Why did Jacob say that Dan shall judge his people?
(Genesis 46-50; Heb. 11:21; Rev. 5:5) Blog 19-25 Jun. 2022
Prepared by Richard A. Marin: Present Truth PO Box 700, Fallbrook CA 92088-0700 USA
REVIEW: God created a perfect world in six days and placed a perfect couple to live in it. They freely chose to break God’s covenant with them, bringing corruption and condemnation to all who followed. Two thousand years later God destroyed the earth by a flood. After Noah, God made a covenant with Abraham, then renewed it with Isaac and Jacob. Jacob’s special son, Joseph, was sold into Egypt but God turned the curse into a blessing that saved the lives of his entire family.
Moving to Egypt
1. When Jacob realized that Joseph was alive in Egypt, what did he say? Jacob said: “It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.” (Gen. 45:27-28).
2. As Jacob and all his family started their journey south where did they stop to offer sacrifices and what happened there? Jacob stopped in Beer-sheba & God spoke to him there in a vision, telling hm not to fear going to Egypt for God would go with him & make him a great nation down there (Gen. 46:1-4).
3. What New Testament timeline finds its starting point where God spoke to Jacob in Beer-sheba? Beer-sheba means “well of the covenant” & it was there that God renewed the Abrahamic covenant (with Jacob) for the last time before the exodus, thus, beginning the 430 years (4 generations of servitude) that God told Abraham his descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs (Gen. 15:13-16; Acts 7:17, 35; Gal. 3:16-17).
4. How does Moses (in Genesis 46) list Jacob’s descendants that came into Egypt? Moses first lists Jacob’s descendants by Leah who total 33, then his descendants by Leah’s maid who total 16, next his descendants by Rachel who total 14, & finally his descendants by Rachel’s maid who total 7, which he adds up to seventy souls including Jacob (it appears that some of his grandsons are not included to make a total of 70) (Gen. 46:8-27).
5. After meeting his father and brethren in Goshen, what did Joseph do? Joseph introduced five of his bothers & his father to Pharaoh who asked what their occupation was & offered them the land of Goshen to live in (Gen. 46:28 – 47:6).
6. If according to Hebrews, the lessor is always blessed by the better, what does that tell us about the interchange between Jacob and Pharaoh? When Pharoah asked Jacob his age & Jacob blessed Pharoah we should understand that Jacob was greater in God’s eyes than Pharaoh (Gen. 47:8-10: Heb. 7:7).
7. As the famine progressed how were the people able to buy food? When their money ran out, Joseph accepted cattle as payment for corn; when cattle ran out, he accepted property as payment; when property ran out he accepted servitude as payment; & eventually Joseph set up a system of sharecropping & enacted an ongoing 20% tax on income (Gen. 47:13-26).
8. Before he died, what promise did Jacob secure from Joseph? Joseph promised to not bury his father in Egypt but rather to bury him back in Canaan where his father & grandfather were buried (Gen. 47:26-31).
Jacob blesses Joseph
9. When Joseph took his boys to see Jacob on his deathbed, what did Jacob do? Jacob sat up in bed & repeated to Joseph God’s covenant promises, then claiming Ephraim & Manasseh as two more sons of his, he blessed the two boys giving them equal standing with their 11 uncles, thus giving Israel 13 tribes (Gen. 48:1-16; Heb. 11:21).
10. When Joseph tried to direct his father’s right hand to Manasseh, what happened? Jacob crossed his arms giving the greater blessing to Ephraim, the younger. This reminds us that both Abraham & Isaac gave the blessing of the firstborn to their second-born sons (Gen. 48:17-20).
11. To what does Genesis 48:22 refer? Jacob tells Joseph that he will receive two portions of the land of Canaan as an inheritance. Then he refers to either an untold story of armed aggression or more likely, a prophesy of Joshua’s conquest of Canaan & the bestowal of land both to Ephraim & Manasseh, giving Joseph the double portion that should have been Reuben’s if he had not defiled his father’s bed (Gen. 48:22; Num. 32:39; 1 Chron. 5:1-2).
Jacob blesses all his sons
12. What does Jacob propose to tell his sons in Genesis 49? As a prophet of God & heir of the Abrahamic covenant Jacob tells his sons what will befall them in the future (Gen. 49:1).
13. How was the tribe of Levi scattered in Israel? What Jacob said of Levi became a blessing rather than a curse for the tribe of Levi became the priests who were given 48 cities all over the land of Canaan (Gen. 49:7; Josh. 21).
14. How would it be that Judah’s brethren would praise and bow down to him? Judah, like a lion, represents a ruler & from his line David & Jesus were born to rule over their brethren even though they washed their clothes in blood (Gen. 49:8-12; 1 Chron. 2:3; Isa. 63:3; Rev. 5:5).
15. Why did Jacob say that Dan shall judge his people? The name Dan means judge & when the twelve tribes are sealed that is judgment day for Dan is the judge & is not included among the twelve (Gen 49:16; Rev. 7).
16. To which of his sons did Jacob give the longest blessing? Although in front of all his brothers Joseph did not receive a double blessing in behalf of his two sons, he did receive the longest & most positive blessing of his father (Gen. 49:22-26).
17. Where was Jacob buried? After being embalmed (40 days) & being mourned for 70 days, Jacob’s sons & many Egyptian rulers took him to Canaan, mourned 7 more days there, & buried him in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. 50:1-14).
18. What did Joseph request of his brethren before he died? Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel that when they left Egypt, they would carry his bones back to the land of Canaan for he believed God’s covenant (Gen. 50:22-26; Ex. 13:19).