Genesis 46 & 47, Jack Abeelen, "The Great Reunion"

Transcription of Jack Abeelen's  sermon on Genesis 46 & 47, "The Great Reunion."  Given at Morningstar Christian Chapel 1/2/2013

We're going to continue tonight in our wonderful study through this book of beginnings, the book of Genesis.  And continue with Joseph, in particular, who is certainly a type of Christ. He's a wonderful example to us of Romans 8:28, "We know that all things work together for good to those love the Lord who are called according to his purpose.

And Joseph will teach us how that trust in God, when you don't understand His ways, is a life of faith that brings great blessings to bear upon your life.  And let's face it, that's a lot of our life, isn't it? We trust the Lord though we don't certainly always understand. And hopefully, as you've been going through this, together with us, you're allowing that life of  Joseph and the chapters that record it to fill your heart with a new confidence in God.

I mean to think of a young man, barely 18, getting sold by his brothers into slavery, spending 10 years in the house of a servant of the Pharaoh, Potiphar's house, where he is so blessed, and God blesses his every move, that it isn't long before he's second in command. And for ten years faithfully, he serves in a place of captivity. Falsely accused by Mrs. Potiphar of attempted rape, he's imprisoned. Spends the next three years in jail. Spends his 30th birthday in jail. Didn't do anything wrong, but he was so faithful there that it wasn't long before he was made second in command there, as well.

He interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's butler and the baker.  The butler got good news; he was going to be released and found innocent, "Please remind the Pharaoh that I am here innocently as well and that I'm not guilty." And the butler got out and immediately forgot about Joseph who then had to wait another year, as he sat, and waited upon the Lord, not understanding but trusting God.

One day the Pharaoh had a couple of very frightening dreams about the future of Egypt, seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of drought. The magicians couldn't help him. The butler went "Oh, I remember this guy in jail, nailed it as far as our dreams." And they quickly got Joseph to Pharaoh who heard Joseph speak to him about what was coming. And then Joseph advised him that he should plan ahead, store up, be ready; this is God showing you what's coming. And the Pharaoh couldn't really think of anyone that would be better equipped to lead the nation with him than Joseph. And again, faithfully serving, Joseph becomes second in command in the world, second in command Potiphar's house, second in command in prison, second in command with Pharaoh.

And the seven years of plenty come and go. And Joseph faithfully serves. He is 37 years old by the time the famine begins. He's married. He has two boys. He named them amnesia and ambrosia, forgetfulness and fruitfulness.  I've forgotten all of the suffering, the Lord has so blessed me, and I've watched the fruitfulness of God upon my life.

But then the famine began, and in the second year, Joseph's brothers, living in Canaan, travel the 265 miles to Egypt to get food. And Joseph recognized them. Of course, they did not recognize him. And since chapter 42 we have been with the boys who have faced a series of exams from their brother Joseph, who wanted to learn their hearts towards the matter of having sold him off, wanted to find remorse, asked them about his father, wanted information about his beloved brother Benjamin.

But through it all, Joseph now nearly 40 years old, begins to clearly see what God was up to. He hadn't known it for 22 and 1/2 years. He just knew that God was faithful. He didn't know what God was up to. And he rested in just knowing that God knew. And he began to say that to himself, "Oh, God used me. He sent me ahead so that my family and the people of Israel, and God's people, can be saved.  Now I understand, now this all makes sense to me." And God's purposes were clarified.

We finished last time with a final test of love as Joseph saw Judah, the fellow who had suggested selling him to begin with, offer to stay in custody instead of Benjamin, who they kind of set up so that he looked like a crook, a criminal. But he couldn't bear Judah to go back and tell Jacob his father that Benjamin had been taken. He said, "My dad won't survive it." And with too much to bear Joseph just couldn't handle it anymore. And he clears the room. And he makes himself known to his brothers. And he reveals himself to them.

And then with great love, he sends them back with food. And he says to them "Bring dad and the family back." The Pharaoh approves, "Here, he's got some new carts you can use."And they sent them back to transport the entire family back to Egypt from Canaan.

