Thoughts on the Death of Jacob, Our Penultimate Reading

November 22, 2022 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Genesis 49:28-50:14

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him.
29 Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— 32 the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.” 33 When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.
50 Then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.’” 6 And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” 7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders 42 of the land of Egypt, 8 as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. 10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. 12 Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, 13 for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

THOUGHTS ON THE DEATH OF JACOB, OUR PENULTIMATE READING

I have a bit more to say tomorrow about our final day’s reading, but I want to leave you with what is one of the most powerful images in all of the Bible: the burial of Jacob.

Remember, Joseph has forgiven his brothers, but they are not really reconciled with each other. Joseph, the right hand of Pharaoh himself— is living like an Egyptian, whereas Israel and his sons are living as shepherds in Goshen, sojourning in a foreign land. Joseph has settled the family there, but for all intents and purposes he is not one of them any more.

Jacob’s death, however, unites the brothers for one last time.

Jacob makes his 12 sons swear a deathbed oath (the same oath, by the way, that Joseph will subsequently make his descendants swear to him):

29 Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. 31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and 43 his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. 32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.” 33 When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. [Genesis 49-29-33]

Jacob, whose life’s journey has been long and winding, knows that his place is in the Promised Land, and so he will be buried with his fathers.

Joseph gets the necessary permission from Pharaoh and then joins the whole company as they make the long sad trek back to the land that the Lord promised Abraham.

And then we get what is one of the most moving images in the entire Bible:

12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them: 13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. [Genesis 50:12-13]

Jacob’s 12 sons, erstwhile enemies in life, united in the death of their father:

The twelve sons of Jacob carry their father on their shoulders as they lay him to rest with his fathers in the land of Promise.

Wow.

Quick Bullets on the Joseph Story

November 21, 2022 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

I’m preaching at an All-City Thanksgiving Service being held at First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa TONIGHT (11/21) at 7 PM. My topic:

“How to Give Thanks While Holding Your Nose and Humming”

Come on out!

Note: Our Genesis readings are drawing to an end, and though I’m sad—I love Genesis so much!—I’m also looking forward to Advent, which begins on 11/27. Our Advent reading plan begins next Monday, 11/28. The Advent reading guides are beautiful; if you live in Tulsa, pick one up at Asbury Church this weekend. If you live in Dallas, email Sandie and she’ll tell you how to pick one up. If you live out of town and NOT in Dallas, email Sandie and she’ll mail you one this week.

Genesis 49:1-27

Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together,that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come. “Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob, listen to Israel your father.
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
4 Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!
5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords.
6 Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
8 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you.
9Judah is a lion's cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.
13 “Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; he shall become a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon.
14 “Issachar is a strong donkey, crouching between the sheepfolds.
15 He saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant at forced labor.
16 “Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward.
18 I wait for your salvation, O Lord.
19 “Raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels.
20 “Asher's food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies.
21 “Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful fawns.
22 “Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall.
23 The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely,
24 yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
25 by the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26 The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.
27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.”

QUICK BULLETS ON THE JOSEPH STORY

• I think the Bible wants us to have an ambivalent opinion on Joseph: on the one hand, he is obviously a genius, but on the other hand he becomes totally Egyptianized, which is not good because it means he’s forgotten that he is a child of Israel.

• The Bible makes it clear that the Lord was with Joseph when he was enslaved and imprisoned, but we aren’t told that the Lord is with Joseph when he is raised to power in Egypt. Why? I think it’s because it seems that Joseph forgets the Lord when he is delivered from prison and raised to power. As I mentioned above, he becomes so totally acculturated in Egypt that he doesn’t even live with his family when they settle in Goshen!

• Hundreds and hundreds of years later, Daniel is an Israelite who finds himself serving a foreign king—in this case, the Babylonian Emperor Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel, however, never gives up on his Israelite identity, and God still uses him and he still retains his high position.

• I wonder if Joseph’s problem was thinking that there is no way he could have kept his high position apart from turning his back on his heritage. Of course, if the Lord wanted Joseph to be Pharoah’s right hand, then it would have happened. It is almost as if Joseph stops trusting in the Lord at the very moment when things begin to turn around for him.

• All throughout the story of Joseph the central question has been, Who will lead the family after Jacob is gone? Jacob’s final blessings of his sons tell us the answer (though we’ve already figured it out): Judah, the fourth son, will be the leader! Read the blessings carefully and see how Jacob hasn’t missed anything. He remembers, e.g., how Reuben slept with his wife/concubine so many years before, and how Simeon and Levi led the brutal slaughter at Shechem. By the way, Judah is the tribe from which David comes, and later Jesus. Do you know that praise song “Lion and the Lamb”? This is why the songwriter in that song describes the Lord as “the Lion of Judah”.

To My Genesis Readers! (Some Penultimate Thoughts)

April 09, 2020 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

I’m sorry I’ve been so bad at posting my weekday Genesis commentaries since all this virus craziness began. Please forgive me! It’s been nice hearing from you folks that you actually read them. Who knew?

