How to Hope: Lessons from the Israelites and Their Messianic Expectation, Part 14 - Sermon Videos

TEXT: Genesis 49:8-10

In our last few messages, we have looked at Jacob's response to God meeting him at Bethel. God's intervention in Jacob's life at that moment shaped Jacob's history. Interestingly, that event happened at a time when Jacob's father, Isaac, was on his deathbed and Jacob was just beginning to strike out on his own. In the background of our passage for today, we find Jacob on his deathbed; and he is blessing his sons as they prepare to continue their lives without him. A lot had happened since Jacob made his commitment to God at Bethel. He went to work for his mother's family, and over the course of 14 years, he gained two wives and two concubines, with whom he eventually produced twelve sons and two daughters. From his work for Laban, he gained wealth through shepherding and livestock. And, eventually, he came back to the land of Canaan. In his later years, famine struck, and he and his family moved to Egypt where God had used a series of unfortunate events to pave the way for their acceptance sustenance in that strange land.