In the book of Genesis, parental blessings or curses were not just words, but often prophecies! They typically happened when someone was about to die. Their blessings to their family members would be a part of their last words. In many ways, it was the first version of a will. It often included things like who got what and how much.
In Genesis 48, a man called Israel, was on his deathbed. The family had been notified. Joseph, one of Israel’s twelve sons, visited him. Joseph took along his two sons as well. During that visit Israel gave an interesting blessing.
However, before we look at how Israel gave his blessing, let’s take a moment and rewind to when Israel received his blessing from his father. If you are confused already, just hang tight. When Israel was a young man, he went by the name Jacob. Being very much led on by his mother, Israel/Jacob deceived his father into thinking he was his elder brother in order to receive his father’s firstborn blessing. The firstborn was to receive a double inheritance, twice the size of the other siblings. Jacob, the second born, deceived so he could receive the firstborn blessing (Genesis 27). The firstborn blessing was a big deal, especially if you were only one of two siblings! Imagine, your only brother receiving twice the inheritance! Now, this had it’s purposes as well. Culturally, the eldest was expected to care for the parents and any remaining workers or relatives in that parents’ care. Hence why they would receive a double inheritance.
Now let’s fast forward. Israel, the younger son, received the firstborn blessing, lived a good long life, and then was about to die. In Genesis 48, it was Israel’s turn to be the giver of the blessing. We all know who his favorite son was, right? Remember Joseph with the technicolor dream coat (Genesis 37:3)? If you guessed Joseph as Israel’s favorite, you got it! But, newsflash: Joseph was the 11th born son, not the first.* But it’s kind of like the first twice over because two ones are in the number eleven. Maybe that was Israel’s reasoning, but I doubt it.
So the favorite son visited Israel and, no surprise, received a double inheritance, more than his brothers (Genesis 48:22).
But the interesting part happened when Israel blessed Joseph’s sons too. Joseph aligned them so that Israel could give the firstborn a greater blessing than the other. I wonder if Joseph knew the story of his father deceiving his grandfather in order to steal his uncle’s blessing. Yes, his uncle also gave up his firstborn blessing, but still (Genesis 25:29-34).
Joseph put his firstborn by his father’s right hand to receive the firstborn blessing (Genesis 48:13). Joseph put his second born by Israel’s left hand to receive the second born blessing (Genesis 48:13). But Israel crisscrossed his hands and blessed the younger first (Genesis 48:14). When Joseph tried to correct the obvious mistake, Israel explained that he did not have Alzheimer’s, was not just stretching or even blind, but had done it intentionally (Genesis 48:17-20)!
Israel had deceived his father into receiving the firstborn blessing as a young man, but later Israel intentionally gave the second and eleventh born the firstborn blessings. It’s like he never liked being told he was “less than,” just because he was not the firstborn.
IMPLICATIONS FOR US
We can pull so many implications from this.
First, our past affects us. Israel had to be thinking of receiving his own blessing as he passed on blessings to his sons and grandsons. When Israel first received his blessing through deception, his name was Jacob, which means “deceiver.” Then, he had an encounter with God and his name from then on was Israel. His name changed then and he also changed his ways. Even though he received his older brother’s firstborn blessing through deception, as a Father and grandfather, he purposefully gave the firstborn blessing to, well, not the firstborn. What does that mean for us today? Our past affects us. What in your past is affecting you today, for better or worse? How can you have an encounter with God so He can use it for good?
The second thing to pull from this involves our earthly parents’ blessing or lack thereof affecting us. Joseph’s younger son Ephraim did become greater than his older brother Manasseh. Do you have your earthly parents’ blessing? How has that affected you? And are you choosing to bless your own children or grandchildren through your words and actions?
Lastly, when we accept Christ into our hearts, we become adopted into God’s family (Romans 8). God becomes our perfect Father, who blesses us. Not only do we receive a perfect Father in God, but we also receive a perfect sibling in Christ Jesus (Matthew 12:50, Romans 8:17). Ultimately, it means we receive a new blessing that comes from God as opposed to simply from our earthly parents. Have you received Christ and therefore embraced your Heavenly Father’s blessing for you? Are you sharing that blessing that’s available to everyone?
FAMILY OF GOD
Jesus referred to his mother and brothers as those who do the will of God (Matthew 12:47-50). His earthly mother and brothers thought He was crazy. They did not understand His call from God. This matters because when our earthly families do not understand us when we choose to follow God. It matters because in many cultures, following God means not receiving their family’s blessing. It’s not a both and, but an either or. In fact, following God often means their family will shun them completely, or in some cases, even try to kill them. But does that mean without a parent’s blessing, one is cursed? No, thank God! Not receiving a parents’ blessing on earth is not final. It will affect us, but it does not have to be detrimental to our future. Does this mean we should not worry about receiving or not receiving a blessing from our earthly parents? Not necessarily. We are still called to honor our parents (Exodus 20:12, Ephesians 6:1-3).
While it’s wonderful to have loving Christian parents support us in our pursuit of God, it’s not the end of the world if that’s not the case. Being adopted into God’s family means that we can still be successful and live a blessed life even without their blessing because we have the blessing from God our Father (James 1:17). Also, people who have their parents’ blessing still need the blessing of God. We cannot go on our merry way being OK in our parents’ eyes but not in the Lord’s, even if our parents are really good people. God is our perfect parent. We receive a new inheritance from Him when we choose to make Him Lord of our lives.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:3-5).
Note that the inheritance is kept in heaven for us, so things might not look all that great down here from the world’s perspective. Instead, we receive a lasting eternal inheritance.
Also, God does not crisscross His hands when He blesses His children. The firstborn receives the firstborn blessing according to God. Guess who God’s firstborn son was? Israel. Wait, the person? No. The country. I’m serious. The country that all of Israel’s descendants settled in is named after him. That country was considered God’s firstborn son in the Old Testament. That country at war right now, is named after the same Israel. The Bible’s real, ya’ll!
The Bible also refers to Jesus as God’s firstborn son, being seated at His right hand (Hebrews 1). A whole blog series could be devoted to God’s firstborn being Israel and Jesus and what that means or doesn’t mean for us. Just understand that God has enough blessings to go around, for you too! And He’s preserving your inheritance for you in a place that is secure. We can both rejoice and take comfort in that.
Footnote:
*Technically, Joseph had an older sister making him at least the twelfth born, but girls were not mentioned when receiving inheritances, so we will leave her out for now because the Bible does not mention her here. We assume she was taken care of by one of her brothers and benefited from one of their inheritances (Genesis 30:21, Genesis 34).