‘By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones’ (Hebrews 11:20-22).

After the intense focus on Abraham the next three verses deal with Isaac, Jacob and Joseph in a much quicker manner. Nevertheless, each is worth looking at. Isaac’s blessing of Jacob and Esau is intriguing to say the least. Briefly summing the two characters up (for more complete study read Genesis 25:19-28:9 for the events this) Esau, although he is driven by sensuality and his bodily appetites, is basically done out of his birth-right and blessing as Isaac’s oldest son by his brother Jacob who can only be described at that point in the narrative as a liar and a cheat! So how does this qualify as an act of faith when Jacob’s blessing was a result of deceit and trickery?

Yet, Isaac still realised that God will bring about his purposes, even when sinful human beings try to manipulate them! In the next verse we find Jacob literally on his deathbed blessing Joseph sons (vs20-21 and Genesis 48)! If we look at the events of Jacob’s life (Genesis 27-50) we see a man who has come to the conclusion that all his trickery and scheming has got him nowhere. It is only through God’s grace that blessing has come (check out his prayer in Genesis 32:9-12, it’s a key moment in his spiritual growth). In other words, despite his past, Jacob is now living by faith and seeing God’s promises extended to another generation! So how do we understand the workings of God here? John Owen outlines the theological implications for us. ‘So did God accomplish his purpose and promise unto Jacob, by ordering the outward circumstances of the irregular actings of him and his mother unto his own blessed ends.’ He goes on to point out that the Lord: ‘accepted their persons, pardoned their sins, and affected the matter according to their desire.’^[1] Put simply, if God wills it, and I stress if God wills it, even the misguided actions of those who have some faith can be used by the Lord in his purpose because of his infinite grace towards sinful people! In other words: ‘God’s blessings are given not because we deserve them, but because we need them.’^[2]

That brings us to verse 22 and Joseph’s act of faith in asking for his bones to be taken back to the Promised Land (Genesis 50:22-26). Why was this simple request such an act of faith? Well there are several reasons. Firstly, those who had gone down to Egypt were seventy in all (Genesis 46:27) which is hardly a nation’s worth! Another factor that made their return to the land promised to their forefathers rather unlikely was that things were pretty good for them in Egypt.  Yes, I know that things were far from good later (which will lead us to the next example of faith, Moses), yet Joseph speaks by faith knowing, however things might have appeared, God had something better for his people in the future because he had promised it to their forefathers. Again he serves the writer of the letters purpose well here in that he speaks of something he does not get to see, but he believes will happen because God has promised it! As such, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are once again interesting examples of faith and an encouragement to those who seek examples of faith to live by.

[1] John Owen, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Volume 7, (Edinburgh, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1991) 122.

[2] Raymond Brown, The Message of Hebrews, Christ Above All, The Bible Speaks Today,(Leicester, Inter-Varsity Press, 1982) 212.