CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 48:22. One portion above thy brethren.] He was to have two lots in the land of promise. Which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. “The designation of the land as taken out of the hand of the Amorite by Jacob’s sword and bow is spoken of in the anticipatory spirit of a prophet, assuming as done that which his descendants should do. See the expression repeated in form of expression almost verbatim (Joshua 24:12).” (Alford.) The Amorite was a poetical name for the Canaanites generally.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 48:21-22
JACOB IN THE PROSPECT OF DEATH
The good patriarch had suffered many sore calamities, had been tossed with many a tempest on the waves of this troublesome world. Now the peaceful haven is in sight and he is glad to be at rest. He speaks most simply and calmly of his death. “And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold I die.” We have here a threefold picture:—
I. Of strength in weakness. His bodily powers were failing, his eyes were dim; but yet he showed—
1. The strength of faith. He believed that God would be with his descendants, and bring them up from Egypt; that the Lord would perform that word unto him upon which he had caused him to hope. He describes the portion which he gave to Joseph as that “which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.” As to their form, these words refer to the past; but the terms are prophetical, and speak of future conquest. The land would be wrested by him from the Amorites in the person of his posterity (Genesis 15:13-16). With prophetic boldness he uses the past for the future. Here was faith in the word of God which came to him.
2. The strength of Godliness. He wishes to wean his posterity from Egypt. He desires to make all his descendants the servants of that God whom he had served all his life long.
3. The strength of peace. He is calm and peaceful, and to be calm in the prospect of death is to be conscious of the upholding of an infinite strength. All through life, and supremely so in death, the peace of God is the strength of His people (Psalms 29:11). And when all fails on earth, they only enter into a deeper and a perpetual peace (Psalms 73:26).
II. Of success in failure. He was failing on earth, and the time would soon come when he could be no longer with them. “I die,” he says, “but God shall be with you.” God still lives on; and this was the confidence and stay of his soul. All was failing him now but his God. Helpless on earth, he falls into the “everlasting arms.” (Deuteronomy 33:27.) He still has Omnipotent support, and that was true success.
III. Of life in death. He was dying, but the light of immortality shines through the decays of his mortal frame. His faith and love, strong even to the end, surely lasted beyond death. The soul which has once looked up into the face of God cannot die. The spiritual man shows himself amidst the ruins of death. It is remarkable that Jacob says nothing about the long intervening years of bondage which his children would have to endure. He only speaks concerning the end and grand result of all. He sees nothing now but the true life, real blessedness for himself and for them. The light of God’s favour, shining beyond and overwhelming all earthly sorrows, entirely filled his soul.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 48:21-22. As it was no more betwixt God and Moses, but “Go up and die;” so betwixt God and Jacob, but “Behold I die.” Death, he knew, to him should be neither total, but of the body only; nor perpetual of the body, but for a season only. See both these set forth by the Apostle, Romans 8:10-11.—(Trapp.)
The consolation given to survivors. Jacob says, “Behold I die, but God shall be with you,” etc. Thus our Redeemer said to His disciples, “It is expedient for you that I go away,” etc. This then explains to us the principle of bereavement; slowly and by degrees all drops off from us—first our parents, then our companions, till at last we find ourselves alone, with no arm of flesh to support us; and then comes the sense of dependence on the arm Divine: therefore it is emphatically written that He is the God of the fatherless and the widow.—(Robertson.)
As to the manner of their deliverance, neither Jacob nor his sons knew any more on this head than Abraham was enabled to inform them, viz., that God would judge the land where they were oppressed, and would bring them out with great substance. Their business was to believe and embrace the promise, and to leave the manner of its accomplishment to God.—(Bush.)