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Lesson 16: Israel’s Blessing

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Mark Twombly

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Summary

This lesson wraps up a series on the Patriarchs by examining Genesis 49 and the opening of Exodus, focusing on Jacob’s prophetic blessings over his sons and God’s faithfulness across generations. We are reminded that God’s purposes are always accomplished, even through flawed and broken vessels, and that He chose Judah’s line—not the expected Joseph—to bring forth the Messiah.

Key Lessons:

  1. God’s choices consistently defy human expectations—choosing younger sons, unlikely leaders, and broken people to accomplish His eternal purposes.
  2. Jacob’s prophetic blessings reveal that our words, actions, and faithfulness (or lack thereof) have generational consequences for good or for ill.
  3. God fulfills every promise—both blessings and warnings—as seen in Israel’s multiplication in Egypt and their enslavement, both of which were foretold to Abraham.
  4. The prophecy of Judah in Genesis 49 finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Lamb who was slain, confirming the unity of Scripture.

Application: We are called to align our purposes with God’s purposes, to sow seeds of faithfulness for future generations, to confess and repent openly when we fail, and to place our confidence not in human achievement but in God’s sovereign grace and mercy.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does understanding that God chose unlikely and flawed people throughout redemptive history change the way you view your own usefulness to God?
  2. In what ways are you intentionally sowing spiritual seeds for future generations in your family and community?
  3. How should the reality that God keeps both His promises of blessing and His warnings of judgment shape the way you read and respond to Scripture?

Scripture Focus: Genesis 49:8-12 (Jacob’s blessing on Judah prophesying the Messiah’s lineage), Revelation 5:5-8 (Jesus as the Lion of Judah and the Lamb), Genesis 15:5-6, 13-16 (God’s promises to Abraham of multiplication and enslavement), Psalm 78:5-8 (generational faithfulness), and Deuteronomy 7:7-11 (God’s sovereign, unmerited love).

Outline

Introduction

Good morning. Welcome to May 11th, 2025.

The year’s going quick. Today we wrap up our series in the Patriarchs right before Pastor Dave brings us through Church History 102, which should be really interesting.

That’s going to cover the so-called dark ages. As I reflected on our lesson today, we see God’s faithfulness shining through, don’t we? Regardless of the times, that is probably our biggest theme as we walk through today’s passage.

Let me give us a few verses to get us going. Here’s the key verse from Genesis 49:

Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Gather together that I may tell you what will befall you in the last days. Assemble together here, O sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father.”

Someone’s last words as they are facing death have a particular weight, don’t they? Have you noticed that in some of your families and friends? I particularly noticed this as a young man serving and doing some hospital visitation.

My counsel to people is this: if an older godly saint who is dying and you have a chance to visit them, drop everything and do it. What God gives them to say as they’ve got eternity in view is gold. It’s not scripture necessarily, right? Unless they’re quoting scripture, but it’s so profitable.

I would just encourage you if you have those kinds of opportunities to do that. That’s the kind of scenario we have here today with Jacob and his sons.

Now, one of the things I’d like to do today is highlight how God is so good in his word. Not only does he give us the whole flow of scripture from Genesis to Revelation, but at certain times he reflects back and helps us understand its significance and meaning. There are several passages like that I’m going to point out today.

God’s Purposes Across Generations

But I’d just like to highlight a couple before we pray. Psalm 78 is a long psalm that gives something of a history of Israel that’s so profitable that I’m going to recommend actually that you read this after our lesson.

But let me just read this for you. For he established a testimony in Jacob, and set a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and recount them to their children, that they should set their confidence in God, and not forget the deeds of God, but observe his commandments, and not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

I’ve highlighted several words there. These are statements of purpose, right? These are the reasons for which God acted in the way he did in history.

And I would just challenge us this morning. Do you and I think about that? Do you and I understand God’s purposes as we face the many challenges of our lives?

“That they should set their confidence in God, and not forget the deeds of God.”

Have you made his purpose your purpose? Right? Revolving everything we do around what he wants.

God’s purposes are always accomplished. To the extent that we revolve our purposes around his, we will be successful because God is at work. So I commend that to you today.

God’s Sovereign Choice

Another one a little bit further on in Psalm 78. But he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved, and he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth, which he has founded forever. He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds from following the nursing ewes. He brought him to shepherd Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.

So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and led them with his skillful hands. I highlighted the words “chose.” I think we’ve seen this in our series, and we’ll see it as we wrap up today that God chose his people in a way that we would not.

“God has chosen a flawed and unworthy people, and He’s chosen us even who are flawed and unworthy.”

Amen. For his purposes and for his glory. We’ll see that theme continuing today. God has chosen a flawed and unworthy people and nations, and he’s chosen us even who are flawed and unworthy.

There’s a sense in which we don’t want to follow their negative example, but there’s a sense in which we can be really encouraged that God would use people like that and people like us.

All right. There’s the ultimate purpose I see in Ephesians 2. God has worked all of these things in salvation so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

That is the point of all of creation.

