****
A month had passed since Jacob had given his blessing to Ephraim and Manasseh, and Judah came one day to see Joseph. “My brother, you must come at once. Father is very ill.”
“Are the rest of our brothers there?” Joseph asked.
“Yes, we must hurry. He is slipping away quickly.”
Back in Goshen, the rest of their brothers were outside of Jacob's house waiting for the arrival Joseph and Judah. Though his years on the earth were starting to take their toll, Reuben was still a tower of strength. He stood alone, leaning against the wall of the house, and Benjamin caught a glimpse of unhappiness on his older brother's face. He moved forward and said, “It is sad that we are going to lose our father, but such things must be.” Benjamin knew that Reuben had never forgotten his bad behavior with Bilhah.
The two were talking when Simeon and Levi came up to them.
“It's a sad day,” Simeon said, shaking his head.
Levi said grimly, “It will be even sadder for us in a while.”
“What do you mean?” Benjamin asked.
“I mean that I am expecting nothing pleasant to come from our father's last words.”
“That is a wrong thing to say,” Benjamin protested.
“You do not know him, Benjamin. You have always been one of his favorites, you and Joseph, but the rest of us know how he can speak harshly.”
The other brothers murmured their agreement, and Benjamin was shocked to see that most of them believed that Jacob's last words would not be kind. He could not think like that, since he had known only kindness from his father.
Finally Jacob announced, “Look, it is Joseph and Judah.”
The two dismounted from the chariot, and Joseph's face was grave. “Is he still alive?”
“Yes,” Reuben said heavily. “He is waiting for us.”
The brothers went into the house and gathered about Jacob's bed. The sun was setting, and two oil lamps on high stands sent their golden light over the dying man. Beside him, her gray hair covered with a veil, was Tamar with her two sons. Jacob lay propped up on cushions, and his skin was pale, tinged by the glow from the lamps. He wore a white band around his forehead, the one he usually wore when making sacrifices to God, and his gaze went from one son to another as they surrounded his bed. His lips moved, and it was only with great effort that he said, “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.”
The sons took a step closer and looked down on the face of their father as he said, “Reuben!”
Reuben came to the edge of his father's bed and knelt down. “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.” Suddenly Jacob's voice changed, and he said, “Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.”
A shock ran around the group, for he was speaking the truth, but it was a harsh truth that all of them would rather not have heard.
Jacob stared at the tall form of Reuben and said, “The right of the firstborn is taken away from you. You are not worthy of leadership. Your deeds are weak. You are not worthy to receive the blessing of the firstborn, because you have wasted your strength.”
Reuben straightened up, and his face was fixed in a stare. There were no tears, for he had expected nothing less.
Joseph, however, felt a sudden compassion for the big man. He'd always had a special affection for him despite his weaknesses, and now he was grieved at the sight of Jacob's firstborn receiving not the blessing but a curse.
“Simeon and Levi, come before me,” Jacob commanded. The two came at once, both braced for what they knew their father would say.
“Simeon and Levi are brothersâtheir swords are weapons of violence. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.”
Simeon and Levi flinched before the stinging words, which Jacob used like a whip. But they had expected nothing better. Their father had never forgiven them for having avenged the rape of their sister, Dinah, by killing the men of Shechem, and now they moved back and took their place in the back of the crowd.
“Judah,” Jacob said, and his voice lifted with a new sense of power.
Judah moved forward. He had been a man of sorrow for many years, and the shame of some of his past deeds still clung to him. He glanced at Tamar and her two sons, the fruit of his sin.
As the crowd remained silent, Judah stood there awaiting the words that would cut to the bone, as they had Reuben, Simeon, and Levi.
But to everyone's shock, Jacob cried out, “Judahâyou are the one!” Jacob's eyes were glowing, and his voice exultant. “Yes, Judah, you are the one! Your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you!”
Joseph stared at Judah's stunned face. He himself was shocked, for he had somehow expected that he might be the chosen oneâor if not him, then Benjamin. It would seem that one of the children of the True Wife would get the blessing of the firstborn, but it was not to be. As he watched, Joseph realized that this could only be of God. In his own human power, his father would surely have chosen one of his favorite sons, but it was clearly God who had chosen Judah to be in the place of the firstborn.
Joseph listened intently now as the words of God flowed through Jacob, and he spoke of Judah as a lion. “You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lionessâwho dares to rouse him?”
Judah began to tremble, and he fell on his knees beside his father. Jacob placed his hands on Judah's cheeks, and the son looked into his father's eyes. And then Jacob cried out with the voice of a young man, a strong voice that none of his family had heard for many years. “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes!”
Everyone who heard Jacob's voice knew what this meant. Shiloh had long been Jacob's name for the One who would come to redeem all the earth, and now he had plainly said that it was through Judah that the stream would flow.
Jacob pulled the gold medallion off from around his neck and thrust it into Judah's hands. Everyone there knew that God had chosen Judah to be the carrier of the seed which would produce the Redeemer!
Startled by these events, Joseph turned and looked directly at Tamar. Her two sons were beside her, and Joseph stared at Perez and Zerah and knew with a thrill of certainty that one of them would be in the line of the Redeemer.
