Has God ever instructed you to go into a place where you knew eventually there would be suffering? I’m not sure that’s happened to any of us - and I am even less sure that knowing that fact would help us in any way. But in doing so we fulfill God’s plan not only for us but for His purposes on earth. And His promise is that He will never leave us - even in the darkest of times. Such is the situation in which we find Jacob. On the surface it is the best of news - his long lost son Joseph is alive and well in Egypt. Further - Joseph is inviting them to come live with him to take away the threat of starvation in the famine.
What should be great news, though, is tinged with the promise of suffering - given to Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham.
Genesis 15:13-14 Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
Surely this must have been passed down to Jacob - who in the back of his mind must have been thinking about this prophecy as he packed his wagons and headed for Egypt.
Chapter 46
Verses 1 - 4
It was a big thing for Jacob to leave Canaan and bring his family to Egypt - especially since God had promised to Jacob that he would inherit Canaan as his own - was this tantamount to abandoning his post - his land? No God says.
Beersheba was a significant place. Abraham had planted a tamarisk tree there (Gen 21) and called on the name of the Lord. It was a place where treaties were made (Gen 21, 26), and where Isaac’s servants found water (Gen 26). So it was a place of worship, a place of peace, and a place of refreshing. It is often in places like this that the Lord speaks to us - when we have worshiped Him, found peace in our souls with Him, and been refreshed in His Word.
This answers a little detail that God revealed to Abraham way back in Chapter 15 - that they would be in a land not theirs for 400 years and that they would be enslaved and mistreated. This was written to a people who had just come out of Egypt after being enslaved and mistreated - but God wants them to know that this was a part of His plan. The most important thing: "I will go down with you and I will bring you back up."
Verses 5 - 7
So this is the entire clan and all their belongings. This is different than just going down to get supplies to keep them alive during the drought - this was wholesale moving.
Verses 8 - 27
This is not an actual counting but a charter of sorts. Er and Onan are dead (v 12), and Ephraim and Manasseh didn’t go down to Egypt (v 20) - they are already there. Don’t think of this as a passenger manifest, but as a document of a nation’s beginning. Each family has its place to keep.
Verses 28 - 30
They didn’t have AAA or a roadmap they could pick up at a gas station. Judah is sent on ahead - showing more his leadership in the tribe - which will continue in the blessings of chapter 49, the Davidic line, and eventually the Messiah.
Goshen is probably the delta region of the lower Nile (ie, northern Egypt). It would have been a perfect place to raise sheep and goats - good grass and well watered.
Of course - Jacob didn’t die for sometime (17 years we see at the end of Chapter 47) - but it’s what he was living life for - to once again see his son Joseph.
Verses 31 - 34
Joseph carefully rehearses how the brothers should approach Pharaoh. There really are no records indicating that Egyptians hated shepherds as a vocation - one possible solution is this:
During this period of time, a lot of Semitic people migrated to Egypt - and in fact had a ruling majority over time. These people as a whole were looked down on - and Joseph may be trying to separate his family as being different from these immigrants.
Chapter 47
Verses 1 - 6
So it was just like Joseph said - a very formal sort of presentation, though I’m sure the details were worked out beforehand.
I think this is here partially to let the Israelites know that when they came to Egypt, the king treated them much differently- and even gave them preferential treatment despite where they came from.
Joseph’s reputation even got some of them a job caring for Pharaoh’s herds.
Verses 7 - 10
Jacob blessed Pharaoh. In the Bible the greater always blesses the lesser - Jacob gives Pharaoh a blessing because God has blessed Jacob and told him he will be father to a great nation.
Earlier on you remember when Melchizedek blessed Abraham? The writer of Hebrews says:
Hebrews 7:7 And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater.
So Pharaoh apparently doesn’t mind being blessed by Jacob.
Verses 11 - 12
It almost seems as if Joseph, via his position, is able to get food for Jacob and his family even though they don’t have land to sell or even money for it. God has provided!
Verses 13 - 26
Funny how things get turned around - before we saw Joseph being sold into Egyptian slavery for 20 pieces of silver - now we see him selling the entire land of Egypt for silver from the people. Their payment of 20% for being a tenant farmer was actually less than normal. It was also a progressive tax - and if someone did well they could still get rich, even after paying the 20%. We don’t know, however, whether they were able to buy back the land.
This, by the way, made Egypt a very rich country.
Verse 27
We don’t know how they got property - whether Joseph gave it to them - it doesn’t seem to suggest that. Perhaps not every bit of land went to Pharaoh - and Jacob was able to buy some for cents on the dollar in return for food.
Whatever the case - the point here is that God prospered them in the land.
Verses 28 - 31
Jacob knew that his real home was not in Egypt - but in the Promised Land. Just as with us - Jacob was a sojourner - a traveler.
2 Corinthians 5:1-10
1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent , we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
For a while we sojourned in the world - the land of Egypt - until Jesus, our Moses, rescued us as he will rescue the children of Israel. The world seemed good to us for a while, but then made us the slaves that we really are to sin. Only through the death of the Lamb of God could we be saved from certain death.
So we left the world and have in some way come to the Promised Land in Jesus. But realistically we still live in this physical world, in a physical "tent."
We, like Jacob, need to not put down roots in this world - but set our sights on the world to come - when Jesus comes back to rescue us and take us home to heaven.
But in the meantime -
1. Live by faith, not by sight - trusting him no matter how black the world looks
2. Make it your aim to please God - no matter where you are sojourning.
What can we learn from these two chapters?
1. God goes before you
He undoubtedly has some "Egypts" for you to go through. But He has already been there preparing a place for you - where He will bless you and prosper you as you set your sights on Him and live in faith.
John 14:1-41 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going."
2. Don’t be ashamed of who you are
Joseph didn’t tell his brothers to lie about their occupation - but to be completely honest. We should do the same thing. Now, it wasn’t an "in your face" type of thing - but when asked a direct question about who they were, they were honest.
Don’t be ashamed that you belong to Christ. I can’t guarantee that everyone will react like Pharaoh did to the Sons of Jacob - but you can be sure that God is listening, and is proud.
3. No matter what famines await you - God will provide
God gave Joseph wisdom and knowledge to accurately see danger ahead and how to properly deal with it.
How much greater is your God in knowing what trials will befall you and making sure you are cared for in them?
Matthew 6:31-34
31 So do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own
