God’s people are blessed to be a blessing. That’s been the over-arching theme of the Joseph narrative and its a main thrust of Genesis as a whole. So, it comes as no surprise that, as we now arrive at the final three chapters of the book, the same message is highlighted in unmistakable fashion.

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Face-masks, hand-sanitizer, social-distancing, curve-flattening.

Over the past few months our world has become hyper-aware of the contagious nature of viral infection. The sudden arrival and rapid spread of the coronavirus has reminded us of the reality and risk of person-to-person transmission.

As tragic and as fearful as this pandemic has been for many, I’ve found COVID-19 to be an interesting parallel to our study in Genesis. As we’ve worked our way through the Joseph narrative—from Genesis 37 to Genesis 50 today—a single theme has cropped up repeatedly: The people of God are to be agents of divine blessing to others. God blesses his people that we may be conduits of that blessing to those he brings into our lives.

To think of it in now-familiar terms, God’s people are infected with his divine favour and, as carriers, we’re to go into the world—to the bank, the grocery store, the company BBQ—and come into close contact with people, passing on that blessing. We are contagious with something we don’t want to keep to ourselves. (Now, hear me clearly: That’s a metaphor and not a call for civil disobedience!)

We, as God’s people, are blessed to be a blessing. As we come to the final three chapters of Genesis and the conclusion of the Joseph narrative, we find this main theme showcased again.

In our passage today, the two main characters of the whole story—Jacob and Joseph, father and son—take centerstage and we’re going to watch as they remember past blessings from God in their lives, extend present blessings to others, and anticipate future blessings that have been promised. And that’s how we’re going to structure our time in the text today: Remembering, extending, and anticipating; looking back, looking out, and looking forward.

If you haven’t already and you have a Bible with you, please turn to Genesis 48 and we’ll begin by looking backward with Jacob and Joseph as the two of them are Remembering God’s blessings. We’ll start with Jacob (48:1–4).

Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. 

When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed. 

Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’ 

Hearing that his father was on his deathbed, Joseph takes his sons to visit. When he arrived, Jacob gathered all the strength he had left and sat up and spoke.

And what did he talk about? What God had done in his life. How God had appeared to him, how God had blessed him, how God had spoken to him, and how God had made promises to him. Jacob, in some of the last moments of his life, takes Joseph and his two grandsons on a trip down memory lane and points out all the times God’s favour had shone upon him.

He continues in verse 11:

Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.” 

Having studied the story we know that there was a time in which, thinking his favourite son was dead, Jacob had resigned himself to a life of grief. But, by God’s hand, he says, he has not only been reunited with Joseph, but he has met his grandchildren as well. What an unexpected blessing from God!

Finally, verses 15 and 16:

Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.”

The same God his father and grandfather had known so well had also led and protected Jacob throughout his life. 

The word he uses here to describe God would later be used by David famously in Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd … I shall not want … he leads me … he restores my soul … his rod and staff comfort me … he prepares a table for me … he anoints my head with oil.” David and Jacob served the same God, a God who was their shepherd.

Dying can encourage retrospection; looking back, wondering, regretting, celebrating, thanking. Jacob, we’re told, nearing the end of his life, looks back and remembers God’s favour, God’s care, God’s love, God’s guidance, God’s provision, God’s promises. He remembers God’s blessings upon his life.

And, as the saying goes: Like father, like son. Our passage shows Joseph also reflecting backward on God’s blessings in his life. Turn to chapter 50 and to what are likely the most well-known words in the entire story (50:19–20).

But Joseph said to [his brothers], “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

After Jacob dies, his brothers can’t help but wonder if Joseph would now seek revenge. But instead, their powerful brother tells them to relax: “In the past, it’s true, you intended to harm me. But through all of that, over all of that, in all of that, God was working, knitting it together for a good that, at times, only he could see, but that now we all see.” 

