NIV Application Bible Podcast: Episode 2 (Genesis 48)

• This is actually called a hax laminon. That means it’s the only time it ever happens in an entire corpus of literature. This is the only time in scripture. Hey y’all, welcome back to the NIV Application Bible podcast. We are so tickled that you chose to join us on this journey. I just want to highlight that does not look like an old lady Bible, does it? Isn’t that a pretty Bible? But it has large print.
• This is the first time in like five or six years I’ve been able to read my Bible without glasses. I love this. I want to highlight a story in Genesis. And then and then take you to the application point because man, I love this story. One of my favorite stories in Genesis. Well, there’s a whole lot of favorite stories in Genesis, but this is my favorite story from chapter 48 of Genesis.
• It’s a long one, so stay with me. Um, if you’ve gotten behind on your Bible reading through the year, this will catch you right back up. Genesis 48:1. Sometime later, Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So, he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, along with him. When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you.
• Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.” Y’all, in this story, Jacob, you know, he’s the patriarch. It’s Joe’s daddy. Joe is the one with multicolored coat. And sometimes he’s called Jacob in the story. Sometimes he’s called Israel. So, it can get kind of confusing. Um, but we’ll we’ll try to keep keep saying Jacob or I’ll keep reminding you it’s Jacob.
• Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Lo in the land of Canaan. And there he blessed me and said to me, I’m going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you. Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine.
• Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you after them will be yours, and the territory they inherit, they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?” “They are the sons God has given me here,” Joseph said to his father.
• So he’s brought his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, back home to meet their granddaddy, Jacob. They are the sons God has given me here, Joseph said to his father. Then Israel, Jacob said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.” Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. Israel.
• Jacob said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children, too.” Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him.