What Makes Israel Eternal? The Hidden Message at the End of the Book of Genesis | Land of Israel

And together we've completed the book of Genesis. That's a milestone. And you know, it's the book of creation. It's the book about the creation of the world. But it's also the story about the creation, the genesis of the nation of Israel. That transition from family to nation is in the key of this week's Torah portion and going into Exodus. And so for a nation to grow, to flourish, to last eternally, it has to really be built on an eternal foundation. And the Torah teaches us um by starting off with Genesis before Exodus, before you become a nation, it teaches us the strongest, most enduring foundation is family. It's like before you try to achieve power, wealth or strength, build your family, nothing is a stronger foundation for a blessed life. And when you step back, you realize that's really the idea. That's the heartbeat of the entire book of Genesis. And you read all of Genesis. It's all about raising children. It's all about building families. It's about navigating sibling rivalry and struggling with family unity. We have Adam and Eve. They give birth to Cain and Abel, and that didn't end very well. Noah and his sons survive the flood only to face new challenges. Abraham and Sarah, they live through the painful tension between Isaac and Ishmael. Jacob's sons nearly destroy one another until Joseph and his brothers are finally reconciled. Um, it's just like, you know, they never end the entire book. Jacob and Esau. You know, it's remarkable that finally at the very end, we arrive at some kind of healing and it was the last 17 years of Jacob's life. They're spent in Egypt. The family's living together and he's with all of his children, all of his grandchildren. They're united. They're at peace after everything that had happened. And those were arguably the best 17 years of Jacob's life. And from Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, the mission was always to build a foundation strong enough to become a nation, a nation that would bless the entire world. And now after 17 years of unity, Jacob sees that his mission is complete. So he gathers all of his children together one final time to bless them. That happens in Genesis 49:es 1 and 2. And this is what he says. Then Jacob called for his sons and said, "Gather yourselves together, and I will tell you what will befall you in the end of days. Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel your father." So there's a lot to say here. Sons of Jacob, Israel your father, the end of days. But to stay on track, I really want to keep it focused for this time. So for now, I want to point out that this moment is unprecedented in the Torah. It's the first time that all of the children are blessed together. Abraham never blesses Isaac. Isaac blesses Jacob and Esau separately. Only here do all the sons stand together, united, receive their father's blessing as one family. But something happens here at the very end of the book of Genesis. Like we said, it goes a little bit beyond family. It's really the connection, the link between Genesis and Exodus. Up until now, Genesis has been the story of family building. But for Israel to become more than a family, for Israel to become a nation and fulfill its destiny, a balance has to be struck. And the Torah teaches us that balance through Jacob and Joseph at the very end of their lives. Jacob is the patriarch. He's buried in Hevron with Abraham and Isaac. He's a family man. Jacob's life mission, like his father before him, it revolved entirely around building and holding the family of Israel together. And then Jacob passes the leadership forward and something changes. The leadership moves to Joseph. And Joseph doesn't abandon his immediate family. He transcends it. He moves beyond the private world of fathers and sons. And he begins to lead not just the family of Israel but the nation of Israel. And this is the first time that we see the balance really clearly between the family of Israel and the destiny of Israel. And that balance matters not just then but also now. Today there is a strong movement that's trying to separate faith from destiny. It's just about religion. It's not about reality. God isn't actively involved in what's happening in Israel or what's happening in Venezuela or what's happening in Jerusalem. Religion is private. It's personal. It's individual. Religion is about belief and family and your own inner life. And that's it. The Bible and the Torah are a living word. That's what the Torah is teaching us. It's not just a spiritual text to help people build a spiritual life. And here you see the Torah is teaching something really different. Personal faith is not enough. Individual salvation is tied in with biblical destiny. You know, you personal faith is one thing, but for us to be connected, we have to be connected to the promises that God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to prophecy, to the biblical destiny of the world. Faith can't just be about our own personal spiritual relationship with God. It has to be connected to where history is going and to what God is actively doing on earth. And now Genesis ends with these two deaths. The death of Jacob and the death of Joseph. And those two deaths express the balance that all of us need to hold in our lives perfectly. Jacob makes Joseph swear that when he dies, he's not going to be buried in Egypt. He'll be brought back to the land of Israel. He wants to be buried in Hebron with his fathers Abraham and Isaac. It's really a very personal request. Jacob wants to go home. Jacob wants to be buried with his fathers. He completes his life as a father and he wants to be connected to his fathers. And that's totally legitimate. Joseph's death is recorded at the end of Genesis. And the language is almost identical to Jacob's language, but the difference between them is what makes all the difference. Jacob makes a request about how he wants to end his life. Joseph makes a statement about how the nation will live on. Look at Genesis 50:4. At the very end of the book of Genesis, Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will surely remember you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." When God will indeed remember you, then you must bring my bones up out of here. Joseph doesn't ask to be buried in Hevron. He doesn't name a place that he needs to be buried. He doesn't ask to leave Egypt now. Instead, he binds his life and his burial to the future of his own people. He could have asked to be returned immediately. Just like Jacob, he had the power. He had the status. He was second in command in Egypt. But instead, he casts his lot with his brothers, with their children, with their great great great grandchildren. And he sends them a message that echoes throughout the generations in Egypt. I'm not leaving the exile without you. Jacob finishes his life as a father to an immediate family. Joseph finishes his life as a national leader speaking across generations of exile. He's a comfort for them. You know, his presence in Egypt is a promise. One day we will leave Egypt. And like a captain of the ship, Joseph says, "I'm not getting off this ship until every passenger is safely home." Joseph knows the next generation is going to endure hard times for a long time. Slavery, pain, and suffering, and it's going to forge them into the