Day 25
When he was dying
To Start
Quiet your Spirit. Ask God to quiet it for you. Dwell in silence.
Pray
Yahweh, we come to You with worship in our hearts. You are worthy of our gratitude, our praise, and our lives.
As we read, enable us to see, know, and love You more.
Read
Read Hebrews 11:21-22 & (if you have time) Genesis 47:27-31 and 50:24-25. Extra credit for reading all of Genesis 48.
As you read…
Ask God to show you why these seemingly small personal moments matter so much.
Consider: Who is Jacob? What’s he like? What’s his relationship to his son Joseph? Who is Joseph? What does he care about?
Why is Jacob blessing Joseph’s sons?
Why, in this particular moment, is worshiping an act of faith for Jacob? Is worship always an act of faith?
Hebrews 11:21-22 (CSB)
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones.
Genesis 47:27-31 (CSB)
Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They acquired property in it and became fruitful and very numerous. 28 Now Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years, and his life span was 147 years. 29 When the time approached for him to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor with you, put your hand under my thigh and promise me that you will deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt. 30 When I rest with my ancestors, carry me away from Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”
Joseph answered, “I will do what you have asked.”
31 And Jacob said, “Swear to me.” So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed in thanks at the head of his bed.
Genesis 50:24-25 (CSB)
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 25 So Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath: “When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here.”
Process
Both Jacob and Joseph are noted as acting “by faith” at the end of their lives. What can we learn about dying well from their examples?
If you had to pick one moment from Joseph’s life to highlight in the “hall of faith” would you pick the one that appears here in verse 22? What else has Joseph done “by faith”? Why do you think the Hebrews author chose this act?
From JL
Jacob and Joseph are remarkably similar men. Both deal with sibling rivalry. Both have to leave home because a brother wants to kill them. Both have powerful dreams. Both are very good workers. Both bring wealth to the person they serve. Both become wealthy, respected figures themselves. Both are born in Canaan, and both die in Egypt.
They live most of their lives apart, but from the day Joseph is born, they’re inextricably bound in love and loss (Jacob’s wife Rachel, Joseph’s mother, dies when Joseph is still a boy in his house).
So it’s perhaps not surprising to find the two men beside one another on this list, both on their death beds, both believing in a promised future, both eager to go home.
Jacob’s act of faith is two-fold. (1) He blesses Joseph’s sons and (2) he bows in worship.
It’s untraditional for a grandfather to bless his grandsons the way Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, and that’s on purpose. Jacob is officially taking them as his sons and thus granting them inheritance rights. For now, Ephraim and Mannaseh are blessed because their father is powerful in Egypt. But Jacob knows that the Israelites will leave Egypt one day to return to the promised land. Jacob has faith that Israel will return to Canaan, and because he has faith in that coming exodus, he wants Joseph’s sons to be protected and blessed. So instead of passing down a land blessing to Joseph, Jacob passes it on to his two sons, essentially doubling Joseph’s claim to the promise made by Yahweh. It’s a gift to Joseph, but it’s not for Joseph. It’s really for people who don’t even exist yet.
Why does Jacob bow in worship? This takes a little detective work. It seems at first that Jacob bows in worship because he blessed Joseph’s sons. That’s a possible reading. Surely Jacob is overcome with gratitude and awe at the way God has preserved and blessed his son. To get the chance to put your hands on the shoulders of the sons of your favorite son, the one you thought was dead—that’s an incredible moment. But there’s another interpretation option. It’s possible Jacob is being commended for two unrelated things: blessing Joseph’s sons and bowing in worship. In Genesis 47:31 we find Jacob, on his death bed, bowing in worship (or “gratitude” depending on the translation) because his son Joseph has agreed to take his body home to Canaan. In this case, the act of faith would be worship born of trust that God won’t let him be buried in Egypt.
This is the exact same thing Jospeh is credited with “by faith.” By faith Joseph also wanted to be buried in Canaan, and by faith Jospeh believed Israel would one day return to receive God’s promise.
Both Jacob and Joseph, as they die, have their eyes on the future—both the next generation and their own post-death destiny. They’re not thinking about their regrets. They’re not stuck in an eddy current of nostalgia. They’re not detailing their aches and pains. They’re putting things in order so they and their people might receive the promises of God.
((Before we move on, I can’t help mentioning how small and tender these faith moments are. I love our God. He’s close. He’s rooting for us. He sees and appreciates even our small acts of faith. God loved the way Jacob bowed his head in worship while dying. He never forgot it. It made such an impression on Him that He had it recorded in His book not once but twice. And Joseph giving instructions about his bones, knowing that the bones matter, knowing he’ll need them one day—it delights God. He’s so proud.))
Pray
Pray for the next generation. Pray for what God might do through them. Pray for their hearts. Pray for their faith.
In the comments
I’d love to hear stories about dying by faith.
Share a time when someone’s deathbed faith inspired your faith.
Godspeed,
JL
My Dad's last words were, "I love the LORD!"
For many years I prayed that somehow I would be with my mother and father as they passed away. I had no idea how this could happen as we lived in Texas and they lived in Tennessee and my husband and I both had demanding jobs. God graciously answered this prayer with miraculous orchestrations of events with both my mother and father and Ken's mother and father. Not only was I blessed to be with them as they transitioned, but I was together with other family members. Each event was sacred, holy, full of worship, tears, smiles and hugs.
Attending their deaths was very much like attending a birth. Would each labored breath be the last one? As the hours went by, we longed for the end of their hard work. When that end came, we wept in worship and with relief. Indeed, each one was born anew into their blessed eternal state.
I longed for their spirit to say aloud to me, "I made it! I'm here! All is well!" Then the Spirit came to me and reminded me that this has already been said - John 11:25-26 and many other scriptures from the Word. Blessed be Yahweh, our Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit!
I was at my friend Bethany's deathbed, but she wasn't able to speak by that point. I'd seen her just three days prior, I was dropping off dinner at her home and didn't realize she was behind me, lying on the couch in her living room until she said, "hey girl," and smiled, though I knew she was in tremendous pain and her breathing was labored. She asked for a hug, and I gave her careful one - her arms were black and blue from IVs. I still didn't know it would be our last one. I tried to ask how she was feeling, but she brushed it off with a small laugh and asked instead how I was. We only talked for a few minutes. I know I told her I loved her, and she said the same.
The week she was told there was nothing more the doctors could do for her, Bethany asked to come by my house. She wanted to tell me in person. We poured peppermint tea but neither of us drank any. She cried, yes, but she seemed so...calm. Resolved. She looked me in the eye and said, "Bethany, my girls are going to need you. Will you help them? I know where I'm going, and I know I'm going to be okay. But I worry about them...they're going to need you to love them." Her girls are the same age as my children, right on the cusp of being teenagers. I wanted to tell her not to talk like that (like Peter scolding Jesus for referencing the cross) but she was making necessary arrangements, staring death down and refusing to wither in fear, loving like a mother does right to the very end.