Bournagain

Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall.  Genesis 49:22

This curious verse is found in Jacob’s blessing of his son Joseph.  The fruitfulness of Joseph is a constant theme in the last thirteen chapters of the book of Genesis, and “fruitful vine near a spring” seems consistent with devices used throughout Hebrew poetry, where an initial thought is repeated and expanded upon in in the following phrase.  But what’s the idea with “branches climbing over a wall?”

I have an aunt whose neighbours have a very prolific grapefruit tree.  This tree has a few branches reaching out over the fence into my aunt’s property, and they are usually laden with delicious grapefruit.  Rather than cut the branches off, the neighbours freely invite my aunt to pick and enjoy the grapefruit on her side of the fence.  My aunt does not own the tree, she does not prune or care for it in any way, and she does not pay for the grapefruit she takes.  All she has to do is pick them, and enjoy them.  Sometimes there are so many grapefruit that she gives some away.  But she has no right to the grapefuit tree as such – it is the property of someone else.  The grapefruit are simply a free gift from the person who owns and nurtures the tree.

Some have accused the God of Israel of being an exclusive God, who shows favouritism toward one particular people.  There were strict laws governing intermarriage and even association between Israel and people of other ethnic groups, and the Bible is clear that God identifies himself as the God of Israel, and gives special blessings and responsibilities to this people.  It is as if there is a wall around this people, preventing other nations from entering in and sharing the blessing, and indeed down through the centuries many Jews have perceived their particular “blessing” in this way.

But the fruitfulness of Israel is like a tree that has branches that climb over a wall.  There are hundreds of ways of showing from the Scriptures that the covenant blessings God bestowed upon Israel were in fact for all nations, and that Israel was to be the bearer of this blessing to the nations.  Like with my aunt’s grapefruit, the nations outside the wall do not own the tree, but they can nevertheless enjoy its fruit, as its branches extend well beyond the confines of Israel.

Joseph’s own life is a clear example of this, as it was a result of his intimate relationship with the God of Israel that Egypt was finally saved from a devastating famine.  And the saving work of Joseph simply foreshadows the life of the most famous and most influential Jew of all history, who also made a trip to Egypt in his early years, and whose house would be called a house of prayer for all nations, and who, many centuries before his birth, was identified by the prophets as being a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of his people Israel.

My aunt could choose to react to the branches of the grapefruit tree in different ways.  She could complain about the intrusion of wayward branches into her property and insist that the neighbour cut them down.  She could become jealous, wishing that she herself had such an excellent tree on her own property.  She could refuse to pick the fruit because she doesn’t want to feel indebted to the neighbour in any way.  The nations have reacted to the fruitfulness of Israel in all of these ways and more.

But the most intelligent thing for my aunt to do (and the approach she has in fact chosen) is to gratefully take as many grapefruit as those branches can produce, to enjoy them herself and share them with her guests, and to express her appreciation to her neighbours – something which she has been able to do in a variety of practical ways.

Quite a good deal, really, when you think about it…