Tonight in Chapter 46 and 47, we want to look at the great reunion of father and son. In a few weeks, we'll finish this book, and jump 200 years ahead by just flipping a page to the book of Exodus. So I hope you'll join us this Wednesday, or Wednesdays this year and really commit yourself to studying some of God's word.

Here's what we finished with last time, v 25  of Chapter 45.
Then they went up out of Egypt. They came to the land of their father.
Jacob's heart stood still. He didn't believe them, but when they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, when they saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry them. The spirit of Jacob their father Israel revived and his father said "It is enough. I will go and see him before I die."

One lesson I think that you always have to take away from studying Joseph's life is the need to rest in the Lord and have a peace of mind when you can't connect all the dots. And that's a hard thing to do. You know, I have a large file in my head, and it just simply says on it, "waiting for more information." And every year that file gets thicker. You just want to shred the thing but you can't, y'know.  Things I don't understand that God has done. Things that God has allowed that I don't have for the life of me know why. Things I can't wrap my head around. I don't have the full picture.  I may not have it until I get there. And that file just continues to grow. And every now then the Lord will show me something and I'll think "Oh, ok, I can take that out of there, good" But there's so much in there. Do you have one of those?  If you don't, you should have. Because the great adventure is trusting the Lord when the file is so big and still believing he knows what He's doing.

Look at Joseph's file, the hatred of his brothers, the faithfulness of his life that had been rewarded with false accusation. Forgetful so called friends. Years of prison and for what? Further information. That file must have just grown, right? And yet he rests--I should say, and he rejoices--anyway. He's a true man of God. He believes that the glory of God's providence will be revealed, and the victory will come in faith.

By contrast, Jacob didn't have a file at all like that. And because Jacob wasn't willing to put things away and just trust God, Jacob becomes a kind of a little whiner in his old age. Every time you read about him in the last twenty years, you find Jacob making everything about Jacob--he's a woe-is-me the-world-is-all-against-me kind of guy. And it isn't until here, the end of chapter 45, that Jacob goes "oh." First he thinks he's going to have a heart attack, then he comes back to life, and he said "alright I'll see him before I die." But everything's kind of like "ohhh, I just...." You need a big file, and it's ok to keep one. But you can't stop trusting the Lord, y'know.

I remember hearing a wonderful story about a mom who took her seven-year-old son who was just taking piano lessons for the first time. And she took him to hear that Polish piano maestro, Paderewski. It was in the late 30's before he died I think in the early 40's. But, he was certainly the virtuoso of piano. He traveled the world and could fill concert halls. But so she wanted to take her seven-year-old boy to see a guy and say to him "This is what you could maybe be like one day."

And they got front row seats, and some friends of her were sitting behind her. And so they sat down and before the concert started, she turned around and talked to some of her friends. All of a sudden the lights went out and the concert was ready. And she looked around, and her boy was gone. Well, he had unbeknownst to her gone around backstage and saw a sign that said "no admittance," and didn't know what that was, so went right ahead and went through.

Well, as the curtain opened, and this beautiful piano sat in a spotlight right in the center of the stage, to her chagrin there sat her boy, at the piano.  And he began to play the only song that he knew, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." And he didn't do that too well, but he did the best that he could. And so she panicked and Paderewski walked out onto the stage.  And she thought, "Oh we are dead."

But he learned over to the little boy and he said, "keep playing." And he put his left arm around the kid and he began to play all of the base cords. And he reached with his right hand over and he played these obbligatos on the tremble keys, and it sounded so beautiful that by the time they were done, they got a standing ovation--him and the seven-year-old boy who could play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

And I love this story because I thought, you know, that's kind of how we are with the Lord. If we were on our own, we're going to look pretty silly on stage. But if God reaches around you, and starts playing the notes, you'll look good. So Joseph was able to look good, even when things were going bad because he realized the God had his arms around him.

