Not My True Home

 Genesis 47:1-31

Good morning, everyone!  Today, we will look at Genesis 47 as we near the end of our series on the life of Joseph.  Last week, we saw how Jacob and his family packed up and moved from Canaan to Egypt as a result of the seven-year famine which affected everyone throughout Egypt and all the other lands.  Now that they all have arrived in Egypt, we will see how things work out for Israel and Egypt in the later days of the famine.

 

If you recall, Jacob and his family were staying at Hebron.  Then, they traveled south to Beersheba where God spoke to Jacob and told him it was God’s plan for Jacob’s family to go to Egypt.  As they approached Goshen, Judah was sent ahead to get directions.  Joseph learned that Jacob was arriving, and he went and met his father there in their new home.

 

Many tears were shed during this reunion where both father and son had expected they would never again see one another on this earth.  Joseph then explained the plan for how he would introduce them to Pharaoh.  That’s where we will pick up the story today.

 

Let’s pray and get into today’s passage.

 

Father God, help us to see freshly that as Jacob had not reached his true home when he arrived in Egypt, we have not reached, will not reach, our true home on this earth.  Thank You that You have prepared a place for us with You forever, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.” He took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” So, they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.” They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, therefore, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.” – Genesis 47:1-4

 

So, this plan of coming to Goshen was actually a long time in the making.  Back in Genesis 45:10 when he reveals himself to his brothers, Joseph first says that they should come and live near him, in Goshen.  A few verses later in Genesis 45:18, Pharaoh tells Joseph that he will give them the best of the land of Egypt.  As mentioned in the end of Genesis 46, they get directions to Goshen.

 

When you start thinking it through, there’s a whole lot of repetition about this plan, and we’re not even done talking about it.  It struck me that when you are executing a big plan or making a big change, communication is key.  It seems redundant, and I guess it is, to keep saying the same thing over and over.  But if the goal is to get everyone on the same page from Pharaoh to the younger members of Jacob’s family, then you’re going to have to give the same direction again and again.  So, if you’re planning an event or a change, expect to have to repeat yourself, a lot.

 

It's interesting that Joseph took only a portion of his brothers.  In part, there was value in splitting up as there was much to do to set up camp initially in their new home.  Additionally, Joseph was a smart guy.  He wanted to present his brothers who would be able to stand before Pharaoh and represent their family well.  He didn’t want to take the brothers who were apt to treat the royal ways with contempt.  Maybe some were apt to talk out of turn or talk to each other when it was necessary to be silent.

 

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know any capable men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.” – Genesis 47:5-6

 

Interestingly, Pharaoh asked the brothers one question, what was their occupation.  They answered appropriately, but Pharaoh no longer speaks to the brothers but to Joseph.  There is a bit of a feeling of the Egyptian distaste for these foreign shepherds.

 

At the same time, Pharaoh does not withdraw his offer from Genesis 45:18.  He told Joseph then as now that his father and brothers should be settled in the best of the land.  The whole family is blessed because of Joseph, not because of anything they have done.  This is another parallel between Joseph and Jesus.

 

Pharaoh has clearly shown a great respect for Joseph, and this respect is now extended to the brothers again because of Joseph.  It’s a sort of back-handed compliment though, “if there are any capable men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”  We don’t get some of the details that would be interesting to know.  What does Pharaoh know of Joseph and his history?  Even if he doesn’t know the particulars, Pharaoh has to have some impression that there is something odd about a situation where one child is separated from a family from his youth.  In the end, Pharaoh honors and defers to Joseph.

 

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many years have you lived?” So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.”  And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from his presence. – Genesis 47:7-10

 

Pharaoh may have been surprised by Jacob’s appearance at his advanced age.  At this point, Joseph is 40 years old.  Jacob is 90 years older than Joseph.  That would be pretty surprising to see a father that looks older than a grandfather would.  In our time, you don’t often see adults asking one another how old they are.  I don’t know what the cultural norms of ancient Egypt would be about asking someone’s age, but if you’re the Pharaoh, I expect you can ask whatever question you please.

 

Jacob tells Pharaoh his age, 130 years.  Then, he says sadly that his days have been few and unpleasant.  Furthermore, he has not attained the years of his fathers.  His grandfather Abraham lived to be 175.  His dad Isaac lived to be 180 years old.

 

Jacob relates an important perspective about this life.  He uses the same expression of his own life and the life of his fathers: sojourning or pilgrimage.  It is evident that wherever they might be or however long they may live, they are on their way toward home.  This land, Canaan or Egypt, is not Jacob’s true home.

 

How does Jacob characterize his days: few and unpleasant.  This is even a “gentle” translation as the word unpleasant could be and more often is translated evil.  Looking back on his life, Jacob can see at many points he has been focused on himself and his flesh and worldly goods.

