Genesis 46. We're going to take
up both chapters 46 and 47. It's a lot of material, but it's
one unit. It is the third visit to Egypt. The journey was not simply to
buy grain, but this time they are relocating. Remember last
time, the second journey, the brothers go and Joseph reveals
himself to them. And then Joseph says to go get
Jacob and all their families and all their possessions and
bring it back to Egypt. So this records that third visit,
which is actually a relocation as per Joseph's request. So I'll
begin reading in Genesis 46 at verse one. So Israel took his
journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered
sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. Then God spoke
to Israel in the visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob.
And he said, here I am. So he said, I am God, the God
of your father. Do not fear to go down to Egypt,
for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down
with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again,
and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes. Then Jacob arose
from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father
Jacob, their little ones and their wives, in the carts which
Pharaoh had sent to carry him. So they took their livestock
and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan,
and went to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him,
his sons and his sons' sons, his daughters and his sons' daughters,
and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt. Now, these
were the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons,
who went to Egypt. Reuben was Jacob's firstborn.
The sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Palu, Hetzron, and Carmi. The
sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shal,
the son of a Canaanite woman. The sons of Levi were Gershon,
Kohath, and Merari. The sons of Judah were Ur, Onan,
Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. But Ur and Onan died in the land
of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hetron
and Hamel. The sons of Issachar were Tola,
Puvah, Job, and Shemron. The sons of Zebulun were Sered,
Elan, and Jalil. These were the sons of Leah,
whom she bore to Jacob and Paddan Aram with his daughter Dinah.
All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were 33. The sons
of Gad were Ziphion, Hagi, Shuni, Esbon, Eri, Eredi, and Ereli. The sons of Asher were Jimna,
Isua, Isui, Beriah, and Sarah, their sister. And the sons of
Beriah were Heber and Malkiel. These were the sons of Zilpah,
whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob sixteen
persons. The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife,
were Joseph and Benjamin. And to Joseph in the land of
Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter
of Potipharah, priest of On, bore to him. The sons of Benjamin
were Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Mupim, Hupim,
and Ard. These were the sons of Rachel,
who were born to Jacob, fourteen persons in all. The son of Dan
was Hushim. The sons of Naphtali were Jaziel,
Guni, Jazer, and Shalem. These were the sons of Bilhah,
whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and she bore these
to Jacob, seven persons in all. All the persons who went with
Jacob to Egypt who came from his body, besides Jacob's sons'
wives, were sixty persons in all. And the sons of Joseph who
were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons
of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy. Then he
sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out before him the way
to Goshen. And they came to the land of
Goshen. So Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to Goshen
to meet his father Israel. And he presented himself to him
and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. And
Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen your
face, because you are still alive. Then Joseph said to his brothers
and to his father's household, I will go up and tell Pharaoh
and say to him, my brothers and those of my father's house who
are in the land of Canaan have come to me. And the men are shepherds,
for their occupation has been to feed livestock, and they have
brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have. So it
shall be when Pharaoh calls you and says, what is your occupation,
that you shall say, your servant's occupation has been with livestock
from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,
that you may dwell in the land of Goshen. For every shepherd
is an abomination to the Egyptians. Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh
and said, My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds
and all that they possess have come from the land of Canaan,
and indeed they are in the land of Goshen. And he took five men
from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh
said to his brothers, What is your occupation? And they said
to Pharaoh, Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our
fathers. And they said to Pharaoh, We
have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no
pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land
of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the
land of Goshen. And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph,
saying, Your father and your brothers have come to you. The
land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers
dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of
Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them
chief herdsmen over my livestock. Then Joseph brought in his father
Jacob and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh
said to Jacob, How old are you? And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The
days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years.
Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and
they have not attained to the days of the years of the life
of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. So Jacob blessed
Pharaoh and went out from before Pharaoh. And Joseph situated
his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the
land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses,
as Pharaoh had commanded. Then Joseph provided his father,
his brothers, and all his father's household with bread, according
to the number in their families. Now there was no bread in all
the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land
of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.
And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land
of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought.