Joseph remembers the sting of family betrayal and the smell of the camels in the convoy carrying him into bondage. He remembers the feeling of his cloak being ripped from him by Potiphar’s wife as he fled from her and the coldness of the shackles, bars, and stone of Pharaoh’s prison. He remembers the harm intended him and the harm he endured. 

But Joseph also remembers God at work. He remembers the favour he found with Potiphar, the jailer, the king’s cup-bearer, and Pharaoh himself. He remembers being given dream interpretations and having his prison clothes replaced with royal robes overnight. He remembers the faces of the countless Egyptian families he would save with the grain he stored for the famine he predicted. He remembers the harm, sure, but he also, looking back, remembers God’s hand in it all; God’s blessings in and through his life.

There are few commands more prevalent in the Bible than the call to “remember.” And, not only is the command constant, but it’s baked right into the cake of Israel’s calendar and life—their feasts, worship, law, monuments. It’s all nemonic, divinely designed to help God’s people avoid forgetting all he’s done for them in the past.

Why is this so important? Because we forget! We forget what God has done. We forget the workings of God in our lives in the past. And, when we do this, faced with uncertainty today—in whatever form it takes—we’re more susceptible to fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and doubt.

Without dropping anchor in the harbour of remembrance, we’re vulnerable to the dangerous winds and waves of life.

Jacob and Joseph remembered God’s blessings. But that wasn’t all this text shows them doing. As we keep reading, we also see father and son Extending God’s blessings. Not only are they looking back, but they’re looking out around them.

Jacob, for example, is found basically throwing blessings around. First, back in chapter 48, we find him blessing Joseph and his sons (48:5–7):

“Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem). 

In claiming Ephraim and Manasseh as his own children, Jacob is elevating Joseph to his own level, that is, the level of patriarch alongside Abraham, Isaac. So, in the scope of this narrative, Joseph has moved from outcast to slave to prisoner to prime minister to patriarch. It’s quite a blessing father bestows upon son. 

Starting in verse 8, Jacob turns his attention to his grandchildren:

When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?”

“They are the sons God has given me here,” Joseph said to his father. Then Israel said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.” Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. … 

(v. 12) Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn. … 

(v. 17) When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” 

But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.” He blessed them that day and said, 

“In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing:
‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’ ”

Jacob, almost totally blind at this point, draws these two grandkids close, kisses them, embraces them, and extends blessing to them. 

Joseph, the second most powerful man in Egypt, bows to the ground before his father, showing great respect. He then arranges his two sons in front of Jacob in such a way as to receive the proper and expected blessings from their grandfather in accordance with their birth order. These formal laying-on-of-hands blessings were a symbolic act in which Jacob was transferring a blessing from himself to Joseph’s sons.

Typically, the eldest would receive the privileged “firstborn blessing” and the subsequent prediction of his preeminence. But, under the inspiration of God, Jacob surprises Joseph by crossing his hands, blessing both boys, but the younger more significantly. Joseph tries to correct his father, but Jacob insists that, while both will be greatly blessed, the younger will out-pace the older.

Jacob, remembering all the blessings he had received from God, extends blessings to Joseph and his sons. 

But he doesn’t stop with just these three. When we come to chapter 49, we find Jacob prophetically blessing Joseph’s brothers as well (49:1–2).

Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come. Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel. 

What follows is God-given prophecy in poetic form and it contains blessings, curses, judgements, and promises, some directed at the man specifically and others at the tribe they represent. 

Now, we must read what follows in light of the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Each son is about to learn how his branch of the family tree was going to benefit from—and be a conduit of—the promised patriarchal blessing to the world.

(v. 3) “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it. 

“Simeon and Levi are brothers—their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel. 

Here we have Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, Jacob’s first three sons, being condemned for their sexual perversion in the case of Reuben and their violence in the case of Simeon and Levi.

Because of their character and how they lived their lives they have been disqualified from leadership of the nation of Israel. And, with the first three out of the picture, the mantle falls to number four in verse 8.

“Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. 

You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. 

Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? 

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. 

He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk. 

