14 Patriarchal

BlessingsGenesis 47-49

MY LIFE GOALS

Education OccupationAchievements

Family Church

In what ways did Joseph’s life go differently than he had planned?

JOURNAL

Joseph wisely administered the affairs of Egypt during the famine, saving the lives of the people and gathering great wealth for Pharaoh.When Joseph introduced his father to Pharaoh, Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh invited Joseph’s father, Jacob, and his family to dwell in Egypt in the land of Goshen.

Genesis 47 Chapter Heading

Where’s Goshen?

Genesis 48:7–10, 13-14 • What did Jacob say about Joseph?

Genesis 48:17-20 • Why did Jacob place his right hand on Ephraim?

“Once, long ago, when I was serving as a bishop, a young woman in my ward came for an interview. We somehow got around to her telling me her feelings about her patriarchal blessing. She said that it depressed her rather than helped her. I must have looked surprised, because she explained her feelings by telling me this: She said that her blessing warned her about sexual immorality. And, at least by her report, it did little else. It apparently warned her by describing a situation in which she might find herself, and in which, if she yielded to temptation, she would come to great harm and sorrow. She said something about how that hurt her doubly, not only by being about something so depressing when she needed encouragement, but her social life then was so barren that such a situation could never arise. …

“I remember better the interview I had with her less than a year later. She sobbed for a while, sitting in a chair on the other side of my desk in the bishop’s office. And then she blurted out her tragedy and how it happened, exactly as she had told me the patriarch so long before had described. In her little season of doubt that a patriarch could see with inspiration, she had made choices that led to years of sorrow” (“‘And Thus We See’: Helping a Student in a Moment of Doubt”[evening with Elder Henry B. Eyring, Feb. 5, 1993], 1–2; si.lds.org).

Com

mon

Quest

ions

1. What is a patriarchal blessing?

2. Why is lineage important?

3. Who may give a patriarchal blessing?

4. Who may receive a patriarchal blessing?

5. How old do I have to be for a blessing?

6. How is the blessing given?

7. How do I get a patriarchal blessing?

8. How do I know if I’m ready?

9. How can I prepare?

10.What should I wear?

11.When will the promises in my blessing be fulfilled?

12.Will all the promises in my blessing be fulfilled?

13.Should I let others read my blessing?

We are literally of the seed of Abraham. We are not adopted nor anything else. I don't know how there could be language more express than these revelations, 'natural heirs according to the flesh,' 'lawful heirs,' 'the literal seed of the body.'

Bruce R. McConkie, BYU Summer Session, Aug. 8, 1967Quoted in Robert J. Matthews, “Our Heritage from Joseph of Israel,” in Thy People Shall Be My

People and Thy God My God: The 22d Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, Deseret Book, 1994.

The Lord goes out of His way to make it literal. The literal seed of your body has the right to the priesthood and the gospel. Now, granted that somebody can be adopted in but they are so few and far between up to now, that we can just about forget about them.

“Your patriarchal blessing … may be brief or lengthy, simple or profound. … It is the Spirit that conveys the true meaning. Your blessing is not to be folded neatly and tucked away. It is not to be framed or published. Rather, it is to be read. It is to be loved. It is to be followed. Your patriarchal blessing will see you through the darkest night. It will guide you through life’s dangers” (“Your Patriarchal Blessing: A Liahona of Light,” Ensign,Nov. 1986, 66).

“A patriarchal blessing literally contains chapters from your book of eternal possibilities. I say eternal, for just as life is eternal, so is a patriarchal blessing. What may not come to fulfillment in this life may occur in the next. We do not govern God’s timetable” (“Your Patriarchal Blessing: A Liahona of Light,” Ensign, Nov. 1986, 66).

14 Patriarchal

BlessingsGenesis 47-49