And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. So when
the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan,
all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, give us bread, for
why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed. Then
Joseph said, give your livestock, and I will give you bread for
your livestock if the money is gone. So they brought their livestock
to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses,
the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus
he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that
year. When that year had ended, they came to him the next year
and said to him, we will not hide from my Lord that our money
is gone. My Lord also has our herds of
livestock. There is nothing left in the
sight of my Lord but our bodies and our lands. Why should we
die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our
land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh.
Give us seed that we may live and not die, that the land may
not be desolate. Then Joseph bought all the land
of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every man of the Egyptians sold his
field because the famine was severe upon them. So the land
became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he moved
them into the cities from one end of the borders of Egypt to
the other end. Only the land of the priests he did not buy,
for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they
ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they did
not sell their lands. Then Joseph said to the people,
Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh.
Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. And it
shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth
to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own as seed for the field
and for your food, for those of your household, and as food
for your little ones." So they said, you have saved our lives.
Let us find favor in the sight of my Lord, and we will be Pharaoh's
servants. And Joseph made it a law over
the land of Egypt to this day that pharaohs should have one-fifth,
except for the land of the priests only, which did not become pharaohs. So Israel dwelt in the land of
Egypt in the country of Goshen, and they had possessions there
and grew and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land of
Egypt 17 years. So the length of Jacob's life
was 147 years. When the time drew near that
Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, now
if I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under
my thigh and deal kindly and truly with me. Please, do not
bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers. You shall
carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place. And
he said, I will do as you have said. Then he said, swear to
me. And he swore to him. So Israel
bowed himself on the head of the bed. Amen. Well, as I said,
this is one unit, 46 and 47, the third visit to Egypt, wherein
they relocate in Egypt. And that's where we'll find them
in the book of Exodus, which sets the stage for the great
redemptive act of God in bringing the children of Israel out of
the house of bondage there in Egypt. Well, essentially we have
three things going on in this section. In the first place,
we have the journey to Egypt in chapter 46, verses 1 to 27,
and then we have the meeting with Joseph and Pharaoh in chapter
46, verse 28, to chapter 47, verse 10, and then finally the
provision for the family in chapter 47, verses 11 to 31. And again,
I think the obvious observation is the providence
of God bringing all these things to pass for the preservation,
for the extension ultimately of His people in terms of the
promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that there would be
great multiplication of seed and that they would ultimately
possess the land of promise. We'll see how God fulfills His
promises even in the midst of this particular time in Egypt. But in the first place, notice
with reference to the journey to Egypt, the appearance by God
to Jacob. Before Jacob sets out, he seeks
the Lord's face. And that's what we have in verses
1 to 4. Notice in verse one, so Israel
took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba
and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. Then
God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night and said, Jacob,
Jacob. And he said, here I am. I think
Wenham is right on when he says, to emigrate to Egypt was as momentous
a move as Abraham's journey from Ur back in chapter 12, or Jacob's
flight to Paddan Aram in chapter 28, or his return to Canaan in
chapter 31, all of which were encouraged by visions. So in
each of those instances, God, by vision, communicated to the
patriarchs, calmed their nerves, and sent them on their way. He
goes on to say this revelation occurred at Beersheba, a home
base for Isaac. So it is not surprising that
echoes of all these passages are found here. Such a move as
Jacob is undertaking requires divine sanction. The more so
in that to leave Canaan is to retreat from the promised land.
Remember, God gave the promised land, gave Canaan to Jacob and
his family. Of course, the famine is severe
in the land. If they stay in the land of Canaan,
they will die of starvation. Wenham goes on to say, without
divine approval, such a move could seem like unbelief. This
vision occurs not simply at a turning point in Jacob's life. It is
also the last time God is recorded as speaking to the patriarchs.
The next recorded revelation takes place in the time of Moses.
