JACOBS FAITH WHEN ALL WAS AGAINST HIM

THE FAITH OF JACOB

GENESIS 48

"By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff."—HEBREWS 10:21

            We have in succession three accounts of faith operating at the end of life: Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau; now Jacob blessing Ephraim and Manasseh; and in the next account, the faith of Joseph at the end.

            In the case of Jacob we have another arresting method implied by the writer of the letter in proof of his faith. All the earlier stories of his life are omitted, and we see him at the end, when he was a-dying, his eyes dim, and he was leaning in his weakness upon his staff, when he had to make an effort to sit up, when Joseph brought his two boys to him. He was an old man, and withal a dying man.

            He had come to that hour in which all the past is seen in its true perspective. The writer takes what he did in that hour as demonstrating his faith, and unques­tionably it is a remarkable account. In human feebleness, leaning upon the top of his staff, he worshipped. Do not omit that. He did not only bless the sons of Joseph, but he worshipped by faith in that hour; and in that attitude of worship he pronounced a blessing upon those two sons of Joseph.

            To understand all this we need to see the man, and to consider the terms of the blessing. We need not take up very much time with the man himself. There is no figure more familiar upon the pages of the Old Testa­ment than Jacob, but let us glance at him for a moment or two.             He was a man of restless and ceaseless activity. My own opinion is that Isaac might have done what my father did: offered me a penny—a shekel in his case —to sit still for five minutes. I never got that penny, and I do not think Jacob would have done so. Restless, ceaseless in his activity, but always believing in God. There is no account in the life of Jacob but that we find his faith in God underlying it and surrounding it; and yet he was forever attempting to help God by making his own clever arrangements. That is the account of Jacob very briefly told.

            Now mark the conflicting facts. Faith desired an entry into the blessing of his father. Fear secured it by trickery. Before that, faith desired the birthright, which was his by divine arrangement. Fear secured it by meanness, taking advantage of a hungry brother. Faith desired the land, and fear sought to gain it by astuteness. There is a conflict all through between this underlying and ever living fact of his faith, and his fear; and the fear led him to do most foolish things. That is something we have all done sometimes, attempt­ing to help God. I know there is an old saying that God helps those who help themselves; but God help anybody who is imagining that he can, in the last anal­ysis, help the fulfillment of divine purpose in his life. That is the account of Jacob.

            It is a remarkable account. Seven times, according to the records, God appeared to Abraham, five times He appeared to Jacob. In Abraham's case every appear­ance suggested some new venture of faith, and Abraham obeyed. In every case of the five appearances to Jacob God came and appeared for correction, overtaking his blunders, and setting his feet anew upon the pathway of obedience. All five appearances were corrective.

            Now this is the man, astute, clever, and scheming—I may as well use the word in our modern American sense, which has almost a complimentary meaning. He was cunning, in our sense of cunning, as in the case of his dealing with Laban. Although I am bound to say that I always thank God that he was one too many for Laban. Laban was the meanest man I find on the pages of the Old Testament, willing to squeeze everything out of a man, and then fling him away. He did not get away with it in the case of Jacob, with the cattle, and the women too. I am always thankful for that. We see all through in that relationship this man's faith mastered him, though his fear that God was going to break down made him foolish enough to try to help God.

            That is a very brief sketch of the man. Now let us turn to the blessing, and observe these terms. Notice here is another illustration of the fact that the law of first born child rights is not upheld in the Biblical records.

            Here, for some reason we do not quite see, Manasseh was the elder, but it was not upon him that the right hand of Jacob dwelt. The left hand was put there; and the old man had to cross his hands. When Joseph had brought them in, he had arranged it so that his father's right hand should be placed upon Manasseh, and the left hand upon Ephraim. The old man crossed his hands so that the right rested upon Ephraim, and the left upon Manasseh, and when Joseph protested the old man said, I know what I am doing. Not, of course, in those words, but that is the effect of what he said, and undoubtedly he did know.

            That is an interesting side line of study. Follow it through, and we find Ephraim became the dominating tribe in Israel; Manasseh became a tribe sadly failing. However we are interested in the blessing that Jacob pronounced, as he pronounced it.

