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29th December: A Life in Retrospect

And Israel blessed Joseph, and said, `God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads...' Gn 48:15-16 (AV)

Hebrews 1:21 tells us that by faith Jacob blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning on top of his staff. To a Jewish reader each of these phrases would carry a wealth of history and meaning. The blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh was remarkable for many things, including the way Jacob spoke of God. He uses a three-fold invocation and addresses the God of his fathers, the God who had fed (shepherded) him and the God who had redeemed him. He dwells on these aspects and stresses that God had shepherded him -- all his life long -- even when he had been wayward and careless! God had redeemed him -- from all evil -- even he, who had so greatly wronged and deceived others!

These are both new concepts of God. Of course Abraham, Isaac and others had known God as Shepherd and as Redeemer. But how appropriate that Jacob, the most rebellious of the patriarchs, is the first to speak of God in just these ways.

And what about the staff on which Jacob leaned while blessing the sons of Joseph (Heb 11:21)? Jacob's staff is symbolic of three things. Firstly, it indicated the fact that he was a pilgrim, `seeking a city with foundations' (Heb 11:10) -- that is, seeking the government of God, the time when, utterly alone and about to face his wronged brother, he had wrestled with God. He had emerged from that mysterious incident a broken man, but blessed and renamed -- and he had limped ever since (Gn 32:24-32). Thirdly, his staff will have spoken to Jacob of his dependence on God. Immediately before he had had that encounter with God at Penuel, he had, as was usual for him, used all his guile and displayed all his resources with utmost skill (Gn 32:1-23). But his past had caught up with him at Penuel (the Face of God), and he had limped to the meeting with Esau, utterly inadequate. Yet God had been sufficient, and he had been preserved.

So an aged pilgrim, who has had dealings with God and who has learnt to depend on him, leans on his staff, worships God his Shepherd and his redeemer, and speaks with confidence of the future...

Lord it belong not to my care,
Whether I die or live.
To love and serve thee is my share
And this thy grace must give.
Christ leads me through no darker rooms
Than he went through before.
He that into God's kingdom comes
Must enter through this door.

Richard Baxter.

Further reading: as indicated in the text.

PCE