This, then, is the culmination of all the promises made to the
patriarchs, and it picks up motifs from other great movements of
revelation. God, as it were, reminds Jacob
of all the promises made to him in his own lifetime, and to his
forefathers Abraham and Isaac before him. I think what Wenham
is saying is what happens here prior to this third journey to
Egypt and this relocation, this departure from the promised land
to go into the land of Canaan, Jacob certainly needed divine
aid, he needed encouragement, and the Lord God affords that
to him. And notice how God reveals himself
in verses 2 to 4. In the first place, he reminds
him that he is the God of his father Isaac, and thus the God
of his grandfather Abraham. Remember, the Lord appeared to
Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob. So he reminds him that it's the
same true and living God. Secondly, he encourages him not
to fear. In other words, Jacob, this is
ultimately under my sovereign power, and providence, do not
fear what you are about to undertake. He then reiterates the promise
that he will, in fact, make of him a great nation there. So
even in Egypt, we see the fulfillment of the seed promise, and then
the land promise will be resumed after the exodus. But already
we see multiplication in terms of Jacob's family, and then when
we get to Exodus 1, verse 8, there's a new pharaoh, and he
is concerned at the great multiplication of the children of Israel, and
the fact that they would be able to overtake the people of Egypt.
And then as well, notice what God says in terms of his presence. Verse 4, I will go down with
you to Egypt. Now that's an intriguing statement,
in terms of the various competing religions in the land at that
time. Remember that they had a whole pantheon of gods. They
had gods of the hills, they had gods of the valleys. They didn't
have sort of one overarching god who was the god of heaven.
and earth and everything in it. Well, the Lord God Most High
is not confined to Israel. When his people go into Egypt,
he is able to go alongside of them. And so he encourages Jacob
that he will in fact be present with them in the land of Egypt.
As well, there is a foreshadowing of the Exodus. There's one other
incident where we see this in Genesis, previous to this back
in Genesis 15. In that covenant made with Abraham,
the Lord God in verse 12 of Genesis 15, we read, Now when the sun
was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold,
horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then he said to Abram,
Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that
is not theirs and will serve them. and they will afflict them
400 years." So that is a statement concerning the reality that they
will, in fact, end up in Egypt. But then in verse 14, and also,
the nation whom they serve, I will judge. Afterward, they shall
come out with great possession. So that foreshadows the exodus
from Egypt. The same thing is found in verse
4 in chapter 46. I will go down with you to Egypt,
and I will also surely bring you up again. So you see the
purpose of God in this vision, it is to assuage his fears, it
is to encourage him that the journey he's about to undertake
will in fact ultimately be blessed. There's going to be a hard stretch
in there to be sure, there's going to be slavery, there's
going to be bondage, there's going to be subjugation to the
Egyptian people, but ultimately they will be freed by God. And then ultimately the assurance,
or rather the assurance, that Jacob's death will be peaceful
and in the presence of his beloved son Joseph. Notice at the end
of verse 4, Joseph will put his hands on your eyes. The marginal
reading basically says, well, close your eyes when you die.
In other words, this son whom you love, this son whom you missed,
is the son in whose presence you will ultimately breathe your
last. So all of the things are in place
there. Jacob is encouraged. The Lord
has spoken to him, given him what he needed in terms of his
ability now to go to the land of Egypt. So we see the beginning
of the journey in verses 5 to 7. Essentially, they gather up
all the things. Remember that Pharaoh had ordered
that these wagons be sent, or these carts, so that they can
pile up their goods, they can pile up their persons, and then
they can make this journey into Egypt. And then we have a genealogy,
and essentially the genealogy rehearses the 12 sons of Jacob,
and they are listed according to the various mothers involved.