Jacob not so much, he was just the guy that's always the victim of everything, and "woe is me," all the time, it's all about him. So, we may not sound too good on our own, but if we'll let the Lord just be the Lord even when we don't have all the answers. And Jacob will get that.  The last 17 years of Jacob's life. I've always liked the numbers, now I'm not sure what they mean. But Joseph was 17 when he lost his relationship with his father. And now at 130 Jacob is going to come and see Joseph, and he's going to get to take care of him 17 years. He'll die at 147. So I guess he gets to repay his dad the seventeen years that he raised him and cared for him. But Jacob will come around these last 17 years. In fact, we'll see the word Israel a lot more. Jacob certainly, but Israel refers to that spiritual man, right, the one governed by God. And it will pop up more and more in these chapters as we go. Alright, I think we are ready to start. Let's see, so...

"So Israel took his journey with all that he had. And he came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac."

Now, it does seem just in reading the context of the text that once Jacob was sure of the information, he wasted little time in assembling the troops and heading south for Egypt for his son.Yet, when he got to Beersheba, which is on the edge of the desert wilderness, the brakes absolutely seemed to be applied hard and heavy.  Jacob all of a sudden bawked.

There were a lot of memories Jacob that would have had from this area as a young boy with his father Isaac, even with his grandpa, Abraham. And it seems that fear and that longing to know the heart of God stopped him in his tracks. His emotions said, "Go see Joseph before you die; you're an old guy. You never know. Go see him."  But he hadn't sought the Lord in all of this. And in fact, years earlier the Lord had very specifically said to Jacob, "You stay out of Egypt." But now he was headed there. And so Israel, notice Israel, took a journey. And Israel stops on the edge of the wilderness, and he says to himself "I wonders, I wonder if this is really what the Lord really wants me to do." Emotionally, yes, you know, mentally, of course, but does God want me to do this?" And for the first time in a lot of years you find Jacob going, "I just want to know what the Lord wants."

So, you know, he stops before he steps over into Egyptian land. You know, Grandpa Abraham had run here during a famine and had caused havoc. You know, Sarah his wife had brought back Hagar. Lot had brought back a taste of Egypt that he would never lose. And the Middle East was never the same. By the time Abraham left he was rebuked by a Pharaoh for his ungodliness. His dad Isaac, Jacob's father, had also run here and used that same ploy. So on the border town with Egypt, and you know that little biblical axiom you'll read a lot, "from Dan to Beersheba," you'll read that a lot, from the north to the extreme south. So right on the border if you will with Egypt, Jacob wonders what God is gonna do, what God would want to do. And notice he brings sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. He goes to seeking the Lord.

Though we are not at the sacrifices books yet, there are really three main sacrifices found in the law later. There's many of them, but there's basically three main ones. There is a sin offering. A sin offering is where you would put your hand on the head of the animal and transfer your sin by confession to it. And it would be killed, and you would have the blood of that animal sacrifice covering your sins. And with it, you could come to the Lord in the Old Testament, that's as close as you can get. And so, in the New Testament, Jesus,being God becomes the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He becomes the fulfillment of that picture who can restore our fellowship with God with sin and all the rest. But sin offering was certainly one of the big three.

The burnt offering, the second one, or sometimes called the sacrifice of consecration, was a place where you took the whole animal, and it was consumed on the altar. And you got nothing back. It spoke of total sacrifice or dedication of your life to the Lord. Lord, take all of me, not half of me, not some of me. Take all of me. And burnt offerings were submitted to the Lord. And so, I don't doubt that Jacob brought a sin offering because they were certainly aware of it at the time, and maybe very well a burnt offering because Jacob wanted God to have His will done, not his own, which was driven by emotion.

Then there was a peace offering.  Peace offerings were cool, you really basically just burn the fat of the animal, things you wouldn't eat.  And those we laid upon the sacrifice.  But then the rest of the animal was dressed and cooked. And you sat there before the Lord, having dinner with God.  It was the offering of fellowship or communion with God. Jacob wanted to know God's heart in these things. And, it's a pretty important principle because there are times where we really don't need to pray, we know stuff. Right? Like the Ai experience, the overthrow, the Joshua chapter 7, where you think you know things, but you don't.

So Jacob comes to deal with his sin, comes to commit himself to the Lord, comes to have fellowship with God. And he's a pretty mature guy because there's nothing he wanted more than to get to his boy, but he wasn't about to make the same mistake again, "God don't let me do what Abraham did, what Isaac did. If you don't want me to go, I don't want to go."

