| “And Jacob blessed Pharaoh” (Genesis 47:10). |
| “And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better” (Hebrews 7:7). |
| Jacob had not been a very good testimony for the Lord most of his life. He had cheated his brother Esau out of his blessing, and then engaged in scheming and planning to try and outwit his uncle Laban, for whom he worked for over twenty years. Then he had more than twenty years of great sorrow over what he thought was the loss of his beloved son Joseph. Now, at the end of his life, he is reunited to Joseph, and has the best years of all his life. |
| When he comes down to Egypt and is presented to Pharaoh by Joseph, Pharaoh asks him, “How old art thou?” (Genesis 47:8). Jacob’s answer shows that he could not look back on his life with much satisfaction, for he says, “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been” (v. 9). No doubt Jacob was ashamed of the way he had acted, and how he had dishonored the Lord in so many ways during his pathway through this world. Also, his sons had learned how to lie and cheat from their father’s example, which must have made him very sad. |
| In spite of all this, we read that “Jacob blessed Pharaoh,” and in the New Testament it tells us that “the less is blessed of the better.” How could this be? Was a man like Jacob really better than Pharaoh, and thus able to bless him? Yes, Jacob was better, for in spite of all his bad behavior, he really cared for the things of the Lord, and badly wanted God’s blessing. It is true that he felt he had to get that blessing by scheming and cheating, instead of trusting the Lord to give it to him. But the Lord saw Jacob’s faith underneath all his wrong lifestyle, and because of his faith, God disciplined him, in order to bring him to repentance. The result was that Jacob had some happy years at the end of his life, for he learned from God’s dealings with him. At the end of his life he can bless the mighty king of Egypt. Pharaoh may have been a child of God, for he certainly had every chance to know the true God through Joseph. The Bible does not tell us one way or the other. But Jacob was specially chosen of God to be His testimony in this world, and he is the one who blesses Pharaoh. |
| Some of us are like Jacob too. Perhaps we have character traits that are not good, and then the Lord has to allow difficulties in our lives, to make us realize that those things are not pleasing to Him. We sometimes call this “discipline in God’s school.” But if we learn from what the Lord allows in our lives, we can deal with those bad tendencies in our hearts, and then shine more brightly for Him. |
