After the death of Yisra’el, fka Ya’akob (Jacob), 10 of his dozen sons approached Yosef (Joseph) with a message from their father: Don’t seek revenge for selling him as a slave. Yosef lived out the “second greatest commandment” in his response, showing he trusted God’s plan that had violently separated him from his family and landed him in prison for a few years.
Some Christians think references to “the latter days” in the Bible refer to the coming of Messiah, destruction of Babylon and messianic reign. Some connect the blessings for each of the 12 sons in Genesis 49 to particular nation groups that are supposed to exist at the end of time. When I read the chapter, I see Ya’akob (Jacob) only addressing his 12 sons, who would become the 12 tribes of Yisra’el (Israel), in their “end times,” not in those of some modern nation.
It used to be common to ask, “What would Jesus do?” Well, why did Yeshua visit God’s House on an extrabiblical Jewish festival — Chanukah — to make one of the most startling statements about God’s love for humanity? Why did the “disciple whom Iesous loved” record it? Rather than focus on layers upon layers of manmade tradition about a winter celebration of the birth of Yeshua, let’s dig through a number of layered messages that actually are in the Bible about God’s dedicating of a Living Temple — the Messiah — among humanity that could never again by left desolate or destroyed.
The blessings Yisra’el (Israel), f.k.a. Ya’akob (Jacob), game his sons in Genesis 49 seem cryptic, because events are described that didn’t happen in the sons’ lives. Then we notice that these are prophecies for the end of history and about the Messiah. In this part of the study, covering Gen. 49:1–12, we encounter the messianic name Shiloh.
The list of the names of the offspring of Yisrael, f.k.a. Ya’akob (Jacob), can be read as a message about the work of the Messiah if the meanings of the names are strung together.
We see here that God caused and allowed many bad things to Yosef for the salvation of Yosef’s family, but He caused and allowed even worse things to happen to the Messiah Yeshua for our salvation.
In Genesis 43, Yosef (Joseph) hosted a large banquet for his brothers and household staff. At the time of the account in Genesis 44, Yosef was still hidden from his brothers. He is the second in command of Mitsraim (Egypt), one of the world’s most powerful nations of the period. This account of the actions of Pharaoh and Yosef is a parable of what the Father and the Son planned to do to and through a group of believers in God, a group called Israel.