The last two blessings that Jacob gave were directed to the
sons of his beloved wife, Rachel…
11. JOSEPH
Joseph’s blessing was one of the longest, just like Judah’s
blessing. It’s no wonder, since they were the two that received the rights of
the firstborn in Jacob’s family.
Joseph’s blessing was also related to his name. In Hebrew,
his name is “Yoseph”, which means: he will add.
(Genesis 49:22) Joseph is a
fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall.
With Joseph, the Lord added a son to Jacob’s family. But his
name turned out to be prophetic, because everything he touched prospered.
Joseph’s life was known to be fruitful and very productive, which was a great
blessing, not just for himself but also for those around him. The blessing
spoke about this…
(Gen. 49: 25-26) 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.
This blessing mentioned several names of God:
- Powerful of Jacob (heb. Abir Yaacov)
- Pastor (heb. Ra’ah)
- Rock of Israel (heb. Eben Yisrael)
- God (heb. El)
- Almighty (heb. Shaddai)
Although Joseph went through many afflictions and setbacks
throughout his life, he never forgot about God. He knew who God was, and that
acknowledgement helped him overcome any adversity, which is also reflected in
the blessing his father gave him.
(Gen. 49:23-24) 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),
The blessing that Moses gave to Joseph’s descendents also
talks about prosperity:
(Deu. 33:13-17) And of Joseph
he said, “Blessed by the LORD be his land, with the choicest gifts of heaven
above, and of the deep that crouches beneath, (14) with the choicest fruits of
the sun and the rich yield of the months, (15) with the finest produce of the
ancient mountains and the abundance of the everlasting hills, (16) with the
best gifts of the earth and its fullness and the favor of him who dwells in the
bush. May these rest on the head of Joseph, on the pate of him who is prince
among his brothers. (17) A firstborn bull—he has majesty, and his horns are the
horns of a wild ox; with them he shall gore the peoples, all of them, to the
ends of the earth; they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the
thousands of Manasseh.”
As we mentioned before, Joseph was given the birthright of
the firstborn, instead of Reuben (1 Cro. 5:1). The firstborn received a double
portion; that is why Joseph had the right of having two tribes. His two oldest
sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were adopted as Jacob’s sons, and were given the
right of making up two tribes of the people of Israel. Both tribes were very
prosperous and fruitful.
Manasseh received the biggest territory out of all the
tribes, on both sides of the Jordan River.
Ephraim received a smaller but crucial land, since it was in
the heart of Israel. Out of this tribe came important leaders, one of which was
Joshua.
When the nation of Israel was divided in two, Ephraim stayed
as leader in the tribes of the north, and he got the name of Israel, which was
part of the rights of the firstborn. (The leader of the tribes of the South was
Judah, out of which come the Jews).
The issue with the tribe of Ephraim is that they did not
drive out all of the Canaanites that were in their assigned portion. They
complained to Joshua that they didn’t have enough land for the amount of people
that they had. But as we will see, the issue was not the amount of land, but
something else…
(Jos. 17:13-18) Now when the
people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did
not utterly drive them out. (14) Then the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua,
saying, “Why have you given me but one lot and one portion as an inheritance,
although I am a numerous people, since all along the LORD has blessed
me?” (15) And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up by
yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of
the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow
for you.” (16) The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough
for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron,
both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of
Jezreel.” (17) Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and
Manasseh, “You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have
one allotment only, (18) but the hill country shall be yours, for though
it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you
shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though
they are strong.”
Instead of expelling them, they made them into slaves.
(Judg. 1:28-29) When Israel
grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out
completely. (29) And Ephraim did not
drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer
among them.
This is what the Psalm refers to when it talks about
Ephraim:
(Ps. 78:9-11) The
Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle. (10)
They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law.
(11) They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.
[In the study of “The Two Houses of Israel”
you can find the story of what happened with these two tribes of the sons of
Joseph].
12. BENJAMIN
Jacob’s final blessing to his youngest son was the
following:
(Gen. 49:27) “Benjamin is a
ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the
spoil.”