So then verse 2, "So, then God spoke to Israel in a vision of the night. And he said "Jacob, Jacob," and he said "Here I am." And 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. And I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again, and Joseph will put his hand upon your eyes. And so Jacob could then arise from Beersheba and the sons of Israel and they carried their father Jacob, the little ones, the wives in the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And so they took their livestock and their goods which they had acquired in the land of Canaan and they went to Egypt, Jacob and all of his descendants with him, his sons, his son's sons, his daughters, his son's daughters, all of his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.

So Jacob spends the night of sacrifice, goes to bed leaving it with the Lord and the Lord, as He always does--if you really want to know him, seek Him with all your heart you'll find Him.  Comes to speak to his son, if you will, because he had sought His direction.

"Jacob, Jacob"  I mentioned to you several times that most of the time when God repeats names it's to men, not to women. It happens a couple of times to women, but I think they pay better attention. I don't know. Need more information. My wife tells me I don't pay as much attention as she does. I have no explanation at all. It's just an observation I'm trying to define in my favor but so far I haven't had any luck.

So Jacob gets a visit from the Lord and notice from what the Lord says a couple things we can deduce:

1. Jacob was afraid. "Don't fear."  He was worried about going.

2. He didn't want to leave the land of promise because God had promised him the land.  And he thought forsaking it, then what's going to become of it. And the Lord says "no, no, I'll grow my people there, and I'll bring you back here. So don't let that be a concern to you as well. I will be with you every step of the way. And don't worry about dying, Joseph will be there when the time comes to close your eyes.

So the promise to make of you a great nation is reiterated by the Lord. It started back in Genesis 12:2 with Abraham, been passed along to all of the patriarchs. Jacob was willing to hang onto that, was afraid to leave because of it.

Today in Israel, as of June of this year, there are some 8 million people living in Israel according to the CIA World Fact Book. And about 76% of those or so, or 6.2 million, are Jews, which means a little over 50% of all of the Jews alive today in the world live in Israel.  So God has certainly faithfully carried forth His promise. He's made of them a great nation.

This year, their GDP is expected to exceed 250 billion dollars. Their growth rate is about 4 1/2%, not bad for a country the size of New Jersey. They are 4th in the world exporting citrus fruits. They are 3rd in the world in exporting flowers. They are 2nd in the world in technology, development, and security.  New Jersey.  Well someone the size of New Jersey anyway. So, they are a tremendous nation.

In the last few years where we have experienced this financial woe because of the loans to homes and people couldn't afford them and stuff. It didn't affect Israel at all because Israel's banks will not finance 80% of a home. They require 80% down, and they will only finance 20%. So, kids as they grow up don't spend everything they got. They spend their entire early years saving up to one day buy a house. But because of that practice that financial hardship did not hit Israel nearly as hard as it did us.

So God gives Jacob three promises here:

1. You won't go to Egypt by yourself; I'll go with you.

2. I'll bring you back to this land that I have promised to make of you a great nation. In fact, in 430 years, they will come back, led by Moses, and they won't be 70 people, they'll be 2 million folks.

3. Your son will be with you when you die. You won't die along the way. You're going to be just fine. I will be there every step of the way.

So the sacrifices the offering brought, if you will, a response from the Lord.

Now, we're not going to read verses 8-25 because I can butcher names just like you. Let's just look over it real quickly. The nation is small here. The list of names is complete.

Now, we run into genealogies quite a bit in the Old Testament in particular for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, they are all intended to set aside the families that take us nowhere and drive us through the lineage to Christ. That's the most important reason; we want to be taken to the birth of Christ.

Second of all, I think it should teach you that God never forgets a name, or a life, or a soul.  And no life is small in His eyes. There are more names in these genealogies that we have no idea who they are. We don't know how to pronounce them, and if we get them right, we don't know who they are.  Don't know how long they  lived, don't know what they accomplished, but God does. So you will find this constant kind of laying out for us lineage. In this case, it is given to us so that we might know that God knows.

