God Meant it for Good - Genesis 46 - 50
Notes
Transcript
The Recap
The Recap
We wrap up the book of Genesis with the closing statements. But first before I review last week, let’s go back several chapters all the way to Genesis 37:5-9 where Joseph has dreams that his brothers will bow down before him.
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
Now his brothers didn’t like this, this is one thing they added to the list to sell him into slavery. But remember this dream as it was fulfilled last week when the brothers bowed down before him for food in Genesis 42:6
So, Joseph’s brothers know that he is man to the man. That he is second in command to the land of Egypt. Joseph tested his brothers and sees that their hearts have changed, at least some of the main ones such as Rueben and especially Judah.
When Joseph tests his brother and basically tricks them as they leave with putting Joseph’s silver cup into Benjamin’s sack. Benjamin is found guilty and will have to stay in Egypt and serve Joseph in Egypt. However, Judah shows that he will offer his life for his brother Benjamin and make sure that he gives up his life for his brother. I love this theme of sacrifice as the line of Jesus does not come from Joseph, but from Judah. One who would offer His life for all of us.
Joseph weeps and sees the heart change in his brothers and reveals himself to them all. They are all fed and supplied with what they need and Pharoah finds out and asks them all to live in the land of Egypt.
The brothers go back to Canaan and let their father know that Joseph is still alive (Genesis 45:26). Although there is excitement in going to see Joseph, Jacob/Israel is leaving his homeland to go and dwell in the land of Egypt. We see in the beginning of Chapter 46, that God speaks to Israel/Jacob and says that He should not be afraid (Genesis 46:3).
Jacob is an old man, 130 years old. Imagine leaving everything you owned and having to go to Egypt. There is joy and excitement in seeing his favorite son alive, but there is also trust in God and in His plan.
God Comforts Jacob
God Comforts Jacob
I can’t fully understand if age was different or not at 130 versus now. People still seemed to be living a little bit longer but the life span is drastically decreasing.
If I compared 130 to let’s say late 80s, I would think of my Grandpa. My Grandpa since the beginning of the year has been on the decline. He fell and really hurt his hip. He went through surgery and everything went well, the recovery process drained him immensely.
His brain is no longer working as well as his short term memory seems to rarely work. He can remember things from years ago, but not from the past day or even conversation.
He is in a wheel chair now and can no longer stand on his own accord.
He needs to be taken care of like he is a child.
Now i’m not saying that Jacob was in this condition, but he is no young man and the idea to travel several weeks in a wagon of some sorts, at his age has to be daunting. He also has to leave his homeland and move everything to Egypt. There has to be uncertainty and fear. Jacob passes by Beersheba and offers sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac (Genesis 46:1). In this response, God comforts Jacob.
1 So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” 3 Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. 4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.”
I love how God says “I myself will go down with you to Egypt.” God is saying to Jacob that “you are not alone in this, I am with you.” Although this is God talking to Jacob, this is a Biblical truth for all of us.
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
In Psalm 23:4, a famous psalm about the is my shepherd, David says:
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, take comfort in this.
In times of uncertainty, do you find yourself afraid and fearing the unknown? Would you know this truth that God is with you and nothing will separate you from the love of God.
Because if there is one thing that I want you to remember from this message is this: The same God who comforted Jacob, is the same God who can comfort you. Never believe in the lies that you must do all this by yourself. Never believe in the lies that you are alone, because God is with you.
One of my favorite verses about how wonderful the love God is, is in Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Transition / Play-by-Play
Jacob eventually makes it to Egypt and gets to see his son. He is so happy that he could die. Bucket list completed, he can die a happy man.
Pharoah meets Jacob and welcomes him into the kingdom. He has them settle in the best land, the land of Goshen and some of the best individuals were in charge of Pharaoh’s livestock.
The famine hits them hard and Joseph continues to govern wisely.
Jacob lives for several more years, and then becomes ill. He blesses Joseph’s two sons and then he blesses his own sons.
God’s Plan Continues through Judah
God’s Plan Continues through Judah
Jacob blesses many of his sons or more shows what their next steps will look like. If you read these 27 verses, Jacob calls out some of his sons and says they are unstable as water and weapons of violence. Ruben actually loses his birthright and it goes to Joseph. Joseph is the first born of Rachel but Ruben was born prior to Joseph through his second wife Leah.
