Genesis 48:15–16

He is a stranger in a strange place. He has his staff to lean on, but he has God for his portion. He had been well stripped of all his confidence along the way. Now he is about to end his life with no more than what he set out with — his staff in his hand. Weighed down with weakness, and fully admitting that he is only a pilgrim, he takes the high place of the one who blesses. He can now bless both the sons of Joseph with far greater confidence than he could have done when he owned earthly riches.

This name was a further revelation of Himself. God gave it when Abram was past age and had nothing to lean on but the almightiness, or all-sufficiency, of God (Genesis 17:1). God led him by this name, which declared the sufficiency he needed, and led Isaac and Jacob after him. They were all strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They had nothing but the promise of an Almighty Friend to rest on.

What a wonderful testimony Jacob gives to the faithfulness of God! When Jacob walked by sight, he did not see so clearly that God was feeding him and caring for him. But now, leaning on the top of his staff, he retraces all God's ways by faith.

Has not God provided generously for you? You never eat a meal without mercy carving for you. You never go to bed without mercy drawing the curtains and setting a guard of angels around you.

He has learned that even when the Lord disciplines us, we can give thanks afterwards and say, "You have dealt well with Your servant." Jacob saw this in his own life. In Genesis 42:36 he says, "all these things are against me." In 45:27, "the spirit of Jacob their father revived." Jacob realises that discipline "later yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness" (Hebrews 12:11). Can you look back and thank the Lord for everything?

As a worshipper in the presence of God he learns the mind of God. He no longer acts as nature would dictate, but as God would direct. He crosses his hands with understanding, putting the right hand on the younger and the left on the elder. Then Jacob blesses Joseph, and does so by blessing his two sons. He speaks of God according to his experience of God. He commends the lads into the hands of the God who shepherded him all the days of his life — the Angel who had redeemed him from all evil. His spiritual sight was never clearer than when his natural sight had grown dim with age.

If any character could have set aside the faithfulness of God, it is Jacob's. Low cunning and crooked scheming marked it from the start, in the way he treated his brother Esau. But this did not interfere at all with God's faithfulness to him. Looking back, he sees — and I do not doubt he sees with joy — the failure of all his scheming and policy. One single thought fills Jacob: the grace and faithfulness of the God he deals with. He was never saved from a single danger by his own policy.

Here is the whole verse: "God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys." The angel was the God of his fathers. Are you unaware that the word "angel" covers all those appearances of God on behalf of His ancient people? Do you not know that Stephen says Moses was with the angel in the bush, who said, "I am who I am"? Do you not know that Hosea says Jacob wrestled with the angel and prevailed? Yet Jacob called the place Peniel, because he had seen God face to face.

When Jacob speaks of "the Angel, the Redeemer" (literal translation) he speaks of Jehovah who appeared to him, whom he met face to face at Peniel.

Redemption for Jacob clearly meant his deliverance from all the dangers and troubles of his winding path. Christians too can count on the strong arm of the Lord. He brings them safely through all the ups and downs of the wilderness God has called them to cross.

His complaint was, "All these things are against me." And so it indeed appeared. He had yet to learn that all these things were part of God's plan for his ultimate good. That is why, at the end of his life, he could speak of "the angel who has redeemed me from all evil" (Genesis 48:16). The fact was that "all these things" were going to "work together for good," and so give us an effective illustration of the truth of Romans 8:28.

It is true he received the promise, but his experiences were very different from Abraham's. Although at the end of his life he could say, "the angel who has redeemed me from all evil" (Genesis 48:16), he still had to add, "Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life." The variety of his experience is a proof of unfaithfulness.

The understanding of faith looks over the past and recognises God's presence in keeping and leading. "The God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil." This is faith's answer to the promise given at the outset of his course: "I will never leave you." Guided now by God, he blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, putting the younger first. Flesh put Esau first; faith put Ephraim.

As a worshipper in God's presence he learns the mind of God. He no longer acts as nature would dictate, but as God would direct... He speaks of God according to his experience of God. It is the God who shepherded him all the days of his life — the Angel who had redeemed him from all evil — into whose hands he commends the lads. His spiritual vision was never brighter than at the moment when his natural vision had grown dim with age.

He has claimed them as his own sons, and his request matches that. He asks that his name would rest on them, and the names of Abraham and Isaac. This stresses the continuity of God's blessing on that family. Also, he says, "let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth." This is clearly earthly blessing, having nothing to do with heaven.