In this sermon, the preacher begins by highlighting the story of Jacob and his sons in the Bible. He emphasizes that God is still the same today as He was in ancient times, and that He is able to work in impossible situations. The preacher then shares a personal story about a man who was rescued during the Holocaust and became a rabbi. The sermon also touches on the story of Joseph and his sons, where Joseph provides seed for his family to sow in the land after the famine. The preacher emphasizes the importance of sowing and reaping, and how God blesses those who are faithful in their stewardship.

We have followed Joseph in Egypt to where finally he has revealed himself to his brethren. Remarkable, remarkable record. And then sent his brothers back to Canaan with treasures and carriages and horses and jewels and gold and presents and said, go up and tell Jacob, my father, that Joseph your son is alive and God hath made me ruler of all the land of Egypt. And now he's called for Jacob and his sons to come down into Egypt, fulfilling the promises that God made to Abraham in chapter 15. God said he would take them down into Egypt for four generations, 400 years and make of them a great nation and bring them out. This process is beginning. But before Jacob goes, he heads to Beersheba, which is about a two-day journey from where he is to seek the Lord. No doubt remembering that God had told his father Isaac no more to go down to Egypt. Don't go there anymore. And now he has this beck and call from his son and from his own heart yearning to see Joseph to go down to Egypt. No doubt he knows of the promises and the prophecies made to Abraham, but he will go to Beersheba and there make sacrifices and seek the Lord. He needs to hear from God before he begins this journey. So that's where we pick up in chapter 46. It says, and Israel, Jacob's new name, took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. And he is 130 years old at this time. And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father. Fear not. Now, evidently there was a hesitancy, a fear in his heart. God is saying to him, fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee up again. And Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. The idea is at death, Joseph will be there and close your eyes. And no doubt that's part of what was on his heart as he made his sacrifices there in Beersheba before God. He wanted to go to Egypt, but God reads everything in our heart. And no doubt part of what was on his heart is I'm longing to see Joseph. Oh, God, you know, let this happen. Father, accept these sacrifices. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba. And the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father and their little ones and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their cattle, their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan. And they came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with them. Now, just imagine this. All the kids, all the grandkids, all the wives, all the servants, all imagine the toddlers screaming. Just imagine all this. You know, sometimes on Sunday morning we have one baby at a dedication that's screaming and carrying on. And he upsets all of us, you know, just trying to get through. Imagine just traveling for days on end with kids upon kids upon kids and wives and down into Egypt. How amazing. His sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. Now, I'm not going to do this to you, but I will highlight it so we can see what it's saying to us. Verse 8, these are the names of the children of Israel. Now, as we're hearing of the children of Israel, remember, Israel is the name that God gave to Jacob after he wrestled with them. So the children of Israel are the children of Jacob. The tribes of Israel are the tribes of Jacob. So you know that at times we hear Israel, at times we hear Jacob. Don't be confused by that. We're speaking about the same person. And the nation now will become known as Israel because of Jacob and the children of Israel, the children of Jacob. And in your own study, you might take note sometimes as you go through the Old Testament, the times it seems when God is speaking about the nation and their positive attributes and their faith, he refers to them as Israel. Many times in their rebellion, God calls them Jacob. And it's interesting to take note as you study on your own. So now he comes, the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons, Reuben, Jacob's firstborn. And it tells us in verse 9, these are the sons of Reuben. Verse 10, these are the sons of Simeon. See, this is easy. Verse 11, these are the sons of Levi. Verse 12, these are the sons of Judah. Verse 13, these are the sons of Issachar. Verse 14, these are the sons of Zebulun. Then it tells us that all six of these men and their sons are, verse 15, the sons of Leah, which she bear to Jacob and Padnerim, with his daughter Dinah, and all the souls of the sons and the daughters were 33. So it lists Leah, his wife, and her six sons, we just read their names, and all of their children and wives, 33 souls. Now we go to the sons of Zilphah, who is the handmaid of Leah. Verse 16, the sons of Gad are these. Verse 17, the sons of Asher. These two sons, verse 18, are the sons of Zilphah, whom Laban gave Leah, his daughter, and these she bear unto Jacob, even 16 souls. Now we come to the sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife, Joseph and Benjamin. In verse 20, it says, unto Joseph, and we know because we're studying now, in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of Onn, bear to him. Interesting, in Benjamin, verse 21, we have 10 sons listed. Then in verse 22, it says, these are the sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin, which were born to Jacob. All the souls were 14. Now it goes to the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid. Verse 23, these are the sons of Dan. Verse 24, the sons of Naphtali. And these two are the sons of Bilhah, verse 25, which Laban gave unto Rachel, his daughter, and she bear these unto Jacob. All the souls were seven. And all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons, wives, all the souls were three score and 10, 70. And wives and children, grandchildren, there were more, but naming those that are heads of tribes and so forth as we go through. And the sons of Joseph, by the way, in Acts chapter 7, it mentions 75. That's because Acts is quoting the Septuagint, which gives us another son of Manasseh and two grandsons, two more sons of Ephraim, two sons, and deletes two of the ones that we read, just in case you're wondering. Verse 26 says, all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, are 70. Now millions now come from that as they are in Egypt. 