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.
Ya’akob (Jacob) blessed pharaoh of Mitsraim (Egypt) upon arrival there. Ya’akob blessed the sons of Yosef (Joseph), Ephraim and Manasseh, as if they were his own elder sons. As we have noticed in past studies of the account of Yosef in Genesis, there are parallels between the roles of pharaoh, Yosef and Yisra’el (Israel), f.k.a. Ya’akob, and those of the Father, the Son and a people called Yisra’el.
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.
The account of Yosef and his once-estranged brothers reaches a crescendo in Genesis 43, as those 10 return to Mistraim (Egypt) with Ben-Yamin (Benjamin), Yosef’s younger brother. There are a number of parallels between Yosef’s life and that of Yeshua the Messiah in this part of the account.
We’ve already explored how Yosef’s life parallels that of Yeshua the Messiah. In part 3 of this study of Genesis 42, we explore the another parallel in the ancient Egyptian name of Yosef (Joseph) and in the three days of imprisonment of his brothers.