Again, Jacob uses an animal as an analogy for his blessing. Benjamin
was compared to a wolf. Jacob saw that his son had a warrior spirit; but just
as any skill, it could be used for good or for evil. In Benjamin’s case, his fierceness
risked crossing the fine line of being used in violence, like it happened in
the time of the judges…
a. Defending justice:
Ehud the Emancipator
During the time of the judges, the Lord raised a brave and
astute man from the tribe of Benjamin to free the Israelites from the
oppression of the Moabites.
(Judg. 3:14-26) And the people
of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. (15) Then the people of
Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up for them a
deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The
people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. (16) And Ehud
made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound
it on his right thigh under his clothes. (17) And he presented the tribute to
Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. (18) And when Ehud had
finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the
tribute. (19) But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and
said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.”
And all his attendants went out from his presence. (20) And Ehud came to
him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a
message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. (21) And Ehud
reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it
into his belly. (22) And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the
fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and
the dung came out. (23) Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed
the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them. (24) When he had
gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber
were locked, they thought, “Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the
cool chamber.” (25) And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when
he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and
opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor. (26) Ehud escaped while
they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah.
b. Horrendous
violence: in Gibeah
During the time of the judges, there was another violent
incident that involved the tribe of Benjamin. But in this case, it was an
injustice, instead of defending justice. What happened in Gibeah, one of
Benjamin’s towns, is one of the most violent and repulsive stories in all of
Israel’s history.
(Judg. 19:15-25) And they turned
aside there, to go in and spend the night at Gibeah. And he went in and sat
down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to
spend the night. (16) And behold, an old man was coming from his work in the
field at evening. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was
sojourning in Gibeah. The men of the place were Benjaminites. (17) And he
lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city. And the
old man said, “Where are you going? And where do you come from?” (18) And
he said to him, “We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of
the hill country of Ephraim, from which I come. I went to Bethlehem in Judah,
and I am going to the house of the Lord, but no one has taken me into his
house. (19) We have straw and feed for our donkeys, with bread and wine
for me and your female servant and the young man with your servants. There is
no lack of anything.” (20) And the old man said, “Peace be to you; I will
care for all your wants. Only, do not spend the night in the square.” (21)
So he brought him into his house and gave the donkeys feed. And they washed
their feet, and ate and drank. (22) As they were making their hearts merry,
behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating
on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out
the man who came into your house, that we may know him.” (23) And the man,
the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers,
do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this
vile thing. (24) Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me
bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but
against this man do not do this outrageous thing.” (25) But the men would
not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them.
And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn
began to break, they let her go.
The people from this town acted in a similar manner to the
people from Sodom and Gomorrah.
When they heard of the repulsive thing that had been done in
that place, the other tribes of Israel rose against the men of that town. But
instead of doing what was just, the rest of the tribe of Benjamin stood in
defense of that town in their region. This began a civil war that almost ended
in the extinction of the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. 20).
* Benjamin’s Land
The land assigned to the tribe of Benjamin was located in a
strategic place, in between the two leading tribes: Judah and Ephraim (Jos.
18:11-29).
In their territory, there were several important cities:
Jericho, Bethel, Gibeon, Ramah, and Mizpeh, but without a doubt the most famous
one was Jerusalem. Many people think that Jerusalem was in Judah’s territory,
but the truth is that it was in the border of both tribes, on the side of
Benjamin’s land (Jos. 18:28). However, who took this land from the Jebusites
was not the Benjamites but David, who is from the tribe of Judah.
Moses’s blessing to the tribe of Benjamin is related to the
Temple that will be built in Jerusalem, the most important city in Benjamin’s
land.
(Deu. 33:12) Of Benjamin he
said, “The beloved of the LORD dwells in safety. The High God surrounds
him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.”
THEY ARE ALL CHOSEN
Not all of Abraham’s or all of Isaac’s sons were included in
the selection of God’s people. But the selection process ended with Jacob,
since all of his sons were chosen to take part of the people of Israel.
(Gen. 49:28) 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.
After blessing his sons and fulfilling the purpose of his
life, Jacob breathed his last breath.
(Gen. 49:33) When Jacob
finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his
last and was gathered to his people.
It was as if he was waiting for the opportunity to bless his
sons before dying. But he didn’t die before telling his sons where he wanted to
be buried, which we will see in the next chapter…
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