It’s been hard for me to get into a new writing routine that works with the rhythms of life in quarantine. But, we start Psalms next week, and I’ll do better—scout’s honor!

Below I’ve included some bullet points about Genesis from the last few weeks of readings.

Tomorrow at 4:00 AM I’ll email out my final post on Genesis, to go with our last day’s reading.

This is a long post, so if you are having trouble sleeping at night these days, this is just what the doctor ordered.

(However, if you skip the ending of this post, you’ll miss reading what is one of the greatest and most moving images in the entire Bible….)

The Plan for Psalms

Speaking of Psalms, we start our Psalms schedule this coming Monday, April 13; we’ll read 1 psalm a day until September. I’ll write a daily commentary, and if you’re receiving this email, you’ll keep getting the Psalms emails.

More info here.

My Video on Genesis

I know I’ve missed lots of days of commentary. Remember, though, that I did a whole hour talk on the Joseph story on March 4. Seems like forever ago!

Quick Bullets on the Joseph Story

I think the Bible wants us to have an ambivalent opinion on Joseph: on the one hand, he is obviously a genius, but on the other hand he becomes totally Egyptianized, which is not good because it means he’s forgotten that he is a child of Israel.
The Bible makes it clear that the Lord was with Joseph when he was enslaved and imprisoned, but we aren’t told that the Lord is with Joseph when he is raised to power in Egypt. Why? I think it’s because it seems that Joseph forgets the Lord when he is delivered from prison and raised to power. As I mentioned above, he becomes so totally acculturated in Egypt that he doesn’t even live with his family when they settle in Goshen!
I think Jacob’s blessing of Joseph’s two sons is fascinating. Jacob is blind, but he can still “see” and he deliberately blesses the younger—Ephraim—over the elder—Manasseh. He even crosses his hands to do so. An amazing scene.
Hundreds and hundreds of years later, Daniel is an Israelite who finds himself serving a foreign king—in this case, the Babylonian Emperor Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel, however, never gives up on his Israelite identity, and God still uses him and he still retains his high position.
I wonder if Joseph’s problem was thinking that there is no way he could have kept his high position apart from turning his back on his heritage. Of course, if the Lord wanted Joseph to be Pharoah’s right hand, then it would have happened. It is almost as if Joseph stops trusting in the Lord at the very moment when things begin to turn around for him.
I think Joseph’s economic measures are morally questionable. He saves Egypt and the Middle East from starvation through his prudent planning, but he also enriches Pharaoh and strengthens Pharoah’s grip over all of Egypt, thereby turning the people into little more than indentured servants to Pharaoh. Could not he have saved the people another way?
All throughout the story of Joseph the central question has been, Who will lead the family after Jacob is gone? Jacob’s final blessings of his sons tell us the answer (though we’ve already figured it out): Judah, the fourth son, will be the leader! Read the blessings carefully and see how Jacob hasn’t missed anything. He remembers, e.g., how Reuben slept with his wife/concubine so many years before, and how Simeon and Levi led the brutal slaughter at Shechem. By the way, Judah is the tribe from which David comes, and later Jesus. Do you know that praise song “Lion and the Lamb”? This is why the songwriter describes the Lord as “the lion of Judah”.

Thoughts on the Death of Jacob, our Penultimate Reading

I have a bit more to say tomorrow about our final day’s reading, but I want to leave you with what is one of the most powerful images in all of the Bible: the burial of Jacob.

Jacob’s death, however, unites the brothers for one last time.

Jacob makes his 12 sons swear a deathbed oath (the same oath, by the way, that Joseph will subsequently make his descendants swear to him):

29 Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. 31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. 32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.”
33 When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. [Genesis 49-29-33]

Jacob, whose life’s journey has been long and winding, knows that his place is in the Promised Land, and so he will be buried with his fathers.

Joseph gets the necessary permission from Pharaoh and then joins the whole company as they make the long sad trek back to the land that the Lord promised Abraham.

And then we get what is one of the most moving images in the entire Bible:

12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them: 13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. [Genesis 50:12-13]

Jacob’s 12 sons, erstwhile enemies in life, united in the death of their father:

The twelve sons of Jacob carry their father on their shoulders as they lay him to rest with his fathers in the land of Promise.

Wow.

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 49:29-50:14

P.S.

Today is Winston Churchill day, and in remembrance of Mr. Churchill, I’ve included below an image from his funeral procession. May we take on some of his stubborn courage today.

Why Isn't Reuben the Leader of the Brothers?

March 23, 2020 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Remember, the central question of Genesis 37-50 is:

Who will lead the family after Jacob is gone?

Reuben, the eldest, would seem to be an obvious candidate.

That is, until you notice something interesting whenever he appears in the story:

No one ever listens to him!