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 three score and 10. And he sent Judah as they are approaching now, the land of Egypt, evidently having word from Joseph that they would settle in Goshen. They are Hebrews. Haburi is the word. Again, the Egyptians detested shepherds. The Egyptians, besides, again, all the magnificent civilization and the pyramids and the architecture and the science and the sophistication of Egypt were steadfast farmers. They had developed irrigation systems that were incredible, and they detested the nomadic tribes that would come with their sheep or cattle and sometimes ruin their fields. And again, they portrayed in their hieroglyphic shepherds as crippled and dirty and small in stature. They detested the Haburi, which was not a proper term applied to the Hebrews as of yet, but a word that spoke of nomadic people that were shepherds. So he sent now Jacob Judah before him unto Joseph to let Joseph know he was close to direct his face unto Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen and Joseph made ready his chariot. Now you have to imagine this day for Joseph. His heart is pounding, getting dressed. Do I look okay? How's my armor? Has my chariot been shined? Has somebody put minwax on it? Does it look good? I mean, just, you know, he has been waiting 22 years to see his father. Many of those years filled with heartfelt agony, wondering if he'll ever see him again. But God is faithful, isn't he? Joseph made ready his chariot and he went up to meet Israel, his father, to Goshen and presented himself unto him. You have to imagine the scene, Jacob, 70 souls standing in Goshen and the chariots of Egypt and the wonder of its majesty. Officers, Joseph, second prime minister of Egypt, pulling up in his chariot. I have to believe that he pulled that chariot to a stop and looked first that his father had aged 22 years. Jacob, we know from the text, can't see well and probably saying, what's going on? What's the big fuss? Jacob, his eyesight is almost gone. And then it tells us that Joseph approaches him and falls on his neck and they begin to weep together. How incredible. He presented himself to him and he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while, a long time. And Israel said unto Joseph, now let me die since I have seen thy face because thou art yet alive. The idea is I can depart in peace now. My life is restored. He would live 17 more years. But I think how incredible and how faithful God is and how I think he is moved by our infirmities, as it tells us in Hebrews, that he understands our pain and the reuniting of a father and a son and how God Almighty would look forward to that moment after he would hear his own son, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? In a mystery we may never fully understand, even in eternity. When the sin of all of the world, the sin of Adolf Hitler and the sin of Charles Manson and the sin of every tyrant, pervert, my sin, your sin, the sin of our unborn children would come on Jesus and the Father would turn away. And in some great mystery, for the first time in eternity, Jesus cut off asking the question why, so that we never have to ask it. And then God firing his wrath down upon all of that sin on his son. But for the glory that was set before him, he endured the cross and he would ascend. He would say to Mary Magdalene, let go of me. I've not yet ascended to the Father. But he would take Adam's genes and chromosomes back into fellowship at the throne of God and present himself forever to be in a carpenter's body. And how the Father in heaven must be moved at this scene because it is harking of a scene somehow he had lived in eternity already. It was harking of something dear to his own heart. This again was the son rejected of his brethren, sold into slavery as it were, crucified and then raised in glory, taken a Gentile bride, now revealed to his brethren, reunited with his father. How there's a wonder of God's own salvation woven through all of this. And I think how God must have respected the heartache in Jacob and the heartache in Joseph. And anything we do for God, he pays us back a hundredfold. God will not be a debtor to any of us. He will not owe us anything. And Joseph had endured difficult years. And as we see, Joseph had trusted God, though he struggled through those years. And for that, this moment, this moment falling into each other's arms and the weeping and the emotion and the pathos must be paying them back a hundredfold. And God is the same, by the way, yesterday, today and forever. Maybe this evening you feel that there is an impossible situation in your life that God seems to be overlooking, that he worked that way in ancient times in the Bible, but no longer now that you're here treading the planet. He's the same. Jack Founds happened to give me an article this week, and I'll share it with you because it reminds me so much of the stories from the Jerusalem Post, April 17th, just two weeks ago. One of the writers there says, I know a man who grew up in South Africa, having been rescued as a child by Christians during the Holocaust. He lived in Johannesburg, turned religious under Chabad, under the Chabad influence, and eventually became a rabbi. Once he found himself on a plane next to an elderly gentleman to whom he felt particularly drawn. They spoke in Yiddish