So basically in verses 8 to 15, you have the sons of Jacob and
Leah. You have Reuben, Simeon, Levi,
Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and then a summary in verse 15. In
verses 16 to 18, you have the sons of Jacob and Zilpah, Gad,
Asher, and then again a summary statement in verse 18. Then you
have in verses 19 to 22, the sons of Rachel, which are Joseph
and Benjamin, and then a summary statement in verse 22. And then,
fourthly, you have the sons of Bilhah in verses 23 to 25, and
that is Dan, Naphtali, and then again a summary in verse 25. So, structurally, the chapters
are similar in this way. You have data, and then you have
this genealogy, and then you have more data, and then you
have this statement concerning the severity of the famine in
the land, where that's a bulk of material describing how Joseph
deals with that as he is second in charge in Egypt. Now in verses
26 and 27, we are told about the entirety of the people. It
says, "...all the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who
came from his body, besides Jacob's sons' wives, were sixty-six persons
in all, and the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt,
were two persons. All the persons of the house
of Jacob who went to Egypt were seven days. So that's the basic
number. In Acts 7 at verse 14, Stephen
says there were 75. Now when you look at Genesis
46, 27 and Exodus 1, 5 in the Septuagint, which is the Greek
translation, of the Hebrew Old Testament, it has 75. The Masoretic
text has 70. Now, I'm not bright enough to
work it all out, but there are commentators that have, and so
I would suggest John Gill would be the best one. Calvin essentially
says that one of the scribes or a copyist made a mistake with
reference to the Book of Acts. I don't personally hold to that
particular view. I think that rather there are
ways to harmonize the way that Stephen treats the text and the
way that we find it here in the book of Genesis. Stephen didn't
make a mistake. I doubt that a scribe made a
mistake. This is one of those areas, again, where there's various
means by which to harmonize the text. So that's the journey to
Egypt. Now notice, secondly, they arrive
in Egypt and they meet with Joseph and then Pharaoh. In the first
place, the family meets with Joseph. They arrive in Goshen,
according to verses 28 to 30, and then notice what Jacob does
in verse 28. He sent Judah before him to Joseph
to point out before him the way to Goshen. Now, we have seen
Judah sort of emerge as the leader of the brothers. And again, this
is fitting and appropriate because Judah is the line of kings. Christ
is from the tribe of Judah, and we will see a particular prophecy
later on in chapter 48, the Shiloh prophecy that speaks specifically
concerning the Lord Christ. So Judah emerges as a leader,
and it's quite appropriate because it was at his bidding ultimately
that there was this separation between Joseph and Jacob. Remember, it was Judah's plan
to sell Joseph into slavery. And now it's Judah who is bringing
these two persons back together again. And again, he's functioning
as the leader in terms of the brothers. And we notice in verse
29, so Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to Goshen
to meet his father Israel. And he presented himself to him
and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. So
Joseph at various stages in the narrative weeps. He's a man of
passion, a man of emotion, and a man who has overcome at this
particular point with joy and thanksgiving. He's reunited to
his father. Previously we saw when he saw
his brother Benjamin, he wept on him as well. I mean, he has
been for at least 22 years, removed from his family, and now there
is this reunion, so we can understand why he would weep on his neck
a good while. Now, Jacob's response is interesting
in verse 30. Now, let me die, since I have
seen your face, because you are still alive. I don't think it's
a legitimate request for death, but it's an expression of his
contentedness and an expression of his joy, and it's similar
to Simeon when Christ is brought into the temple to be circumcised
on the eighth day, and Simeon takes up the Lord Jesus in his
arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your
servant depart in peace. according to your word. For my
eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before
the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel." So essentially we have
Jacob who favored Rachel, He loved her preeminently. Remember, Leah was pretty much
just foisted on him. Behold, it was Leah. He never
sought that out. And then Billa and Zilpah were
given by Laban as maids to Leah and Rachel. But Rachel was the
woman that he loved, and certainly he loved the sons that he had
with her above the rest. We know that because he made
that coat of many colors. He bestowed that upon Joseph.
This provoked the envy of his brothers, and no doubt was one
of the reasons why they sold him into slavery and wanted to
get rid of him once and for all. So he is thrilled at the reality
that he is now with his son Joseph. And then notice that Joseph gives
instructions to his brothers in verses 31 to 34. Now this
is very important because Pharaoh is the king of Egypt. I mean,
he is royalty. He is the main man over a very
powerful empire at this particular time. The brothers of Joseph
are not royalty. The brothers of Joseph are shepherds,
so the brothers of Joseph need to be exhorted and instructed
by Joseph on how they're supposed to approach royalty. I'm sure
if we visited, you know, the president's office or the prime
minister's office, there would be some rules. Don't sit on his
desk, you know, don't Don't make any weird noises or, you know,
