Resurrection

This week's sabbath reading portion is titled Va-y'chi, which means "and he lived". The title is interesting because these readings deal with the deaths of two men, Jacob and David. Because we are in the Book of Genesis in the Greek language, which is B'reshiet in Hebrew, or "Beginning" in English, we know that we will find the beginning of something important occurring in this reading portion. In Genesis 47, the time of Jacob's death at the age of 147 was approaching. He made his son, Joseph, take a special oath, the placing of Joseph's hand under Jacob's thigh, promising that Joseph would bring Jacob's body back to Canaan to be buried in the same place as his fathers: Abraham, and Isaac, with Sarah and Rebekah, their wives. Joseph swore that he would do this for his father, Jacob, upon Jacob's death. (Gen. 47:29-31). Why was Jacob so insistent upon being buried in Canaan rather than Egypt? Hundreds of years later, when the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt, they would also carry Joseph's bones with them into Canaan. Both Jacob and Joseph understood that the promised land also held the promise of Messiah, and resurrection from the dead, which we will see later. Before he died, Jacob did two important and eternal things. He blessed Joseph's two sons, with the younger son, Ephraim, getting the right-hand blessing. This blessing was the blessing of pre-eminence that should have gone to the older brother. Jacob also claimed those two grandsons as his: "And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon (two of Jacob's sons), they shall be mine. Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance." (Gen. 48:5-6). Those two grandsons of Jacob were now to have the same inheritance rights as if they were sons of Jacob. Those inheritance rights include the covenant promise of God to Jacob of the land of Canaan: "Then Jacob said to Joseph: 'God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession." (Gen. 48:3-4). This land was called an "everlasting" (olam) possession, given to Jacob and his descendants, which means it is from the ancient, or antiquity to the futurity. It is perpetual from the "hidden time", as a secret concealed. This isn't just an ordinary piece of land. Joseph's two sons', and their descendants' inheritance would no longer be in Egypt, but in Canaan, the promised land, with the rest of Jacob's sons. In an interesting fact, someone who studies the Hebrew scriptures showed me that after Jacob's blessing of Joseph and his two sons in Gen. 48:15-16, the Hebrew letters "aleph-tav" ( את ) became included with them. The Aleph-Tav, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, is the name of Jesus, as He revealed when He referred to Himself as "The Alpha and The Omega", the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet used in the New Testament (see Rev. 1:8, 1:11, 21:6, 22:13). The descendants of these half-Gentile sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, (their mother was Egyptian) would become two half-tribes within the twelve tribes of Israel. Their identity would no longer be Egyptian, but they were now included in Israel, and the promise and people of Messiah. This is one of the two beginnings that would hold eternal importance. The second is in the prophecies that old Jacob said over each of his sons before he died: "...that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days." (Gen. 49:1). To his son, Judah, he prophesied kingship, and the rulership in the hands of the Messiah: "Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's whelp (see also Rev. 5:1, 5); from the prey (terep/tarap - prey, ravening, tear in pieces (see Ps. 22:1, 16, 20-21), my son, you have gone up (ala - offer(ing), raised, arose, rise, ascend, be exalted, to lift oneself, to be high and lifted up (see Isa. 6:1)....the scepter (sebet - rod, symbol of royal authority, shepherd's staff, branch (off), used for punishing) shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (meaning "that which belongs to him", tranquility, safety, prosperity, a name given to the Messiah) comes, and to Him shall be the gathering/obedience (yekaha - obedience, cleansing, purging, blamelessness) of the people. Binding his donkey to the vine, and his donkey's colt (see also Zech. 9:9, Mt, 21:1-9, Lk. 19:28-38) to the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes (see Rev. 19:13). His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk." (Gen. 49:8-12). Generations later, David, from the tribe of Judah, would become king of Israel, and his descendant, the Messiah or Christ, as promised by God, would reign on his throne forever (see 1 Chron. 17:11-14, 2 Sam. 7:16-18). Jesus was, and still is called by the Messianic name, "Son of David" (see Lk. 18:35-42). If you look up the references that I have provided within Jacob's prophecy regarding Judah, you will see the fulfillment by Jesus in scripture. David, in one of this week's sabbath readings, also referred to Jacob's prophecy before the gathering of the people of Israel: "...the LORD God of Israel chose me above all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever, for He has chosen Judah to be the ruler. And of the house of Judah, the house of my father, and among the sons of my father, He was pleased with me to make me king over all Israel." (1 Chron. 28:4). David referred to Jacob's prophecy over his son, Judah, as a beginning point in the royal line of Israel, and David himself as king, as well as the eternal throne of David held by the Messiah (in Hebrew), or Christ (in Greek). As he promised, Joseph and family travelled back to Canaan to bury Jacob with Abraham, and centuries later, Joseph's bones were also carried out of Egypt and then buried elsewhere in the land of Canaan at Shechem, in the plot of land that Jacob had purchased hundreds of years before (Josh. 24:32). Later in scripture, Jeremiah would prophesy: "Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that I will raise to David a Branch (see "scepter" above) of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." (Jer. 23:5-6, 33:14-16). Israel was to be the land of promised resurrection, and the visitation of the Messiah (see Lk. 19:41-44), not Egypt. No wonder Jacob, and later Joseph, exacted promises to be returned to Israel after their deaths. In fact, scripture tells us that when Jesus was raised from the dead, many others were also, and were seen in the holy city (see Mt. 27:50-53). Jesus explained the resurrection power that was part of the faith and knowledge of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob this way: "But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'. For He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him." (Lk. 20:37-38, Mt. 22:31-32, Mk. 12:26-27). Jacob was considered one of "the living", even though he had physically died and was buried in Canaan long before God spoke to Moses from the burning bush! If you would like to know more about the beginning promise of resurrection, and its fulfillment through Jesus Christ, you can join in my prayer: "Heavenly Father, through the fathers of faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, You made beginning promises that carried through the ages, and will carry into "futurity". One of those beginning promises was Messiah the King, and the resurrection from the dead. You have fulfilled Your promise as You sent and gave Your Son as an offering for us, that whoever believed and received Him, to the same You would give everlasting life. Jacob and Joseph believed and received Your promise, and so do I. You are the God of the living. Fill me with the knowledge of Your Son, the Messiah, Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit, so that I can grow in resurrection life. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."