Word of Encouragement (05/24/2022)
“Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. 23 The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely, 24 yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), 25 by the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. 26 The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.” (Gen. 49:22-26)
Jacob reserved his last prayers for Joseph and Benjamin, his youngest sons, both of whom Rachel, his beloved wife, bore to him. Jacob’s prayer for Joseph, his favorite son, was the longest, as we can see. It is divided into three parts: 1) a brief description of Joseph; 2) the sufferings he had to go through; 3) the blessing of God’s help.
In the first part, Joseph is described as “a fruitful bough”. He is further described as “a fruitful bough by a spring”. There is no ideal location for a tree than by a spring, which supplies water to its roots constantly. No wonder Joseph would be a fruitful bough. So fruitful Joseph would be that “his branches [would] run over the wall.”
This description of Joseph (“a fruitful bough”) may seem strange, considering he had only two sons. Some commentators believe that this refers to his two sons’ induction into the patriarchal status along with their eleven uncles. This would make Joseph “fruitful” since he would be two tribes in effect rather than just one like all of his brothers. This may also look forward to the growth of the two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, into large, numerous ones. Manasseh would receive their inheritance both in the Transjordan area (on the east side of the Jordan River) and in the Cisjordan area (on the west side of the Jordan River). Ephraim would become the leading tribe in the northern kingdom of Israel when the Davidic kingdom was divided into Judah (the southern kingdom) and Israel (the northern kingdom). Because the tribe of Ephraim was the dominant tribe, the northern kingdom would at times be called Ephraim.
But more than these things, this description of Joseph points to the abundance of blessing, which those who are in intimate communion with God will possess and enjoy. So, the Psalmist would say later about the blessed man, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Ps. 1:3). He is fruitful because he is planted by streams of water. He is near streams of water because “his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:2).
Israel (including Manasseh and Ephraim) failed to bear this kind of spiritual fruit for God. Isaiah charged Israel for their spiritual barrenness: “My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes” (Isa. 5:1-2). But Jesus came as the true Vine (John 15:1). It is in being grafted to Jesus that we become fruitful: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Jacob’s blessing on Joseph is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ and, through Him, in you. You are the fruitful bough by a spring, whose branches run over the wall, because you are grafted into Christ. Through your union with Christ, you have that vigor and abundance of Christ’s resurrection life, which itches to bear fruit. Does your life reflect what God has made you to be? Are you bearing the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Let us abide in Christ and His word. Let us pray for the fruitfulness of Christ to be manifested in our lives. Let us practice these virtues by faith, trusting that the Spirit of Christ is at work to produce the fruit of the Spirit in us.