The basic definition of leader is a person whom other people follow. If no one is following, you’re not a leader. Period.

For whatever reason, the brothers don’t follow Reuben.

For example:

37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.”
38 But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.”

Note that no one even seriously considers Reuben’s suggestion, which is obviously ludicrous. Why would you kill the next generation for the sake of saving the previous one? He’s an idiot.

Reuben will not be the next leader of the family.

Who will it be? There are 11 remaining possibilities.

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 42:35-38

Is Joseph the Right Choice?

March 02, 2020 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Jacob has 12 sons; which son will be the next leader of the family? Which son will take his father’s place?

Genesis 12-36 is about the formation of a family that will pass on God’s new way from generation to generation. God chooses Abraham, and then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are taught what it will take to be the founders of this new way.

We now come to the third and final part of Genesis—chapters 37-50—which will be about the problem of passing on God’s new way when there are 12(!) sons that make up the next generation.

Right off, we assume it will be Joseph, the 11th son, who will lead the family when Jacob dies. Joseph is more gifted than his brothers, and Jacob has set him apart to be the future leader of his brothers. The coat Jacob gives Joseph (an obscure Hebrew term—”coat with long sleeves” or “coat of many colors”) is meant to mark him as Jacob’s heir.

As his dreams prove, Joseph is a boy of remarkable insight. But is he the right one to lead the family into the future?

We’ll have to read on to find out.

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 37:1-11

Homecoming

February 25, 2020 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

“The twenty years of exile are ended. Jacob is returning as a patriarch of his own clan, prosperous, independent, and more confident than ever that God is with him. His trials at Uncle Laban’s have not broken his spirit; on the contrary, adversity has made a man out of him. He has acquired enough children to become a tribe, enough possessions with which to provide for his family, sufficient dignity and courage to declare his independence, sufficient clout and standing to establish political agreements with other clans and nations, a newfound desire to return to the land of his father (and to Isaac himself), and perhaps most important, a growing awareness of his dependence on God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and now also the God of Jacob. None of this would have happened had he stayed home. He has struggled, he has suffered, he has endured, and he has come out much the stronger and better for it.”
—Leon Kass

How might your present difficulties be preparing you for future possibilities?

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 31:1-55

Biblical Genetic Engineering

February 24, 2020 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

That thing that Jacob does by peeling the bark of branches in strips and placing them in front of the watering troughs of the sheep? I don’t get it either. Must be some kind of ancient genetic engineering trick that’s lost to us. Who knows?

Don’t get too hung up on those details—just keep reading!

P.S. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, the Bible does not look favorably on polygamy. In fact, all the examples of polygamous relationships in Genesis are examples of what NOT to do! Can you imagine the mess that is Jacob’s household, with 12 sons (and 1 daughter) by 4 different mothers all of whom live under the same roof!!

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 29:31-30:43

Jacob's Ladder

February 21, 2020 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Jacob is a clever, ambitious man, but his twenty-year sojourn away from home will humble him and make him into the man he needs to be if he will successfully pass the Covenant on to the next generation.

A recurring theme during much of Jacob’s journey will be about the limits of sight. After his amazing dream with the ladder that goes to heaven, he wakes up and says, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it!” [Genesis 28:16]. Jacob, the clever man, learns that there are things he doesn’t understand and “see” properly.

That lesson about the limits of sight is made more clear in the 20 years he lives with Laban and in all his troubles with women. For example, Jacob literally sleeps with the wrong woman on his wedding night!

Part of Jacob’s humbling and his formation is for him to admit that there are limits to what he can see.

The same lesson applies to us:

What if you aren’t seeing the events of your life correctly, either?

The way to see clearly is to see through Christ. Use his life, death, and resurrection as the lens through which you look at your life, and you’ll be seeing correctly.

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 28:10-29:30

Isaac and The Twins

February 19, 2020 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Remember, the central question of Genesis 12-36 is about family: what will it take to raise the next generation so that the Covenant can be successfully passed down?

Alarmingly, it is unclear at first whether Isaac will be an adequate link in the chain. Compared to Abraham’s activity and far-sightedness, Isaac seems weak and is literally blind in his old age. And he certainly doesn't seem capable of making wise decisions with regard to his sons. Esau, as the story about the stew and the birthright shows, does not have what it takes to be the next carrier of the Covenant. [I’m preaching on that passage this Sunday.] Fortunately for Isaac, he has married well! Rebekah is more than capable of ensuring that the right son is chosen as the next link in the chain. That son is Jacob, though he has a lot of learning and suffering to do before he’s ready to be a Patriarch.

Though Isaac is not the great man his father was, nevertheless he is still his father’s son and therefore highly favored by the Lord. What the stories of Isaac and Abimelech tell us is that even for those who are not as naturally great as Abraham, the Lord’s favor is powerful for those who are part of Abraham’s family!

I take comfort in this fact. What about you?

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 25:19-26:33