don't touch things, don't pull books off the shelf. There would
be some instruction on how we're supposed to dwell in the presence
of somebody who is a superior. And so 31 to 34 makes absolute
positive sense because Joseph wants to prepare his brothers,
who in many respects are basically hillbillies, before they run
in to the presence of Pharaoh and present their case in terms
of wanting to live in Goshen. So the instructions to the brothers
on how to speak with Pharaoh. And then notice that he chooses
the land of Goshen. Pharaoh had already said they
could take the best of the land. So he's not being wrong, he's
not being sinful, he's not being wrong here, whatever. And there
are good reasons why he would choose this land of Goshen. In
the first place, it would be one land for all of them to dwell
in. they could all remain together. As well, obviously, it was a
place to raise livestock. There was, you know, all that
would be necessary in terms of supporting your animals. Also,
it would keep the Israelites away from the bulk of the Egyptians. If they had their own sort of
enclave, then they would not be the subject of envy on the
part of the Egyptians, but as well, they would not be brought
into contact with their idolatry either. And then Goshen is probably
the first place you would enter when you move down from Judah
into Egypt. And so that when it was time
for them to be able to depart to go back to their land, it'd
be sort of like parking at the very, you know, near the exit
at a sporting event so you can be the first one to leave. That's
probably what's in his mind in terms of Goshen as a choice for
his brothers. Now there is that statement again
in verse 30, at the end of verse 34, every shepherd is an abomination
to the Egyptians. We saw that previously and noted
that, I think it was sheep that they would kill and eat where
the Egyptians would not. But as we move through the passage,
Pharaoh does have livestock, and he asks for qualified men
to be able to oversee the livestock. Likely what it is, is that these
kinds of shepherds, they are foreigners, and they're nomadic,
and they're basically cultural barbarians. versus the Egyptians
who are settled and more cultural. They probably would look down
upon them for that very reason. And then one other curious or
interesting note in terms of them occupying Goshen as sort
of an enclave for just them and them alone. Calvin makes this
observation. He says this passage also teaches
us how much better it is to possess a remote corner in the courts
of the Lord than to dwell in the midst of palaces beyond the
precincts of the church." I think that's a good sort of spiritual
observation as to why they would dwell in Goshen. And then after
the family meets with Joseph, now notice in chapter 47, the
family meets with Pharaoh. In the first place, the brothers
do in verses 1 to 6. and then the address given by
Joseph to Pharaoh. So Joseph comes to Pharaoh and
sort of smooths out the way, sort of paves the way, says that
my brothers have come to present themselves to you. So verse two
tells us he took five men, why five, which five, we don't know,
but he took five men from among his brothers and presented them
to Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to his brothers,
what is your occupation? And they essentially rehearse
what Joseph had informed them to rehearse. Tell them, or tell
him rather, that you are shepherds, that you deal with livestock,
and that you're just looking for pasturage at this time during
the famine. And then Pharaoh responds. Notice that he does not respond
to the brothers, he responds to Joseph. This is technically
absolutely positively correct. Again, if we went to visit the
president or the prime minister and we presented our case before
them, I would expect that they wouldn't address us. They would
address their right-hand man to get on it. Take care of business. Do what needs to be done. And that's what happens here
in verse 5. Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, Your father
and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before
you. Have your father and brothers
dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of
Goshen. And if you know any competent men among you, then make them
chief herdsmen over my livestock." So Pharaoh, as we saw last time,
in his promise with reference to the brothers coming into Egypt,
shows himself to be a gracious and a generous man. Now certainly
when he dies and another Pharaoh takes place, that doesn't hold
true. That next Pharaoh is just the
opposite of a gracious and generous man, but rather he enslaves the
children of Israel and thus sets the stage for the exodus out
of Egypt. And now Joseph brings his father
Jacob and sets him before Pharaoh, and here it's not so much that
Pharaoh is the person of honor, but it's Jacob that's the person
of honor. And in this instance, it is curious.
We see verse 7, Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him
before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. We see that in verse
7, and then again in verse 10. And in terms of the blessing,
he pronounces this upon Pharaoh. And if you think that's odd,
we are told in the New Testament to pray for kings and all who
are in authority so that we may lead peaceable and quiet lives.
The exiles at the time of the prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah
chapter 29, specifically in verse 7, were told to pray for peace
in the cities in Babylon that they found themselves in. So
you see, God is sovereign over the entirety of the earth. God
is sovereign over a pagan king like Pharaoh. God is able to
restrain. God is able to hedge them in.