            Notice first the difference in the blessing of Joseph and that of his sons. In Genesis 48:15 it is said he blessed Joseph, and then that he blessed his sons. So this is really the blessing of Joseph through his sons. What was he doing? He was first of all reviewing his own experiences.     In interpreting the blessing we must see that faith recognized God. "The God before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which hath fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which hath redeemed me from all evil." The same Person is referred to all through. God is seen working through an Angel; and what Jacob says is that that Angel has redeemed him from all evil. These are synonymous references to the same Person. Jacob is reviewing the way in which God had led him. The highest note is that of redemption from all evil.

            The word "evil" there means breaking up—ruin. He says God had redeemed him from that. It was the redemption, the act of the next-of-kin who assumed re­sponsibility. It comes from that word "Goel." The next-of-kin assumed responsibility to extricate, as a kinsman, from trouble. Said Jacob at the end of life: That is what God has been all the way through, re­deeming me from all possible breakdown and ruin. How often he had failed, but he was looking back, and he said: All the way God has redeemed me. God has proved my Kinsman-Redeemer, bringing me through and out of all the faults and failures of my own wrong­doing; God, the Angel Who bath redeemed me from all evil.

            There we see at last the Angel Who has identified Himself with him; God has identified Himself with him, delivered him from all his wrongdoing, and their consequences, and has restored the broken harmony. That was Jacob's outlook upon life. Go back in the record to chapter 42. There we read that when he was speaking to some of his sons who had come back from Joseph in Egypt, and they had told him that they must take Benjamin down there, because the man in govern­ment had told them that he would not see them again, and would do nothing for them unless they brought Benjamin, Jacob their father said, "Me ye have be­reaved of my children; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away; all these things are against me." (Gen. 42:36) That was the outlook then. But now, over against, that, "The Angel which hath redeemed me from all evil." (Gen. 48:16) That is the outlook of faith. That outlook of faith made the gathering shadows shine with the bright light of faith then. Now he did not say, "All these things are against me"; but all these things have been working together, under the guidance and the goodness of God, for my good. I have been redeemed from all evil. The clear vision had come to him.

            It is a great picture of this old man; a fascinating account at the end of life, with trembling hands stretched out and crossed and laid upon the heads of those two lads; reviewing his past in order that he might express his desire for Joseph and these two lads. "The God before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which hath fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. 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." The Angel of His presence blesses the lads. It was a review of the whole of life, at the end of life; and there his faith that was always present flamed out, and he corrected the mistake that he had made when he said: "All these things are against me," and declared that the Angel had redeemed him from all evil.

            That is the point in the life account of Jacob upon which the writer of this letter fastens, because that was the moment when his faith became absolutely triumphant and expressed itself most clearly. There is a great comfort in this account as it reveals to us the patience of God, honoring faith however feeble, however trembling it may be. When a man said to God, in the Person of His Son, "Lord, I believe, help mine unbelief," (Mark 9:24) at once what he desired was accomplished for him. Faith was honored. He always honors faith, however weak, however feeble, if it be the master fact of the life, if it underlies all things. God is infinitely patient, and honors it.

            But it is equally true that faith makes possible the action of God. Yes, Jacob, you are quite right, the God before Whom your father’s Abraham and Isaac walked has been your God, and He has fed you all the days of your life; and the Angel of His presence has redeemed you from all evil. But the fact abides that by faith you are able at last to tell that account, and to tell it so com­pletely; and you told it in terms of blessing upon the sons of your boy Joseph, whom you thought you had lost when you said: "All these things are against me." You were thinking of the loss of Joseph, and thinking of the possible loss of Benjamin; and now things have turned out, not as you expected them to, because the Angel of His presence has redeemed you from all evil.

            It is full of comfort, and though we may be very con­scious at times of foolishness and faltering and feeble­ness, have we faith? Yes, we have faith, and if we have it, God will honor it, and at last in all likelihood we shall review the way along which He has taken us, and confess that faith has been the principle of our victory and God has acted because of our faith.