Studies In Genesis: Chapter 47 Series

Note: When doing a study on a book in the Bible you use a lot of resources. The major influence for me on this study of Genesis is The Genesis Record by Henry Morris.

Genesis 47:1. 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.

Pharaoh would probably be more likely to give them the land of Goshen if they were already there. Joseph knew this so he put them their.

2 And he took some of his brethren, [even] five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.

A plea. Wha a priviledge this must have been to present them to the king. Do you remember who I said that Joseph was a type of? Will Jesus present us before God? He was our intecessor our

Isaiah 53:12-AV Therefore will I divide him [a portion] with the great, and he

shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto

death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

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.

Remember, shepherds were the despised people. So this allows for two things. 1) a job that no one else was willing to do, 2) to be separated from the Egyptian people.

On the same not as in verse 2 what will our answer be before the Lord when we are asked, what was your occupation? Was you a shepherd? One who cared for the sheep. One who looked after and cared for my people.

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.

The land of sparation. Our Goshen is heaven. Fertile. beautiul.

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.

Look for the men who are working and activity and make them rulers. If you are active and busy for the Lord then you will be a ruler for him.

Matthew 25:21-AV His lord said unto him, Well done, [thou] good and faithful

servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over

many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

An added bonus. If any among them are good put them over my cattle.

7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

What a beautiful picture we see here. Jacob's life begins as a rebellion against God and now he is a testimony unto the one true God. He blesses 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.

Here we see the life and humility of Jacob. He has an opportunity to brag and give a lot about himself but instead he cuts it short and brings the attention to his fathers.

What do you think Jacob meant by calling his life and the life of his fathers a pilgrimage? He lived in a foreign land. He trusted only in God to take care of him. How is this true about us? We just passing through.

HEB. 11:8-16

10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

No boasting just humility. We need to be careful about how much we talk about ourselves.

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 a lot of respect for his family.

13. 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.