Ten Fold for the Promise

Focused on the Promise

Genesis 46:1–4 (NIV)

So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

“I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”

Beersheba is one of the few towns in the area occupied by Bedouin Herders. It was here that Abraham dwelled and made an oath with Abimelek over a well (Genesis 21:31-33).

Beersheba was also the dwelling place for Isaac and Rebekah, the place where Esau and Jacob grew up.

It was after fleeing from Beersheba that the Lord met Jacob and revealed to him the wonder and majesty of the Lord in visible vision. In every interaction that surrounds Beersheba in the story of the patriarchs the focus is on the hand of the Lord being upon Abraham’s family. In these moments, the patriarchs are reminded of the promise of God, the covenant that He sealed with Abraham as the Lord walked through the severed bodies of the animals. The Lord would make Abraham’s decedents into a mighty nation.

Genesis 46:5–27 (NIV)

Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.

These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt:

Reuben the firstborn of Jacob.

The sons of Reuben:

Hanok, Pallu, Hezron and Karmi.

The sons of Simeon:

Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.

The sons of Levi:

Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

The sons of Judah:

Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan).

The sons of Perez:

Hezron and Hamul.

The sons of Issachar:

Tola, Puah, Jashub and Shimron.

The sons of Zebulun:

Sered, Elon and Jahleel.

These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, besides his daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all.

The sons of Gad:

Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi and Areli.

The sons of Asher:

Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah.

Their sister was Serah.

The sons of Beriah:

Heber and Malkiel.

These were the children born to Jacob by Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all.

The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel:

Joseph and Benjamin. In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.

The sons of Benjamin:

Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard.

These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob—fourteen in all.

The son of Dan:

Hushim.

The sons of Naphtali:

Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem.

These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.

All those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons’ wives—numbered sixty-six persons. With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all.

The path to God’s promise had come with so many unlikely and even undesired twists and turns. It came with great loss. But the promise was realized and fulfilled through the resurrection of Joseph. The one who was once dead is now alive and through him, the promise of the Lord will become a reality. Through the blessing and protection that resulted from their time in Egypt, the family of Jacob will multiply from 70 to millions.

The story of Genesis is a foretelling of the fulfillment of the New Covenant that the Lord has made with each one of us. Instead of making us into a nation, the Lord made us into one body, the body of Christ, the church, the embodied dwelling place of the Lord Himself. Through the resurrection of His one and only Son, the Lord invites us to find refuge from the plague of sin and death. As we gather together each Sunday, we are embracing this truth and

Hebrews 8:6–13 (NIV)

But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant

with the people of Israel

and with the people of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant

I made with their ancestors

when I took them by the hand

to lead them out of Egypt,

because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,

and I turned away from them,

declares the Lord.

This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel

after that time, declares the Lord.

I will put my laws in their minds

and write them on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

No longer will they teach their neighbor,

or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’

because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest.

For I will forgive their wickedness

and will remember their sins no more.”

By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

The Old Covenant has become obsolete and the New Covenant has taken hold. No longer limited to a nation or a people group, the New Covenant ushered in God’s dwelling place to be amongst His people. His kingdom was free to spread to the utter most parts of the world.