Opening Prayer

God is showing off himself. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m sometimes not thrilled at all the ways that he does that. But we’re not his counselor. He is ours.

And with that in mind, let’s pray. Father, praise you for your purpose from eternity past into eternity future. That we might know and love and put our confidence in and glorify you for our good, the good of our families, our communities, our workplaces, our schools, our nation.

Father, help capture our hearts with these wonderful realities that we might live with newfound energy and that we might live in response to your will and call in our lives. May we live in the light of your presence and act in alignment with these glorious purposes.

Would you transform us even this morning by your word unfolded in Jesus’ name?

Amen. Amen.

Lesson Outline and Method

All right. So, our lesson outline, it’s really always the same. We’re trying to demonstrate and teach for you good inductive Bible study methods. And so, these are things that you can apply as you interact with passages of scripture, right? We’re going to give you the scriptural and historical background.

We’ve already started to do that just a little bit. We’re going to make some observations. What does the text say? Interpretation and correlation. What does it mean? And how do other scriptures clarify its meaning? And we’ll have a bit of Q&A. We’re going to save that toward the end. If you’ve got some questions, I may ask you some specific questions throughout, but we’ll do that primarily at the end today. And then, of course, the most important part, application, right?

“Not just simply know it, but to obey it.”

That’s part of our great commission.

What did Jesus say? That we might teach everyone to obey all that he commanded.

Not just simply know it, but to obey it.

And I’ll be honest with you, I I I love how there’s a lot of complexities in scripture. There’s a lot of questions that are even remain unanswered. But I believe that what we are to do and how we are to to obey is not confusing, right? Particularly if we are willing to obey, that just opens up the meaning to us. And so, may we be encouraged by that today. All right. Turn in your Bibles if you would to Genesis 49. Genesis 49.

Redemptive History Overview

While I give some background to that. Now, you may have heard these four categories of how Christians have historically described what we call the redemptive flow of history. It’s normally four stages, right? We start with creation. We go to the fall, which comes pretty quickly. Things went sideways from a human perspective pretty early on.

Redemption is most of the flow of the Bible, and then consummation, the end times. I found those things to be really, really helpful. I don’t know if you ever go to a large mall. I really don’t like malls at all, but when I go to one, I really like that big poster or banner that shows a map of where everything is and has a little dot usually that says, “You are here.” It’s super helpful, right?

That’s kind of what we’re doing today with the redemptive flow of history and walking through this. It’s very important whenever you read a passage of scripture to know where you are in redemptive history. Hopefully this will help.

I love this illustration from Answers in Genesis. I first became aware of this when we visited the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter in Kentucky, which if you haven’t gone, put that on your bucket list. It’s amazing and very clear about how the gospel comes through in all of this and God’s redemptive purposes.

They break it up into seven categories which I find really helpful. We have creation, corruption—sin entered the world pretty quickly. Then later on, catastrophe—we have the flood. And then confusion—the Tower of Babel, God’s means of dispersing the peoples, creating languages and peoples to scatter throughout the earth because men were not obeying that command to scatter.

Fast forward to Christ, our redeemer, salvation, the finished work of Christ on the cross, and then finally, consummation, his return, which we’re in Revelation right now. We’re hearing a lot about that from the pulpit. Seeing those seven categories is super helpful.

Whenever you read a passage of scripture, most of the time you’ll be in the redemption aspect between Christ and the cross. That’s most of human history. But it’s so helpful to know where you are when you read.

These are just a couple passages that I recommend for you to get that flow of history. I mentioned Psalm 78. Psalm 105 is similar. Acts 7 is where Stephen, who is about to be martyred, walks through the history of Israel and then brings it right to Christ and the cross. These are great passages for you to reflect on as you think about redemptive history—kind of cheat sheets if you will—to help us understand the flow of scripture.

“It’s very important whenever you read a passage of scripture to know where you are in redemptive history.”

Background: Jacob’s Family in Egypt

All right. As we hit our passage today, we recognize that God used a famine to bring Jacob and his family to Egypt where Joseph could provide food for them. You can even go back to the flood and the Tower of Babel. God has his ways of moving people against their will, right? It wasn’t their idea to scatter and move in those ways, but it was God’s plan and purpose.

I think we do well to remember that as we walk through the minutia of our lives. God has his ways of moving us both physically and in our characters.

Jacob lived in Egypt for 17 years before he died. He blessed Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and named them as his own sons, giving Joseph a double portion in his inheritance. Israel also gave a special blessing to Ephraim, Joseph’s younger son, which displeased Joseph.

We see this pattern of God going against the cultural or natural order to choose and to favor as he will for his purposes. And we will see that continue in our passage today.

God often chose a younger son to receive the blessing of the firstborn as he did with Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, and Ephraim over Manasseh. This was against the cultural norms of the day. As we see in the New Testament, Jesus telling us very clearly the first shall be last and the last first.

I think God does that so that we will not put our stock, our confidence in human achievement or human title but in the Lord himself, right?