We’ve seen in the Joseph narrative the transformation of Judah and here, forgiven by both God and Jacob, he’s rewarded. He will lead the family. He will have victory over enemies. His will be a powerful, ruling tribe.

We know now that through Judah would come King David and, ultimately, the Messiah himself, “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (Rev 5:5), the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15), the blessing to the world, a blessing that will culminate in a future kingdom where all nations of the world will be subject to his rule and benefactors of unprecedented global prosperity.

Jacob continues his prophecy with more declarations of varied prosperity (49:13).

“Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon. 

“Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down among the sheep pens. When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor. 

“Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward. 

“I look for your deliverance, Lord. 

“Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels. 

“Asher’s food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king. 

“Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. 

“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. 

With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. 

But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the skies above, blessings of the deep springs below, blessings of the breast and womb. 

Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers. 

“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.” 

There’s a lot going on in these prophetic statements. There are clear predictions of future happenings being made, all of which have come to pass or will come to pass exactly as God said they would. 

But, for now, notice how the poem is concluded and summarized (v. 28).

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. 

In our text today we find Jacob extending blessings to Joseph, his grandchildren, and now to all of his son, not equally, but according to their character and faithfulness. 

Jacob remembered his blessings and extended blessings. What about Joseph? Well, we find him doing quite the same thing (50:15–21):

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”

So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died:‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” 

When their message came to him, Joseph wept. 

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. 

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. 

Here we see Joseph, fuelled by his remembrance of past blessings in his own life, remembering how God had worked in and through him, now extending blessings to his brothers—blessings of forgiveness, reconciliation, reassurance, provision, patience, and kindness. 

He also extends blessing to the family through his own progeny (50:22–23):

Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten yearsand saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees. 

Both Jacob and Joseph, father and son, remembering the blessings God had poured upon them in their respective lives, extend blessing to those around them. They look back and then look out.

And, as we’ve often noticed in this series, this is our call as well as God’s people. We are blessed to be a blessing to others. 

According to 1 Peter 2:12, we are to live such good lives among unbelievers that they may one day glorify God because of our testimony. We are to be salt and light in a dark and tasteless world. We are to herald the gospel of Jesus Christ, what Paul called the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. 

And, in the household of God we are to encourage one another, love one another, forgive one another, bear one another’s burdens, be hospitable to one another. We are blessed to be a blessing.

But it’s a tough thing to pour out if we aren’t filled up. It’s like being in the middle of a water-gun fight when your weapon runs dry. You can pump that gun all you want, but if there’s no water in the tank, you’re not getting anyone else wet. You need to fill up and stay full.

Likewise, we need to remember God’s blessings to extend God’s blessings. We need to look back so we can look out with power and effectiveness.

And it doesn’t take much to extend blessing. Even in the past week I can think of an email of thanks I received, a text of encouragement, phone calls of prayer and conversation that God used to lift my spirits and bless me at timely moments. 

There’s one member of our church family who regularly sends me a single emoji of praying hands, letting me know I’m being brought before the Lord in prayer. 

These are just a few examples of how I have benefited from people in our church being faithful to extend blessings to others.

We have one final direction to look in our passage today. We’ve looked back and out, but now we want to look forward. Jacob and Joseph were remembering and extending, but now we notice that they were also Anticipating God’s blessings.

God had made promises to Jacob, and we find this patriarch resting in the anticipation of the fulfillment of those promises. Look first at a conversation he has with Joseph (48:21–22).

Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers. And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.” 

Now look at a conversation Jacob has with his other sons (49:29–33).

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, 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. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.” 

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. 

In both of those conversations, Jacob is found clinging to the promise that, in his absence, God will continue to be with his family. He’s also clinging to the promise of being in the Promised land. God said it so it will be so. Not even his own pending death will stop it from coming to pass. Jacob anticipates that future blessing.

And, as the narrative continues into chapter 50, we find Jacob’s anticipation was rightly founded (50:1–14):

Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. 

When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him,‘My father made me swear an oath and said, “I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’ ” 

Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.” 

