Wednesday, June 02, 2010

The Old Man's Still Got It

Genesis 48:14 KJV
And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

I came today to call this portion of Jacob's life, "The Old Man's Still Got It."

Though Jacob was an old man and Joseph was the second in command in Egypt, under Pharaoh, when Jacob enters the land the key figure is not Joseph or even Pharaoh. The key figure is Jacob. Consider;

Jacob blesses PharaohGenesis 47:10

Hebrews 7:7 says
And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.

So we can't argue this. It is the Word of God, the less is always blessed of the better. The better between Pharaoh and Jacob is Jacob.

Jacob claims Joseph's two sons as his own
Genesis 48:5

Jacob gave him leave to keep any children that came after the first two, but they were Jacob's. Their heritage would lay with the heritage of Jacob's sons and not of Joseph.

I see in this and the next point the importance of the extended family. We don't develop that enough in our country's culture. We need to get back to families remaining close and to the grandfather having influence not just gift giving privileges.

Jacob guided his own hands "wittingly," giving the greater blessing to the youngerGenesis 48:14

Jacob knew exactly what he was doing. He was old, he was blind and he was displaced from the land God had given him but he was still the patriarch of the family. Joseph was second in command under Pharaoh, but Pharaoh came in somewhere under Jacob.

• Joseph orchestrated things so the older would receive the better blessing
• Joseph was displeased with the placing of Jacob's hands and said so but
• Jacob was still the man of God at that hour and would not be deterred from what he believed to be the will of God.

Sure enough, he was an old man, but he still had it!

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