Grannys Chapters (On Scriptural Subjects)

Granny's Chapters (on Scriptural Subjects) (Paperback)

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This would then have been a more private family matter neither participated in by the Egyptians nor viewed with curiosity by the Canaanites. Moses reminds us that in so doing the charge of Jacob to his sons was exactingly carried out. And thus his sons did for him as he had charged them; for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field for a burial site from Ephron the Hittite. And after he had buried his father Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father Genesis Having completed their mission, this large entourage, the Israelites, would then have returned to the threshing floor of Atad, rejoined their retinue of Egyptians, and returned en masse to Egypt.

It is at verse 15 that we see why Moses has described only the grief of Joseph and the Egyptians cf. More than once they must have considered a plan to eliminate Joseph, but one thing always prevented it—Jacob. Sometime, somehow, an occasion would arise when Jacob would not be present and then they could get rid of Joseph.

The golden opportunity came when Jacob sent Joseph to them, many miles from home, far from the protection he had afforded to his favorite son cf. Now, years later, they were still plagued with guilt about their treatment of Joseph cf. But, they reasoned, that was a time when Jacob still lived. Would Joseph not hesitate to retaliate with his father present even as they had waited for an opportune moment away from their father to eliminate Joseph?

Now Jacob was gone for good. Joseph was free to do with them as he pleased. That thought consumed them, even more than the loss of their father. A message was conveyed to Joseph, perhaps through Benjamin. Joseph was told that Jacob had yet another charge not yet made known, to which Joseph was urged to submit. Before his death Jacob had requested that Joseph forgive his other sons for their sins.

Having sent this message ahead, perhaps by Benjamin, the brothers appeared before Joseph. Humbly they fell before Joseph pledging their obedience and submission verse They now volunteered to do the very thing which Joseph had predicted And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.

Vengeance belongs to God, not man. Joseph would not consider usurping a prerogative which belonged only to God cf. Furthermore, while their attitudes and actions were evil, the result was intended by God for the good of all verse 20; cf. Instead, Joseph returned kindness for cruelty cf. The kindness Joseph had shown while his father was alive would continue he reassured them. More than 50 years elapsed between verses 21 and Irrelevant details are therefore set aside to take us directly to the death bed of Joseph, and thus to parallel the death of Jacob.

He lived long enough to hold his great-great-grandsons on his knee verse Knowing that the day of his death drew near, Joseph like Jacob, charged his brothers concerning his burial. He did not wish his body to be carried back to Canaan, as Jacob had insisted. While the burial of Jacob and Joseph are quite different, they are both reflective of the same faith and hope. Both were embalmed—Jacob so that his body could be carried on the long journey to Canaan by his sons, Joseph so that his body could wait for the exodus at which time his bones would be returned to Canaan, borne by the Israelites:.

The burial of Jacob reminded his descendants of their final home, and that Egypt was only a place of sojourn. Joseph, on the other hand, was a continual reminder that some day the exodus would occur. And day after weary day, the Israelites trudged through the wilderness carrying the casket of Joseph. Both men, Jacob and Joseph, determined that their death and burial would be a testimony to their faith and a stimulus to the faith of their offspring.

And so we come to the end of an era and to the end of a magnificent book. But two funerals do not seem to be a very bright ending for a book.

It ends in two coffins, one in Canaan, the other in Egypt. What a dismal conclusion. Moses could never make it as a writer in our times. But wait a moment; that is just the point. Genesis chapter 50 is not the end of the story; it is only the end of the book of Genesis. Moses has yet four books to write, and God has ordained another 61 before the final chapter is written.

Isaiah 41:10

And in the final chapters of the book of the Revelation we once again return to paradise. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street.

And on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall no longer be any night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they shall reign forever and ever Revelation Death, Moses would have us learn, is not the end.

That was what Jacob had foolishly believed for many years. That is why he was so eager for it to come. He looked forward to death as the end of his earthly woes. So do all who choose the way of suicide to cease from suffering. But the tragedy of such death is that it is not the end at all. It is really only a beginning of an irreversible eternity. Some years ago I was given the task of taking a young man to the hospital who had unsuccessfully attempted to take his life. On the way I asked him what he believed happened after death.