Now with Jacob were 66 descendants, plus Joseph and his wife, two children in Egypt, to make 70 in all. 33 through Leah's side of the family, 16 through Zilpah's side of the family, 14 through Rachel and her grandchildren. 7 through Bilhah. 12 sons, one daughter, 52 grand-kids, 4 great grand-sons. You look through the list, Dan had the fewest children; he only had one son. Benjamin was the youngest, he was in his early twenties or mid-twenties by the time we read this. He already had 10 kids. So he was a busy kid. Had he continued at that pace, he would have been the largest tribe by far, by the time we get down the road, but there will be some tribal sin later that will keep him as the smallest. But we don't have time for that tonight, so you can just mark that down.

In verse 13 there is an interesting reference to the sons of Issachar, and one of them, the third, was named Job and most scholars believe this is indeed the Job of the scriptures. Moses would have been his contemporary.  It is believed by many scholars, and we won't go into it tonight, that Moses, who wrote the book the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament, also wrote the book of Job.  It doesn't really matter whether you believe that or not. Certainly the Lord is behind it, but it is a plausible thought, certainly.

Also in verse 19, notice we read the sons of Rachel, Jacobs's wife, were Joseph and Benjamin.  Although he had four wives, she's the only who's designated as Jacob's wife here, in the writing. No doubt because this was his true love.

Now, finally, verse 26, all of the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt who came from his body besides Jacob's son's wives were 66 persons in all. And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. So all of the persons of Jacob's house who went to Egypt were 70. And they added Joseph and his wife and those two kids, Ambrosia and Amnesia.

In Acts Chapter 7 when Stephen is standing before the Sanhedrin giving his last message--he would be killed for his insinuation, for his accusation, for his declaration--but in the midst of his preaching to the Sanhedrin, he mentions that there were 75 persons who went down to Egypt not 70. And so, people get worried. Well the Bible is problematic. Well there were two children of Ephraim. There's two of Manasseh. There's a grandson to Ephraim as well.  So even as adding the bigger extended family of Joseph, 75 was just fine.  I'm just trying to head off questions early on.

Verse 28--Well then he sent Judah before him as they were traveling to Joseph to point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came to the land of Goshen. Now Judah took the lead. He went out to prepare the arrival with Joseph for his father and the family. He gets directions to Goshen.  That was that best part of the land we told you about there in the delta for feeding your flocks if you were shepherds.

By the way a trade that the Egyptians for years were very proud of. They were shepherding people. But this Pharaoh that knew Joseph is literally the last shepherding pharaoh. There is a tremendous move, and you can look historically at Egypt's Pharaohs or kings, if you will, that they moved away from shepherding to agriculture. And there was a already a predominate thought in the culture that shepherds were no more than uneducated people. So they despised them, except this pharaoh had great heart; he was old-school. And he was an old-school shepherd. So they placed them where the shepherds would have had the greatest benefit there in this very fertile delta, the Goshen area.

Verse 29 "So Joseph made ready his chariot, and he went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. He presented himself to him. He fell on his neck, and wept on his neck for a good while. And Israel said to Joseph, "Now let me die." Get a file, pal. "Since I have seen your face because you're still alive." And 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 household, from the land of Canaan have come to me. The men are shepherds, there occupation has been to feed their livestock. And they have brought their flocks and their herds, all that they have. And so it shall be when Pharaoh calls you and says what is your occupation, then you shall say your servant's occupation has been with livestock from our youth even until now. Both we and our father, that you may dwell in the land of Goshen for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians."

So, 22 years after Joseph gets snagged 65 miles away from home and sold, he now gets to stand before his father who is now 130.  He was 108 when he left. And they get together there in Goshen. The word Goshen by the way means "to draw near." It would later be renamed Ramesses after the Ramesses ruler I and II in particular. Ramesses means "thunder."  The Ramesses thought they were pretty tough.  So, Moses would write years later defines the place for the readers as well.

I love how Joseph brings his family to Pharaoh with careful introductions and instructions. He said, "Now you be sure to tell him you're shepherds. Even though they're despised in our culture; people will look down on you. You tell him, very proudly. Even in the days of Joseph, the Egyptian hierarchy already had a seven caste system. The herdsmen were the lowest rank, and the shepherds were second.  But they weren't even allowed to marry outside their caste, let alone to eat with someone, or to visit with them. So there was a tremendous amount of prejudice.