“God has His ways of moving us both physically and in our characters.”

The blessings Jacob gave in Genesis 49 are prophetic regarding his sons’ future tribes. We’re going to read that in just a couple minutes. As he done before, God chose a younger son to receive a greater blessing. In this case, that younger son was Judah. An unlikely choice.

I think if we see the history correctly, Judah had received the leadership position of the firstborn, which did not go to Reuben because of his instability and his affair with his father’s concubine Bilha. Reuben gave up that privilege through his actions.

Blessings and Warnings for Future Generations

Israel’s blessings warned that his son’s actions would affect their descendants. This is very sobering to read. You saw in Psalm 78 the generational impact of the gospel. God has given his word so that we might teach the next generation and the next generation and the next generation. It’s the faithfulness of men and women who came before us, which is why we’re here today.

It’s very sobering to think that even when we’re gone, our actions and the seeds that we sow affect future generations for good or for bad. And yet in all of that, God’s purposes still stand. I’m really banking on that because praise the Lord, he’s enabled me to be faithful in many ways, but I’ve made a lot of mistakes as well. And the Lord is a gracious God.

The patriarchs died without seeing all of God’s promises fulfilled, but they had faith and hope that these things would come to pass. We see that in Jacob’s words to his sons. The goal of Israel’s message to his sons was to encourage them to live their lives in purity and holiness for God and their future generations, not comfortably in Egypt, but to Canaan to claim God’s promises.

The growth of the tribes and their enslavement in Egypt were steps in God’s perfect plan to prepare the Israelites to be his chosen people, a nation of priests. While it was great that God had preserved their lives in Egypt, I think they thought that was great. But the future enslavement was not necessarily something that was prophesied, and I don’t know that it was really kept in mind. Certainly in many ways, it was not appreciated or thought of in terms of God’s redemptive plan.

“Our actions and the seeds that we sow affect future generations for good or for bad.”

It’s interesting as we think about God’s promises. There are blessings and there are curses. There’s positive and there’s negative. We tend to focus on the positive. Well, God keeps his promises. Great. God keeps his promises.

Reading Genesis 49: Jacob’s Prophetic Blessings

Be very soberly warned as well because there are consequences to the warnings that he gives. With that in mind, let me read Genesis 49. I’m going to read all the way through verse 27. We’re going to dive deep into just a selection of those verses today, but I thought it would be helpful for us to hear the whole flow and all his words to all of his sons.

Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Gather together that I may tell you what will befall you in these last days.

Assemble together and hear, O sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father.

Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my vigor, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in strength, uncontrolled as water. You shall not have preeminence because you went up to your father’s bed. Then you defiled it. He went up to my couch.

Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are implements of violence. Let not my soul enter into their counsel.

Let not my glory be united with their assembly. Because in their anger they killed men, and in their self-will they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath for it is cruel. I will divide them amongst Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

Judah, as for you, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion’s whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches. He lies down as a lion and as a lioness. Who dares rouse him up?

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes. And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine. He washes his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are dark from wine, and his teeth white from milk.

Genesis 49:10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes.”

Zebulun will dwell at the seashore, and he shall be a shore for ships, and his flank shall be toward Sidon. Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds, and he saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant. So he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens, and became a slave at forced labor.

Dan shall render justice to his people. And as one of the tribes of Israel, Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path that bites the horse’s heels, so that his rider falls backward. For your salvation, I hope, O Yahweh.

As for Gad, raiders shall raid him, but he will raid at their heels. As for Asher, his food shall be rich, and he will yield royal dainties. Naphtali is a doe let loose. He gives beautiful words.

Joseph is a fruitful bow, a fruitful bow by a spring. Its branches run over a wall, and the archers bitterly attacked him and shot at him, and they bore a grudge against him. But his bow remained firm, and his arms were agile. From the hands of the mighty one of Jacob, from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.

From the God of your father who helps you and by the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath. Blessings of the breasts and of the womb and blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors. Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. May they be the head of Joseph and on the top of the head of one distinguished among his brothers.

Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning, he devours the prey, and in the evening, he divides the spoil. So you see a combination of both blessings and warnings in those words.

Receiving a Father’s Words

And I like to think about what how those sons would have heard or received those words, right? They might have been surprised. They might not have been surprised. My father’s reminding me of some things that I’ve done that were sinful in the past to warn me.

I see, for example, Simeon and Levi. Boy, I can really relate to the warning of anger there. That’s a stern warning.

“Someone’s last words as they face death have a particular weight.”

The Generational Impact of Our Words

And it’s interesting. We’ve talked about how Joseph—there was really nothing negative said. That’s really interesting. You would think that he would be the most likely to be the ruler, but God had different plans.

As we think about this, let’s dive deep into several of these for our purposes this morning. What is the purpose of Jacob calling his sons together? We’ve alluded to this. He intended to tell them what was going to happen in the future. He was going to prophesy over them.