and talked about Israel, politics, and the Jewish world. When breakfast was served, the older man ate the regular meal, sausages, eggs, milk, while the rabbi ate his specially provided kosher breakfast. The rabbi gently suggested that perhaps the elderly man could do without the sausage. The rabbi was told in no uncertain terms that since he had lost his only child in Auschwitz, the old man ate whatever he liked. They parted, but the rabbi could not get the elderly gentleman out of his mind, was deeply disappointed that he hadn't asked for his telephone number. Two years later, on a visit to the Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, the rabbi saw a familiar figure near the entrance of the building. Rushing over, he said in Yiddish, do you recognize me? Do you remember our plane trip? The man smiled and nodded his head and said, and I still ate the sausage. The rabbi wanted to see the exhibits and asked if the old man would join him. The old man said, I never go in. He said, didn't I tell you that I lost my only son in Auschwitz? Something suddenly clicked in the rabbi's brain. What was your name before the war? He asked. When the man answered, the rabbi whispered with tears running down his cheek, Tati, dad, all that I was given by the people who adopted me was your name. I am your son. Now they both live together in Israel. The father no longer eats sausages. The only thing that the rabbi complains about is that whenever he enters the room, his father stands up. Same God. Do you have an impossible situation in your life that you think he is unable to deal with? You know what? If you do, why don't you stand up? Why don't you just let us pray for you right now? Father in heaven, what a wonder you are in the Lord. There are times when we read your word and our hearts are so drawn to your work in the lives of others. My father, sometimes we forget that you have preserved this record so that our faith might grow Lord, that their lives are gone. But the record of how you work in their lives is preserved for us. Lord, we pray for those who have stood each with their own impossibility. Lord, maybe many times doubting that you love them or that you will bring a suitable closure to whatever painful or impossible situation it is. Lord, we love you. Those of us that are seated, those of us that are praying, Lord, we lift our brothers and sisters to you, Lord, that they would discover, as your word says, underneath are the everlasting arms. And Lord, that one day they will fall upon your neck and weep with their arms around you and thank you for your steadfastness, your faithfulness. In whatever situation they're standing to pray for now, Father, we put their lives before you. Stir in their hearts faith, Father, and trust towards you that you are the same now as you were when you brought Jacob and Joseph miraculously, wondrously together into each other's arms. Father, we put their impossibility before you in Jesus' name. Amen. And Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to meet Israel, his father, to Goshen and presented himself unto him. And he fell on his neck and he wept on his neck a good while, long time. And Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die since I have seen thy face because thou art yet alive. And Joseph said to his brethren and to his father's house, I will go up and show Pharaoh and say unto him, My brethren and my father's house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me. And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have. And it came to pass when Pharaoh shall call you and shall say, What is your occupation? Now Joseph knows Pharaoh well, that you shall say, Thy servant's trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we and also our fathers, that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen. For every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. Now, by God's grace, that is a situation that is established. And because of that, it would cause the nation of Israel to remain separate in these 400 years in Egypt instead of being amalgamated with the civilization, with the society there. If shepherds were esteemed or embraced as an honorable trade in Egypt, no doubt they would have spread through Thebes and Memphis and the cities in Egypt and have been absorbed in one way or another. But because that particular lifestyle was looked down upon, they lived in the land of Goshen separately. And yet there, the nation of Israel learned math, learned science, learned things that would be part of them becoming a nation at some point in the future. And during this era, and we're not sure exactly what takes place, and neither are archaeologists, there is an era of what is called the Hyksos dynasties, the Hyksos kings, which is literally the shepherd kings. They believed that they had Phoenician roots and that they came to northern Egypt, which is the lower part of Egypt, but it's northern towards the Mediterranean. And they took over that area and defeated the pharaohs and the rulers in that area. And that for several hundred years, the shepherd kings ruled in that part of Egypt and then no doubt had favor towards the shepherds, the Jews that were there. But one day, hundreds of years after this, those southern dynasties would again make war with lower Egypt, with the northern part and would overtake them. And then a pharaoh who knew not Joseph arises and the bondage begins. But there is a very interesting thing that begins to take place here that no doubt in eternity we'll learn more about and wonder at in God's wisdom. It says, And Joseph came and told Pharaoh and said, My father and my brethren, their flocks and their herds and all that they have have come out of the land of Canaan. Behold, they are in the land of Goshen. And he took some of his brethren, five men, and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And Joseph knew exactly what Pharaoh would do. They said in the Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers. They said, Moreover, unto Pharaoh, for to sojourn in the land are we