Christ Jesus, their authority, and the function of the Blessing in their lives and land. The Church has been led to believe they are powerless concerning the advancing darkness. The Church is the most powerful entity on the earth and the Church is the only reason darkness does not cover every inch of the earth. Church arise and push back the darkness in Jesus name, it is in your hand to do so, the Father waits for us to use the authority we received of God.
Now, perhaps with this backdrop, we can start to see why Jacob was in such bad shape and the Blessing was not fully operational in his life. Joseph, a type of Christ, really picked up the baton for the Hebrew family, for all of us. Joseph is not in the line of Christ, as you know Jesus came of the physical line of the tribe of Judah. Jacob started off as a deceiver and only after fourteen years with Laban did he start to lean on the Blessing and then and only then did he prosper mightily. When he was leaning on Laban, the world, he was just getting by and the victim of deception himself with Leah and Rachel. Finally, Jacob returns to the Land of Promise and on the way wrestles with what many believe to be an angel. Jacob is renamed Israel (to rule as God) by the “man” and the “man” blesses Israel. Jacob, now renamed Israel believes he has been wrestling with God. Just prior to this in Genesis chapter thirty-two (thirty-two is the number of Covenant) repentance by Jacob. As you will recall this “man” with whom Jacob wrestled touched his hip and it was out of socket and Scripture notes that he halted or limped when he left that place. This is not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture. I am not convinced this was a physical limp so much as a spiritual limp due to the life choices Jacob had made and would make. He did not have the faith of Abraham and Isaac.
When Joseph had the dream that he would one day rule over Israel, Jacob (Israel) did not believe him, nor perceive it to be of God.
Genesis 37:10 (KJV)
10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
Even though Jacob had the same covenant, the same Blessing as his grandfather and father he did not perfect it and walk in it. This is why he finds himself in the predicament of having to go into Egypt. When the brothers conspired against Joseph, sold him into slavery, and deceived their father, Jacob, telling him Joseph was dead, he believed them, did not inquire of the Lord, did not cast his faith upon God and the Covenant of God with Abraham, Isaac, and himself. Jacob entered into grief that lasted until he physically saw Joseph in Egypt. This was sin. We may not understand all of the events of life but we must have an unwavering faith in God, in the mercy of God, the goodness of God, and the unbreakable nature of the Word of God. Remember seventy persons came into Egypt, seventy is the number of the heathen, gentiles, Joseph a type of Jesus, Jesus was on the way to offer us (the heathen) salvation.
Genesis 46:26-27 (KJV)
26 All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six;
27 And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.
Listen to Jacobs words before Pharaoh after the house of Israel arrived in Egypt.
Genesis 47:7-9 (KJV)
7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?
9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
Abraham was one-hundred and seventy-five when he gave up the ghost. Isaac was one-hundred and eighty when he gave up the ghost. However, Jacob was one-hundred and forty-seven years old when he gave up the ghost. Why was he so much younger than Abraham and Isaac at death? Faith or more precisely the lack of it. Tomorrow I will continue to press toward the blessing of Manasseh and Ephraim. Until our next publication, I speak this Scriptural prayer for your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
2 Peter 1:2-4 (KJV)
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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