Hebrews 11:20-22

From: Exposition on the Epistle to the Hebrews By: William Kelly

Hebrews 11:20‑22 • 5 min. read • grade level: 10

This portion is a kind of supplement to the setting forth of that patience of faith, which had its fullest illustration in Abraham. Yet each case has its own distinctive lesson for the disciple.

“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau [even] concerning things to come. By faith Jacob when dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph when ending life made mention of the departure of the sons of Israel, and gave charge concerning his bones” (Heb. 11:20-22²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. ²¹By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. ²²By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones. (Hebrews 11:20‑22)).

The structure of the phrase in Heb. 11:20²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. (Hebrews 11:20) draws attention to the difference in the objects of the blessings; for each of Isaac's sons has the article in the Greek. There might have been no article at all, in which case the mention would have been simply historical. There might have been but one article for both names the effect of which is to associate as a company at least for this occasion. The repetition has of course the opposite aim of marking their distinctiveness, even though both were blessed concerning things to come. And this is precisely what Gen. 27. clearly indicates, a chapter not a little humbling throughout. Of Esau nothing more need be said than to recall his profanity in selling his birth-right for a pottage of lentils (Gen. 25), and in his Hittite marriages which caused bitterness of spirit to Isaac and Rebekah (Gen. 26). Yet Isaac loved him because of his venison, as Rebekah loved Jacob, as to whom Jehovah had given her a remarkable word before the twins were born (Gen. 25:23²³And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. (Genesis 25:23)). This Isaac slighted at a critical moment (Gen. 27) when his faith failed at first, no less than his dim eyes. Rebekah was the instigator of Jacob to deceitful ways instead of both crying to the Lord Who would surely have heard Rebekah, corrected Isaac, and honored Jacob. Alas! sin wrought shame all round; but grace did not fail to secure the purpose of God, while chastising each in his moral government, for all were grievously to blame. Yet the full blessing of promise fell to Jacob in spite of his bad ways, and Esau got through his father's blessing more than he deserved. Isaac's trembling very exceedingly (Gen. 27:33³³And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed. (Genesis 27:33)) was on the discovery, not only of the guilt of Jacob, but of his own will against God Who had overruled him; whereon he says emphatically that he had blessed him, “yea, he shall be blessed.” Nature in Isaac sought to bless otherwise, and had seemed all but to prevail; “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come” according to God.

What a contrast appears next! “By faith Jacob when dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped on the top of his staff” (Heb. 11:21²¹By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. (Hebrews 11:21)). When young, he was a sorry saint, a supplanter of his brother, a deceiver of his father, an outcast from his too fond mother, cheated of Laban though cheated too, a wanderer to Mesopotamia, living a checkered and sorrowful life once more in Canaan, and a stranger in Egypt, loving his family, yet every one of them one way or another a source to him of grief and shame; his closing scenes were lit up with blessing, himself kept and blessed of God in spite of himself, that it might plainly be not of him that wills, any more than of him that runs, but of God that hath mercy. He is just a miniature of the people, of whom he was progenitor, and to whom he gave his own name of honor through grace. Yet he, the aged pilgrim, blesses the greatest king then on earth, but without any dispute the less is blessed of the better; and when dying he blessed each of the sons of Joseph, though not at all so sundered as Jacob and Esau, yet with a distinction which at the moment displeased Joseph usually so quick to discern and interpret the mind of God. But Jacob's eyes, dim as they were and unable to see naturally, were illuminated then with light divine; so that Joseph's arrangement of his sons according to nature, with Ephraim toward Israel's left and Manasseh toward his right, embarrassed not the patriarch for a moment. For he laid his right hand upon Ephraim's head, albeit the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly or crossing them, for Manasseh was the first-born. It was of God to set Ephraim before Manasseh. But how worthy of grace that he who in his youth used such base means to gain the blessing he valued, should ere he died resist, in calm and believing earnestness, the importunity of his godly and honored son, their own father!

Nor was this all, he “worshipped upon the top of his staff,” clearly leaning on it in his weakness. It is remarkable that this act really preceded the blessing of his grandsons and is recorded in Gen. 47:31³¹And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head. (Genesis 47:31), as given in the Septuagint. No doubt both the Hebrew “bed” and the Sept. staff are alike true; and the Sept. gives “bed” in Gen. 48:2²And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. (Genesis 48:2). He reminds Jehovah in Gen. 32. he first passed the Jordan, before he re-crossed it when he had become two companies. And what changes he had proved since that day, God ever chastening Jacob's ways and ever faithful to His purpose, even then blessing him afresh while He crippled his thigh. Now his eye of faith anticipated His glory Who would make all good when pilgrimage should yield to dwelling in the land; and he worshipped.

As Jacob's blessing of Joseph's sons is put immediately with Isaac's blessing, so Joseph's faith follows immediately Jacob's worship (compare Gen. 47:29-31²⁹And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: ³⁰But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. ³¹And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head. (Genesis 47:29‑31)). “By faith Joseph when ending life made mention of the departure of the sons of Israel and gave charge concerning his bones.” Only it seemed good to the inspiring Spirit to record it here of Joseph; who also impressively charged his sons not to bury him with his fathers, as Jacob sought and had, but to embalm him as the pledge of their quitting Egypt in God's time for the land of promise. No splendor in Egypt dimmed the light of promise to his faith: the nearest to the throne of the world, he is a stranger, looks for resurrection, and anticipates Israel's restoration to the land according to the divine oath to their fathers.

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