 

Have any of you listened to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat during this series?  I have listened to a few songs here and there.  It’s a fun presentation of Joseph’s story, but it’s hardly a theological treatise.  There is a song about Jacob traveling to Egypt.  It’s a happy upbeat song that opens with the lyric, “So Jacob went to Egypt no longer feeling old.”  You could think that’s where Jacob’s heart would be.

 

The testimony that Jacob gives Pharaoh is for his whole life.  It should cause us to pause and reflect.  Psalm 39 gives us a good prayer which though written by David could have been Jacob’s prayer.

 

Show me, LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.  You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before You. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure. ... Hear my prayer, LORD, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. I dwell with You as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were. – Psalms 39:4-5, 12

 

If you belong to Christ, you are not of this world.  May we, too, live as foreigners and strangers.  And, let us dwell with Him.

 

One last observation about Genesis 47:7-10.  It says twice that Jacob blessed Pharaoh.  It’s a remarkable situation that Jacob blessed Pharaoh.  The Pharaohs were regarded as a god.  To receive Jacob’s blessing speaks of the regard that Pharaoh had for Joseph and at least indirectly for his God, our God.

 

So Joseph settled 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 ordered. Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to their little ones. – Genesis 47:11-12

 

Joseph was the source of provision for the family of Jacob.  The entire family looked to Joseph and Joseph alone for provision.  There was nowhere else to look.  We’ve spoken at different times of how Joseph was a picture of Christ.  This is another one of the ways.  Joseph was the provider of the needs of the whole family.

 

Some readers have pointed out that the name Rameses was not the name of this area at the time of Joseph.  That is true, the name Rameses came later shortly after 1300 BC.  Jacob came to Egypt around 1875 BC.  There are at least three names used to describe this region in the bible:  Goshen, Rameses, and Zoan (Psalm 78:12, 43).  The point is that all three names are accurate for this region.  The three names are used by different authors or scribes at different times so that the readers could identify what place was being described.

 

Now there was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. Joseph gathered 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. When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food, for why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone." – Genesis 47:13-15

 

The severity of the famine has caused both Egypt and the lands beyond to languish.  The only food is the food that Joseph prepared.  Joseph sells grain until all the money is collected.  It is a contrast from our time and even from Rome.  There was an obvious expectation that they would have to buy grain.

 

Joseph brought the money that he collected into Pharaoh’s house, not his own.  Joseph was an honest steward over Pharaoh’s kingdom.  What will Joseph do now that there is no money among the hungry people?

 

Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our lands. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So, give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate." – Genesis 47:16-19

 

The famine is still going, year after year.  The people bring all their livestock to Joseph so that they can have food.  And, the famine is still going.  All the people become servants of Pharaoh.  And, the famine is still going.  All the privately held lands become Pharaoh’s.

 

Through this famine, all the Egyptians except the priests become indentured servants of Pharaoh.  It was Joseph’s idea to give grain for livestock.  Interestingly, it was the people’s idea for Joseph to buy them and their land.

 

So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. Thus, the land became Pharaoh’s. As for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other. Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land. – Genesis 47:20-22

 

Joseph brought the people to the cities, but as we will see, he does not keep them there.  It was an opportunity to make clear that their land was no longer their own, and that they now belonged to Pharaoh.  He physically brought the people off the land, then distributed seed for planting and allowed them to return to sow the land.

 

Only those who had an allotment from Pharaoh kept their freedom and their land.

 

Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land. At the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.” – Genesis 47:23-24

 

The rule of the years of abundance becomes the standing rule.  One fifth of each harvest must be returned to Pharaoh.  On the one hand, this sounds really tough to us, and in some ways, it is.

 

But globally in the present day, paying 20% of your total income as taxes isn’t rare.  I looked at some statistics and found that ~80% of the world’s population has a marginal tax burden 20% or more.  In the US, the estimate I saw was 35%.  ~30% of the world’s population including modern day Israel has a marginal tax burden of 40% or more.  Even the thought that we own our own land can be questioned.  In the US, we own property at the allowance or discretion of the government.  If a landowner cannot pay property taxes on their land, then a process begins where the government could ultimately foreclose and take that property from the owner.  I don’t share that to frighten but rather to just help us to recognize that thinking that we are “free” isn’t entirely true.  What should we think in response?  I think it should move us to look steadfastly to God as our provider.  How did the Egyptians respond to Joseph’s plan?

 

So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s. – Genesis 47:25-26

 

The people were glad.  They wanted to be saved from the famine.  The terms for them seemed reasonable in light of the circumstances.

 

This brings out another parallel between Joseph and Jesus.  Because Joseph stored up grain for the people, he was able to purchase the entire world for Pharaoh.  How is that like Jesus?  Jesus sacrificed Himself and became the Bread of Life to all who believe in Him.  Revelation 5:9 says it like this, “With Your blood You purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”  Those of us who have been purchased by God are glad, too.  Amen?