come. Now they're saying to Pharaoh, We are here temporarily. They're going to say because there was no pasture land left in Canaan because of the drought and the famine. We are here for a temporary stay. For to sojourn in the land are we come. For thy servants have no pasture for their flocks. For the famine is sore in the land of Canaan. Now, therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee. The land of Egypt is before thee. In the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell in the land of Goshen, which was in the Nile Delta area, a very rich area. And if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. Give them government jobs. If any of your brother they're as good with cattle as you are with grain, you know, I'll take more. If there's more like you that are chips off the old block, you can give them some government jobs too. Because Joseph is doing wonders for Pharaoh and for Egypt and preserving life and so forth. And Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, who is, you know, I almost picture a little bit like Mr. Magoo. He's, you know, you know, he doesn't really know what's going on around him. Jacob doesn't see well. So Joseph brings him in and he puts him before Pharaoh and it says, Jacob blessed Pharaoh. The Bible clearly says the lesser is blessed of the greater. Here's the greatest ruler, according to human standards in the world at that time. And here's 130 year old nearsighted shepherd from Canaan blessing him. Jacob walks right in and he said, Dad, this is Pharaoh. I said, where is he? You know, here he is right here. God bless this man. Your name is Pharaoh. God bless him, Lord. You know, you just imagine the scene. And Pharaoh says to Jacob, how old are you anyway? First thing he says to him, he must be a sight. And Jacob will say they've been tough years. You know, Jacob says that. Jacob says to Pharaoh, the days of the years of my pilgrimage, how wondrous I'm just traveling through, are 130 years. Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been. The idea is they've been hard. Isn't that morally? Jacob has been evil. He's just saying they have been difficult. And few is 130 years old. Looking back, life is like a vapor. It's like a dream. Where is it gone? How quickly it's gone by. I'm 130 years old. It's gone by like a dream. Few and evil have been the days of my pilgrimage. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers and the days of their pilgrimage. Abraham lived to be 175. Isaac lived to be 180. He lives to be 147. And we don't run into anybody else who lives to be that old after this. So he lives to be 147 years old. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh again and went out from before Pharaoh. And Joseph placed his father and his brethren and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses. Now, there was no king as far as we know at this point named Rameses. The district was called Rameses. After that there would be a series of rulers in Egypt named after the district Rameses. Moses takes note evidently in his day, in Jacob's day, it was just known as Goshen. By the time Moses writes the Pentateuch, it has been identified as a particular area known and he writes the note it is the area of Rameses as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished his father and his brethren, all his father's household with bread according to their families. They're at least the third year into the famine now. And there was no bread in all the land for the famine was very sore. So the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought. And Joseph brought the money unto Pharaoh's house. So for these first three years they keep returning to him to buy more grain. And it says basically it came to point there's not coinage the way we would imagine, but there's silver by weight or gold by weight. And Joseph has gathered all of the wealth of both Egypt and Canaan and put it in Pharaoh's treasury. And when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, then all the Egyptians came to Joseph and they said, give us bread. Why should we die in thy presence? Our money is gone. And Joseph then said, well, give me your cattle. And I will give you for your cattle. Uh, if the money fail, I'll give you grain. And they brought their cattle. They couldn't feed them. Anyway, unto Joseph, Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses and for flocks and for cattle and for herds and for the asses. And he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. When that year was ended, they came unto him the next year and said unto him, we will not hide it from my Lord, how that our money is gone. And you also now have all of our herds and our cattle. There is nothing left in the sight of my Lord, but our bodies and our Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land by us now and our land for bread. We and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh and give us seed that we may live and not die. And that the land be not desolate. And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field because the famine prevailed over them. So the land became Pharaoh's. And it's very interesting. Archaeologists concur in early Egypt and much of early Egypt is a mystery, but in the records they've discovered in early Egypt, they speak of private landowners quite often. There is all of a sudden a point when that changes. And from then on, all of the land in Egypt belongs to Pharaoh. Pharaoh has the right to it. No doubt that is Joseph's work. We have the missing part of that here in the scripture telling us how that took place. But archaeologists concur that there was a point when all of the land becomes Pharaoh's verse 21. And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the border of Egypt, even into the other end thereof. And evidently daily they went out, they worked in the fields. Only the land of the priests bought he not. For the priests had a portion assigned to them of Pharaoh and did eat their portion, which Pharaoh gave them. Wherefore, they did not sell their lands in Hierapolis in on there. The priests were very powerful. Pharaoh, currying their favor, left them with their lands and gave them a portion of food. Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh. Lo, here is seed for you. You shall sow the land. So evidently now the famine has come to the end of the seventh year. And Joseph not only now gives them seed for bread, but he gives them seed for planting because the land is now Pharaoh's. And rather than let the land go desolate, he's giving them a portion above what they need to eat so that at the end of that year they can sow seed into the ground again. The rains will return. The famine will be over. The river is going to rise so that the following year there is then a harvest again. So he says to them, Here is seed for you. You shall sow the land and it shall come to pass in the increase that you shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh. Four parts shall be your own for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for the food of your little ones. Now he's got a great system. Pharaoh is the land owner. Each person works in the portion of ground that they had given to Pharaoh. They get to keep 80 percent of the increase of the land, giving a fifth to Pharaoh. And with the 80 percent they keep, they feed their family, they sell it on the market, and they take care of themselves. So this ends up to be a great situation. No wonder Pharaoh loved Joseph. They said unto him, in verse 25, Thou hast saved our lives. Let us find grace in thy sight, in the sight of my Lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, the ideas to the day that Moses is writing, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's. And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen. And they had possessions therein, and grew and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the whole age of Jacob was 147 years. And the time drew nigh that Israel must die, Jacob. And he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. Now, he wants to be buried in Beersheba, up in the cave of Mephila. He remembers that God told him that Joseph will close your eyes at your death. He knows it's time for him to die, so he calls for Joseph. But he's asking him to make an oath. He said, I will lie, verse 30, with my fathers. Thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place. Because he said he was a pilgrim. He was traveling in the land of promise, looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. And he said, I will do as thou hast said, Joseph replies. Then Jacob said, well then swear unto me. So he puts his hand under his thigh, and he swear unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon his bed's head. Now, the placing of the hand under the thigh had to do with the reproduction, and the family, and the next generation coming. Some scholars say that part of that oath was that by placing your hand under the thigh, you were actually saying that the next generation, if I don't keep the oath, the next generation then bring vengeance on me and my house. That is in some of the ancient inscriptions they found. But the idea is he's making an oath that in regards to him and his lineage and everything, he would keep his word. It's interesting, this is the scene that Hebrews chapter 11 picks of all of the life of Jacob, that he bowed himself on his staff. It says that he held himself up and he worshiped here. It says that he worships at the head of his bed. Imagine the scene as Joseph now making this oath, and Jacob then bowing his head and worshiping God. Here he is where he never thought he'd be with Joseph with his hand under his thigh. He knows if he dies at that moment, Joseph will close his eyes. How remarkable his God has proven himself to be. It came to pass after these things that one told Joseph, now evidently we don't know a month, days, behold thy father is sick. And he took with him his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph is 56 years old. The boys are in their twenties. And one told Jacob and said, behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee. The person doesn't tell them that the two boys are with. And Israel then strengthened himself and sat up upon the bed with great dignity. He sits up now. Joseph is coming. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. And I'm sure that Joseph had heard these stories when he was a small boy before he was ever carried away. Time is short. Jacob is reiterating the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And he said unto me, behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people. And I will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. And now thy two sons Ephraim and Manasseh, which Jacob doesn't know, he doesn't know they're standing there, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt. They are mine as Reuben and Simeon. They shall be mine. Now what's happening here? He's going to tell to Joseph, look, you know how Rachel died and Rachel, he says, my wife, Rachel was the wife that Jacob wanted. And if Laban hadn't tricked him and slipped Leah into the bed that night, he would have taken no doubt Jacob. I mean, Rachel as his only wife and Joseph would have been his firstborn and would have had the right of the firstborn. Reuben had gone up and slept with Jacob's concubine, one of his concubines, and Simeon and Levi were guilty of murder. And he's saying to Joseph now, Rachel was the wife that I loved. Joseph, you are the firstborn as far as I'm concerned. So instead of me giving you, Joseph, the double portion, what I will do is I will take your two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Therefore, the double portion really does come to you. But through your sons, I will make them tribes of Israel. From now on, when you have children, they will be yours, but these two sons will now be mine. And remarkably, Ephraim and Manasseh become two of the twelve tribes of Israel. Levi is set aside as a priesthood and they have no possession in the land. The Lord is their possession. And Joseph, one of the twelve sons, is mentioned sometimes, but normally it is Ephraim and Manasseh mentioned as the sons of Jacob. And he says, I'm taking them now to myself and giving them each a portion. They shall be mine. And thy issue, verse six, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine and shall be called after your name and their brethren in their inheritance. And as for me, when I came from Padnarum, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan. Isn't it interesting? This is the wife that he loved on his deathbed. He's remembering her. He's about to see her again. Rachel was the wife that I loved. Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way when yet there was but a little way to come to Ephrathah. And I buried her there in the way of Ephrathah, the same as Bethlehem. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said, who are these guys? He doesn't know they're there. His eyes are bad. And Joseph said unto his father, they are my sons whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, bring them I pray thee unto me and I will bless them. Now, there's a very interesting scene that takes place here, and I'll describe it quickly, then we'll read through it. Joseph will take his sons and he will put Manasseh on Jacob's right hand because he's the firstborn and he wants the preeminent blessing to be on Manasseh because you're firstborn. And he will take Ephraim and put him on Jacob's left hand to get the lesser blessing because he's the secondborn. Jacob, as he reaches out his hands to bless them, crosses his hands and puts his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh. Joseph says, no, dad, no, no, no. He says, I know what I'm doing. You know, I mean, still father and son. And the ironic thing is, here was Jacob many years before this having to steal from his blind father the blessing of the firstborn. And the beauty now of Jacob, blind like Isaac, but willingly giving the blessing of the firstborn to the one that God had chosen. Interesting scene. I think of the things that must be replaying in his heart. Verse 10 says, now the eyes of Israel of Jacob were dim because of age so that he could not see. And he brought them, Joseph brought them near unto him and he kissed them and he embraced them. Oh, what a great scene. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face and lo, God has showed me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from between his own knees, from from his own presence. And he bowed himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both. Ephraim, he took Joseph in his own right hand towards Jacob's left hand. And Manasseh, he took in his left hand towards Israel's right hand and brought them near unto him. And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. So he knows exactly what he's doing, it says. And he blessed Joseph and said, and this is so wonderful. God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk. God, which fed me all my life long. And the word in the Hebrew is a compound word, but it's where we get Jehovah-Rah, God who shepherded me. It's the word for the shepherd. God, all my life long unto this day, the angel that he had wrestled with, which redeemed me from all evil. Now, notice what he's done. He's just named the father, son and the spirit, as it were. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jacob, the God which shepherded me with his unseen presence my whole life. The angel, the personage which redeemed the redeemer, the Goel, first mentioned all from all evil. Bless the lads and let my name be named on them and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. And he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head under Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn, but put thy right hand on his head. And his father refused, refused and said, I know it. You know, you can see this. I know what I'm doing, my son. I know it. He also shall become a people, Manasseh, the idea is, and he also shall be great. But truly, his younger brother shall be greater than he and his seed shall become a multitude of nations and how prophetic it is and how Ephraim ultimately becomes associated with the northern ten tribes in total. And he blessed them that day. What a great grandpa, you know, what a what a great what a great scene saying in the shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he said, Ephraim before Manasseh. And what is what he says is, you two guys, your tribes will be famous. And when people in the want to bless someone, they'll say, God, make you like Ephraim or Manasseh, that that will be a blessing. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die, but God shall be with you and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the land of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. Now, we don't have the details of when that took place when he had the battle with the Amorite. And we don't picture Jacob that much as a warrior, as a you know, a guy that is scheming, making deals. But he took up his sword and his bow and drove the Amorites off a particular ridge. And it's a play on words here. It's very interesting in verse twenty two, where he says, Moreover, I have given to the one portion that Hebrew word portion is Shechem, which is the Hebrew word for Ridge. But I have given unto the one Shechem above thy brethren. Now, of course, the remarkable thing is in Joshua chapter twenty four, verse thirty two, when Joseph's bones are finally brought up into the land of Canaan, it says they put his bones to rest in Shechem. And it is there where Jesus will meet the woman at the well at Jacob's well in Shechem. And it is there in Shechem when Jesus returns and sets up his kingdom on the earth that the bones of Joseph will stand up again and walk to Jerusalem to worship a king that makes Pharaoh pale. What a remarkable, remarkable scene. I have given to the Shechem, interesting, above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. I encourage you read ahead. We have two chapters left. Interesting chapters.