God is able to keep them from engaging in the kinds of lawlessness
that more often than not pagan leaders engage in. So he pronounces
this blessing upon Pharaoh, and then Pharaoh again, it's almost
as if he has come now to learn from the older, sort of wiser
patriarch of Israel. So Pharaoh says to Jacob, how
old are you? And Jacob said to Pharaoh, the
days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years. Few and evil have
been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained
to the days of the life of my fathers in the days of their
pilgrimage." Now, as we consider that, if you think about Jacob,
he really did get everything he wanted. He had a good wife
and Rachel. He had good sons that he loved,
but he didn't get it without a great deal of hardship. In
fact, Jacob's life was one of trial and affliction. John Gill
makes the observation, he says, he calls his days but few in
comparison of the long lives of the patriarchs in former times,
and especially in comparison of the days of eternity, and
evil because of the many afflictions he had met with. as from Esau,
from whose face he was obliged to flee, lest he should kill
him, and in Laban's house, where he served for a wife fourteen
years, and endured great hardships, and at Shechem, where his daughter
was ravished, and his sons made that slaughter of the Shechemites,
which he feared would cause his name to stink, and at Ephrathah,
where he buried his beloved Rachel, and at Hebron where his sons
brought him such an account as if they believed his beloved
son Joseph was destroyed by a wild beast. So he did have a rough
go. My thought as I read through
these narratives is that Jacob comes across, and this is probably
going to sound unkind and untoward, but I'm going to kind of confess
how hopefully he's qualified. He kind of sounds at times like
a bit of a drama queen. He really does complain and whine
and moan about the various things that come upon him. But just
reflecting upon that, I get it. I could be a drama queen with
a whole lot less than what Jacob had to undergo. So I'm going
to cut him some slack because he did in fact have a great deal
of difficulty in his life. The Lord had been there every
step of the way. We see that turning point, I
think, at Bethel in chapter 28 when the Lord appears to him.
That seems to be the time that the spiritual conversion takes
place in the heart and life of Jacob. Now, prior to that, I
don't know, but Genesis 28 was certainly a turning point for
him. So, he rehearses this to Pharaoh, ends this meeting again
in verse 10 by blessing Pharaoh, and then he went out from before
Pharaoh. And then that brings us finally
to the provision for the family in verses 11 to 31. Now, note
first the settlement in Goshen in verse 11. Joseph situated
his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the
land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ramesses,
as Pharaoh had commanded." Now that was a city that was later
established in Goshen. Perhaps this was something of
foreshadowing in terms of this, but same same location, same
place, as Pharaoh had commanded. And then verse 12 says, then
Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's
household with bread, according to the number in their families.
Gil says, in this, Joseph was an eminent type of Christ who
supplies the wants of his people. I think that's a good observation.
We see Joseph as a type of Christ, not only there, but also throughout
the narrative. And then the continuation of
the famine is indicated in verses 13 to 26. Now I think the reason
why our author does that is that it highlights or demonstrates
God's kindness and provision. Now the children of Israel, we'll
call them the church, the people of God, the called out ones,
are safely settled in Goshen where they are reaping the benefits
of living here in Egypt. They have provision. Verses 11
and 12 have ensured us of that. Joseph is looking out for them.
He's the second in charge over the entirety of the land. He
is certainly making sure that his family is eating, that they
have the provisions that they need. And then in verses 13,
to 26, we see the extent of the famine and the severity of it. Now notice, in the first place,
they had already exchanged money for grain in verses 13 and 14. We saw that with the sons of
Jacob. They came from Canaan to Egypt. They brought money so they could
purchase corn or grain from Egypt to take back to Canaan so that
they could sustain life. Well, we see that the persons
outside of Jacob's family, the persons that occupied other parts
of the lands around Egypt and even Egyptians themselves, their
money ran out. This famine was long. This famine was seven years. This famine was most difficult. And verse 15 tells us, when the
money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, money
failing I don't think refers to an economic collapse, because
Egypt was doing quite well. I mean, you talk about a body
politic that certainly had its wealth and its resources. Egypt
was it. The money failed in the sense
that persons no longer had money in which to buy grain from Egypt. So the Egyptians came to Egypt
and said, give us bread, for why should we die in your presence?
For the money has failed. Now note next in verses 15 to
17, they sell their livestock for grain. Again, this is a very
severe and difficult trial that they find themselves in. So verse
16, Joseph said, give your livestock and I will give you bread for
your livestock if the money is gone. So they brought their livestock
to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses.
