Getting Ready to Die (Genesis 48-50)
The Story of Jacob
Getting Ready to Die
Genesis 48-50
 
The Bible doesn't include very many deathbed scenes. I guess that shouldn't surprise us because the Bible is a book of life, but since we know about the death of a lot of people in the Bible, it just seems we would see some of those circumstances given more often.
 
But generally, int he Old Testament, we are simply told that so-and-so lived so many years and then he died. We generally don’t know when or where or how death took place, so in most cases we don’t know about any last words that may have been spoken.
 
And in the New Testament we have even less information. We are not told how most of the chief characters—including the great apostle Paul—died. And again, that’s understandable. Since the gospel is a message about life, the writers weren’t interested in telling how people died. We know how Jesus died, and John the Baptist, and Judas, and Stephen, and one or two others, but that’s about it. The New Testament says very little about death and a great deal about life.
 
I mention that to highlight how much space is given in the book of Genesis to the death of Jacob. Abraham’s death is described in seven verses (25:5-11), Isaac’s in three verses (35:27-29) and Joseph’s in five verses (50:22-26). By contrast Jacob’s death covers about 73 verses. The story begins at the end of chapter 47, covers all of chapters 48 and 49 and the first half of chapter 50.
Jacob’s death is recorded in four scenes: First, he meets with Joseph and makes him promise to bury him in the Promised Land (47:28-31). Second, Jacob blesses the two sons of Joseph—Ephraim and Manasseh (48). Third, he blesses his children (49:1-28). Fourth, he again asks to be buried in the Promised Land and then he dies (49:29-33).
 
It is a beautiful and moving story and one cannot help but hope they will die in the same way Jacob did, having lived many years, still in their right mind, full of faith in God, with family gathered around.” It may not happen that way, but still we can hope. And whether or not the circumstances are the same or not, we can have the same faith when we die that Jacob had.
 
There is such a thing as dying faith. I suppose all of us are planning to live a long time, but these days you can never be sure. It could be a stray bullet, an out-of-control driver, a terrorist at a shopping mall, a deadly disease or any number of other things that could strike at any moment.
 
However it may happen, the Bible reminds us that death is an appointment we must all keep, and sure enough, one day, death came knocking at the door of Jacob. And as I said, the story unfolds in four scenes.
 
Scene # 1: Jacob and Joseph
 
Genesis 47:28-31
 
Jacob is an old man now, 147 years old, and the long years have taken their toll on his body.
He barely stands now, tottering uncertainly, leaning for support on the top of his staff. He knows full well that he has an appointment with death. But Jacob is not afraid to die. He saw the moment coming and made preparations for his own burial. He had only one request to make of his son, Joseph—"Don’t bury me in Egypt, but bury me with my fathers.”
 
This is a wonderful statement of Jacob’s faith in God. Two generations earlier God had promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants. In faith Abraham believed God and settled there. In faith Isaac believed God and lived there.
 
Now Jacob is dying in a foreign land. But he believes that someday soon—though he will not live to see it—his people, his family, his descendants would return to possess the Promised Land.
 
Hebrews 11:9 makes the point that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all lived in tents in Canaan, “as strangers in a foreign land.” That is, God had promised them the land but they never took full possession themselves. That would not come for hundreds of years until Joshua led the nation of Israel in a victorious campaign of conquest.
 
Now Jacob lived and died without ever hearing about Moses and Joshua. He knew nothing of their mighty deeds. But in his old age, God gave him faith to believe that although he was dying in Egypt, his future belonged in the Promised Land.
 
 
 
 
 
James Montgomery Boice explains it this way:
 
When Jacob required Joseph to bury his body in the Promised Land, it was like saying that he continued to stand on God’s promises. He wanted his body to lie in the land where God would again one day bring the Jewish people and where the Messiah would eventually be born and perform the work of redemption. (Genesis, III, p. 242)
 
Jacob is saying, “I may be dying but I believe that one day God will keep his promises. I want to be there when it happens so don’t leave me down here in Egypt. Bury me in the Promised Land.” It was a way of saying, “My burial place will be a testimony that God’s promises are still true.”
 
That’s a great thought, isn’t it? Someone has said, “Nothing of God dies when a man of God dies.” We die, but the promises of God live on. They bury us, but they don’t bury God’s promises with us. Your death cannot nullify God’s faithfulness.
 
Scene # 2: Jacob and His Grandchildren
 
Chapter 48
 
The moment of his death is now upon him. With all his strength he rallies one last time and sits up on his deathbed. There he sees Joseph and his two sons—Manasseh and Ephraim. What follows is a touching scene as Jacob says to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.”
 
