Jacob’s Prayer, Valediction and Left Handed Blessings

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Short Summary
The discourse explores Jacob’s prayer, valediction, and left-handed blessing, emphasizing their spiritual and prophetic significance. It highlights Jacob’s obedience, acknowledgment of God’s blessings, and his plea for deliverance, paralleling the believer’s consecrated walk. The discussion also interprets Jacob’s blessings to his sons as prophetic insights into the history and future of God’s people, including symbolic references to the church, the kingdom, and the ultimate triumph of righteousness.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Discourse on Jacob’s Prayer, Valediction, and Left-Handed Blessing

Overview of Lesson Focus
The discourse centers on three key expressions from the life of the patriarch Jacob: his prayer, valediction (farewell address), and the notable left-handed blessing he gave to Joseph’s sons. These elements reveal allegorical and prophetic insights important for spiritual understanding and Christian walk.

Meaning of Valediction
Valediction means farewell or final words. The speaker clarifies the word’s meaning using the example of a high school valedictorian, who delivers the final speech at graduation. Jacob’s valediction, therefore, is his final prophetic words to his sons before death.

Context: Jacob’s Life Background
– Jacob fled from Esau after deceitfully receiving the firstborn blessing from their father Isaac (Genesis 27).
– Esau vowed to kill him, so Jacob fled to Rebekah’s brother Laban’s territory where he worked for 20 years: 7 years for Leah, 7 for Rachel, and 6 for livestock.
– Jacob prospered through his craftiness, increasing his flocks and herds, which caused tension with Laban.
– God instructed Jacob to return to his homeland (Genesis 31:2-3).
– Jacob sent messengers to Esau hoping to soften his brother’s anger. The messengers returned with news that Esau was approaching with 400 men, which terrified Jacob.

Jacob’s Prayer (Genesis 32:9-13)
– Jacob’s prayer is the first recorded prayer in the Bible and serves as an allegory for the consecrated Christian life.
– He begins by acknowledging God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac and submits to God’s will, recognizing his obedience. Lesson: Christians must obey God’s will as the foundation of prayer and spiritual walk (1 Samuel 15:22).
– Jacob recalls his past unworthiness and how he started his journey with only a staff, symbolizing humility and dependence on God. This parallels Christian baptism and consecration.
– He acknowledges God’s blessings—his family and flocks—and expresses unworthiness to receive God’s truth, which is the chief blessing.
– He prays for deliverance from Esau, linking his request to God’s promise that his seed would be as numerous as the sand of the sea, symbolizing God’s covenantal faithfulness.
– Applying this, Christians face enemies (world, flesh, devil) but have God’s promise of victory (Romans 8:31).

Jacob’s Strategy & Wrestling (Genesis 32:13-28)
– Jacob divides his possessions and people into two groups to prepare for possible attack.
– He sends gifts to Esau to appease him before meeting him.
– Jacob remains alone at night and wrestles with a man (angel) until daybreak. The angel dislocates Jacob’s thigh but Jacob refuses to let go without a blessing.
– The angel renames him Israel, meaning “he who prevails with God and men.”
– This wrestling symbolizes the Christian struggle of faith, dependence on God’s strength in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10), and the transformative blessing that follows sincere perseverance.
– Jacob’s fear turns to courage. Esau receives him kindly, illustrating that reconciliation may follow acts of generosity and humility.

Jacob’s Valediction (Farewell Blessing) at Age 147
– Jacob’s sons gather to receive his final prophetic blessings, which include both favorable and unfavorable predictions (Genesis 49).
– First, Jacob blesses Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (Genesis 48:8-20).
– Joseph places Manasseh (firstborn) on Jacob’s right hand and Ephraim on the left, expecting the greater blessing on Manasseh.
– Jacob crosses his hands, placing his right hand on Ephraim (younger) and left on Manasseh. Joseph protests but Jacob insists the younger will be greater, continuing a biblical pattern of God favoring the younger (e.g., Abel over Cain, Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau).
– Suggested symbolic meaning: Manasseh represents the “Ancient Worthies” (older faithful class), Ephraim represents the “Church Class” (younger, favored spiritual Israel).
– Note: The literal tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were sinful historically, so this is a symbolic interpretation focused on prophetic blessing, not historical character.

