Aging in the Bible: Jacob — The Old Man Who Blessed a King
Genesis 47:7–10; 48:1–22; 49:28–33
There is a remarkable moment near the end of Jacob’s life when the old shepherd stands before the most powerful ruler in the world.
Pharaoh is the king of Egypt. Jacob is a foreigner, a refugee from famine, an old man whose family has come to Egypt seeking food and shelter. By the ordinary standards of the world, Pharaoh has every reason to regard himself as Jacob’s superior.
But when these two men meet, something unexpected happens.
Jacob blesses Pharaoh.
The Bible tells us that Jacob was 130 years old when he stood before the king. He had lived a long, difficult, and often troubled life. He had known family conflict, exile, deception, grief, and years of uncertainty. He had wrestled with God and received a new name: Israel.
Now, at the end of his journey, this old man has something to give a king.
That is a lesson about aging worth remembering.
“Few and Evil Have the Days of the Years of My Life Been”
Pharaoh asks Jacob a simple question: “How old art thou?”
Jacob’s answer is anything but simple.
“The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years,” he says. “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage” (Genesis 47:9, KJV).
Jacob is 130, yet he describes his years as few.
He is not pretending that his life has been easy.
He has lived with the consequences of his own deception.
He has fled from his brother Esau.
He has endured the duplicity of his father-in-law Laban.
He has suffered the apparent loss of Joseph, the son he loved especially.
He has watched his family become entangled in rivalries and sorrow.
Jacob knows what it is to grow old carrying memories that cannot be changed.
His answer to Pharaoh is not a polished speech about the joys of longevity. It is an honest reckoning with life.
There is something encouraging about that honesty. The Bible does not require an older believer to look back upon every year with unqualified satisfaction. Faith does not erase grief, regret, disappointment, or the painful awareness of opportunities lost.
Jacob could speak truthfully about his troubles without concluding that God had abandoned him.
For all his mistakes, he had been brought to this place. The son he had believed dead was alive. His family had been preserved through famine. And the promises God had made to Abraham and Isaac were still unfolding through him.
Jacob’s life had been difficult. It had not been meaningless.
The Old Man Who Blessed the King
Genesis tells us twice that Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
The repetition is striking. Pharaoh possesses the throne, the wealth, the soldiers, and the power of Egypt. Jacob possesses none of these things.
Yet Jacob has come to Egypt as a man who knows the living God.
The author of Hebrews later reminds us that “without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better” (Hebrews 7:7). That statement occurs in a different context, but it helps us appreciate the significance of the scene: the world's usual measures of greatness do not determine spiritual worth.
Jacob has no kingdom to offer Pharaoh. He cannot repay Egypt for its hospitality. But he can pronounce a blessing.
His age has not deprived him of every form of usefulness.
His remaining years have brought him to a moment when the experience of a lifetime, and the promises of God, can be expressed in a simple act of spiritual dignity.
We sometimes measure the value of an older person by what he can still produce, earn, build, or manage. Jacob reminds us that there are gifts that cannot be measured in those terms.
An older Christian may have less physical strength and less independence than before. He may no longer occupy a position of authority. But he can still pray, encourage, speak truth, reconcile family members, and bear witness to the faithfulness of God.
Sometimes the most important thing an older person can do is to bless someone else.
When the Old Man Called His Family Together
Jacob’s final days were not spent merely looking backward. He had one more important task.
When Joseph learned that his father was ill, he brought his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to see him. Jacob gathered his strength and sat up in bed. He spoke of the promises God had made to him and to his fathers.
Then he did something that surprised Joseph.
Jacob crossed his hands and placed his right hand upon Ephraim, the younger boy, and his left hand upon Manasseh, the older. Joseph tried to correct him, but Jacob knew what he was doing.
He insisted that the younger son would become greater.
We have seen this pattern before in Jacob’s family. God’s purposes have repeatedly overturned human expectations about birth order, status, and privilege. Jacob himself had once been the younger brother who received a blessing ordinarily associated with the elder.
Now, in old age, he was not simply repeating the past. He was bearing witness to the God whose purposes were larger than human conventions.
Consider the scene. The old man’s body is failing. He must gather his strength to sit up. Yet his mind is fixed upon something beyond his own approaching death.
He is thinking about the future.
His grandchildren will live in a world he will not see. The family will face challenges he cannot help them overcome. But he can remind them that their future rests upon the promises of God, not merely upon their own abilities.
That is one of the privileges—and responsibilities—of growing old.
We cannot guarantee the future for our children and grandchildren.
We cannot spare them every sorrow or make every decision on their behalf.
But we can tell them what we have learned about God.
We can acknowledge our failures without hiding the lessons they taught us.
We can point them toward the promises that sustained us.
The years behind us can become a gift to those who come after us.
“By Faith Jacob, When He Was a Dying, Blessed Both the Sons of Joseph”
The New Testament gives Jacob’s final blessing a place in its account of the great examples of faith.
Hebrews 11:21 says:
“By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.”
Notice the details.
Jacob was dying. He was leaning upon his staff. His body could no longer carry him as it once had.
But he was worshiping.
The writer of Hebrews does not celebrate Jacob because he remained physically vigorous or because he had finally achieved a trouble-free life. He remembers him because, at the end, Jacob was still acting in faith.
That is a different measure of a successful old age.
Our culture often treats aging as a battle to preserve youth for as long as possible. Scripture offers a more profound hope. The body may weaken while faith remains alive.
Our circumstances may narrow while our confidence in God remains firm.
We may lose the ability to do many things we once did, yet still have opportunities to worship, pray, encourage, and trust.
Jacob’s final act was not a military victory or a great public achievement. It was a blessing given in faith.
And God saw fit to preserve it in His Word.
A Life That Was Not Finished Until God Finished It
Jacob died in Egypt at 147 years of age. His sons carried his body back to Canaan and buried him in the family burial place, as he had requested.
He did not live to see his descendants become a great nation.
He did not witness the Exodus or the giving of the Law at Sinai.
Those events belonged to a future beyond his lifetime.
Yet he died trusting the promises that made that future possible.
His story offers no guarantee that our final years will be free from weakness, regret, or sorrow. Nor does it suggest that every older person will have another great public achievement waiting to be accomplished.
Instead, Jacob shows us something more enduring.
A life of faith is not measured only by what we accomplish while our strength lasts. It is also measured by whom we trust when our strength is gone.
Perhaps you look back upon your years and see things you wish you had done differently. Jacob would understand that feeling.
Perhaps your body no longer permits you to do what once seemed effortless. Jacob knew what it was to lean upon a staff.
Perhaps you wonder what you can still contribute to the lives of those who will follow you.
Remember the old man who stood before Pharaoh.
Remember the grandfather who blessed his sons.
Remember the dying man who worshiped.
Jacob had not lived a perfect life. But the God who had met him at Bethel, wrestled with him at Peniel, and preserved him through years of trouble had not abandoned him in old age.
And the promises of that God would continue long after Jacob was gone.
That is our hope, too.
We do not need to pretend that we are young. We do not need to deny our limitations or conceal the sorrows of our years. We need to keep trusting the God who has carried us thus far.
And while we have breath, we can still worship Him, bless those who come after us, and point them toward His faithfulness.
The years ahead may be fewer than the years behind us. But they are still in the hands of God.
“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” — Isaiah 46:4 (NIV)
***************************
STANDING ON THE PROMISES
Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
Refrain
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Refrain
Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.
Refrain
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.
Refrain
Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.
Refrain
R. Kelso Carter, 1886)
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for HE is FAITHFUL that promised;) Hebrews 10:23
Comments