I think you can start to see in this passage that he’s not talking just about their lifetimes, but their descendants as well. As dads and moms, that’s really something to think about. For good or bad, our words—even more importantly, our example—impact future generations.

I’ll just say a few words personally about that.

Judah’s Blessing: Praise and Military Strength

That keeps me really dependent upon the Lord, really leaning on him because I know, and I’ve known this for a long time since the kids were little, that I don’t have everything that it takes to be the kind of dad I need to be. So I lean on him.

To be very honest about where we sin, right, dads and moms, you can confess and repent and ask your kids for forgiveness. That’s gospel, isn’t it? That’s sewing seeds of the gospel into their lives.

Sorry that’s not on my notes but it’s on my heart to say to you today. Each of these ideas is talking about Judah himself. We’re referring right now to verses 8 through 12, Judah specifically. We’ve alluded to this, so the answer is not necessarily, but they refer to Judah’s descendants—the tribe that will come from his lineage.

We’re going to actually go to Revelation in a bit where it unfolds that quite specifically for us. What was promised to Judah in verse 8? You can look at it and see his brothers would praise him. This is interesting because they had already experienced this with Joseph. This seems unlikely, but this was God’s plan.

His brothers would praise him. This is actually a poetic play on his name since his name means praise, right? And we’ll see—I think we’ll even see in our sermon today—the term Judah repeated throughout the scriptures.

What did the prophecy indicate about Judah’s relationship to his enemies?

“As dads and moms, our words and our example impact future generations.”

The idiom “your hand shall be on the neck” indicated Judah’s military prowess and how he would hold the life of his enemies in his hand. Right? So there is military strength here. There is frankly killing in the name of justice and some—not always, but certainly—to do God’s bidding in terms of the nations.

“His brothers would praise him—a poetic play on his name, since Judah means praise.”

The Lion and the Scepter

What does the imagery in verses 9-10 tell us? It’s loaded with imagery, primarily of a lion and a scepter, both of which indicate strength, kingship, rule, and authority. I think of Western civilization, particularly in Britain. If you see these coats of armor and these symbols of the kings, they most often have a lion because a lion is seen as a symbol of strength and of rule, right? He’s the king of beasts, right?

“Both a lion and a scepter indicate strength, kingship, rule, and authority.”

Some strange lines are going through my mind about Lion King, my favorite Disney movie. I’ve never seen a king of beasts with quite so little hair. He had to grow into that role, certainly as Judah did.

Shiloh: The Coming Messiah

That’s not in my notes. That’s kind of fun. I like that. How long will Judah’s reign be? And this is really interesting.

Shiloh here is a proper name which literally means “he whose it is” and is commonly understood to refer to the coming Messiah, not just Judah himself. Revelation 5:5, we’ll get there shortly, reminds us that Jesus—yes, this is a prophecy of Jesus. He’s the lion that is from the tribe of Judah.

And this was prophesied in First Kings where God said to David that his throne would be eternal. So interesting. So interesting. What does the—did I lose my mic? Sorry guys.

“Shiloh literally means ‘he whose it is’ and is commonly understood to refer to the coming Messiah.”

Imagery of Abundance and Health

Good. Can you hear me? All right. What does the imagery in verses 11 and 12 indicate about Judah? This is imagery of abundance and health. This is very interesting. I mean, we see some very interesting phrases here that are not necessarily royal, right?

The imagery of abundance and health. If donkeys are allowed to eat your choice vines, you must have an abundance of food. Dark eyes and white teeth would be signs of health and vigor when contrasted to weak eyes and discolored teeth.

So we see many images here of strength with Judah. Now, let’s go to Revelation 5:8.

“If donkeys are allowed to eat your choice vines, you must have an abundance of food.”

Revelation 5: The Lion and the Lamb

Turn there if you will. There are some rich nuggets we want to derive from there. Revelation 5:5-8. Let me go ahead and read those for us.

“And one of the elders said to me, ‘Stop crying. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the scroll and its seven seals.’ Then I saw in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

And he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sits on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each one having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

Isn’t it interesting that our Messiah is represented as both a lion and a lamb?

“Our Messiah is represented as both a lion and a lamb.”

Incredible. I’ve answered your question already. Who is being referred to as the one who can open the scroll?

Three Names for Jesus

The elder speaking is referring to Jesus as the one who takes the scroll from the Father seated on the throne. What three names are given to him? We see this in verses 5-6: the line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, and the Lamb.

What is a song that has this in it? I can’t remember the name of the song, but we do sing a song with these lyrics in it, don’t we? “Who is worthy? Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole?” That song. Yeah, that’s directly from this passage. Beautiful.

“No one is worthy but the Lion and the Lamb.”

And no one is worthy but the lion and the lamb. All right. How does this line reference relate to the passage in Genesis 49:9-10? I think it’s pretty direct, right?

David’s Line and the Tribe of Judah

It is relating Jesus as the line of the tribe of Judah, which is the direct language used in Israel’s prophecy. It’s almost as if this library was written by a single author. Isn’t it? It’s amazing how that comes together. Just beautiful. Really bolsters our faith.