So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt—besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company. 

When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father. When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.” That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim. 

So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them: 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.After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.

God had promised Abraham a land. He was buried there. God had promised Isaac that land. He was buried there. And God had promised Jacob that same land and, as Genesis comes to a close, he too is buried there.

And again, like father like son, Joseph also anticipated God would return the family to Canaan. The book closes this way (50:24–26):

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” 

So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Joseph died anticipating not only Israel being brought back to their land, but he himself being brought back also. But the book ends with him being buried in Egypt.

Readers have to wait until Joshua 24:32 to read this:

And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

Both Jacob and Joseph lived and died anticipating the blessings of God, the things he had promised. And, as with all of God’s promises, they were kept. Both Jacob and Joseph ended up buried in the promised land and, there is coming a day when, along with every other Israelite who died trusting in the coming Messiah, will be resurrected and live in their land. That is their anticipation of future blessings from God.

What have you and I been promised? What is it that God has said is future for us as his church, things that we can anticipate and hope for? 

We are promised to never be separated from God. We’re told we will be with our God forever. We are told there is coming a resurrection and a perfect Kingdom in which we will live and in which the faithful will reign with Christ. There are coming rewards, joy, and life free from sin, embodied on a glorified earth for all eternity. And that’s a sample!

We have a great deal of divine blessing to anticipate.

And just like the anticipation of buying your first house motivates coupon-cutting and diligent saving, so too what we, as God’s people, anticipate in the future motivates what we’re willing do and endure in the present.

Jacob and Joseph: remembering, extending, and anticipating the blessings of God. 

It really is the perfect ending to a book of the Bible that holds the blessings of God up as its primary theme. These final three chapters add the exclamation point to ensure you and I don’t miss the point: God has blessed us to be a blessing to others.

So how do we grow in our intentionality to remember, extend, and anticipate God’s blessings like Jacob and Joseph? 

My wife and I are at a stage of life right now where we find ourselves constantly trying to reign in the growing independence in our kids and, when out for walks, having to remind them constantly to “look both ways, before you cross the street.” 

I think God wants to remind us of something similar this week. You and I need to Look both ways, then cross the street! 

We noticed Jacob and Joseph looking backward and looking forward and looking outward. I want to suggest that we follow suit, that we look both ways (backward and forward) then cross the street (looking outward).

And one way I think we can do this is by dedicating one devotion this week to each direction, three in total. 

If you’re already in the habit of spending time with the Lord in prayer and Bible reading on a daily (or near-daily) basis, perhaps set aside three of those planned sessions for what I’m about to suggest or add this to your current pattern.

If you’re not in the habit of spending time with God on a regular basis, consider this an opportunity to start.

Day 1: Look back and worship through remembrance. On that day, re-read Genesis 48:11, meditate on it, and use it as a launchpad to your own time of reflection. 

Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.” 

Where in your life has God blessed you? Has he provided for you? Has he been gracious to you? I’ll give you a hint, if you’re saved, that’s a good place to start. But don’t stop there! Look back and worship through remembrance.

Day 2: Look ahead and worship through anticipation. 

For this, re-read 49:33: “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.”

Unless Christ returns, we will all, at some point, draw up our feet and breath our last. What has God promised to us who are in Christ will happen after that? For Christians, this life, no matter how good it has been to you, is the worst it will ever be! Spend time thinking about the promises that await and let your anticipation grow. Look ahead and worship through anticipation.

Finally, Day 3: Look out, i.e., “across the street” and worship through extending. 

Here look at 50:21, in which Joseph is speaking to his brothers: “So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.”

Fuelled by our worship through remembering and anticipating, we now worship through extending. How can I bless another today? Who has God brought into my life? How can I be a blessing to those around me?

Three days, three verses, three directions. 

God is reminding us, brothers and sisters, to look both ways, then cross the street; to look back at what he’s done, look forward at what he’s promised, and inso doing, look outward at what we’re called to do, bless others, by his power and for the glory of his great name.