Israel Blesses the Sons of Joseph (Gen 48.15-16, 20)

“The God before whom my ancestors Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
the angel who has redeemed me from all harm, bless the boys;
and in them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my ancestors Abraham and Isaac;
and let them grow into a multitude on the earth.”

“By you Israel will invoke blessings, saying,
‘God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.”

Background

This prayer, a blessing, come at the climax of the Genesis story. Of the fourteen prayers in Genesis, five are blessings and five are petitions. How do your prayers of blessings and petitions compare? In the informal surveys I have done over a period of twenty-five years, most people offer petitions and intercessions most often. The second most common is the thanksgiving prayer. The other types of prayers are rare: praise-prayers, blessings, prayer-vows, and curses—if they even find their way into our prayer lives at all.

It was common in the ancient world for a dying father to call his sons to him and pronounce official blessings upon them. This primarily served to confer official status on the oldest son as the one who will take the place of the father. Here, Jacob/Israel sees the two sons of Joseph for the first time and wishes to bless them. Recall a similar blessing prayer in Genesis 27 and 28, which also involved Jacob/Israel himself. There, Jacob/Israel tricked his poor blind father into blessing him instead of Esau, the oldest son. Now it is Jacob/Israel who is an old, blind man offering a blessing on his grandchildren. Those grandchildren will become the Patriarchs and namesakes of two of the tribes of Israel. As he prepares to bless them, Jacob/Israel places the hand of honor (the right hand) on Ephraim, the youngest, and his left hand on Manasseh, the oldest.¹ Once again, Jacob/Israel is turning the tables on the tradition! What is it about him that makes him refuse to play by the rules? When Joseph tries to correct his father’s error, Jacob/Israel tells him that he knows what he is doing: the younger will be greater than the older. Maybe we are to understand from this that God’s blessing do not always come the way we might think, or want, or to whom we might prefer. 

Meaning

Jesus, many centuries later, tells a story of a man with two sons, the younger of which demands his inheritance early. He runs off and spends it all on wild living, while the older one stays at home, being responsible, and waiting for his time. When the younger son, destitute and shamed, returns home, the father welcomes him with a lavish feast. The older one is bothered by this celebration, and asks his father why he has done such a thing. He, the eldest, has done everything he should and has not received a banquet. The father is compassionate but points out that the eldest has always had everything from the father. The younger one, however, was lost and has now returned, repentant.² It may sometimes bother us how God does things, but He cares about everyone, and He has a plan. Perhaps a more positive way to think about it is this: God is always capable of surprising us. Be careful what you pray for!

In most modern cultures, we use Wills and Trusts to pass along inheritance rather than near-death blessings. Yet the structure of this blessing can be a model for our blessings—maybe even on our own children or grandchildren. 

The blessing begins with an extensive introduction describing God as the One who walked with Jacob/Israel’s ancestors, the One who shepherded him all his life, and as the Angel who redeemed him from harm. This blessing begins by recalling all the good things God has done for the one praying. 

Next, Jacob/Israel offers a blessing on the boys. He is passing on the same blessings that he received (in deceit) from his father Isaac, which were the same ones that Isaac received from his father, Abraham. “In them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my ancestors Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude on the earth.”

Application

Since many of us offer petitions far more often than blessings, you might try choosing a day to only offer blessings. All the types of prayer are important, of course, and each adds richness and meaning to our prayer lives. Yet focusing on one type of prayer is a wonderful way to learn it well—especially the ones we tend to neglect. Review the other blessings in Genesis that we have studied so far in Genesis. Note the structure and the content, and put together your own model, or choose one to imitate during your “day of blessings.” If you would like to stretch your “prayer muscles,” ask someone to allow you to lay your hands on them as you pray a blessing on them. 

Write in your journal about the experience of a day of blessings.

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1. See “A Blessing Wrought in Deception (Gen 27.1-10; 28.2-4).” ↩
2. Luke 15.11–32. ↩

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