Genesis 48: A Father’s Blessing

¹⁵ Then he blessed Joseph and said,

“May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully,
the God who has been my shepherd
all my life to this day,
¹⁶ the Angel who has delivered me from all harm
—may he bless these boys.
May they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they increase greatly
on the earth.”

-Genesis 48:15-16

A father’s blessing can make a tremendous difference in the lives of his children. This includes a huge investment that begins with “being there” to help raise a child, staying connected throughout the child’s lifetime, and then ending well with a blessing to the child. Jacob was blessed by his father, deceitfully taking the blessing intended for his brother Esau. This time, he sought to do things God’s way.

Jacob blessed Joseph directly and purposefully. He called for his God to bless his son Joseph. He and his sons were to be remembered as part of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s family.

This was huge, since Joseph had largely embraced Egyptian culture and had two sons where half-Egyptian. Yet Jacob embraced his son and grandchildren as his own.

Jacob’s example continues to set a high standard for how we can bless our children and even their families. Let us seek to be there, stay connected, and offer blessing to our children and grandchildren in our lives.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.