Genesis 48
Notes
Transcript
Summary of Genesis 37-50:
God saves his family as a foreshadowing of how he will save the world. Forgiveness solves the problem of sin and allows for re-creation.
Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob (Israel), has dreams that his brothers and parents will bow down to him. His brothers hate him and sell him as a slave to a caravan of Ishmaelites, who take him to Egypt. They deceive Jacob into thinking that Joseph is dead.
In Egypt, Joseph works for Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard, and earns his favor. But Potiphar's wife tries to seduce Joseph and falsely accuses him of rape when he refuses. Joseph is thrown into prison, where he interprets the dreams of two fellow prisoners, a cupbearer and a baker, who used to work for Pharaoh.
The cupbearer is restored to his position and the baker is executed, as Joseph predicted. Two years later, Pharaoh has two troubling dreams that none of his wise men can interpret. The cupbearer remembers Joseph and tells Pharaoh about him. Joseph is brought before Pharaoh and explains that his dreams mean that there will be seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine in Egypt. He advises Pharaoh to appoint a wise man to store up grain during the good years and distribute it during the bad years.
Pharaoh is impressed by Joseph's wisdom and appoints him as his second-in-command, giving him authority over all Egypt. Joseph is 30 years old when he begins his service to Pharaoh. He has two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, before the famine begins.
The famine affects not only Egypt but also Canaan, where Jacob and his sons live. Jacob sends ten of his sons to buy grain from Egypt, keeping Benjamin, his youngest and only remaining son by Rachel, at home. Joseph recognizes his brothers when they come to him, but they do not recognize him. He accuses them of being spies and demands that they bring Benjamin to prove their honesty. He keeps Simeon as a hostage and sends the rest back with grain and their money secretly returned in their sacks.
When the grain runs out, Jacob reluctantly agrees to let Benjamin go with his brothers to Egypt. Joseph is overjoyed to see Benjamin and invites his brothers to a feast at his house. He tests them by planting his silver cup in Benjamin's sack and then accusing them of theft. Judah pleads with Joseph to let him stay as a slave instead of Benjamin, because he does not want to break his father's heart.
Joseph can no longer hide his identity and reveals himself to his brothers. He tells them not to be angry with themselves for selling him, because God sent him ahead of them to save lives. He instructs them to bring Jacob and their families to Egypt, where he will provide for them during the remaining five years of famine. He embraces Benjamin and weeps with his brothers.
Pharaoh hears about Joseph's reunion with his brothers and approves of his plan. He gives them wagons, provisions, and gifts for their journey. Joseph sends his brothers back with a message for Jacob: "God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay." He also gives them new clothes and silver, and gives Benjamin five times as much.
Jacob is stunned when he hears the news, but believes it when he sees the wagons sent by Pharaoh. He says, "It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die." He sets out for Egypt with all his descendants, 70 people in total. On the way, he stops at Beersheba and offers sacrifices to God. God speaks to him in a vision and tells him not to be afraid to go down to Egypt, because he will make him into a great nation there. He also promises that he will bring him back up again and that Joseph will close his eyes when he dies.
Summary of Genesis 47:
Joseph introduces his father Jacob and his brothers to Pharaoh, who allows them to settle in the land of Goshen and assigns some of them to oversee his livestock Jacob blesses Pharaoh and tells him his hardships.
Joseph gives his family the best land in Egypt and provides them with food during the famine.
Joseph collects all the money, livestock, land and people of Egypt and Canaan as payment for the grain he sells, and finally gives them seed to sow the land in exchange for them becoming slaves of Pharaoh.
Joseph makes the people pay a fifth of their harvest to Pharaoh as tax, except for the priests who have their own allotment from Pharaoh.
Jacob lives in Egypt for 17 years and asks Joseph to bury him in Canaan with his ancestors. He makes Joseph swear an oath to do so.
The book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible and one of the five books of the Pentateuch, traditionally attributed to Moses. It can be divided into two main sections: **Primitive History** (chapters 1-11) and **Patriarchal History** (chapters 12-50).
Primitive History records four major events: the **creation** of the world and humanity (chapters 1-2), the **fall** of humanity into sin and its consequences (chapters 3-5), the **flood** that destroyed the wicked world (chapters 6-9), and the **confusion of languages** at the tower of Babel that dispersed the nations (chapters 10-11).