First time horses had been mentioned, the flocks, the cattle of the
herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in
exchange for all their livestock that year." Again, this whole
section is telling us how severe it is. But we've just been told
in 11 and 12, there's a Goshen where God's people are safe and
are being tended to and provided for by Joseph, who is now giving
this sort of a ultimatum to the people of Egypt. Their money
is gone. Now he says, sell me your livestock
in exchange for grain. Well, once that wears off, then
they offer themselves and their lands. Notice in verse 18, Why should we die before your
eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread,
and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh. Give us seed that
we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.
Now, the reference to seed indicates that this was the last year of
the famine. And he would indeed give them
seed so they could go out and plant and thus replenish the
land. Remember, it was a seven-year
period At the end of the seven years, presumably, rain would
come, the Nile would overflow, and there would again be fertility
in the land of Egypt. But this is the extremity to
which this famine, the famine conditions obtained. These people
were selling themselves into slavery after selling their lands. I mean, if you've seen the news,
apparently toilet paper is a hot commodity in the face of a coronavirus
threat. Apparently, it's flying off the
shelves left and right. So that's just a foretaste of
what could happen if it gets even worse and worse and worse.
Well, this is the severity to which you see that famine brought
these people. Now, verse 20 and following,
Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. For every
man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was
severe upon them, so the land became Pharaoh's. And as for
the people, he moved them into the cities from one end of the
borders of Egypt to the other end." Now, that's a curious statement
that I don't think any of the commentators really had any idea
what it means. Alter, I thought, had an interesting
observation. He said the purpose would be
to sever them from their hereditary lands and locate them on other
lands that they knew were theirs to till only by the grace of
Pharaoh to whom the land now belonged. So take them from their
land, put them in another land, sort of destabilize them a bit,
and let them know that they are slaves in the service of Pharaoh
at this particular time. Now, as we move through this,
I don't want to suggest that this is a model for civil government. What Joseph is doing here is
ultimately under Pharaoh. So Pharaoh has the ultimate authority. Joseph is functioning as the
vice-regent, as the one who is tasked with administering the
various foodstuffs that are still in the land of Egypt. But this
would be a horrible situation, brethren, to find oneself in.
to sell your land and then your body into service to Pharaoh,
to be a serf ultimately to the king. Now, verse 22 is intriguing. Only the land of the priests
he did not buy, for the priests had rations allotted to them
by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them.
Therefore, they did not sell their land. The Egyptians were
a religious people. These weren't priests to the
true and living God. To be sure, they were priests
to whatever gods they had there in the land of Egypt, but you
see that Pharaoh gave land for the priests and then provided
them with rations so that they could eat. Now, verse 23, Joseph
said to the people, Indeed, I have bought you and your land this
day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and
you shall sow the land. And it shall come to pass in
the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. four-fifths
shall be your own as seed for the field and for your food for
those of your households and as food for your little ones."
Now, interestingly, notice the response in verse 25. So they
said, you have saved our lives. Let us find favor in the sight
of my Lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. And Joseph made it
a law over the land of Egypt to this day that Pharaoh should
have one-fifth, except for the land of the priests only, which
did not become Pharaoh's. Intriguingly, he says, to this
day. So that level of taxation, that
level of government seizure still remained in Egypt long after
the famine. You've seen that in government
as well. We have this issue and we're
going to impose this tax for a time. Yeah, if you believe
that, they have bridges to sell you in Timbuktu, because they're
never just for a time. Once they see that cash cow start
flowing, they don't like to stop to milk it. They want to keep
milking it. So there is some things here in terms of civil
government that are truly horrifying, but with reference to Joseph,
I think Wenham gives at least a good explanation as to why
we shouldn't come down hard on him. He says, modern readers
find it difficult to regard Joseph's measures as benevolent. They
look to us like exploitation of the destitute who are forced
to sell or mortgage animals, land, and their own freedom in
order to stay alive. Joseph, the cunning agent, makes
the most of their plight to enrich the crown. But this is to misread
the account's intentions. The Old Testament law, I thought
this was very interesting. The Old Testament law itself,
not that I never knew it, I just hadn't thought of it in this
connection. The Old Testament law itself does not envisage
the destitute simply being bailed out by the more well-to-do. In
other words, it's never just handouts. It's never just, okay,
the rich will bail out the poor and everybody will live happily
ever after. The Old Testament law itself
does not envisage the destitute simply being bailed out by the
more well-to-do. Rather, if possible, members
of a family should help their destitute relatives just as Joseph
did by buying their land and employing them as slaves. This
was viewed as a great act of charity, for as the Egyptians
say to Joseph, you have saved our lives. They didn't interpret
this as oppressive. They didn't interpret this as
malevolent. They said, you have saved our lives. Let us find
favor on the side of my Lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.