 
I read those words with a touch of envy. I never knew my Grandmother Tolbert. She died a couple of years before my birth. And my boys didn't have the opportunity to know my dad. So what a sweet moment for Jacob to sit up and see his son and grandsons when he never expected that to happen.
 
But there’s more here than just seeing the grandchildren. Jacob now blesses the two boys. According to the custom of the time, the primary blessing should have gone to the older son—Manasseh. But that’s not how it works out. When Joseph brings the two boys forward, he puts Manasseh in front of Jacob’s right hand and Ephraim in front of his left hand. But Jacob crossed his arms, placing his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh. Thus the younger son got the primary blessing and the older son got the lesser blessing.
 
On one level this is the sovereignty of God at work. He had chosen Ephraim over Manasseh and although Joseph protested, he could not change the plan of God. On another level, Jacob the younger son is following a pattern of his life. He the younger had been chosen over Esau the older. Later on he preferred the younger Rachel to the older Leah. Now he blesses the younger over the older.
 
Some of us who are younger sons and daughters can draw great encouragement from this story. Many times the firstborn children are favored and children that come later are overlooked. But the Bible is full of hope for younger children. Isaac was a younger child. So was Jacob. So was Joseph. So was Moses. So was Gideon. So was David.
 
In blessing the younger over the older, Jacob teaches us that God is no respecter of persons. He exalts those who honor him regardless of their background or their birth order. Very often it is through the “overlooked” people of the world that God does his greatest work.
 
Scene # 3: Jacob and His Children
 
Chapter 49:1-28
 
At he beginning of chapter 49, Jacob asks his sons to gather round him for one final farewell. Beginning with Reuben the firstborn he pronounces a blessing or prophecy upon each son individually. The words are crucial because they describe not only what will happen to each son but to the tribes that will eventually come forth from each son.
 
Verse 28 explains it this way: “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.”
 
That last phrase grabs our attention. After all these years Jacob knows his sons inside and out, knows their weaknesses, their habits, their tendencies, and their ambitions. With all that in mind, and speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he pronounces a blessing on each son. Some are striking:
 
Reuben who sinned will lose his place of leadership
 
Simeon and Levi will be dispersed throughout Israel
 
Judah will bring forth the Messiah
Zebulun will dwell along the seashore
 
Asher will produce crops for kings.
 
And on it goes, each son receiving a blessing or prophecy perfectly suited to him. Hundreds of years later the tribes would emerge, still bearing the personality traits of their founders.
 
At first glance Genesis 49 doesn't seem to have too much connection to today's culture and our situation. After all, it's just a record of the blessings Jacob gave his sons on his deathbed. We may think it has no interest for us, except perhaps as a historical curiosity or an example of an ancient custom.
 
But to pass by what happens here is to run the risk of missing the significance of the biblical idea of the blessing and how Scripture uses it in and through the lives and influence of His people.
 
In this case, it is a parental blessing. Study the concept of the blessing and you will discover it always involved a spoken word and a physical touch the brought to the person being blessed the power of God that influenced them for good.
 
As you study Genesis 48-49, you see Jacob doing all these things for his sons and grandsons. He is thus fulfilling his ultimate responsibility—he is blessing his family in the name of the Lord. What a positive example Jacob is for all of us today. Let us go and do likewise for our loved ones.
 
The story of Jacob comes to a close with
 
 
Scene # 4: The Death of Jacob
 
Chapter 49:29-50:14
 
When he had finished blessing his sons, he once again requested to be buried in the Promised Land. Clearly, this was no small issue to him. In one sense it doesn’t matter where he is buried because Jacob belongs to God regardless of where his body is laid to rest. But for him the issue is bigger than that. He wants his burial place to be a testimony to the fact that he never stopped believing in God.
 
This is the second time Jacob has asked to be buried in the Promised Land. When Joseph swore to do that, Genesis 47:31 adds this phrase: “And Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.”
 
That is, Jacob praised God as he was dying. Interestingly, that is what Jacob is praised for in the book of Hebrews. When the writer considers all Jacob’s deeds over his long line, he singles out this one event and says of him, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.” (Hebrews 11:21)
 
It’s always good to praise God, but it is especially meaningful to stand at the end of a long life and say, “God has been good to me.” That is a great testimony. It is one of the chief benefits of old age.
 