What do we learn about the connection? Let’s go to one other passage in just a single verse: 1 Samuel 17:12.

It’s so interesting. If any of you are reading through the Bible this year and you’re going through the Bible chronologically, you’re probably in a combination of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. I think what you recognize there is it’s pretty messy, is it not? It’s really messy.

I think the message for us is to see the faithfulness of God in all of that. Now, David was the son of the Ephrothite of Bethlehem and Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons.

“It’s almost as if this library was written by a single author.”

And Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men. This is a very important genealogical statement here for us. We see that David was in the tribe of Judah. It’s very clear.

How was Jesus connected to David? I think we’re establishing that, right? Jesus’s parents, both earthly parents, Joseph and Mary, were from the tribe of Judah and the line of David. This explains the reference of Jesus being the root of David in Revelation 5:5.

I just have to stop and think about how amazing all of this is. You realize you can’t thwart God’s purposes and plans, right? God is working marvelously through all of that.

I’m probably violating what I should be doing as a teacher. I’m supposed to stay right in the observation category and then get to interpretation. But please bear with me as I make some comments that I hope are edifying and helpful.

We know that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob a land, a great nation, and a seed who would bless all nations. That seed is Christ. That’s explicit in the New Testament.

Of all of Jacob’s sons, we might have expected the seed, the Messiah, to come through the line of Joseph, who became Egyptian royalty. But that is not the case. We’ve established that to this point here. We have a clear indication that it was through Judah that the Messiah would come.

David’s kingdom ultimately fell and there is no man on his throne today. There hasn’t been a king in Israel since 607 BC. So how is God’s promise in effect? It’s through the one who would come, the one to whom tribute would come, the one to whom all nations will bow, who will rule over all people.

God’s Unlikely Choices and Sovereign Mercy

It’s Jesus. That’s how it will come. And I think about the intertestamental period, right? The time after Israel fell. And you had some 400 plus years before John the Baptist and Jesus came.

One can only imagine what was going through the leaders of Israel’s minds. Are God’s promises true? Are they true? And it is through Jesus, the Messiah, the line of the tribe of Judah, that the promise remains.

He is seated right now at the Father’s right hand, ruling from heaven, and one day he will return as king of kings to rule all nations. This is the consummation that was seen in the seven seals that we’re talking about.

I love how it talks about Jesus’ humiliation and exaltation in Philippians 2, which ends with this: at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now we bow now, not completely or as fully as we should, but we do. All creation will bow at the consummation.

And as Jacob blessed his sons, he prophesied over them. Yahweh revealed some elements of the future to Jacob and his sons. Through this blessing, some of the blessings were related to events from the past and continuing discipline for the sons’ disobedience, and others bestowed favor for no apparent reason other than Yahweh’s sovereign choice.

Right? We look at who we think is most qualified, and it’s not. I think we know this, right? It’s not a matter of qualification, human qualification, right? Romans 9:16.

Romans 9:16: “It is not a man who wills or a man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”

Praise the Lord. The fact that Yahweh chose Judah’s line to both rule over Israel and produce the Messiah is a reminder again of his mercy and grace. We don’t always get what we deserve.

I love it when I have a gospel conversation with someone. And we’re going to get into this a little bit as we talk about the entry into Egypt and what’s coming. That God’s not fair. You ever hear this from people? That’s just not fair.

I don’t think we want to get into the realm of fair when it comes to God. Fair does not help us, does it? Fair condemns us. Praise the Lord.

There’s a line from a Reliant K song. Anyone remember the Christian band Reliant K? I love this line. It says, “The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.” Yeah, it’s not fair.

God Uses Broken Vessels

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Here is yet another reminder that God works according to his plans and not ours, and that he uses cracked and broken vessels to dispense his grace.

“God works according to His plans and not ours, and uses cracked and broken vessels to dispense His grace.”

Amen. That’s all of us. The Lord uses us. I was reminded of this recently with the example of the Apostle Paul. He had some very glaring weaknesses, and I remember this one passage. I can’t summon the reference in my mind, but the criticism of him was that his words are weighty, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech is contemptible.

Great, fantastic, glory be to God. When we start being too impressed with people, that’s a problem. Glory to God that he uses broken and cracked vessels.

So, just a little bit of history here. I’m thinking about how these tribes were dispersed in the land of Israel. You see this in Genesis 48-49, the origin of the tribes. We’ve read most of chapter 49 today.

The Tribes Dispersed in the Land

If you fast forward to Numbers 34 and 35, that appoints and names the human leaders of all of these tribes. Then you fast forward even further to Joshua 13-21 and you see the distribution of the tribes throughout the land. This map simply shows that.

What’s really interesting is if you look at a map of Israel today, it’s a lot smaller than this. In particular, modern Israel does not—I don’t know if you can see the bodies of water there. The Dead Sea probably stands out to you most toward the bottom.

