A time of Peace and a time to Pass
A. Israel finds peace
B. Israel’s provision and promise
DBF Sunday Sermon, 6/2/02, Genesis 47
You know that in our day and age the word “Peace” is taken for so many things. It is mixed up with “Peace and Love”. This is referring to of course the “Eros” love of the world. This indicates an urgent need of desire, a controlling type, restrictive type of love.
What is true peace?
Do you have the peace of God that is promised in His holy word?
I know I speak to a lot of people in Dillingham, Bristol Bay, Anchorage, and various other places throughout our state, country and world. There are truly so very few people that seem to understand the blessing of God’s peace.
God’s peace is not found in plenty, it is not found in nothingness, it can be found in both. It is a state of the heart in reference to “Who is Lord of your life?”
If I am blessed to have all my needs met, I can be within God’s peace.
I can be in need of my every meal, with no foreseen shelter, and I could be at peace with myself and with God.
We will walk with Jacob/Israel and the nation into the peace that God brings them into in Egypt. God not only provides them with peace but also with sustenance.
What a glorious change of events for a nation that has been in fear of starvation for the past couple of years.
Are you at a point of starvation today? Do you need to come and find the sustaining peace that God is able to bring into your life today? Come walk with us as we walk with Jacob/Israel this week through the peace God brought into his life and to the nations provision and promise.
A. A. Israel finds peace
Genesis 47:1-12 (KJV)
Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen. [2] And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. [3] And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers. [4] They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. [5] And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: [6] The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. [7] And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. [8] And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? [9] And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: 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. [10] And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
[11] And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, 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. [12] And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.
Joseph has the pleasure of announcing to Pharaoh the arrival of his kindred. Do you take pleasure in announcing your kindred in Christ? We have a tendency to prefer other titles to brother and sister in Christ. Why is this? Do you not marvel in the family resemblance? I pray that this resemblance is readily visible to all who see you.
Joseph introduces five of his brothers as Shepherds, owners and feeders of sheep and other cattle.
Joseph lets Pharaoh know that his brother are men of ability, competent to take the oversight of others. Pharaoh responds by asking Joseph to find who is competent among them to set them over his cattle. During a drought this would be a blessing to a wise steward. Pharaoh can appreciate that the God of Joseph has blessed him and he wishes to continue in this light with God’s people.
Joseph next presents “Jacob his father,” before Pharaoh. Joseph does this after the formal family business has been completed, he saves his best for last.
“Jacob blessed Pharaoh.” This is the patriarch’s grateful return for Pharaoh’s great kindness and generosity toward him and his house. He is conscious of even a higher dignity than that of Pharaoh, as he is a prince of God; and as such he bestows his precious benediction.
Some may thing this odd. Pharaoh was said to be a living incarnation of the God’s of Egypt. The true God has called Jacob as prince, and in this calling Jacob blesses Pharaoh. Can it be said of you today that you are a blessing to those around you?
Pharaoh is struck with Jacob’s appearance, and inquired what was his age. Jacob answers with a slight accounting of his “Pilgrimage”—sojourning, wandering without any constant abode or fixed holding. After all they were following the “Promise of God.”
Such was the life of the patriarchs in the land of promise Heb. 11:13. “Few and evil.”
Hebrews 11:13 (KJV)
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Jacob’s years at this time were far short of those of Abraham and Isaac, not to speak of more ancient men. Much bitterness also had been mingled in his cup from the time that he beguiled his brother of the birthright and the blessing, which would have come to him in a lawful way if he had only waited in patience.
Obliged to flee for his life from his father’s house, serving seven years for a beloved wife, balked in his expected recompense by a deceitful father-in-law, serving seven long years more for the object of his affections, having his wages changed ten times during the six years of his further toil for maintenance.
Afflicted by the dishonor of his only daughter, the reckless revenge taken by Simon and Levi, the death of his beloved wife in childbirth, the disgraceful incest of Reuben, the loss of Joseph himself for twenty-two years, and the present famine with all its anxieties—Jacob, it must be confessed, has become acquainted with no small share of the ills of life.
Yet he “Blessed Pharaoh.”
If God called you to walk such a walk today, could you, would you walk in a manner that is worthy of God?
You see God is calling people around us continually to give up things and follow Him. I think as I have said often, many are reluctant to give up their abundance to bring in an abundance for God in the harvest.
B. Israel’s provision and promise
Genesis 47:13-31 (KJV)
And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. [14] And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. [15] And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth. [16] And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. [17] And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. [18] When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: [19] Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. [20] And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s. [21] And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. [22] Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands. [23] Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. [24] And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. [25] And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants. [26] And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.