Jacob’s Blessings to His 12 Sons (Genesis 49)
– These blessings serve as prophetic summaries of the spiritual history and future of God’s people, possibly representing 12 time periods or classes in the Gospel and Millennium ages.
– Key examples:
Reuben (Genesis 49:3-4): The firstborn but unstable due to his sin (defiling Jacob’s concubine). Symbolizes the early pure church that later fell into error via alliance with civil powers (Dark Ages).
Simeon and Levi (Genesis 49:5-7): Violent and cruel. Symbolize persecution of the true church by nominal church-state powers (e.g., Spanish Inquisition).
Judah (Genesis 49:10): The scepter will not depart until Shiloh (Messiah) comes, interpreted as Christ’s second advent (1874).
Zebulun (Genesis 49:13): Dwells by the sea near wicked cities, symbolizing evil increasing at Christ’s return.
Issachar (Genesis 49:14-15): Strong ass bearing burdens, representing faithful servants of Christ who find rest in Him (Hebrews 4).
Dan (Genesis 49:16-17): “Serpent” that bites the horse’s heels; linked to judgment beginning within the church, casting out Babylon (false doctrines) starting about 1878 (1 Peter 4:17).
Gad (Genesis 49:19): Overcome but ultimately victorious, symbolizing true church’s trials and final victory (144,000).
Asher (Genesis 49:20): “Bread shall be fat,” symbolizing the future royal wedding feast of Christ and the church.
Naphtali (Genesis 49:21): “Hind let loose” giving goodly words; depicts resurrection and praise of mankind during restitution (Isaiah 35:6).
Joseph (Genesis 49:22-26): “Fruitful bough” with blessings from heaven and earth; a picture of the peace and perfection of the kingdom (parallels Revelation 21-22).
Benjamin (Genesis 49:27): “Ravening wolf” that devours prey; symbolizes the kingdom’s last work—the destruction of incorrigible sinners at the close of the Millennium.

Closing of Jacob’s Life and Legacy
– Jacob’s final words consolidate blessings and prophecies for the nation of Israel and spiritual Israel (Genesis 49:28-33).
– His death marks the transition from the patriarchal era to the history of Israel as a nation.
– The discourse ends with a prayer for the Lord’s blessing upon the listeners, linking Jacob’s legacy to the ongoing spiritual journey of God’s people.

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Key Bible Verses Referenced:

– Genesis 27 (Jacob receives blessing through deception)
– Genesis 31:2-3 (God commands Jacob to return home)
– Genesis 32:9-13 (Jacob’s prayer before meeting Esau)
– Romans 8:31 (“If God be for us, who can be against us?”)
– Genesis 32:24-28 (Jacob wrestles with the angel; renamed Israel)
– 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (Strength perfected in weakness)
– Genesis 48:8-20 (Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons)
– Genesis 49 (Jacob’s blessings to his sons)
– 1 Samuel 15:22 (“To obey is better than sacrifice”)
– Ecclesiastes 9:10 (“Do with thy might what thy hands find to do”)
– Matthew 11:21-22 (Jesus condemns wicked cities Tyre and Sidon)
– Hebrews 4 (Rest and promised land)
– Galatians 6:2,5 (Bearing burdens)
– 1 Peter 4:17 (Judgment begins at the house of God)
– Revelation 21-22 (New Jerusalem, Kingdom)
– Isaiah 35:6 (Restitution and healing)

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Summary Conclusion:
Jacob’s prayer, wrestling, and valediction provide rich lessons on obedience, humility, spiritual struggle, and prophetic insight into God’s plan for His people. His left-handed blessing of Ephraim over Manasseh symbolizes God’s sovereign choice favoring the spiritually faithful over natural birthright. The twelve blessings to his sons prophetically outline the spiritual history and future of God’s people through Gospel age, Millennium, and beyond, offering encouragement and direction for the consecrated Christian walk.

