Transcript
Scott (0:00)
Foreign.
Shelby (0:05)
Hey, you're listening to A Year in the Bible With Daily Grace. I'm Shelby and I'm here with Scott. And we're in Genesis chapters 46 through 48. Today, we've seen some kind of reconciliation and redemption in Joseph's story. And we're going to continue pulling that thread through these chapters today. Can you break down what's happening for us, Scott?
Scott (0:26)
Yeah. It's the penultimate episode of Genesis. Shall we? Winding down? Yeah, yeah. These final chapters, I think it's important to have a couple of moments in mind from earlier in Genesis. First was that promise way back in chapter three of this offspring from the woman who would come and crush the head of the serpent, someone who would come and undo the effects of the fall. You know, we talked about how that promise gained more clarity when we got to Abraham. So it's like someone from this family will be that offspring who will bring blessing to all the nations of the world. So, you know, God had promised a great nation to Abraham. He promised to give that nation, this land, the land of Canaan to dwell in. And then ultimately, like I said, to bless all the nations of the earth. And those promises are really near the surface in these final chapters of Genesis. For example, at the beginning of Genesis 46, which we're in today, Jacob is leaving the promised land to go to Egypt. God told him to do this on his way out of town. You know, right before he leaves that land, God appears to him and he tells Jacob, remember, Jacob's name is Israel. He tells him that he will make him into a great nation while they are staying in Egypt, which I think is, you know, you get that promise from Abraham. So they're going to become a great nation. That's going to happen in Egypt. When Jacob arrives, I think this is cool, too. He meets Pharaoh. We read and text, mentions this a couple times about how Jacob blesses Pharaoh. And you know, that that may have been somewhat of just a polite greeting, but it's in. In the context of Genesis, I think we're meant to see a little bit more in the way that that's phrased that Pharaoh is being blessed by this man. This other nation's leader is being blessed. So we see just another hint of that promise made to Abraham coming to fruition. Oh, and then at the end of chapter 47, we have this beautiful moment where Jacob makes Joseph promise to. To bury him, not in Egypt, but back in the land of Canaan, back in that cave that we talked about a few episodes ago, where Abraham, Sarah, and Now is Isaac have been buried.
Shelby (2:30)
Yeah. So then we get to chapter 48. And what's going on here in this chapter?
Scott (2:37)
That's a great question. Yeah, you know, Manasseh and Ephraim. What's. What's going on here? So, yeah, after Joseph was released in prison and, you know, he was made second in command, we read about him having these two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and what's really happening in chapter 48. And then we'll see tomorrow in chapter 49. It all really has to do with the inheritance of each of Jacob's sons. And a huge part of that inheritance was land, like the land that they would possess when God brought them back up to the land of Canaan. Essentially, what's happening here in 48 is that Jacob is transferring the rights of the firstborn to Joseph. It had been Reuben. He was the oldest. We'll talk about why he doesn't get those tomorrow. But he is. He is now giving the firstborn rights to Joseph. And typically, in this day, the firstborn would receive, like, a double portion of their father's inheritance. So twice as much as the other brothers. He's given that to Joseph, but he's doing this in kind of a roundabout way. So the way in which Jacob would give Joseph a double share was to adopt these two sons as his own sons. So Manasseh and Ephraim are no longer Jacob's grandkids. They're his legal sons. So legally, they're as much his sons as Simeon or Judah or Benjamin. That's why if you're to look at a map of, like, the 12 tribes of Israel and kind of what land they possess, you don't see a tribe of Joseph. You see a tribe of Manasseh, and you see a tribe of Ephraim, which is kind of interesting. And Ephraim in particular was a very, very prominent tribe of the twelve tribes of Israel. So Joseph's been a prominent figure throughout this final section of Genesis, as we've seen. And really, by adopting Manasseh and Ephraim, Jacob ensures that Joseph will continue to play a prominent role among his people for a lot of generations to come.