 

Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous. Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. – Genesis 47:27-28

 

We mentioned Pharaoh’s priests as those who kept their land.  There is also a contrast between Jacob’s family and the Egyptians.  The Egyptians sold their property to get grain while Jacob’s family was allowed to acquire property because of Joseph’s provision.

 

The Israelites would be in Egypt for a total of 430 years.  During that time, they multiplied from 70 people to more than two million.  Such a population growth or explosion is unusual, but I wouldn’t describe it as miraculous. (Matthew 3:9, Luke 3:8) The rate of growth works out to 2.5% per year.  For comparison in the current day, the United States is growing at 0.6% per year.  During the boomer years, US population growth peaked at 1.7% per year.  Many other nations have a population growth less than 1% and quite a few nations in Europe are shrinking from a negative population growth.  Israel’s population today is growing at 1.9% per year and while they maintain a slightly positive migratory balance, the majority of their growth is due to a high fertility rate, each woman having an average of 3 children.

 

To us, 147 seems an incredible age, but Jacob was right, compared to Abraham and Isaac, his life was shorter by 30 years.  Jacob had seventeen years in Egypt which no doubt felt like a restoration of some of the lost years with Joseph.  Additionally, this time was important for the formation of the beliefs and culture of Israel for Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh.  It’s outside the scope of our series, but Genesis 48 tells of how Jacob reckoned Joseph’s two oldest sons as two of his own sons.  In this way, Jacob gave Joseph a double portion of his inheritance which is how the oldest son was usually treated.  Ephraim and Manasseh were likely at risk of being more Egyptian than Israelite.  Having their grandfather around for 17 years and being named sons surely had an impression on them both.

 

Psalm 105 gives a history overview for us.  Verses 8 through 24 show God’s faithfulness and plan.

 

He remembers His covenant forever, the promise He made, for a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: "To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit." When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake He rebuked kings: "Do not touch My anointed ones; do My prophets no harm." He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food; and He sent a man before them--Joseph, sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the LORD proved him true. The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free. He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed, to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom. Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob resided as a foreigner in the land of Ham. The LORD made His people very fruitful; He made them too numerous for their foes. – Psalm 105:8-24

 

A key reason that God allowed the famine to impoverish the people of Egypt was to allow a safe environment for the nation of Israel to form.

 

Here are the last verses from Genesis 47.  We see at the end of his days Jacob is looking forward to the fulfillment of that covenant that Canaan shall be his inheritance.

 

When the time for Israel to die drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt, but when I lie down 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.” He said, “Swear to me.” So, he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed. – Genesis 47:29-31

 

This manner of confirming a promise with hand placed under thigh is the same way that Abraham charged his servant in sending him to get a wife for Isaac.  Experts have opinions about the significance, but I’ll stick with the simplest explanation of that’s just how they did it back then.

 

Asking Joseph not to bury him there, we see clearly that Egypt was not Jacob’s home despite acquiring property there.  He called Joseph to double pinky promise to carry his bones to the PromisedLland.

 

Our previous series was on the book of Hebrews.  In Hebrews 11, you find what has been called the hall of faith.  Jacob is included, and it says of him, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.” (Hebrews 11:21) Jacob blessed all his sons in Genesis 49, but in Hebrews, particular focus is given to the blessing of Joseph’s sons.  What was this blessing?  Genesis 48:15-16 says …

 

Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm --may He bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth." – Genesis 48:15-16

 

I thought it was interesting that the blessing of Joseph’s sons is described first as a blessing for Joseph himself.  No doubt, Joseph was blessed to see his father bless his sons.  We too can follow Jacob’s example and bless others. 

 

Jacob gives a solid testimony of the reality of God in his life.  God has been Jacob’s shepherd.  That is especially meaningful coming from a man who has been a shepherd all his life.  Likewise, God has been his deliverer.  May He bless these boys.  How?  That they would be part of God’s chosen people.  Then, after that, may they be blessed and increase.  But first, may they remain part of God’s family.

 

And so, as we said before, the Hebrews under Joseph were exempt from losing their physical blessings of land and property.  We as Christians under Christ have a far better exemption from losing our blessings.  We enjoy spiritual blessings described in Ephesians 1:3.

 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. – Ephesians 1:3

 

What are some of those spiritual blessings?

 

God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. – Ephesians 2:6

 

Through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known. – Ephesians 3:10

 

I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. – John 14:20

 

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. – John 15:3

 

In Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. – Romans 12:5

 

You are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. – I Corinthians 1:30

 

It’s beyond comprehension what has happened to us in and through Christ.  We take these wonderful things and ponder them and await their full appearing.  And, we can share this hope that we have with others.  Let us pray and thank God for what He has done for us and look forward to our true home.  Amen.