• : Genesis Chapters
• 45, 46:
• 1-4
• , 47:
• 27-31
• , 48, 49, 50:
• 22-26
• Joseph reveals himself to his brothers
• Jacob and his family move to Egypt
• Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh
• Jacob blesses his 12 sons
• Key Verses and Themes
• Messianic Prophecy

Gen 49:8-12

These verses are the blessing Judah received from his father Jacob. In Genesis 49, we see Jacob give blessing and prophecies for each of his 12 sons. Does anything that Jacob is saying sound familiar? See the NT references section to find out…

• +++Genesis Ends+++
• Key Themes
• Holy Trinity
• Abrahamic Succession & Laying on of hands
• for succession (Syameeda)
• Circumcision ➔ Baptism

References to the New Testament & our Church practices

• Messianic Prophecy
• Gen 49:9 ➔ Revelation 5:5

Genesis 49:9

reads: "'Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?'" As the church fathers comment, the “lion’s whelp” is understood to show sonship, and thus the lion as a father, so here is shown the Father and the Son. However, Jacob then says he “couched as a lion”, showing the equality of nature between the Father and the Son. How do we know Christ indeed is the “lion” as well as its “welp”? Because we read in

• Rev 5:5

that Jesus is referred to as “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah”

He says the words “After stooping down, you slept like a lion and a whelp” in order to show Christ sleeping during the three days of his burial, when He rests in the heart of the earth. And also the Lord himself has testified such when He said, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

(Matthew 12:40)

And David by announcing Him in advance said, “I lay down and slept; I awoke for the Lord will help me.”

• (Psalm 3:5)

him?” He did not say “Nobody will wake him” but “Who?” in order that we may understand that the Father woke the Son from the dead, as St. Paul confirms: “and through God the Father who woke him from the dead.”

(Galatians 1:1)

And as St. Peter said, “But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it

• (Acts 2:24)
• Gen 49:10 ➔ Matthew 2:1
• Genesis 49:10

reads: "'A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a prince from his loins

(meaning descendants in this context)

, until there come the things stored up for Him; and He is the Expectation of the Nations.'" When Herod the Great, the king mentioned in

Matthew 2:1

, a non-Jew and usurper, assumed the title “King of Judea”, the line of Judah had indeed for

the first time “failed”', thus heralding the coming of the Christ in fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy.

• Gen 49:11 ➔ Matthew 21:2 & 7

Genesis 49:11

reads: "'Binding his donkey to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine…'" Christ literally fulfills the prophecy here, and in a spiritual sense He fulfills it by by sitting upon the donkey, the burdened Jews, and also upon the foal, the Gentiles who were coltish, untamed and unruly.

• Gen 49:12 ➔ Matthew 21:2 & 7

Genesis 49:12

reads: "His eyes are darker than wine, And his teeth whiter than milk'" These various ways and figures of speech speak of the Word (Christ): solid food, flesh, nourishment, bread, blood and milk. The Lord is all these things for the refreshment of us Christians. “He washes his garment in wine,” and “his robe in the blood of the grape.”That means Christ will attire the body of the Word with His own blood, just as he will nurture those who hunger for the Word with his own Spirit, as remember he said “I am the living Bread”

(John 6:51)

Bread gives nourishment to our body as food, Christ’s commandments nourish our soul! That’s why in Assyrian, we might hear our grandparents tell us “khol lakhmookh!” (“eat your bread!”) as a way to say eat your food; bread is associated with nourishing. “Give us our daily bread” as another example, from the Lord’s prayer. Additionally, as St .Paul says to the Corinthians referencing the Gospel of Christ he preached to them, “I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;”

• (1 Corinthians 3:2)
• Discussion Questions

GENESIS 45

What can we learn from Joseph immediately reassuring his brothers after revealing himself to them?

