Read Selected Scriptures from Gen. 47-48

·       47:7: Truly, as the writer of Hebrews put it, surely the lesser is blessed by the greater (Heb. 7:7).  The Hebrew word is “barak,” having the root idea of kneeling, and thus exalting a person.  In this case, the “greater” is God’s chosen man, Jacob.  He had come to Pharaoh’s land, lived off of Pharaoh’s abundance during the first two years of famine, and was now seeking permission to live in Pharaoh’s land.   Pharaoh might have thought he was the one blessing Jacob, but then Pharaoh had come to know of the family of Jacob through Joseph who had been a mighty blessing to Pharaoh and all of Egypt.

·       47:13: The famine, sent by God, as part of His great plan to make Abraham’s name great, may have extended far and wide, but of concern to God’s plan to bring the Savior to the world through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the lands of Egypt and Canaan are mentioned here.  We should remember this.  The latter days involve the entire world, but the geographical focus of attention is Israel!

·       47:20: Note that Joseph imposed a 20% tax, after having taken all the real property of the Egyptians and giving it to Pharaoh.  Joseph might have trouble winning election in the United States, but the Egyptians were happy with the situation.  They were in a much better situation than the nations around them.

·       48:5,22: This was a way for Jacob to give Joseph the double-portion without irritating the others, with the possible exception of Reuben.  He was the actual “firstborn” but lost the right through his own indiscretion.

·       48:14: Jacob “knowingly” crossed his hands, blessing the younger Ephraim over the older Manasseh.  There is a load of irony in this, or better, a load of “lesson learned.”  Jacob was younger and God had promised him the ascendency over Esau.  But Jacob had, with his mother, schemed to gain Isaac’s blessing.  Perhaps Jacob is acknowledging he did not have to take matters into his own hands, that God would have worked out the fulfillment of His word.

·       48:16,20ab: Again, of the two words/ideas of blessing in the OT, barak means to exalt someone (the other idea being to make someone happy or prosperous). 

·       48:19: I see this fulfilled through the strength of the tribes coming from these two sons.  The Pulpit Commentary gives a literal translation, in the fullness of the nations.  In other words, they were like nations.  In the censuses, Ephraim was larger than Manasseh at first (Num. 1), but before entering the land Manasseh was larger (Num. 26).  When the land was given to the tribes, Manasseh received two large parcels, but Ephraim became dominant in the northern Ten Tribes.  Joshua was an Ephraimite.  The strength of Ephraim is seen in several stories in the Judges, and they take the lead in the north during the time of the divided kingdom.