The Berean Pursuit
Then Jacob called for his sons and said, "Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:
Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel.
Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might,
and the beginning of my strength,
excelling in honor,
excelling in power.
Uncontrolled as the waters,
you will no longer excel,
because you went up to your father's bed,
onto my couch, and defiled it.
Simeon and Levi are brothers;
their swords are weapons of violence.
May I never enter their council;
may I never join their assembly.
For they kill men in their anger,
and hamstring oxen on a whim.
Cursed be their anger, for it is strong,
and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will disperse them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel.
Judah, your brothers shall praise you.
Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies;
your father's sons shall bow down to you.
Judah is a young lion-
my son, you return from the prey.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down;
like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?
The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the staff from between his feet,
until Shiloh comes
and the allegiance of the nations is his.
He ties his donkey to the vine,
his colt to the choicest branch.
He washes his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.
Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore
and become a harbor for ships;
his border shall extend to Sidon.
Issachar is a strong donkey,
lying down between the sheepfolds.
He saw that his resting place was good
and that his land was pleasant,
so he bent his shoulder to the burden
and submitted to labor as a servant.
Dan shall provide justice for his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
He will be a snake by the road,
a viper in the path
that bites the horse's heels
so that its rider tumbles backward.
I await Your salvation, O LORD.
Gad will be attacked by raiders,
but he will attack their heels.
Asher's food will be rich;
he shall provide royal delicacies.
Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.
Joseph is a fruitful vine-
a fruitful vine by a spring,
whose branches scale the wall.
The archers attacked him with bitterness;
they aimed at him in hostility.
Yet he steadied his bow,
and his strong arms were tempered
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
by the God of your father who helps you,
and by the Almighty who blesses you,
with blessings of the heavens above,
with blessings of the depths below,
with blessings of the breasts and womb.
The blessings of your father have surpassed
the blessings of the ancient mountains
and the bounty of the everlasting hills.
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince of his brothers.
Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning he devours the prey,
in the evening he divides the plunder."
These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.
Then Jacob instructed them, "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites."
When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.
Then Joseph fell upon his father's face, wept over him, and kissed him.
And Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So they embalmed him, taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh's court, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please tell Pharaoh that my father made me swear an oath when he said, 'I am about to die. You must bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.' Now let me go and bury my father, and then return."
Pharaoh replied, "Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do."
Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all the servants of Pharaoh accompanied him-the elders of Pharaoh's household and all the elders of the land of Egypt- along with all of Joseph's household, and his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children and flocks and herds were left in Goshen.
Chariots and horsemen alike went up with him, and it was an exceedingly large procession. When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Joseph mourned for his father seven days.
When the Canaanites of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a solemn ceremony of mourning by the Egyptians." Thus the place across the Jordan is called Abel-mizraim.
So Jacob's sons did as he had charged them. They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.
After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.
When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him."
So they sent word to Joseph, saying, "Before he died, your father commanded, 'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.' So now, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father."
When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, "We are your slaves!"
But Joseph replied, "Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this-to preserve the lives of many people. Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones." So Joseph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them.
Now Joseph and his father's household remained in Egypt, and Joseph lived to the age of 110. He saw Ephraim's sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph's knees.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." And Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath and said, "God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones up from this place."
So Joseph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed his body and placed it in a coffin in Egypt.
What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the date set by his father.
So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that my efforts for you may have been in vain. I beg you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong.
You know that it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. And although my illness was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself. What then has become of your blessing? For I can testify that, if it were possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose-at any time, and not only when I am with you.
My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.
Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise.
These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written:
"Rejoice, O barren woman,
who bears no children;
break forth and cry aloud,
you who have never travailed;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband."
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time, however, the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit. It is the same now.
But what does the Scripture say? "Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.