What is really interesting about these 12 brothers is how what Jacob says actually comes to pass later in the tribe’s life. These 12 brothers become the 12 tribes of Israel. There are some nuances to this but to keep it simple, this is the origin story of these tribes.
Fun fact: 12 is a common number in the bible and is very symbolic and meant to connect. In Mark 3:13-21 you see a list of 12 names. These 12 names are the ones who are Jesus’ 12 disciples.
In the old testament, we had the 12 tribes that represent the foundation of Israel and how they were the chosen people of God under the old covenant.
In the new testament, in Mark 3:13-21, by Jesus choosing 12 disciples, He is symbolically re-establishing and renewing the covenant creating a new Israel under the New Covenant.
What I want to focus on though is one man, a man named Juda, who the covenant of Abraham continues through.
8 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion’s cub;
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down; he crouched as a lion
and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 Binding his foal to the vine
and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth whiter than milk.
Verse 10 points out the significance of how the line of kings will come through him. The Tribe of Judah ends up becoming the tribe of King David (2 Samuel 7). God promises David an everlasting dynasty, indicating that the covenantal line runs through Judah.
The past several chapters have been about Joseph and the life of him:
How he was Jacob’s favorite son, the firstborn of his favorite wife.
How his brothers hated him and that he got all the attention from their dad and has had dreams that they would bow down to him.
They sell him to slavery and he becomes a servant for Potiphar.
God blesses Joseph in all he does and he rises quickly in the ranks.
But then Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph and he flees from temptation. However, she accuses him and he gets thrown in prison.
He interprets his cellmates dreams and one of them eventually gets out and tells Pharoah of this!
Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream, he offers wisdom and counsel on what to do and Pharoah ranks him second in command!
Joseph saves the land from starvation and saves his brothers as well!
Joseph is married, he’s a powerful man, he reunites with his dad.
And the line of Jesus comes through Judah.
What stands out to you about this? Why is this so significant?
God’s sovereign plan often is different than our expectations.
God Meant it for Good
God Meant it for Good
So Jacob blesses his sons and dies.
33 When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.
Joseph weeps for his father and commands his servants to embalm him: Embalming is the process of treating a dead body with preservatives to delay decomposition. The goal is to preserve the body for a longer period, often for the purposes of viewing, burial, or transporting the body over distances.
They do this because they are going back to Jacob’s homeland, Canaan, to bury him there Canaan.
They do the memorial service over there and then they come back to Egypt.
We come to a moment where these brothers are fully processing and fearing that their father is dead and Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. So His brothers go to him ad fall down before him and say “we are your servants.” Remember Joseph’s dream that I read to you at the very beginning? This is once again coming into fulfillment.
Joseph though responds with this in Genesis 50:19-21
19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
One of my favorite lines in this entire book. I have heard this line said often and after going through Genesis with you all, it’s such a great truth that I need to hold on to. A truth that we all need to hold onto.
Time and time again, you all will have mean and cruel people around you. You will not always be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But be reminded of Romans 8:28
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
I’m not saying that this won’t be hurtful, frustrating, or you should just let them continue to bring you down. No, you should have the conversation you need to have with them but it should never be filled with anger. Your heart and mind need to look up and realize although they meant if for evil, God means it for good. This is a word that we talked about last week: Providence.
God’s hand guiding all things to fulfill his sovereign plan.
So through this passage and as we end Genesis be reminded of three things:
Trust in God - God does not make mistakes and is working things out for His good. You may not know what is happening nor can you predict on what you think the plan is going to be. But can you trust in a God who is outside time and already knows. Can you trust in a God who loves you and although there will be painful moments, this leads me to my second point.
God is With You - The same God who guided all of these people, Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, is the same God who is with you today.
Jesus was always the plan - At the end of the day, Jesus was the plan. This was not written for us to learn some cool facts. This is God’s love story and we see how it will all point to Jesus. Do you know this Jesus? Would you pray with me to truly believe in this Jesus.
Discussion Questions
1. How does God comfort Jacob when he is traveling to go see Joseph? Why does he need to be comforted?
2. How are you comforted by God?
3. Does the line of Jesus come through Joseph or Judah? Why is that?
4. What stands out to you when Joseph says to his brothers “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for Good?”
5. How can that help you this week?