But Joseph sought to keep his people separate from the Egyptians, "You tell them you're shepherds." Well
they hate shepherds. They're going to put you out there in the middle of nowhere. It's the best land. It's also the closest to Canaan, so when we get to go home, we won't have far to go." Pretty wise move, you know.

And as a type of Christ, it really is a picture to us of what Jesus wants us to be like in the world. Don't get too involved. You're not really of this world, right? So hang out, away from those things, until the Lord comes for you. Separate yourself. Be separate if you will. Not that you shouldn't reach out, but you should be separate.  God had told Abraham the sojourn here in Chapter 15 would be 400 years.  If you add the 30 years that Joseph will spend here before that time begins of persecution. I don't know if Jacob knew those verses already or not. But that was Joseph's idea: let's keep it separate; let's go where we're blessed; let's stay away from the culture. Let's wait for the Lord to call us home. So they were going to be in the fields, far removed from urbanized or heathen cities of Egypt if you will.

Verse 29--Joseph ran out there, and loved his dad, and fell on his father's neck, and did a lot of crying. Joseph you know, he's a tough guy, he's a powerful man .He could have thrown his weight around, but he just loves his dad, y'know. It's interesting to me, I was talking to a high school kid this week. I though you know when kids are young, their dads can do no wrong.  Every kid wants to be his dad when they're little. But when they get older, junior high, high school.  All of a sudden, kids believe they're smarter than their parents. Kids get smarter, parents get dumber, don't they?  In their eyes. Eventually, I'm telling you because I've gone through all these stages--eventually you get old enough where you go "you know, my parents weren't that dumb after all.  And begin to appreciate them later. Then they realize--hopefully you'll realize, but it's good if you can realize it early. Joseph was just blessed to see his dad.

Verse 1 of Chapter 47--Then Joseph went, and he told the Pharaoh, "My father and brothers and their flocks and herds, all that they possess have come from the land of Canaan.  Indeed they are in the land of Goshen. And he took five men from among his brethren, and he presented them to Pharaoh. And  Pharaoh say to his brothers "What is your occupation?" And they said "Your servants are shepherds. We and also our fathers.  And they said to Pharaoh "We have come to dwell in the land  because your servants have no pastures for their flocks. and the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Therefore please let us your servants dwell in the land of Canaan.

So Joseph brings five of his eleven brothers to meet Pharaoh. I have no idea who they were and how he picked them. I wonder which ones--file, more information. And they tell Pharaoh just what Joseph, their brother, had told them. We're shepherds, adding that they have come to dwell. Now the word dwell there is the word sojourn, to pass through, to hang out if you will. They didn't plan to stay permanently. God had told them otherwise. It was going to be a round trip, but it is a cool picture of the church, right?

You read in Hebrews 11, "These are died in faith not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off. They embraced them. They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They looked for a better country, a heavenly one. God wasn't ashamed to be called their God. So that's really where we leave Israel, isolated, and yet devoted to the Lord.

It's a sad day when a Christian begins to feel at home in the world. In fact, I think that the older you get, the less this seems like home. Don't you think?  Because the more folks every year I know in Heaven. There was a time I didn't know anybody in heaven except the Lord. And then people started to head there, you know.  And one day so will we.

So this formal request to stay and Pharaoh's response would be that he would greet them with open arms. In fact, verse 5 Pharaoh says to Joseph "Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and your 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. And so Joseph brought in his father Jacob. He sent him before the Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How old are you?" And Jacob said, ""The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years my life. And they have not attained to the days and the years of the life of my fathers and the days of their pilgrimage. And so Jacob blessed the Pharaoh, and he went out from before the Pharaoh.

Before meeting Joseph's father, Pharaoh tells Joseph his family is allowed to dwell wherever they please, and suggests, as Joseph already knew, that Goshen would be the best place for shepherds. He also said to Joseph,"If you've got any real competent people in your family," because remember this was the last pharaoh who loved shepherding, "I'd love them to work for me." Isn't that interesting-in the days of Pharaoh and Joseph, to work for the government, you had to be competent. You see that? Well, I'm just saying; it's right here in the Bible. I don't do any politics, but this is in the Bible.