Joseph does not take the opportunity to be harsh and cruel to his brothers, avoiding a common Assyrian habit of saying “Aha! Now what!” when we have victory or justice against someone who wronged us. He saw his circumstances as the Lord’s Divine plan, for good, rather than his brothers’ plan for evil going wrong. So he dispels their grief and fear over having to have the brother they sold as a slave now being the 2nd most powerful ruler in the world. So too, if someone has had evil intentions against us, or done evil, be forgiving and immediately reassure them that you have no hate nor spite in your heart, and choose forgiveness over vengeance. See the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). The father could have punished the son harshly; instead he treats him with compassion and welcomes his return!

Remember how we compared Joseph to Christ the past couple weeks? Here is an example of Christ doing so

St. Ambrose of Milan

“Christ would even excuse his brothers’ crime and say that it was God’s providence and not humanity’s wickedness, since he was not offered up to death by humans but was sent by the Lord to life. What else is the meaning of that intervention made by our Lord Jesus Christ, who excelled all his brothers in holiness? When he was on the cross, Jesus said in behalf of the people, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” … And when they were startled and panic-stricken and thought they saw a spirit, again Jesus said to them, “Why are you disturbed, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself. Feel and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have”

• GENESIS 47

Why did Jacob make Joseph put his hand under his thigh to swear/give oath?

It was a common practice back then for giving oaths, like how in court, people put their right hand on the Bible to swear that they will be honest. We see this in

• Genesis 24:2 & 9

when Abraham makes one of his servants promise him something too.

• The Church fathers give some reasoning as to why:

John Chrysostom

explains that the thigh signifies Abraham’s seed, through which the Messiah would come, making an oath on it a solemn invocation of God's promise.

Theophylact of Ohrid

agrees that the act references God's covenant, since circumcision was performed in that region of the body, marking God's promise to Abraham's descendants.

Why did Jacob want to be buried outside of Egypt?

• The most simple answer is:

Faith in God’s Promise

– Jacob wanted to be buried in Canaan because he trusted in God’s covenant to give the land to his descendants. The other two answers are more complex.

Separation from Paganism

– He rejected Egypt’s idolatry and ensured his final resting place was among the faithful.

Symbol of Christ and the Resurrection

– His burial outside Egypt prefigures Christ’s resurrection and the believer’s hope for eternal life.

• GENESIS 48

Why did Jacob make Joseph's 2 sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, his own?

The church fathers say it was Jacob’s way of recognizing Joseph’s faithfulness and rewarding him for it, giving him an “extra/double portion”

(Gen 48:22)

in that his two sons would become a part of the tribes along with their uncles (Joseph’s brothers).

More importantly, it was a foreshadowing of Gentiles, the non-Jews, becoming inheritors/a part of the Church, because remember, Ephraim and Manasseh were foreign born, and their mother was Egyptian, not Jewish. So Jacob adopted foreign-born sons, just as God would adopt the Gentiles into His Church.

Why did Jacob cross his hands when blessing Joseph’s sons, and why did he put his right hand on the younger son, Ephraim?

For several reasons, as some church fathers comment below. Remember also how Jacob was the younger and why/how he received the blessing over his older brother Esau!

• Hippolytus of Rome
• On Genesis
• ) sees this as a
• prophetic inversion
• , where
• the last shall be first
• , foreshadowing how Christ would choose
• the humble and unexpected

over the mighty.

• Cyril of Alexandria
• Glaphyra on Genesis
• ) interprets this as a symbol of how
• God’s grace is not tied to human expectations

, as seen when Christ elevates the weak and lowly.

• Theophylact of Ohrid
• explains that
• Jacob crossing his hands
• prefigures
• the Cross
• , by which God’s blessings are given
• not according to birthright, but by divine grace
• GENESIS 49

What are Judah’s blessings referencing?

That Jesus Christ, in the flesh, would be descended from Judah. See "References to the New Testament & our Church practices" above!

• This Week's Study

Review your Genesis booklet and prepare for the exam on Monday, 3/24.

—Make sure to review the Key Themes listed above, which are more prevalent in Weeks 1-5, and Week 8.