Transcript

Our lesson today is Jacob’s prayer, valediction, and left handed blessing. You know, Jacob’s prayer and valediction are two separate expressions of his heart, one allegorical and the other prophetic. Now, we all understand what the word prayer means. I don’t have to elaborate on that, but valediction is a word that we don’t often use. Now, the phrase class valedictorian is a form of that word valediction, and it refers to the student who gives the speech at a graduation ceremony.

Now, when I went to high school back in the stone age, the class valedictorian was the student who gave that speech, and so I thought that that’s what the word valedictorian meant. It was the kid who had the highest grades, the largest gpa, and he was the one that got to give that speech at the graduation of the senior class. It was only much later that I learned that the word valedictorian actually means a bidding, farewell or final words, and so my high school class valedictorian was simply the student who gave those final words, that farewell speech to the senior class before we received our diplomas.

So now let’s consider Jacob’s prayer, and it is the first recorded prayer in the Bible. It is not only a good example for us in prayer, but it also seems to be an allegory of our consecrated walk, and so in Jacob’s prayer, which is recorded in Genesis 32, 9, 13, we’re going to get the context of his prayer and elaborate on it verse by verse. But let’s first look at a few of the major events in the patriarch Jacob’s life.

Jacob fled from his brother Esau after pretending to be Esau when their father Isaac blessed Jacob with his firstborn’s blessing, which Esau sold to Jacob for a mess of pottage. Esau swore that he would kill Jacob, and so Jacob fled from Esau, at his mother Rebekah’s urging, northward to the land of Rebekah’s uncle Laban, and there Jacob worked for Laban for 20 years. Seven years for the hand of Laban’s daughter Leah in marriage, and seven more years for the hand of his daughter Rachel, and then six more years for flocks and herds.

And toward the end of Jacob’s 20 years, through his craftiness, his flocks and herds grew in number, making Jacob a wealthy man, while Laban’s flocks and herds did not grow as well as Jacob’s did, and so, as a result, hard feelings developed between the house of Laban and The family of Jacob. In Genesis 31, verses 2 and 3, we read, and Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as before, and the Lord said unto Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and.

And I will be with thee.

Heeding Jacob’s command, Jacob prepared to leave Laban and move his entire family and servants and flocks and herds back to the land he came from. Rather than show up on his estranged brother Esau’s doorstep, Jacob wisely sent emissaries in advance to notify Esau that Jacob was coming. Now, Jacob’s hope, conveyed through these messengers to Esau, was that the passage of 20 years had softened Esau’s anger and that now Esau would receive Jacob kindly. The emissaries took their message to Esau and then returned to Jacob, who is now just on the far side of a river called Jabbok, with good news and bad news. The good news is that Esau is coming to meet Jacob.

The bad news is he’s bringing 400 men with him. Now, Jacob knew in his heart a great fear because he surmised that Esau was coming to kill him. Why else would Esau come with such a large number of men? In those days, 400 men were an army. Now Jacob knows he cannot win a battle against 400 men.

So he divides his party into two groups, so that if Esau’s intention are indeed murderous, perhaps one group can escape while Esau and his men attacked the other group. Next, Jacob prays, and it’s a beautiful prayer. Let’s read it now in Genesis 39, 32, 9, 13. Genesis 32, 9, 13, and Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac.

The Lord which said unto me, return unto thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou has showed unto thy servant. For with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands.

Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children, and thou saidst, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered from multitude.

In his prayer, Jacob first declared his obedience to God’s will. For him. He left Laban and began his journey as God had commanded. What is the lesson for us? Well, likewise, after we made our consecrations and began our spiritual journey.

We recognized that throughout our consecrated walk, when approaching God, we must first be obedient to his will. For us, and we’ll talk more about the will of a transformed Christian in the panel discussion tomorrow. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice is how 1st Samuel 15:22 puts it. Now, the performance of our obedience will not always be perfect, but the desire of the new creature is to be obedient to God’s will, and that desire must remain strong.