Nothing east of that today is part of the borders of Israel. So it’s really interesting—the borders that God has established versus what has transpired throughout history.

“It’s really interesting—the borders that God has established versus what has transpired throughout history.”

From Genesis to Exodus: Joseph’s Death and Israel’s Growth

That’s a whole other lesson. I was trying to look at various maps that would show that, and they’re really hard to find because it’s just so controversial politically. I found that really difficult to find.

And then, this is really more for when you get the slides and look at the notes. You can kind of see how the origin of the tribes and where they came from. This is from a book called Patterns of Evidence, which some of you may know about by Timothy Mahoney.

I think we showed one of the movies here at Calvary a number of years ago. It was excellent. And so you can see from there that Moses and Aaron come from the tribe, the priestly tribe of Levi. But that’s just kind of put in there for your reference when we send the slides out.

All right, turning your Bibles to the next chapter of Genesis. We’re going to just read the end of Genesis and the first few verses of Exodus. So we’ll start with Genesis 50:22.

Now, Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived 110 years. And Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons, also the sons of Makir, the son of Manasseh, who were born on Joseph’s knees.

And Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” So Joseph died at the age of 110 years, and they embalmed him, and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

We continue to Exodus 1. Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob. They came each one with his household: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

And all the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were 70 in number. But Joseph was already in Egypt. Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.

But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them. And a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.

Then he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.

Genesis 50:24: “God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

A New King and Enslavement

Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it be in the event of war that they also join themselves to those who hate us and fight against us and go up from the land. So they appointed task masters over them to afflict them with hard labors. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pitham and Ramses.

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied, and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel. So the Egyptians brutally compelled the sons of Israel to slave labor. And they made their lives bitter with hard slave labor in mortar and bricks and in all kinds of slave labor in the field. All their slave labor which they brutally compelled them to do.

How does verse 7 here in Exodus 1 relate to God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 15? If you’d like, you can take a quick look at it. Look at Genesis 15:5-6.

God’s word, every word of God, as it says in Proverbs, every word of God proves true.

“The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out.”

God’s Promise Fulfilled in Multiplication

And he brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” This is God speaking to Abraham.

And he said to him, “So shall your seed be.” Then he believed in Yahweh and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:6: “Then he believed in Yahweh and He counted it to him as righteousness.”

Right? We see that it’s interesting that you had a barren man for whom this became true. God is fulfilling his promises. Then look at verse 8. What function does verse 8 serve?

A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. This creates a potential conflict since Joseph was the reason that the Israelites had received honorable treatment in Egypt. That favor was about to end. It swung in the complete opposite direction from Joseph being second in command to all of Israel being put into slavery.

How much time had passed? We don’t know that for sure. But Genesis 50 told us that Joseph was 110 when he died. Since he was 39 when Israel moved to Egypt, it has been at least 70 years for the new king to have forgotten Joseph.

What might the term “arose” imply about this new king? He may have been the first in a new dynasty having risen to power. This also makes sense as he would not necessarily have the historical connection to Joseph.

It’s interesting that in these early days when Egypt is mentioned, the specific pharaohs are not mentioned. That doesn’t come until later in Israel’s history. I actually have a recommended reference for you to look that up to see who it was, but it was quite likely not Ramses as is portrayed in the Ten Commandments movie.

If you’re my age, you’ve probably seen that at least every year since you were a kid. It’s kind of seared in your mind and you have to put that out. How many of you have seen the Ten Commandments?

Oppression Backfires

Okay, the majority of us understand what I’m talking about. How did the king describe the Israelites in verse nine? Too many and too mighty, right? The Egyptians were scared at this point.

What plan did the king implement to deal with the threat? This has been tried over and over again in history. He enslaved them, setting task masters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens in order to control their numbers.

How did the plan work out? Really clear. The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied as if according to plan. There’s a verse in Proverbs that says a ruler who is a great oppressor lacks understanding. I think this is an example of this.

We’ve seen this throughout history as rulers have tried to oppress. Well, they killed Christ, right?

“The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied—as if according to plan.”

The rulers of the world killed Christ and have continued to oppress his people. Psalm 2 talks about that.

The nations have taken their stand against the Lord and his anointed. Well, how does God respond?

Anyone remember what it says next? He laughs. He who sits in the heavens laughs. He will put them in derision. I was reminded of a class that I took in college called God and Man in the USSR. Anyone remember what the USSR is? The Soviet Union.

God’s Promise of Enslavement and Deliverance

Really tried to keep Christianity under control. I think I may have mentioned this one time, and they actually tried to come up with the right mathematical formula to keep them in check. They recognized that too much oppression and they would multiply. Too little oppression and they would multiply. They just wanted to find that sweet spot, right?

And we actually saw a graph from the Soviet leaders. They kind of showed how this worked just to keep them under control. So we know that in history too much oppression actually is of a benefit, a benefit to God’s people.