He told me that he believed in reincarnation. He had to admit that if this verse were true, suicide thrust its victim into irreversible judgment.

Reincarnation is a tempting thought, for it encourages us to end one life with the hope that a better one may follow. During those years spent in Egypt, Jacob came to a very different view of death. No longer did he consider death the end of everything. Even if a man were to lose his cherished son, as God had commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, God could raise him again. There was life after death:. Jacob had come to see that even if God did not resurrect the dead in the way Abraham expected Him to raise Isaac , there was still life after death.

And Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people Genesis And Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people, an old man of ripe age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him Genesis When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his lost, and was gathered to his people Genesis These men found little comfort in having their bones in close proximity to those of other relatives. They viewed their death as the occasion to be rejoined with those whose death had separated the living from the dead.

May I suggest to you that the way you view death makes all the difference in the world. If it is the end of everything, then there is not any need to seek heaven or to shun hell. But if we view death as a beginning rather than the end, then what lies after death must surely compel us to face eternity squarely, before death. And, once we are rightly related to God by faith in His Son, we need not fear death.

We need not avoid talking about it. And, in one sense, we can welcome it, for it promises us a time when we shall be intimately and eternally with God and with those in the faith who have been separated from us by death. Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also John Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord II Corinthians 5: But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better Philippians 1: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

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Therefore comfort one another with these words I Thessalonians 4: Do you notice how candidly both Jacob and Joseph spoke of their death? That is not so with unbelievers. They avoid the subject with a passion. We do not speak of the dead, but of the departed; they are not buried, but interred. People do not die; they pass away.

30 Top Funeral Bible Verses - Scriptures for Memorials and Sympathy

We do not bury the dead in graveyards, but in memorial parks. Both Jacob and Joseph called their relatives to them, where they unhesitatingly spoke of their death and gave clear instructions regarding their burial. Today we do everything possible to conceal the truth from the dying. A number of years ago I was asked to visit a woman in the hospital. No one told me she was dying.

I just knew it. She and I never avoided the subject of death, and it was obvious to me that she wished to talk about it. When she died, I was asked to conduct her funeral. Her husband found comfort in concealing the truth from her. The tragedy with this effort to deny death is that those last few days or hours are spent in deception. And rather than facing the eternity which lies only a breath away, we carefully avoid it. Most believers should not fall into the trap of denying death or avoiding a frank discussion of it.

But there is a way in which we can also lose the joy of those last moments. There are some Christians who would say that sickness and death need not be endured if we would only have the faith to be healed. Now I want to be quick to say that God can and does heal, and I am grateful for it. But there is no promise of healing or deliverance from suffering for all. I am inclined to believe that such instances are clearly the exception, rather than the rule. But there are those who would walk into a hospital room and assure the dying that, if they have sufficient faith, God will raise them up and restore them, free from suffering, sickness, and death.

Often, the ailing grasp at any hope of deliverance, not out of faith, but out of fear. Often, there is a bold pronouncement of faith and assurance of healing. There may be a period of remission.

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But often, the disease continues to consume the life of the terminally ill. Now, in the light of the almost certain approach of death, there can be only one conclusion.

"Granny's Chapters" (on scriptural subjects) by Lady Mary Ross

Would you like to tell us about a lower price? The New Testament has been treated in a manner somewhat different to that adopted in regard to the Books of the Old Testament. The object has been, to sketch out the earthly Life of our Blessed Lord, and to draw attention to a few important points.

It was obviously impossible to dwell particularly upon the details of every Miracle, Parable, and Conversation, recorded by the Evangelists. Nor was such a course necessary. The language of the Gospels is so simple and clear, that details are better read from Holy Writ itself. Read more Read less. Kindle Cloud Reader Read instantly in your browser. Product details File Size: Library of Alexandria December 27, Publication Date: December 27, Sold by: Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review.

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