Genesis 48:15

Just before Jacob dies, he talks in detail with his sons. It is not surprising that Jacob often mentions God in these conversations. The Bible says in Genesis 48:15-22, “And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. 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. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his 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 Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.”

Jacob said several things about God in Genesis 48:15-16. The first thing that Jacob said is, “God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk.” There is one God, and people can have a relationship with that God through faith in Jesus. The true definition of serving God is to “walk” with Him. That is what Abraham and Isaac did. They walked with God. It says about Enoch in Genesis 5:22, “And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.” It says in Genesis 6:9, “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” Notice the commandment that God gave to Abraham when Abraham was ninety-nine years old. The Bible says in Genesis 17:1, “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.”

The way to walk with God is to be rightly related to the Lord Jesus Christ in every step that we take, wherever we go. To do that our goal must always be to do the right thing, and if we ever fail, we must quickly confess our sins so that we can continue to "walk with God." That is why First John 1:9 is so important. It says in First John 1:6-9, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The New Testament is not really so much different from the Old Testament after all in the things that really matter. The most important thing for a Christian to do in order to serve God is the same as it was for Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob: they were called to walk with God.

Jacob said in Genesis 48:15, “God which fed me all my life long unto this day.” Jacob knew that God had been taking care of him. Jacob was thankful that God had been taking care of him. Anyone who goes through life and does not give God the glory for all that God has done for him or her is a very ungodly person. Only a person who is entirely of the earth would neglect to give God the credit for the provision that God has supplied day after day and year after year. Jesus reminds us that God is the supplier of our physical needs and teaches us to pray to God for those needs. Jesus told us in Matthew 6:11 to pray the following request, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Each day when you have something to eat, it is because God has abundantly blessed you. Some people have been reminded that God is our provider through hard lessons. When the Pilgrims first came to America, they learned to look to God and to thank Him for their needs. They had a great Thanksgiving feast with the Indians because they wanted to be thankful to God who had allowed them to survive in the new land to which they had come. In reality we should practice thanksgiving in our hearts each day to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has blessed us, but are we aware like Jacob was of the ways that Jesus has blessed us from a material standpoint?

Jacob spoke about God and said of Him in Genesis 48:16, “The Angel which redeemed me from all evil.” This is a tremendous Bible verse and has very important implications. Jacob spoke of the “angel,” and Jacob does so in a context which shows us that Jacob is speaking about God. Sometimes in the Old Testament the use of the terms “the angel of God” is used to speak of God Himself. The word “angel” means messenger. The word “angel” does not always refer to one of the angelic beings. So we see that in reference to this angel, One is sent out from God, and that One who is sent is also God iHimself. In the New Testament Jesus is clearly described as the manifestation of God. Jesus Himself said in John 14:9, “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.” It says in John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” To call Jesus the “Word” refers to the fact that He is the communication from God to man. Jesus has always been the communication from God to man. Jesus was the “Word” in Old Testament times just as He was in New Testament times, and just as He is today. It says in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” And it says in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This truth may also mean that Jesus was the “Yahweh” of the Old Testament. Jesus certainly equated Himself with Jehovah when Jesus called Himself the “I AM.” Jesus said in John 8:58, “Before Abraham was, I am.”

Jacob told Joseph about God, “The Angel which redeemed me from all evil.” Another interesting thing about this phrase is that it is the first time in the Bible that the word “redeemed” is used. We know who is the Redeemer because the New Testament makes that very clear. Jesus Christ is the Redeemer. “To redeem” refers to paying a price for someone or some thing. Because of paying the price, the Redeemer has delivered and saved the one who was redeemed. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us with His precious blood that He shed for our sins on the cross of Calvary. The Bible says in Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”

Jacob said that God had redeemed him from “all evil.” The truth about this life is that both good and evil exist in the world around us. No human being is strong enough on their own to escape the pull of evil forces. Jesus told us in Matthew 6:13 to pray to God, “Deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.” And of course, God is stronger than evil. If you trust in the Lord, you have nothing to fear from evil. David wrote in Psalms 23:4, “I will fear no evil.”

In Genesis chapter 49 Jacob speaks to each of his sons concerning their future. The Bible says in Genesis 49:1-4, “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. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. 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 defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.” Jacob said to his sons in Genesis 49:2, “hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.” Every parent who has even a small amount of love for their children wants to impart wisdom and sound advice to the children. But no matter how well the parent speaks, and no matter how good and wise is the information that is given, it is still up to the child to “hearken” to what the parent says. Jesus said about His teachings in Mark 4:9, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” This plea given by a parent to the child to listen is found in the book of Proverbs. It says in Proverbs 1:8-9, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.”

Jacob said to his sons in Genesis 49:2, “hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.” “Jacob” was his original name. We might say that “Jacob” was his name before he became a believer. “Israel” was the new name given to Jacob to emphasize the fact that Jacob became a new person because of the grace of God and because of the promises of God. It is interesting to note that Jacob used both names for himself in the same phrase. Perhaps to be properly humbled he wanted to remind himself of what he was before he came to know God. Perhaps Jacob also wanted to remember what God had done for him and would continue to do for him in the future because of God’s great promises. It is always good to remind yourself of what you were without Jesus so that you do not fail to be thankful for His mercy. And it is always good to remember that through faith in Christ, God has made you one of His children.

In speaking about Reuben in Genesis 49:4 Jacob said, “Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.” Jacob said that Reuben was unstable, and therefore, Reuben would not “excel.” In other words Reuben would not accomplish very much. Reuben would not do very well in any of his endeavors. One of the great purposes of life is to do your best, to be all that God meant for you to become, and to accomplish everything that God wanted you to accomplish in this life. To fail at such a goal will be a great failure indeed. It might very well mean that from a practical standpoint your life was wasted. The Apostle Paul was able to say at the end of his life in Second Timothy 4:6-7, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

Anything that keeps you from eventually saying the same thing that Paul said about your own life is a bad thing. And one of the things that will surely prevent you from finishing the course faithfully is being “unstable” in your faith. When a person first comes to know Christ as Savior, that person is a like a new-born babe in Christ. In order to become a Christian who is stable in the faith, each new Christian must grow spiritually. The Bible says in First Peter 2:2, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

It is important to become saved through faith in Jesus, or you will lose your soul. After being saved by Christ, it is important to build up your faith until you have a strong and “stable” faith in the Lord and in His promises. If you remain unstable, you will throw away your life by losing what could have been accomplished through you for Christ. The Bible says in First Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

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