What projects did the Israelites build? It says here the cities of Ramses and Pithom. I’m going to kind of get back to that a little bit because that I think has led to some historical misinterpretations. As I mentioned, that has led people to believe that Ramses II in this case was the Pharaoh of the Exodus, which we’re quite certain actually that he was not.

So not only did God fulfill the promise to grow them into a great nation, but there was another promise. What is the promise that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-16? Let’s look at this. This goes back to something I mentioned earlier: when we look at God’s promises, we’ve got to look at the good and the bad, the blessings and the curses. And this is amazing.

Genesis 15 starting in verse 13. Then God said to Abraham, “Know for certain that your seed will be sojourners in the land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and mistreated 400 years. But I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved, and afterwards they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age.”

Genesis 15:13: “Your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, enslaved and mistreated 400 years.”

God’s Justice and the Judgment of the Amorites

Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete. There’s a lot here. Let me briefly summarize it.

God told Abraham that his descendants would serve in a foreign land for 400 years. This was just about to happen. After this period, they would come out of that land with great possessions as the enslavers were judged. You may remember toward the beginning of the book of Exodus, the Egyptians were begging them to leave and were giving them wealth to leave with after the plagues.

What land is in view in the phrase “they shall come back here”? The “here” is where Abraham was, which would become the promised land, the land of Canaan, where they would return. Why was God delaying his judgment? This goes back to God’s grace. The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. God must intend to judge the Amorites. This is a foreshadowing of what will happen during the conquest of the promised land.

This goes back to something I may have mentioned earlier: the conquest of the promised land is a big objection to the veracity of scripture and the nature of God. Some say God is cruel and genocidal. I’m going to say two things about this for your benefit that I think will help.

First, we see God’s mercy in waiting a long time before he judged these nations. If you look at the history of these nations, the cruelty and the things they were doing was unspeakable, particularly with children and particularly sexually. God was very merciful. Second, the curses that he brought upon that land are the same curses that he promised upon his own people if they were to disobey. The very same ones.

We see that these curses, these blessings and these curses are not ethnic. They’re moral and they relate to the character of God. These are things to think about and to address directly when people give this objection to the scriptures.

Some notes on correlation and interpretation. How is God’s faithfulness evident in this passage?

“God’s curses are not ethnic—they’re moral, and they relate to the character of God.”

Correlation: God’s Faithfulness in Both Blessing and Discipline

Right? We see this as they lived in the land, they prospered, they grew, they multiplied as God had promised, but they also found themselves enslaved as God had promised. Both things were true.

And again, when we look at God’s promises, we want to look at all of them and receive them all as for our benefit. Does the city of Ramses in Exodus 1:11 indicate that this is the name of the Pharaoh of the oppression and of the Exodus? His name comes up several times in scripture.

I’m going to say emphatically no. It was likely named after the Pharaoh Ramses II. This would have been a much later date than the time of the Exodus.

“They prospered and multiplied as God had promised, but they also were enslaved as God had promised. Both were true.”

Archaeological Evidence and the Date of the Exodus

There’s a lot to unpack here. Patterns of Evidence does a wonderful job explaining the evidence for the earlier date of the Exodus. And biblical cities—this is an interesting aspect of translation which is sometimes hard to get your head around, but I’ll just say this.

Biblical cities are sometimes cited by more current names. Ramses was built later and over the city of Avaris, which has archaeological evidence of the ancient Israelites. Again, the book Patterns of Evidence shows this graphic from that book—you do see the storehouse city of Ramses, but you see Avaris underneath it.

There’s abundant evidence there of the Israelites being there. And there’s some very specific evidence of Joseph in his palace, which is really interesting. We don’t have time to go into it today, but I encourage you to watch the movies or get the book Patterns of Evidence. It goes through this in wonderful detail.

What other attributes of God do you recognize in his promise to Abraham and what we have read here in the opening verses of Exodus? We see his justice and his judgment, do we not? Of both the Egyptians and later of the Amorites.

“Biblical cities are sometimes cited by more current names—Ramses was built later over the city of Avaris.”

Mercy and grace in providing relief for the Israelites and giving hopeful promises. And also for the Amorites as well, giving them time.

Giving them time. And then wisdom and sovereignty in working out these things over hundreds of years. These are well beyond what people could plan, are they not? It’s not like Joseph and his sons or Israel and his sons just mapped this all out.

No, there’s no way that they could do that. All right, we’ve got a little bit of time, maybe 10 minutes or a little less. I’ve recommended some resources for you here. In particular, one on the various pharaohs of the Bible, which I found really helpful, also from Answers in Genesis.

Any questions or comments today?

Discussion: Judah’s Substitutionary Leadership

He’s coming. We need Jeopardy music.

I just wanted to make a comment about Judah, which is really interesting. There are arguments on both sides, but remember that Judah offered to bear the blame to his father. If he didn’t bring Benjamin back, he would take the blame for it.

When you mentioned that Joseph wouldn’t be the one through whom the Messiah would come, there are those who believe there’s a correlation. Judah makes the promise of bearing the blame for not bringing Benjamin back, and Christ bears the blame for the sins of Israel.

