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Genesis Chapter 49:1-33 - The Lion of the Tribe of Judah - Part 5
Having now prophesied over his sons we get the sense this was the last task that God had of Jacob before him, now we have his curtain call here in vs. 29.
Vs. 29-33 - “Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.
When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.”
Now we had “gathered to his people,” in vs. 29 and 33. We’ve seen this before in Genesis and that is really emblematic of NOT where his bones are going to lie - NOT where his grave is going to be gathered - but he himself, being a man of faith, gathered unto the rest of the O.T. saints.
Lot’s of graves in Egypt, right? That’s what these guys are known for. If you’ve ever watched the history channel or read national geographic, these guys knew how to bury people!
Isn’t it interesting Jacob saying: “I don’t wanna get buried here, I’m dying in faith and my faith is that I am believing God is going to plant us back there in the promised land.”
We talked about this in some length a couple weeks ago. Here is a man who is demonstrating a faith that extends well beyond the grave.
We will look at Joseph’s reaction to his beloved father’s death next week as we conclude the book of Genesis.
Man, there’s so much we could get into at this point, right? Just talking about blessings, giving a sort of look back on Jacob’s life and all the lessons we learned from it... We could get into the numerous titles of God that Jacob laid out here to Joseph, and much more.
But let me just end with this. Man, our faith is neither ex nihilo (from nothing) nor de novo (new).
It was NOT some 1st century notion that became popular in the ancient world.
The Messiah was prophesied throughout the Book of Genesis and is the whole unifying message of the whole O.T., and we have seen just picture after picture of that these last 4 years, haven’t we?
The Messiah died and rose again, according to the Scriptures: 1 Cor. 15:1-3 - “I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you ARE being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you - unless you believed in vain.”
For I delivered to you as FIRST IMPORTANCE what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures...”
This side of the cross, we know that the means to the ultimate age of joy is through the cross.
Jesus, on the night of His crucifixion offered a different cup to His followers - the cup of the new covenant in His blood that was to be shed for His people.
So we understand that the spectacular, endless wine of the kingdom can only be ours through the shed blood of the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
The Messiah has come and has died and was resurrected. He has bound... “His donkey to a vine, His colt to the choicest branch; He will wash His garments in wine, His robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, His teeth whiter than milk...” (vs. 11-12).
He has given His blood for us. Have you drinken of it??
Last Update: May 30, 2022 9:44 am CDT
