July 07, 2025 | Be God's Family
Jacob and His Sons
Scripture: Hebrews 11:21(NIV)
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
Devotional
When I began reading into this verse, I went back to Genesis 48 and the blessing of each of Joseph’s sons. Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons and declared them his own. He further blessed Ephraim with his right hand above Manasseh with his left, even though Ephraim was the younger of the two. This reminded me of Jacob stealing the birthright blessing from Isaac away from his twin Esau who was born first. Jacob declared that the younger shall have greater number of descendants than the older.
Jacob also declared the boys as his own. The tribe of Joseph was essentially split into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh. In later parts of the Old Testament, the tribes include the Tribe of Ephraim and Tribe of Manasseh, but there isn’t a Tribe of Joseph. There is no logical reasoning to what Jacob did as it was all done by Jacob’s faith.
In the second half of the verse, Jacob “worshiped as he leaned on top of his staff.” His staff was very important to him. After Jacob wrestled with God at Peniel, he limped. This limp may have continued on the rest of his life. With a limp, his staff would have been vital to walk and live. But that staff would have been a reminder of that night when he wrestled with God and gained that limp. He would have had to learn to lean on this staff to walk, live, etc. Just as he had to lean on the staff, he learned to lean on God. He worshipped God as a broken man. Others saw this daily reminder of his weakness and his strength that he received from God. He did not and physically could not walk alone.
In some versions of this verse, the word “bed” is used instead of “staff”. This is the end of Jacob’s life and a time to rest and worship.
Much of Hebrews 11 ties back into Genesis and the beginning. I have learned that much of the New Testament can be tied to the beginning as this is what they knew in Jesus’s time and that is what was used to teach new Christians. “By faith” is how so much of what they did in the Old Testament and what Jesus is calling for us to do today.
Poem
A Lifetime Of Prayer
Psalm 134
Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who minister by night in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 134:1-3
As infant may I babble
As infant may I raise
My gurgling “Alleluia!”
A joyful song of praise
In youth may I extol You
Your precepts memorize
Great hymns of faith be learning
Obedience, my prize
As faith inside me deepens
As Holy Spirit speaks
May joy be my anointing
May truth roots sink in deep
And when Your voice is silent
May I keep love aflame
Despite the darkness of a night
May watchful I remain
Then as my eyesight darkens
And on a cane I rest
May I be still found praising
And constant may I bless
And when You close my eyelids
In sleep, full rest, repose
Arouse, Your trumpet, my alarm
Your glory, full disclose