And I thought to myself when Joseph brings in his dad Jacob, you just know that Joseph went to find him the best suit he could find. Don't ya? And the shepherd didn't feel comfortable with a tie on. And you know, the good look. How you doing. Oh I'm good. Right? He's just marching in his dad. You know he's proud that--here's my dad.  And I'm sure he got him as presentable as Jacob was willing to be presentable if you will. And he brings him before the pharaoh.

And, it's an interesting picture. It almost, you know, it begs the question, about Jacob because Jacob is a prince with God, and he blesses pharaoh who is a prince with men. So that the greater blesses the lesser which is Hebrews 7:7.  It's always the case right? The greater blesses the lesser. And he blesses him twice. You know, one has power on the earth, but the other one has power with Heaven.  It's like Melchizedek had blessed Abraham. So Jacob comes in to a guy that he depends upon, that he needs, that he comes to stay in his country for whom his son has worked for years, and he blesses the guy.

And I thought, you know, that's kind of the way the church is. You know, we live in the world, but we don't belong to the world. And we can go out and bless the world, can't we?  By telling them who the Lord is and praying for them, and reaching out to them, and sharing the gospel with them. We can be a blessing as God's people to the citizens of the world, and we have a calling to do that.

So, he blesses the pharaoh, and pharaoh doesn't argue which I think is pretty cool. "How old are you?"  "I'm 130." "But I'm not nearly as old as my dad; he was 175. Or my granddad; he was 180. Or my great granddad Terah who was 205. So, I've lived comparatively few years at 130."  I'll tell you what, the older you get, the faster time passes, I'm pretty sure of that. But I love his explanation, my life's been few and evil. I think Jacob is in touch with God now and he sees the grace of God in his own life.

So verse 11, Joseph situates his father and his brothers. He gives them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of land, in the land of Ramesses. Now at the time of the writing, that's already what it was called as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all of his father's household with bread, according to the number in their families. So what a joy for Joseph these days must have been, right? He's taking care of his family. He's ministering to them. He's been the guy who's been sent ahead. "Oh God I get it now."

Well the rest of the chapter covers Joseph's dealing as second in command. The land of Egypt would have had no future had God not raised up Joseph. Not just the family in Israel, in Canaan, but in Egypt itself. And so Jesus exemplified in Joseph as the one that the world needs to keep them going. So Joseph now comes to the forefront during these years of tremendous suffering and famine. And he provides wisdom and insight. Pretty good insight into the faithfulness of Joseph in his everyday life.

Verse 13-Now there was no bread in all of 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 of 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. 

And when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all of the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, "Give us bread. Why should we die in your presence? The money has failed." And Joseph said then "Give me 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 horses, and the flocks, and the cattle of their herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all of their livestock that year."

So famine's in full swing. It's been a couple of years. The people have exhausted their money to buy food.  They come back to Joseph who now allows them to trade livestock for seed and grain and all.  So the people go from purse, to possessions, to pay for provision.

v 18--The following year, when the year had ended, they came to him the next year, and they said "We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone. But my lord now also has our herds and livestock.  There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. 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 to Pharaoh. Give us seed that we may live and not die and that the land may not be desolate. 

And so Joseph bought all of the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. Every man of the Egyptians sold his field because the famine was so severe upon them. And the land became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he moved them into the cities from one end of the border of Egypt to the other. And 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.

And 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 1/5th to Pharaoh, and 4/5th shall be your own as seed for the field, and for your food, and for those of your household, and as food for your little ones.  And 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 so Joseph made it a law in the land of Egypt to this day that Pharaoh should have 1/5th, except for the land of the priests only which did not become Pharaohs."

So the following year they came to buy again, but now their livestock was gone. And Joseph began to take their land as payment, and eventually they became servants. They went from purse to possessions to property to person.  Everything became Pharaoh's, and notice Joseph was a good businessman. He didn't hurt people. He just treated everyone the same. But in the presence of his oversight, the land became very wealthy, and the Pharaoh became very powerful.