In the second element of Jacob’s prayer, Jacob acknowledged God’s past blessings to him. Jacob said that when he crossed the Jordan the first time, going north to Laban’s territory, he had nothing to his name but the staff in his hand, the instrument of his journey. That’s all Jacob took with him, and when he fled from his life, from Esau, the clothes on his back and the staff in his hand, what is the lesson for us? Likewise, when we left our homes, our earthly lives, and came to the Jordan, where we were baptized in symbol of our consecration, we had nothing of value except a symbolic staff, the prospect of our life’s journey before us, our hopes, aims and ambitions, our own unworthiness to undertake this journey.

And so we crossed the Jordan in consecration and took that journey in newness of life. We hearkened to the scripture in Ecclesiastes 9:10. Do with thy might what thy hands find to do in the service of the Lord, the truth. The brethren, and God has given us enormous increase, as he did to Jacob.

Remember how Jacob said, I now have this large family, two bands. We too have a large family, the family of God, our brethren. We are unworthy of ourselves for all of these blessings, but by God’s grace we receive them. It is interesting to note that in his prayer, Jacob specifically mentioned his unworthiness to receive the blessing of the truth that God had showed him, and isn’t that the chiefest of the blessings?

We have received in our own unworthiness, the truth of God’s character and his plan, and the part that we may play in that plan.

In the next element of Jacob’s prayer, he made known his request to God, a request for deliverance from his enemy, and Jacob connected his plea to a promise of God, the promise that his seed would be made as the sands of the seashore. Likewise, we too are confronted by our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. But God has promised to fight with us. If God be for us, who can be against us is the Sentiment of Romans 8:31 we also have the promise given to Abraham and confirmed to Jacob’s father Isaac, that we will be of the promised seed, not earthly, like the sands of the seashore, but of a heavenly seed, like the stars of heaven.

If we both obey and sacrifice, we are told to ask of God in faith, nothing wavering, but we must ask according to God’s will, and an excellent way to make sure that we are asking according to God’s will is to connect our prayer to a promise given to us in God’s word, just as Jacob did.

On the following morning, Jacob devises one more strategy. It’s described in Genesis 32, verses 13 to 21. I won’t read the verses, but they tell how Jacob divided his animals into several small herds, and then he instructed his servants to drive the small herds spaced out in the very front of the entire company, and he directed his servants to tell Esau and his men that the animals are gifts to Esau from Jacob. Perhaps Jacob hoped the gift would appease Esau’s anger, so that Esau would receive Jacob kindly.

So Jacob sends everyone, including his wives and children, forward across the brook Jabbok. But Jacob remains alone at night on the other side of the river. We pick up the account in Genesis 32, verses 24 to 28, and Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was hollowed out of joint and request, and he as he wrestled with him, and he said, let me go, for the day breaketh, and he the angel, and Jacob said, I will not let thee go upset thou bless me, and he said unto him, what is thy name?

And he said, Jacob, and the angel said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

Wrestling with the angel alone the following night seems to be an extension of Jacob’s prayer as well as the answer to it. Crossing the river Jabbok was a big step for Jacob, a point of no return. Likewise, we sometimes come to major decisions in our lives, and we pray, asking if we should go forward across the river or not. Sometimes we are all alone, like Jacob was, except with our Lord, and we struggle, we wrestle with our decision.

And sometimes the Heavenly Father allows the struggle to be long as we measure time, to test and prove the sincerity of our desire to be his child and receive his blessing, and just as the blessing came to Jacob after the angel touched his thigh and weakened him. So too, our blessings sometimes come to us after a manifestation of our own weakness and our need for the Lord’s strength, and in that strength, in the power of God’s Holy Spirit, we too shall prevail in our struggle against our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, and in that prevailing we shall be princes, the children of the King of the universe, our great God Jehovah.

And our name likewise shall be Israel, true spiritual Israel, as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12, 9, 10 My grace is sufficient unto thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness, and most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches, and necessities, and persecutions and distresses for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak in the flesh, then am I strong in the Spirit.

