Genesis 47-48

Now that Joseph and his family are reunited, Pharaoh has to approve of them to live there. We read that Pharaoh not only allows them to stay in the land, but he places them in the best of the land and offers them to be put in charge of his livestock. God has brought Joseph a long way from being sold into slavery, put in prison, and receiving Pharaoh’s favor by God to be allowed such an honor by Pharaoh. 

To thank Pharaoh, Joseph brings in his father Jacob to bless him. Although Pharaoh did not follow their God, he received Jacob’s blessing. Joseph and his family were noticeably marked by God’s Spirit. This respect and power allowed Pharaoh, god of Egypt, to receive a blessing of the one true God. As a believer you may not fit in with society, yet because you are marked by the Holy Spirit, you are given respect and power that allows you to speak into people’s lives. This is through God’s kindness that He willingly chooses to live in us.

In chapter 48, Jacob (Israel) is ill and wishes to bless Joseph’s sons. He marvels at God’s kindness when he thought he would never get to see his son Joseph again, let alone his sons. Joseph thinks his father is making a mistake in blessing his sons, because he puts his right hand over the younger and left over the older. Traditionally the older would receive the greater blessing and therefore be blessed through the more dominant hand. When told that he is blessing the wrong son, Jacob replies, “‘I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations’” (Genesis 48:19). Where have we seen this before? Isaac was the younger brother to Ishmael, Jacob was the younger brother to Esau, and even Joseph was the younger brother of 11 sons! God doesn’t use the strongest and oldest to further His kingdom, but rather uses the unlikely. 

We will continue to see this throughout the Bible. God uses David, the youngest of 7 sons to defeat the Philistines and later become king. God uses the shepherds to spread the news of Jesus being born. God uses fishermen and tax collectors to be Jesus’s disciples and closest friends. God desires to use us for His purpose and His glory. He does not ask to see our resume and qualifications before giving us the Holy Spirit, but rather He is the one who qualifies us. In Colossians 1:12 Paul writes, “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” May we walk in obedience, trusting God’s will, and confidence in the One who qualifies us.