Big Picture:  Jacob consults the Lord at Beersheba about leaving the Promised Land. In response, God tells him to go down to Egypt without fear; the Lord will go with them, and in due time he will bring his family back home to the Land of Promise as a multiplied nation. Jacob travels to Egypt and is reunited with his beloved Joseph. Joseph proposes settling them in the land of Goshen. Much of the narrative tension that has been driving the story from chapter 37 onward has now been successfully defused (fraternal conflict, etc.)  In one sense, the remainder of Genesis is an extended conclusion to the story and could easily be seen as anticlimactic. Yet the conclusion of the book of Genesis is important because the Genesis narrative is not a freestanding story but is part of a larger Pentateuchal (and indeed Biblical) narrative, to which these chapters have great relevance. Through divine insight Jacob speaks profoundly about his offspring’s future—and particularly that of their progeny—in the plans and purposes of God. Nearing death, Jacob blesses all of his sons. He begins with Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (chapter 48) before proceeding to bless his own children (chapter 49). Although these deathbed blessings all occur at the same time, Joseph’s sons are distinguished from everyone else. They are the only grandchildren Jacob blesses, and Jacob bestows on Ephraim, not Manasseh, the blessing of the firstborn. The unique lineage that runs throughout Genesis continues through Ephraim and his descendants. This line later includes Joshua, who leads the Israelites into the Promised Land. Only in the time of David does God reject the Ephraimite line due to its sinfulness and replace it with one linked to the tribe of Judah (see Ps 78:67–71).    (Duguid/NIV Study Bible notes)

This sermon is indebted to Sam Emadi’s “From Prisoner to Prince”; Ian Duguid’s “Genesis”; Alex Duke’s “From Eden to Egypt”; and “Bible Talk” with Jim Hamilton and Sam Emadi.