Again, I'm not advocating for this. I'm not suggesting that
I want Justin Trudeau to control the means of production and have
a vice regent who basically takes from everybody their animals,
their lives, their land, and all that sort of thing. He goes
on to say, it is within this context that Joseph's actions
must be judged. In Israel, Those who became destitute
and sold their land or themselves to a more prosperous relative
or friend were given their land or freedom back in the year of
Jubilee, which occurred every 50 years. Apparently, the Pharaoh
was not so generous. He retained the land and people
as his serfs in perpetuity. But Joseph cannot be blamed for
that. I think that's right. It's not
Joseph who enslaved the people. It's Joseph who is orchestrating
this distribution of food and he is utilizing the means available
and the people respect or the people esteem the reality or
esteem him for the fact that you have saved our lives. Again,
I'm not for this type of government, but certainly we cannot judge
Joseph as being the theft of lands and the exploiter of those
who were destitute. And then finally, in terms of
the last section, it's Jacob's preparation to die. He's going
to live another 17 years, but he is going to die. So Israel,
according to verse 27, dwelt in the land of Egypt in the country
of Goshen, and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied
exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land of
Egypt 17 years, so the length of Jacob's life was 147 years.
So he's not going to die right here, because he's going to bless
Joseph's sons, and then he's going to bless his own sons,
and then he will die. But at this particular point,
he expresses his desire to Joseph to bury him in Canaan. He doesn't
want to be buried in the land of Egypt. He rather wants to
go back to the land of inheritance, to the promised land that God
had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And that whole idea,
please put your hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truly
with me, we saw it in Genesis 24. It's a means by which an
oath was sworn and there's various reasons for this particular sort
of situation. And then the point is, verse
30, let me lie with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt
and bury me in their burial place. And he said, I will do as you
have said. Then he said to me or said, swear to me. And he
swore to him. So Israel bowed himself on the
head of the bad. Well, as I said, the providence
of God is obvious in this particular section, in the entirety of Genesis,
as it culminates to this particular point now, where Joseph's dreams
are realized. His brothers and even his father
are bowing down in his presence. We see that he has been exalted
by the hand of God to the right hand of Pharaoh, where he is
over the entirety of food distribution in the land. We see God's confirmation
of his promise to Jacob in Genesis 46. Essentially, Genesis 46,
two to four, by way of vision, God says, I've been with you
in the past. I'm not going to forsake you now. Go to the land.
Do not fear. We see that he delivered the
children of Israel from famine conditions. He ultimately preserves
his church in the world with reference to the great calamities
that come in the midst of this world. And then he promises his
presence with the church in the world. 46, for I will go down
with you to Egypt. And then the other thing is the
promises of God. Remember the two promises that
are oftentimes repeated in the book of Genesis, seed and land. Well, we see the seed promise
come to fruition already in Egypt. We see that they had possessions
there and grew and multiplied exceedingly. The land promise
will come to fruition after the exodus, after they depart from
Egypt, they return to the promised land that God had given to the
fathers. Well, let us close in a word
of prayer. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you
for your providence and for your promises, both of which the book
of Genesis sets forth so obviously and so powerfully. And God, I
pray that we would learn many things from your dealings with
the patriarchs and with the twelve tribes. And God, I pray that
our hearts would be encouraged that your faithfulness and that
you're preserving of your people in the midst of calamity and
hardship and trial. And as we consider our own situation
with this virus, we do pray, God, that there would be a cure
found or an antidote to this. We pray that that more persons
would not die as a result of this. We pray for those who are
traveling in the coming weeks, that you would bless them, watch
over them and protect each one. And we pray through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Amen.