Jacob, like Paul, had a thorn in the literal flesh. Likewise, we too have thorns in our literal flesh, but not necessarily literal thorns of poor eyesight like Paul’s, or a limp in our walk. Like Jacob, we have symbolic thorns of impatience, overconfidence, selfishness, the spirit of the world, and many others. We don’t always discern them, but God will manifest these to us at the end of our wrestling, and if we prevail, like Jacob did, with the help of the Lord’s grace and strength, we will receive his blessing.

The story, of course, has a happy ending. Jacob, now no longer afraid, but strengthened and encouraged by his encounter with the angel, crosses the river and proceeds to the front of the company to meet his brother Esau, who receives him with brotherly love and tenderness and kindness, and tells Jacob to keep all of the flocks and herds that he had offered as a gift to himself. Perhaps the lesson for us is whenever any of our brethren have aught with us, or we are estranged from a brother for any reason, or we perceive that we are estranged from our brother from any reason, an act of generosity, as Jacob did for Esau, may well soften a bitter heart and pave the way for reconciliation.

Now we’re going to fast forward about 85 years in time. Jacob is now 147 years old, bedridden, nearly blind, and about to die. His sons are gathered at his bedside, waiting to hear Jacob’s valediction, his farewell, and final words to them. A dying father’s valediction or blessing was extremely important because it often included a prophecy of the future for his sons, whether that future be good or bad.

No doubt Jacob recalled his own father Isaac’s blessing upon himself, which by he rather than Esau, inherited the valuable promise God made to his grandfather Abraham. Esau later received a later blessing from Isaac after Jacob’s deception was revealed and the blessing conferred upon Jacob could not be rescinded. Jacob’s valediction is divided into two parts. First his words to Joseph’s two sons, and then his words to Jacob’s own 12 sons, and so let’s consider the first part of Jacob’s valediction.

On the last day of Jacob’s life, Joseph the great ruler in Egypt, came to visit Jacob in the land of Goshen to present his two young sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and to see his father one last time before he died. Let’s read the touching account in Genesis 48, 8, 13, and Israel beheld Joseph’s sons and said, who are these? And Joseph said unto his father, they are my sons, and whom God has given me in this place, and Jacob said, bring them, I pray thee unto me, and I will bless them.

Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see, and he, Joseph, brought them near unto him, Jacob, and he kissed them and embraced them, and Israel said unto Jacob, I had thought not to see thy face, and lo, God hath showed me also thy seed.

And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth, and Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him.

Now Jacob was Joseph was a very competent administrator. He ruled all of Egypt during the time of their famine, and he carefully orchestrated the presentation of his children to Jacob for his blessing upon them. As Joseph faced his father Manasseh, the firstborn was on Joseph’s left to Jacob’s right, so that as Jacob stretched forth his right hand, it would be on the older Manasseh’s head, and likewise Jacob’s left head would be on the younger Ephraim’s head. Now the right hand, of course, is the hand of more favor than the left, and is always given to the firstborn of the family, a double portion of the inheritance in Jewish tradition and law. Thus Joseph wanted to be sure that Jacob placed his right hand on firstborn Manasseh’s head.

Let’s continue the account in Genesis 48:14 and 17:20, and Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly. For Manasseh was the firstborn, and when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he held up his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.

In other words, when Jacob stretched forth his hands to bless the two sons, he crossed his arms, and Joseph, of course, didn’t want that to happen. He wanted Jacob to stretch forth his hands straightforward, and Joseph said unto his father, not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put thy right hand on his head.

And his father refused, and he said, I know it, my son, I know it. He also shall become a people, and he shall also be great. But truly this younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations, and he blessed them that day, saying, in thee shall all Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh.

And he set Ephraim the younger before Manasseh. Why did Jacob knowingly bless the younger Ephraim with his right hand more than the firstborn Manasseh? Interestingly enough, as you read through the accounts in Genesis, you find there seems to be a pattern of favoring the younger above the firstborn, albeit with good reason. God regarded Abel more than Cain by virtue of Abel’s better sacrifice. Abraham favored Isaac, the son of his wife Sarah, more than his firstborn Ishmael, by the concubine Hagar.