nation that they're meant to be. But in those times, he gives them a gift. He gives them himself. He's telling them, "As long as you are here, I'm here with you. I promise you won't be here forever. And when you make it home to Israel, when you do, take me with you. And it was that commitment that carried Israel through the fire of Egyptian slavery. And then we see it fulfilled in Exodus in the beginning of paradak when the nation is finally liberated sent out of Egypt in Exodus 13 17-19 says like this in the it happened when Pharaoh sent out the people that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him for he had firmly adjured the children of Israel saying God will surely remember you and you shall bring up my bones from here with you. Right in the middle of this massive national movement, the greatest grassroots movement in history, Joseph takes center stage. Moses himself, he could have delegated it to Aaron. He was pretty busy, I imagine. He goes and he retrieves the bones himself. He doesn't delegate it. Moshe himself goes to collect the bones of Joseph as the nation is leaving Egypt. Because Joseph didn't die as an individual. He died as a nishama kalit, as a collective soul bound to the destiny of the nation of Israel. And so when Joseph dies, the Torah paints a marvelous picture. It doesn't say that he was buried. It says that he was imbalmed. Look at Genesis 50:26. Joseph died at the age of 110 years. They imbalmed him and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt. That is the final verse in the book of Genesis. Joseph imbalmed, put in a coffin in Egypt. And it's like a picture of the nation itself. They're preserved but not yet alive, waiting, suspended, ready for redemption. Joseph's life and death become the story of Israel itself. And there's one final mention in the Bible of Joseph at the very end of the book of Joshua. To appreciate the fullness of the Torah, you have to read the Tanakh as one whole. Because sometimes the full revelation only happens generations later. So the book that records Israel entering the land, the nation conquering the land, inheriting the land, the book of Joshua is when Mo Joseph is finally mentioned. Joshua 24, at the very end, verse 32, the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shrem in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Kamore, the father of Shem, for 100 pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph. Joseph finally comes home. And who completes the story? Joshua bin Nunon, the son of Nune from the tribe of Ephraim, a descendant of Joseph, the leader entrusted with bringing Israel into the land of Israel. Joseph was the link that connected the promise of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the generations that would eventually turn into the nation of Israel. But I really want to go even deeper because where Joseph is ultimately buried is critical. Shrem is not just another location. Shrem is a pattern. Shrem is the heart of Israel in so many ways. Joseph didn't ask to be buried in Shrem. He doesn't say where he was going to be buried. So it's 100% divine providence that Joseph was brought to at the end of his life. And the story specifically buries him there. So let's take a look. When Abraham first arrives in the land of Israel in parl first appears Genesis 12 6 and 7. And Abraham passed through the land to the place of Shem to Elon Mor. And the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, "To your offspring, I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him. So Shem is the first place Abraham receives revelation from God in the land of Israel. The first place he was promised the land of Israel and the first place where he builds an altar. And so all of that happens in Shem. Let's look at what happens to Jacob after years of exile. When Jacob finally returns to the land of Israel, where's the first place that he goes? Genesis 33 18 to20. Then Jacob came safely to the city of Shem. And he bought the parcel of land. And he erected an altar there and called it El Eloh Israel. Again, Shm is the first place for Jacob when he returns to the land of Israel. The first place Jacob arrives, the first place Jacob purchases, and the first place he builds an altar. Shem, see, Isaac never left the land. So, he doesn't really participate in this return pattern. But Abraham returns, encounters God in Shrem. Jacob returns and claims his first land in Shenm. And now, generations later, Joseph returns to the land of Israel after exile, not alone, but with the entire nation with him. and he's buried in Shrem on the very land that Jacob purchased. So Jacob's life and death, they're a living symbol of Israel itself from galut exile to return to guula to redemption. Joseph embodies the movement of Israel from Egypt back to the land. And that's why Genesis ends with Jacob and Joseph dying because it's that balance that gives Israel its eternity. Jacob teaches us that there is no Torah without family. That's why honor your mother and father, that's on the side with all the godly ones of the Ten Commandments because mother and father and family and children, that is literally of God. Without family, there is no Torah. Joseph teaches us something beyond family. That family needs to be connected to a direction. It needs to be connected to biblical destiny. Every person is called to build their own ark. That's our home. That's our children, our faith. Family is not just another thing that we do. It's the foundation for everything that we do. And Joseph teaches us that family without direction is not enough. Our families have to be connected to the destiny, to the collective story of Israel, to the promises of the Bible, the unfolding in history. It's not enough to raise righteous children, to homeschool them, to protect them, to shield them. We have to give them biblical orientation in the world. And that orientation for us is Jerusalem. That orientation is the land of Israel. That orientation is the mission of Israel. That's the balance between Jacob and Joseph. That's the bridge between Genesis and Exodus. That's how the family becomes an eternal nation. The Torah is telling us how Israel was built. And at the same time, it's handing us a blueprint for how we are to build our families today. How to build a foundation powerful enough to endure the modern influences and influencers. and how we're going to survive the floods that this world floods toward us. And so with that, keeping family and destiny in our hearts, I really want to bless everyone here. I want to bless our fellowship that together we build strong homes rooted in faith, connected to the destiny of Israel. And may we teach our children about the living God of Israel who gave us a living word in the Torah and build families that know where they're going. And may our children grow up not only in righteousness but in purpose. And may our faith always be anchored in God's promises. And may we merit to see our families and our nation walk together in God's promise toward a new Jerusalem and a new world. Amen. Hey, that was a highlight from this week's Land of Israel Fellowship. If you like that highlight, you'll love the Land of Israel Fellowship. Find out more on the land of Isisrael.com. Join our global community from over 50 countries around the world that gather together every Sunday live from Israel. Check it out on the link below. [Music]