The rest of the story is quite simple. Jacob dies with his sons gathered around him. The Bible says he was “gathered to his people,” a reference not simply to death but to reunion with his loved ones in life after death.
With Pharaoh's permission, Joseph and his brothers led a large funeral procession from Egypt to Canaan where they buried Jacob in the cave of Machpelah alongside his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham. Thus the story of Jacob comes to an end.
 
I. Jacob’s Life in Perspective
 
Let me sum up—without any explanatory comment—some of the chief observations from Jacob’s long life:
 
- His life is a story of continual struggle and difficulty.
 
- His two names reflect the inner struggle of his heart:
 
Jacob—the Cheater
 
Israel—the man who wrestled with God
 
- Jacob came from a dysfunctional family, created another, and left one behind.
 
- But Jacob was a man of faith who had an unquenchable desire for the blessing of God.
 
- Most of his mistakes were made because of excessive self-confidence. In the end, his greatest weakness became his greatest strength when he yielded his ambition to the will of God.
 
- He died in faith, a follower of God, and is a worthy addition to the great list of heroes of faith in Hebrews 11.
 
 
II. Jacob’s Message to Us
 
In the same vein—and again without any extra comment—here are some of the chief lessons we can learn from our journeys with Jacob.
 
- Sin in one form or another will dog our steps as long as we live. We should not be surprised that we struggle with some sins until the day we die.
 
- God will do whatever it takes to break our confidence in the flesh in order that he might replace it with confidence in God alone.
 
- Though we may not believe it at the time, the trials of life are not meant to destroy us, but to teach us lessons we couldn’t learn any other way.
 
- When God judges a man’s life, he looks at his faith, not at his faults.
 
Despite all his flaws, Jacob was fundamentally a man of faith. His story should encourage us because there’s a little bit of Jacob in all of us! If God can use Jacob, he can use anyone.
 
Be encouraged. Jacob’s story is in the Bible for folks like you and me. I find it difficult to identify with a lot of the Bible's heroes, but not so with Jacob. He is a man I can fully understand. He’s not as great as his grandfather Abraham or as accomplished as his son Joseph. He made many mistakes along the way—sometimes repeating the same mistakes over and over again. But at the core of his being, Jacob was God’s man. He desperately wanted to please God and find his blessing—even if he had to bend the rules to do it.
And the truth is, as I pointed out in our very first study, Jacob is not the real hero of this story. The hero of this story is God. He is the one who never gives up on Jacob, who never sways from his original purpose to bless him despite all his failures. Jacob didn’t make it easy, but God never gave up.
 
He looked on Jacob the way he looks at most of us—as a lifetime project. At any given point along the way, God could have said, “Forget it. This man is hopeless.” But he never said that, and in the end Jacob emerges with triumphant faith in God.
 
In later generations, the biblical writers used a very particular phrase when they wanted to describe the fact that God always keeps his promises. They called him the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Think of that. He’s never called the God of Joseph—though Joseph had greater achievements. He’s never called the God of Daniel—though Daniel had greater courage. He’s never called the God of Moses—though Moses was a greater leader.
 
One writer called this “the crowning proof of divine mercy"—that God would associate his name with such a man as Jacob. But why should that surprise us? God is pleased to associate himself with anyone who has faith in him.
 
You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be strong. You don’t have to walk the straight and narrow. You can be yourself and God will gladly associate with you … as long as you have faith in him.
 
 
 
That's true because the God of Jacob is the God of
abounding grace and unerring wisdom. He is the God who is always there for us, in spite of our sin, in spite of our failure and in the midst of our fears.
And the good news is, the God of Jacob is our God too. The same God who led Jacob is the God who leads us today. Do you know that God? He has revealed himself to you in the person of Jesus Christ.
 
Let me close by asking a simple question: Are you ready to die? John Henry Newman said, “Fear not that your life should come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning.” Christian, are you ready to die? Believer in Jesus, are you ready to die?
 
Have you lived this week so that if today were the day, you wouldn’t have to look back with remorse and regret? And you need to know that no one is ready to die until they know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Sometimes people says, “Life begins at 40, or 60 or whatever.” But the truth is life begins at Calvary. Life begins the moment you put your trust in Jesus Christ. Life begins at the cross when you bow the knee and say, “Thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying for me.” Until you come to Christ your life has no beginning. You have existence but you don’t have life.
 
Life begins the moment you say “Yes” to the Lord Jesus. I urge you to come to him so that no matter how long you live—one more day, one more week, one more month, one more year, or 50 more years—you will be ready to die when the moment finally comes.
 
Let's pray.