Joseph || Jacob’s Family Tree – Revisited #7

Welcome back to the “Jacob’s Family Tree – Revisited” series. This series takes another look at the blessings Jacob gave to his children and how those blessings are showcased in the rest of the biblical story. In the last part, we looked at Gad’s fighter blessing, Asher’s foodie blessing, and Naphtali’s fawn blessing. In this one, we’re looking at the blessing given to Joseph.

Before I get into it, I can hear some of you saying, “Weren’t Joseph’s blessings given to Manasseh and Ephraim?” Yes, and that was the angle at which I took this section in the previous series. Joseph’s story here allows for a different look at things.

Genesis 49:22-26

22           Joseph is the foal of a wild donkey, the foal of a wild donkey at a spring – one of the wild donkeys on the ridge.

23           Archers attacked him savagely; they shot at him and harassed him.

24           But his bow remained taut, and his arms were strengthened by the hands of the Mighty one of Jacob, by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.

25           May the God of your father help you; may the Almighty bless you with the blessing of the heavens above, and blessings of the watery depths below, and blessings of the breasts and womb.

26           May my fatherly blessing on you surpass the blessings of my ancestors, reaching to the highest of the eternal hills. May these blessings rest on the read of Joseph, who is prince among his brothers.

Joseph would celebrate the times God rescued him when his enemies attacked him. This allowed Joseph to draw closer to God as the adversity mounted. This man was thrown into a pit by his own brothers, sold into slavery by his brothers, dead to his father, according to his brothers, and later thrown into prison after being falsely accused of sexual misconduct. That’s adversity, for sure.

Psalm 132:2-5

2             He made a solemn promise to the Lord. He vowed to the Mighty One of Israel.

3             I will not go home; I will not let myself rest.

4             I will not let my eyes sleep nor close my eyelids in slumber

5             until I find a place to build a house for the Lord, a sanctuary for the Mighty One of Israel.

Psalm 132 refers to David’s desire to build God the Temple. When David became a king, he built a gorgeous palace, but he was troubled that the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God’s presence among his people, remained in a tent. This bothered David so much that he couldn’t sleep until the situation was corrected. He started laying the plans for the Temple to house the Ark. David had all this passion for the Temple and never got to build it. His son, Solomon, was the one who got to see these plans come to fruition.

We need to be like David. We should live so close to God that we become restless until God’s will is accomplished through us. We should be so eager to do what God wants that we might see the results. Our excitement can come from paving the way for the next generation. The fruit we plant today will be harvested for the seasons to come. I’ve experienced this before in my work in youth ministry. Ministry is always an ongoing success. It takes time, intention, planning, prayer, and a lot more resources to make things successful. Things I did in year 2 might have worked out til year 7. Mistakes made in year 4 were corrected in year 6. It’s things like this where you look at it with the mindset, “How do I set the ministry up for success in the future?” The future might not even include you, but you can still try your best to make things successful. It may feel pointless, mundane, and annoying (it did to me at times). Still, the goal is the furthering of God’s kingdom and the ability to set the ministry up for success outside of your tenure.

Isaiah 41:8-10

8             “But as for you, Israel my servant, Jacob my chosen one, descended from Abraham my friend,

9             I have called you back from the ends of the earth, saying ‘You are my servant.’

10           Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

God chose Israel through Abraham because he wanted to. The people of Abraham didn’t deserve it, but that didn’t matter to God. God picks us even with our faults, and we don’t have to fix those faults for God to choose us. God encourages us to come as we are, broken and everything. God wanted the Israelites to represent him to the world. They failed to do this. In return, God judged them for their disobedience and sent them into captivity.

This sounds rough. How would a kind and loving God do this to his chosen people? The truth is, in my opinion at least, that God does this because he loves them. If your parents ONLY did loving and positive things for you, would you know what you did wrong? Would you be able to understand how the way you were acting was incorrect? You would need guidance and course correction to bring you on the path you need to be on. Sometimes, we need punishment for our behavior to help us understand that our behavior was wrong and to give us the time and resources to learn how to be better. Granted, we won’t (hopefully) be sent away for our disobedience in slavery, but God deemed this as a just punishment for their actions. Typically, your parents would punish you in a way that feels just to them. Granted, parents don’t always get it right. They could’ve had a rough childhood themselves and were punished in the exact aggressive nature that they punished you. Parents need to realize what worked and didn’t work in their lives and then learn how to apply what they learned to raising them.

All of us, all believers, are God’s chosen people. We all share the responsibility of representing him to the world. Do we always get it right? No. Part of the proper representation is admitting where we’ve messed up and showing God’s work to help us get back on the right side of things. One day, we will all gather in heaven with God. We want to ensure we did our due diligence in representing him properly.

We don’t have to fear stuff in our lives. Why? Because God is with us. Please realize that this means the many mental and spiritual things we wrestle with. Suppose you’re in a life-threatening physical situation or are threatening to cause harm to yourself or others. In that case, it’s rational to be afraid and need to seek safety and protection. God is with us through all parts of our life. When things are good or bad, our God stands alongside us with either encouragement or comfort. All we must do is ask for it.

God has established a relationship with us. We have a relationship with him as children have with their parents. This relationship does not go away either. Once we have access to this relationship, it stays with us forever. God also assures us of his strength, help, and victory over sin and death. God always has at the ready the ability to provide strength when needed, help when needed, and the ability to achieve victory over everything. As long as we ask, it is given. (This is something a future series will talk about more.)

Let’s wrap that up here. Next week is our finale as we look at the blessing of Benjamin and the lineage that comes from his line. Until then, stay blessed!