Patriarchal History narrates the lives of four main patriarchs: **Abraham**, the father of faith and of the chosen people (chapters 12-25), **Isaac**, the son of promise and heir of the covenant (chapters 21-28), **Jacob**, the ancestor of the twelve tribes of Israel (chapters 25-36), and **Joseph**, the favored son who became a ruler in Egypt and saved his family from famine (chapters 37-50).
Some scholars also divide Genesis by using a phrase that occurs ten times in the book: "These are the generations of..." This phrase introduces a new section that traces a genealogy or a history of a person or a family. For example, Genesis 2:4 says "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created..." and Genesis 5:1 says "This is the book of the generations of Adam."
The number 70 in the Bible, as shown in the examples below, symbolizes fullness, restoration, and an endpoint:
- The post-flood world was repopulated by 70 descendants of Noah, resulting in 70 nations (Genesis 10).
- Terah, the father of Abraham, was 70 years old when Abraham was born (Genesis 11:26).
- The nation of Israel began with 70 Hebrews who migrated to Egypt (Exodus 1:1-5).
- Moses appointed 70 elders to be the governing body of Israel (Numbers 11:16).
- Ancient Israel spent a total of 70 years in captivity in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:10).
- Seventy sevens (490 years) were determined upon Jerusalem for it to complete its transgressions, to make an end for sins and for everlasting righteousness to enter into it (Daniel 9:24).
- Jesus sent out 70 disciples on a training mission to preach the gospel to the surrounding area (Luke 10).
The connection between Joseph and Jesus is that Joseph is a type or a shadow of Jesus, meaning that his life and actions foreshadowed and pointed to the life and actions of Jesus. There are many similarities between Joseph and Jesus, such as:
- Both were the objects of their father's special love.
- Both had promises of divine exaltation.
- Both were mocked by their family.
- Both were sold for pieces of silver.
- Both were stripped of their robe.
- Both were delivered up to the Gentiles.
- Both were falsely accused.
- Both were faithful amid temptation.
- Both were thrown into prison.
- Both stood before rulers.
- Both had their power acknowledged by those in authority.
- Both saved their rebellious brothers from death when they realized who they were.
- Both were exalted after and through humiliation.
- Both embraced God's purpose even though it brought them intense physical harm.
- Both were the instruments God used at the hands of the Gentiles to bless his people.
- Both welcomed Gentiles to be part of their family.
- Both gave hungry people bread.
- Both had people bow their knee before them.
The connection between Joseph and Jesus highlights the continuity between the Old and New Testaments and serves as a testament to God's unchanging love and provision for his people.
Some time after this, Joseph was told, “Your father is weaker.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make many nations come from you, and I will give this land as a permanent possession to your future descendants.’ Your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are now mine. Ephraim and Manasseh belong to me just as Reuben and Simeon do. Children born to you after them will be yours and will be recorded under the names of their brothers with regard to their inheritance. When I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way, some distance from Ephrath in the land of Canaan. I buried her there along the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).
When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons God has given me here.” So Israel said, “Bring them to me and I will bless them.” Now his eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought them to him, and he kissed and embraced them. Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, but now God has even let me see your offspring.” Then Joseph took them from his father’s knees and bowed with his face to the ground.
Then Joseph took them both—with his right hand Ephraim toward Israel’s left, and with his left hand Manasseh toward Israel’s right—and brought them to Israel. But Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and crossing his hands, put his left on Manasseh’s head, although Manasseh was the firstborn. Then he blessed Joseph and said:
The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
the angel who has redeemed me from all harm—
may he bless these boys.
And may they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
and may they grow to be numerous within the land.
When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he thought it was a mistake and took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s. Joseph said to his father, “Not that way, my father! This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.” But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know! He too will become a tribe, and he too will be great; nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a populous nation.” So he blessed them that day, putting Ephraim before Manasseh when he said, “The nation Israel will invoke blessings by you, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’ ” Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers. Over and above what I am giving your brothers, I am giving you the one mountain slope that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”
Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. Come together and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel:
Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the firstfruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power. Turbulent as water, you will not excel, because you got into your father’s bed and you defiled it—he got into my bed.
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