Even Jacob, himself, younger than his firstborn brother Esau, received the firstborn’s blessing from their father Isaac. There are important lessons in each of these which I don’t have time to go over, but here is a possible symbolic application. Manasseh and Ephraim, that might explain the left handed blessing, perhaps, and I present this as just a suggestion. Manasseh pictures the ancient worthies, while Ephraim pictures the church class.

The ancient worthies, like the older Manasseh, are the older class. They lived and died before the church class even came into existence. But the church class, like Ephraim, is placed before for the ancient worthies in honor. Now this interpretation, which again I present as a suggestion, has one major difficulty in that the literal tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were both exceedingly evil in idolatry and all forms of wickedness, including human sacrifice, which hardly makes up good pictures of two righteous classes. But perhaps we can separate those later actions of the literal tribes from the blessings symbolically prophesied in Jacob’s left handed blessing.

After blessing Ephraim and Manasseh, we come to part two of Jacob’s valediction. Jacob blessed his own 12 sons, including Joseph, in birth order from the oldest to to the youngest, and there is perhaps in those twelve blessings a prophecy of the Gospel age and beyond. From our studies of Revelation we learn that these seven churches from Ephesus to Laodicea symbolize seven time periods in the Gospel age. I’d like to suggest that perhaps in Jacob’s blessings of his 12 sons there is a picture of 12 symbolic time periods or events in the Gospel and millennial ages.

In other words, the 12 blessings upon the sons of Jacob foretell the history of three classes typified by Natural Israel and those three classes being the Church class, true Spiritual Israel and the false Church, Nominal Spiritual Israel and the world of mankind in the kingdom. I’ll read the blessings and suggest the symbolic application of each one. Let’s start by reading Genesis 49:1 Genesis 49:1 and Jacob called unto his sons and said, gather yourselves together that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Notice two things. First of all, Jacob says, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

That phrase is used elsewhere in the Bible to point to the end of the Gospel age, which supports my suggestion that Jacob’s valediction is prophetic. Second, Jacob’s blessings were not all good favorable words in some cases. That which shall befall you was a prediction of trouble and loss, and a prime example of this is our first blessing to Reuben, the firstborn oldest son in Genesis 49:3, 4 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength. The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power unstable as water.

Thou shalt not excel because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed then defiledest thou it he went up to my couch. Reuben did commit fornication with Jacob’s concubine bilhah in Genesis 35:22. Now this message to Reuben seems to correspond to the early stages of the Gospel age church, which was initially a pure firstborn class, but later committed fornication with the kings of the earth, informing a union between nominal church systems and civil powers during the Dark ages, and so did not excel in righteousness and purity as they might otherwise have. Next is the blessing upon Simeon and Levi together in Genesis 49:5, 8.

Simeon and Levi are brethren instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret unto their assembly mine honor be not thou united. For in anger they slew a man, and in their self will they dig down a wall. Cursed be their anger, and for it was fierce, and their wrath for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

The blessing of Simeon and Levi is the same, and the reference is to Simeon and Levi’s slaughter of the men of Shechem to avenge the defilement of their sister Dinah. Jacob condemned their actions and told them, you made me stink to the people of the land. Perhaps the symbolic application is to the cruel persecution of the true Church at the hands of the nominal church state union in the middle stages of the Gospel age, most notably in the Spanish inquisition of the 16th century, we’ll read just one verse of the rather lengthy Blessing upon Judah, Genesis 49:10 the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be Judah, of course, was the tribe from whom the deliverer, the King Messiah would come. We typically apply this prophecy to our Lord’s second advent, and so it seems to fit here. Judah’s blessing refers to our lord’s return in 1874.

When our Lord returned, what did he find? Both evil and good upon the earth, as pictured in the next two blessings. First, the blessing of Zebulun in Genesis 49:13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for an haven of ships, and his border shall be unto Zidon. Zidon or it’s also spelled and pronounced Sidon. Along with Tyre were Mediterranean seaports and notoriously wicked licentious cities.