[27] And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly. [28] And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years. [29] And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: [30] But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. [31] And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.
Under the wise stewardship of God, Joseph introduces remarkable changes into the relation of the sovereign and the people of Egypt. “There was no bread in all the land.” They had reached the proverbial rainy day we all save for and were found lacking.
What about you, will you be found lacking when Christ returns? What if He returned today, right now? Don’t put off the things of God for a rainy day, get Christ and get right with God now.
“And Joseph gathered up all the silver.” Many in that day seemed to put their trust in silver and gold. It would not preserve them through the drought which God brought to the land.
Are you this day placing your faith in such?
After all the money, which flowed into the country during the years of plenty, seems to have lasted for five years of the drought before it expired. “And Joseph brought the silver into Pharaoh’s house.” He was merely a wise steward of Pharaoh in this matter, and made a full return of all the payments that came into his hands.
Are you being a wise steward of what God allows to come into your hands and the provisions He continually provide you?
When “The silver was spent.” The famishing people have no more money; but they must have bread. Joseph shows the wise stewardship he has gained through his father in following God’s plan.
Joseph proposes taking their cattle. This was really a relief to the people, as they had no means of providing them with fodder. The value of commodities is wholly altered by a change of circumstances. All the gold in the world or pearls will not purchase a cup of water in a vast and dreary wilderness.
Cattle become worthless when food becomes scarce, and the means of procuring it are
exhausted. For their cattle Joseph supplies them with food during the sixth year.
The seventh year is now come and the silver and cattle are now gone. Nothing remains
but their lands. They owners themselves make this offer to Joseph, which he cannot refuse. It is evident that Pharaoh had as yet no legal claim to the soil.
The husbandman, or what we know as farmer, who settled on a promising spot, broke up the soil, and sowed the seed, felt he had acquired by his labor a title to the acres he had cultivated and permanently occupied, and this right was instinctively acknowledged by others in primeval time. So that each cultivator grew into the absolute owner of his own farm.
The lands of Egypt belonged to the peasantry of the country, and were at their disposal. These lands had now become valueless to those who had neither provisions for themselves nor seed for their ground. They willingly part with them, therefore, for a year’s provision and a supply of seed. In this way the lands of Egypt fell into the hands of the crown by a free purchase. “And the people he removed into the cities.” This is not an act of arbitrary caprice, but a wise and kind measure for the more convenient nourishment of the people until the new arrangements for the cultivation of the soil should be completed.
The priestly were not required to give their land as they were sustained by a state allowance, and therefore, were not obliged to sell or give up their lands. So, they became by this social revolution a privileged order.
Joseph states “I have bought you.—He had bought their lands, and so they might be regarded, in some sort, as the servants of Pharaoh, or the serfs of the soil.
“In the increase ye shall give the fifth to Pharaoh.” This explains at once the extent of their liability, and the security of their liberty and property. They do not become Pharaoh’s bondmen or slaves. They own their land under him by a new agreement. They are no longer subject to arbitrary exactions. They have a stated annual rent, bearing a fixed ratio to the amount of their crop. This was a very equitable adjustment of their dues, and places them under the protection of a statute law. The people are accordingly well pleased with the enactment of Joseph and the provisions of God, which becomes henceforth the law of Egypt.
The Israelites also were well provisioned And they were possessed thereof.—They become owners or tenants of the soil in Goshen. The Israelites were recognized as subjects with the full rights of freemen. “They grew and multiplied exceedingly.” They are now placed in a definite territory, where they were free from the previous contamination which arose from promiscuous intermarriage with an idolatrous race; and the Lord bestows His blessing of fruitfulness and multiplication, so that in a generation or two more they can intermarry among themselves.
Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt, and so survives the famine twelve years. “He
called his son Joseph.”
Joseph remained in service to Pharaoh after the fourteen years of plenty and famine. Jacob looks to him to comply with his wishes concerning his chosen place of burial.
“Put thy hand under my thigh” Genesis 24:2 (KJV)
And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
He binds Joseph by a solemn pledge to carry his mortal remains to the land of promise. As soon as Joseph agrees, Jacob Israel now has the peace he needs to pass on/die “And Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.”
Are you seeking this provision and promise in your life today?
Are things happening around you that make you feel you have no control in your life?
There is truly only one way that we can get any control in our lives. We must start by acknowledging that we are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God, and ask forgiveness of our sins. We must then believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, our only advocate before God. Then we must commit our lives to the Lord and ask Him to fill us with His Agape love, so that we may walk in newness of life in Christ.
If you want to say this prayer we ask you to come forward or for any other prayer needs. Remember Jesus always stands at your hearts door knocking, only you can let Him in.
Closing Prayer.