So Joseph the businessman makes an equitable arrangement. He they placed it in the laws, a permanent taxation system that he said 20% of the income of the people would go to run the government. The other 80% will be left to the people.  Now I know we've had a lot of tax wars lately, but if you add up all of the taxes you're paying today, I think you'd long to go back to a simple 20% rule for everyone.  That was Joseph's wisdom from the Lord. It blessed everyone. The people came and said, "You've saved our life. We just want to be good servants." "Well that's great, work hard. 20% goes to us because we have to watch over all these things. 80% goes to you." Maybe we can read the Bible at the next meeting.

So verse 27, we now go back to the 70 person strong nation, we read, "So Israel dwelleth in the land of Egypt in the country of Goshen, and they had possessions there. And they grew, and they multiplied exceedingly. So the 70 persons who came out of Israel with Jacob, God began to bless them. In some 400 years that would follow, they would grow to about 2.3 or so million people. So their annual growth as a population was about 6% a year. And what God had promised to Jacob in chapter 46, verse 2-3 "Don't be afraid, I will make a great people of you there," indeed over the next 400 years came to pass.

Verse 28 "And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years, and so the length of Jacob's life was 147 years. And 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.  And please do not bury me in Egypt. Let me lie with my fathers. You shall carry me out of Egypt. Bury me in their burial place. And Joseph said, "I will do as you have said."  And so he said, "You swear to me." He swore to him. So Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed. "

Now, for the last 17 years of his life, Jacob enjoys his son Joseph's presence. He enjoys the peace of God in his family. You don't read any trouble, there's nothing brewing, everyone seems to be thrilled to be here. God is blessing them mightily. Joseph like I said had been 17 when sold into slavery. He now gets to care for his dad as his dad cared for him. I think it should be every child's will to care for their aging parents, to be a blessing certainly. But it was for Joseph. He was thrilled to take care of his dad.

When Jacob knew that his days were numbered, he called for Joseph and made a simple request that really was a request of faith. According to Hebrews chapter 11 verse 22, it says "By faith, Joseph when he was dying made mention of the departure of the children of Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones." Well, his dad Jacob really does the same thing. He says, "Look I don't want to be buried here.  God is making us a nation here. God's gonna keep us here. God has promised to bring up back there. I want to be buried back there where my family is buried, and where our hope lies."  And so he has Joseph slip his hand under his thigh.  It sealed "cross my heart and hope to die." And to swear by that he would do as he promised.  It was like "lay your hand on the Bible." Abraham you might remember got an oath from his servant Eleazar the same way, "Put your hand under my thigh, now swear."

And so, the theory is, you know, your leg thigh muscle is largest one in your body. And so, "I will do everything that I can to perform what I just said"--that was kind of the theory behind it. But we only know this from what we have in the scripture.  So as Eleazar swore to go on a quest to find a bride for Isaac,  Jacob said "I don't want to stay here." So he agreed, and like I said, for Israel totaled 430 years, and this 70 became 2 plus million, and God's plan will be to move them back to the land of promise.

Now for the generations to follow, there would be a time for them to seek the Lord and fill that folder entitled "Waiting for more information." Why are we in Egypt? Why haven't we come out of here? When will God deliver us? Why doesn't He answer prayer? How come the Pharaoh is treating us so bad? Are we ever gonna get out of here? God just doesn't answer our prayers. Oh, no, no, He will. He has a plan, you just gotta wait and see it. And keep filling that folder, and trust in the Lord.

Next time we will continue with the patriarchs regarding Jacob and his family. And Jacob's going to proclaim words of prophecy over his children and his grandchildren. And God's gonna to tell us a lot about what's gonna happen to these kids down the road. And you're gonna see them absolutely fulfilled years later, some of them hundreds of years later; you don't want to miss it.  And we're also going to see Jacob taken back and buried by his son in the land of Canaan before we come back and bury Joseph who will die in chapter 50.

And we will pick up the story 200 years later in the book of Exodus. yAnd by the way, book of Exodus, in the first couple chapters you move like 250 years. And then for the next 30 chapters, you move 6 months. More information....