With the giving of the medallion, Jacob seemed to have expended his strength. But after a few moments of rest, he began to speak of his other sons, of Zebulun, of Issachar, of Dan and Gad and Asher and Naphtali, prophesying of their futures as well.
Finally he turned to Joseph and said, “Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, because of your father's God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb.”
Jacob's final words were to his youngest son, and they too shocked the assembly at what appeared to be a contradiction of the man they knew. “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.”
None was more surprised by these words than Benjamin himself, who wondered at his father's terrible words and what they might foretell about his own future.
With those last words, Jacob's voice failed, and he grew silent. He struggled for breath, then whispered in a voice they all had to strain to hear, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial placeâ¦.” As soon as he had spoken of his burial, he closed his eyes and took two rapid breaths and lay still.
They all stood looking down on Jacob, the son of Isaac, the grandson of the great Abraham, and each of them felt a terrible sadness and grief that a great man had passed from the earth.
While Joseph wept over his father, the others began slowly to file away from the room. Eventually Joseph rose and went his way as well, leaving only Judah behind with Tamar and her two sons. He came over and stood before the three, putting his hands on the heads of Perez and Zerah.
No one said a word, but Tamar knew that her mission in life had been accomplished. Shiloh, the Redeemer of the world, would come through the blood of her sons!
After their father's death, Joseph and Judah worked together to make the arrangements to transport Jacob's body back to Canaan for burial. First Joseph ordered his embalmers to prepare the body, a process that would take forty days. Had the brothers known the gruesome details of Egyptian embalming methods, they would have been horrified. But Joseph was by now used to them, and he knew it would enable them to transport the body safely on the long journey. During the weeks it took to accomplish the embalming, Joseph grew very close to Judah.
The two men spoke often of the years that had passed in Egypt, and finally Joseph broached the subject of the future. The occasion arose when Judah seemed apologetic for taking authority over Joseph, who, after all, was the mightiest man in Egypt next to Pharaoh himself.
“Brother, you are the firstborn in our father's eyes, not I. Through your blood will come the Redeemer.”
Judah had received new strength from his father's blessing. It had infused him with authority, so now he stood straighter and no longer slumped. His voice rang when he gave commands, but now he was troubled. “I am totally unworthy,” he murmured.
But Joseph said, “Our God does not make mistakes. You are the one He has chosen. Our father's words made that clear. You are the Lion of Judah, and through your blood flows the stream. One of your sons will be the next to wear the lion medallion, I have no doubt. But which one?”
“I do not know, but God will reveal it to me when it is time.”
“Yes, you must pray that God will show you.”
****
The funeral procession that made its way from Egypt back to the burial site of Jacob was nothing less than spectacular. It was preceded by a host of soldiers, trumpeters, and drummers. After this came Nubian bowmen. Then there were fan bearers, keepers of the pharaoh's wardrobe, and members of the court.
After them came the coffin of Jacob, shaped like a man and sparkling with gems, with a gold mask and beard on the outside. It was resting in a cart drawn by twelve white oxen.
Joseph, along with his sons, his eleven brothers, and their sons and grandsonsâall who bore male names in Israelâfollowed Jacob's coffin.
As they passed through the countryside, crowds appeared from the towns and settlements along the way to stand and gawk at the long caravan of splendid horses decorated with bright feathers and glittering weapons. When they reached their own country, Joseph's eyes grew dim with tears as he relived scenes of his childhood.
“This brings back old memories, doesn't it, brother?” Benjamin said quietly.
“Yes. Time is like a river, and much has flowed since that day.”
“It was the saddest day of my life when they told me you were dead.”
“But now it is all right. God has worked in all of us.”
The two stood outside the cave where the bodies of Abraham, Isaac, and now their father, Jacob, were buried. They had a long journey back to Egypt but would rest a few days before they began.
****
Before their departure the next day, Joseph was sitting enjoying a spot of shade one afternoon when three of his brothersâSimeon, Levi, and Danâcame to him. He rose to greet them and said, “Are you ready for the journey tomorrow?”
Dan glanced at his brothers, and Joseph saw fear on their faces. Suddenly the three bowed down before him, and Joseph was astonished. “What is this, my brothers! Do not kneel to me. Rise.”
But they did not rise. They said, “Forgive us for our terrible sins against you, Joseph. We grieve over what we did so many years ago.”
Joseph stood there amazed. He had thought the matter was settled. He immediately pulled them up to their feet, one at a time, then embraced them and said, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.”
Then Joseph called all of his brothers together and once again spoke warmly of his love, encouraging them all to put away the things of the past that troubled them.
After a time the brothers were consoled and went their way, while Benjamin and Judah remained with Joseph. He looked at the two and said, “I hope they can forget. It is not good for men to remember the past in such a way.”
Judah put his hand on Joseph's shoulder. “You indeed are a fruitful vine, just as our father said of you.”
“And you are truly the Lion of Judah.”
Benjamin watched his two brothers silently, knowing that he was standing in the presence of great men.
****
Asenath had not been able to accompany her husband on the funeral procession to Canaan, but as soon as Joseph was back, she embraced him and pampered him outrageously. For two days she fed him every good dish she could concoct and was constantly seeking to find something to please him.
Finally, late one evening, they were walking in the garden. Overhead the stars were glittering in all their glory, and Joseph was quiet, as he had been all evening.