YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

The patriarch Jacob was getting very old and knew his days were numbered. He felt compelled to finish up his business before God took him. So he called all of his sons together around him and explained what would happen to them in the last days. Jacob started with Reuben, his oldest son. He continued with Simeon, Levi, and Judah.

Jacob made a very profound prophecy about Judah. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Even though Judah did not have the birthright, he was chosen over the other sons to be the royal tribe. It would be the tribe from which David, Solomon, and the other kings of Israel would come, and even Jesus Christ.

Jacob continued explaining what would happen to Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali in the last days - the end time - that period of time that will just precede the return of Christ.

Jacob pronounced a blessing on Joseph. "May the God of your fathers, the Almighty, bless you with blessings of heaven above and of the earth beneath- blessings of the breasts and of the womb, blessings of the grain and flowers, blessings reaching to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. These shall be the blessings upon the head of Joseph who was exiled from his brothers." A blessing like this was not empty words. It had real significance.Then he mentions Benjamin, Joseph's only full brother.

Jacob asked his sons to bury him with his fathers in the land of Canaan, in the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre - the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hethite for a burial ground. Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah and Leah were all buried there.

Now that Jacob had finished Tying Up Loose Ends, he lay back in his bed and took his very last breath. The much-loved patriarch was dead. Joseph threw himself upon his father's body and wept and kissed him. Then he told the morticians to embalm Jacob's body. The embalming required 40 days, with a national mourning period of 70 days.

After the 70 days of mourning were over, Joseph asked Pharaoh's staff for permission to take his father's body back to the land of Canaan to bury it. Permission was granted. Joseph, his brothers and their families, Pharaoh's counselors and assistants, and the senior officers all went to bury Jacob. They held a great and solemn funeral service, with a seven-day period of lamentation for Jacob.

Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt as they had promised. But now that their father was dead, they became very concerned that Joseph would want to pay them back for the evil they had done to him by selling him to be a slave in Egypt. So they sent Joseph this message: "Before he died, your father instructed us to tell you to forgive us for the great evil we did to you. We servants of the God of your father beg you to forgive us.” When Joseph read the message, he broke down and cried. The brothers fell down before Joseph and said, "We are your slaves."

Joseph forgave them and held no grudges saying, "As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil, for he brought me to this high position I have today so that I could save the lives of many people." He reassured them with kind words, and told them not to be afraid. He gave them assurance that God would bring them out of the land of Egypt and take them back to the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Joseph died when he was 110 years old. He had made his brothers promise they would take his body back to Canaan when they returned. They embalmed him, and his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Think about it. Jacob and Joseph were truly men of great character. They were loving, forgiving, unselfish, responsible, and saw to it that all the loose ends were tied up before they died. They didn't leave a lot of unfinished business for someone to have to take care of. They were both buried with great honor. Tying Up Loose Ends was a way of life for these two men. They didn't shirk responsibility.

Do you have some loose ends that you should be tying up? Is there someone you haven't forgiven? Have you taken care of business like you should? Do you have a traffic fine that you haven't paid? What about your credit cards? Are you up to date on your payments, or have you accumulated far more debt than you should? Are you caught up on paying God your tithe? Making a habit of keeping all the loose ends tied up will pay great dividends as you get out on your own, go to college, and get married. Doing these things are your duty. It's doing only what is required of you. Luke 17:10 says, "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." Matthew 25:30 makes it clear that an unprofitable servant isn't going to make it into God's Kingdom. So, be a person of godly character like Jacob and Joseph. Take care of your business by Tying Up Loose Ends.