That’s a great point that I hadn’t thought of.

That’s actually an important attribute of leadership: to take accountability, which he did.

“An important attribute of leadership is to take accountability—which Judah did.”

That’s great. Thank you, Steve.

Discussion: God’s Holiness and Grace

Just to repeat what you had said about the mercy of God and sometimes it seems like it’s unfair. One of my favorite lines is from RC Sproul: “What’s wrong with you people, right?” I mean, you’re all laughing because I think what that means.

I’ve quoted Sproul many times without realizing it, I think. For those of you who don’t know, it’s you have the sinful man against a holy God. And why he didn’t just end it right there with Adam falling is just his mercy.

I don’t think—at least I hate to say I hate to compare and downplay other churches because I just know my own life—but there’s this sense in which we overemphasize the grace of God and we don’t understand the holiness of God. It’s the one attribute that’s repeated three times in both the Old and New Testament.

Holy, holy, holy. Not love, love, love.

“Holy, holy, holy—not love, love, love. It’s the one attribute repeated three times in both testaments.”

Not grace, grace, grace. Not mercy, mercy, mercy. It’s holy. That is a foundational aspect of God that pervades. He’s holy in his love. He’s holy in his justice. He’s holy in his mercy. He’s holy in everything.

We have to look at ourselves and ask what’s wrong with us when we don’t understand that. Amen. Amen.

Any other questions or comments? We had another one from Arthur here and I think we’ll make that the last one. Was there someone else?

God’s Sovereign Choice Is Not Based on Merit

Okay, we’re doing good. To tie into what was just mentioned about God’s holiness, I don’t think that’s why you can’t separate grace from holiness.

We are undeserving of God’s grace. And as you mentioned, even in God’s choice through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, although there were features of Abraham which seemed to get less and less as we move further in history, characteristics that were within the patriarch seem to be less prominent in Israel in general.

But when we talk about God’s grace, the fact that he chose Abraham—it doesn’t say he chose Abraham because he was better than anyone. God chose Abraham because of his sovereignty. And I think that’s one of the biggest problems with a lot of churches. They don’t understand that.

“God didn’t choose Abraham because he was better than anyone. God chose Abraham because of His sovereignty.”

They dismiss God’s sovereignty because somehow they want to put works into it. They want to feel like, “Well, look what I’ve done. How can God not save me or allow me entrance into his kingdom because of the good I’ve done?” This whole idea that God is smitten by me and can’t keep his eyes off me—but the beauty of grace is that, as we said, it’s not fair. And he loves us because he loves us. In that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Let me end with a couple of thoughts because you just reminded me of something. Two thoughts that the Lord brings to mind to end with—just in terms of the promises and how our application works. I’m going to put some application questions up there. I’ll leave these to you guys to work through at home. There are some good things to think about.

Sowing and Reaping: Application

But Galatians 6:7 and 8 says this: “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life.”

Galatians 6:7: “Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

Every thought, every word, every action has a consequence, right? We have to acknowledge that God is a holy and righteous God and his word is true. What you reminded me of is Deuteronomy 7:7. I’ll end with this and then we’ll pray.

God’s Love and Faithfulness to a Thousand Generations

Yahweh did not set his affection on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples. For you were the fewest of all peoples. But because Yahweh loved you and kept the oath which he swore to our fathers, Yahweh brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery and from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8: “Yahweh did not set His affection on you because you were more in number—but because Yahweh loved you.”

I’m going to keep reading. This is good.

You shall know therefore that Yahweh your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant and his loving kindness to a thousand generations. With those who love him and keep his commandments, but repays those who hate him to their faces to make them perish. He will not delay with him who hates him. He will repay him to his face.

Therefore, you shall keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which I command you today. What’s so interesting is we’re commanded to keep commandments that we can’t keep. I’m going to pack this a little bit because this is really important.

Some people of the more Arminian persuasion will take me to the end of Joshua: “Choose you this day whom you will serve.” See that? Keep reading.

Do you remember what Joshua says? You won’t be able to do it. You will not be able to do this. Despite all the will and resolve that you can muster, you’re not going to be able to do it.

That’s not very encouraging in one sense, but in light of the things that we’ve read today, it’s so encouraging, isn’t it? Because God gives us a new heart, right? “I will cause them to walk in my commandments. I will give them a new heart.”

And that’s through the work of Christ. That’s what all this leads to. I just pray that we think about our lives in that context and be really energized and empowered to be content, be thankful, to fight the good fight of the faith, and to lead others to Christ.

With that in mind, let’s pray.

Closing Prayer

Father, what a journey it’s been to study these very flawed and moderately faithful patriarchs. Praise you, Father, for the truth of your word and not sugarcoating their lives, but yet drawing attention to you and your eternal promises and purposes.

Every word of God proves true. We see that in the person of Christ.

May we trust that in our lives today and this week to our good and your glory in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Next week we start church history 102.

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