Jesus used them as examples of evil in Matthew 11:21 and 22. Thus when the Lord returned in 1874, he found evil waxing worse and worse in the earth. But there was also a small bright spot pictured by the next blessing, issachar’s. In Genesis 49, 14 and 15 issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens and he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

The strong ass may picture the church class, the faithful servants who find rest in Jesus now, and look forward to the promised rest of the heavenly kingdom. In Hebrews chapter four the promised land, which is indeed a present land. The two burdens can have several meanings. One I’ll mention is that we bear our own burdens of sacrifice, Galatians 6:5 but we also bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 one of our Lord’s first works upon his return is judgment, symbolized in the blessing upon dan in Genesis 49:16 1319 Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.

Judgment shall begin at the house of God, is what it says in 1st Peter 4:17 and the blessing upon Dan seems to point to the judgment work of casting out Babylon the nominal church Systems beginning in 1878. An adder, a snake biting the horse’s heels so that the rider falls backward may picture the revealment of Babylon’s doctrines, horses as being false doctrines, and we’ve seen this in our own day, thus causing the eventual overthrow of the rider. The church hierarchy of popes, bishops and priests yet to come, and the phrase I have waited for thy salvation seems to set the time setting of this prophecy as the time when our Lord is present.

The next blessing upon Gad seems to prefigure the deliverance, the resurrection of the church in 1878 and onward. Genesis 49:19 Gad as a troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last the true church, true spiritual Israel was for a time overcome by a troop the false church, nominal spiritual Israel, but at the last in the end 144,000 called Chosen and faithful Overcome are more than overcomers, and what is next for the bride of Christ? A royal wedding feast, of course. The next blessing upon asher in Genesis 49:20 out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties royal dainties or delicacies along with fat or fullness of bread.

Pictures the wedding feast of the bride and the royal bridegroom in the future when the church class is complete. What comes next in God’s plan after the wedding of Christ in the church? The resurrection of mankind pictured in the next blessing upon Naphtali in Genesis 49:21 Naphtali is a hind let loose he giveth goodly words. The dictionary says a hind is a female heart or deer a hind let loose from a trap leaps and runs in freedom. Isaiah in chapter 35, verse 6 pictures restitution as a time when the lame man shall leap as an heart in the freedom from sin’s penalty, when all of mankind will be let loose from the prison house of death in the Resurrection, the expression he giveth Goodly words in Naphtali’s blessing seem to describe the praise all mankind will offer to God when his plan is finally revealed unto all of them in the restitution.

Now comes the blessing of Joseph, who we all know as Jacob’s most beloved son, and Jacob seems to give Joseph a particularly generous and loving blessing, symbolically picturing the overall peace and perfection of the kingdom. We’ll read just a part of it in Genesis 49, 22, 25, and 26. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough whose branches run over the wall. Even by the God of thy Father who shall help thee, and by the Almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

The blessings of thy Father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be upon the head of Joseph, and on the crown of life the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Is that a picture of the kingdom or what?

Similarly, in Revelation 21 and 22, we have the new Jerusalem with great walls and a river of water of life, and trees of life on each side of the river, as a picture of the kingdom on earth. Similar to the words of Jacob to Joseph. Last to be blessed was the youngest Benjamin. In Genesis 49, 27, Benjamin shall raven as a wolf. In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall live by the spoil.

What is the last work of the kingdom? The last work of the kingdom will be the destruction of the incorrigible during the little season which follows the close of the millennial age, and so in the morning or beginning of the eighth day, the ages to come, the little season’s work will be done. God’s agents will root out, hunt down like a wolf, and destroy with the second death all evil ones still remaining, and for the rest of eternity the spoils will be divided, the blessings promised of a peaceable kingdom on earth.

Our final reading is from Genesis 49, 28, and 33.

All these are the 12 tribes of Israel, and this is it that their fathers spake unto them, and blessed them. Everyone, according to his blessing he blessed them, and when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the Spirit and was gathered unto his people.

And so the life of the patriarch Jacob ends, and the history of the nation of Israel begins, and may the Lord add his blessing.

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