BLESSED HANDS (3)

“Then Israel stretched out his RIGHT HAND and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger…GUIDING his HANDS knowingly…” – Genesis 48:14

Destinies can be defined and ordered through BLESSED HANDS: “And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his RIGHT HAND toward Israel’s LEFT HAND, and Manasseh with his LEFT HAND toward Israel’s RIGHT HAND, and brought them near him. Then Israel stretched out his RIGHT HAND and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his LEFT HAND on Manasseh’s head, GUIDING his HANDS knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn” (Gen.48:13-14). This story underlines the significance of hands to releasing blessings in life. Hands matter immensely to destiny! As Jacob’s life drew to a close, Joseph went with his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to pay his last respects to his father (vv.1-2). The whole scene mirrors the similar but different scenario with Jacob’s own father, Isaac (Gen.27).

In blessing the sons of Joseph, Jacob called on the Lord, before whom his father and grandfather had walked (v.15). His prayed for a faithful walk with God by the coming generations to come. Jacob described the Lord as “the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day” (v.15, NIV). Without God’s shepherding care, Jacob would have been a hopelessly lost sheep headed for certain destruction. This is true for the rest of us too! Even so, Jacob’s blessing on his descendants had to be guided by God. Through God’s direction, Jacob had grown to understand how important God’s covenant promises were, and he wanted to pass along reminders of those promises to his descendants so that they too would know that they should walk in God’s ways.

Although Jacob’s eyes “were dim with age” (v.10), he was mindful enough to guide “his hands knowingly” (v.14). In a touch of irony, Jacob’s ‘crossed hands of blessing’ transmitted across generations the strange favour that he himself received as the younger. He insisted that the younger of the two (Ephraim) is blessed by his right hand (vv.12-19). This implied placing him above his elder brother: “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations” (v.19). Through the channel of crossed hands, the older was ‘ordered’ to serve the younger! Jacob blessed both grandsons and their father (vv. 9, 15-16, 20). He also reminded Joseph of how faithful God had shown Himself to be (vv.3-11).

It's significant that of all the events in Jacob’s life that could show his faith in God, the writer of Hebrews points to this event: “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning on his staff” (Heb.11:21). By faith Jacob crossed his hands and blessed his seeds as he submitted his life and the future of his people to God’s Word. His sunset faith unleashed God’s immense Grace to do its wondrous work in the generations to come! Some Bible thinkers avow that the point of Jacob’s action was to elevate Ephraim and Manasseh from being Joseph’s sons to being counted as peers with his other eleven sons (v.5). He ‘adopted’ them as sons and blessed Joseph through them! Jacob handed over his heritage in God to these, which explains why Joseph isn’t listed as one of the tribes in Israel.

Jacob himself was rooted in blessed (v.3). Now, Joseph obtained a double inheritance through his two sons. Interestingly, this was the fourth successive generation of Abraham’s descendants in which the normal pattern of the firstborn assuming prominence over the second born was reversed: Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over Reuben, and Ephraim over Manasseh!

Jacob’s example models the power of a father to point a child or grandchild in the right direction. Parents and grandparents should watch their words and actions before their children and grandchildren, pointing them to the blessing that comes from God – the blessing of the gospel promises given to Abraham, fulfilled in Christ, that will go to all nations, and result in eternal life and joy forever in God’s Presence!