Genesis Chapter 47
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Genesis Chapter 47 (Jacob Settles in Goshen)
Genesis Chapter 47 (Jacob Settles in Goshen)
Intro:
We ended chapter 46 with Jacob and their family entering Goshen in Egypt. We saw in the early part the lineages of Israel or Jacob, and how God let him know not to fear going into Egypt, that it was God’s plan for this to all take place.
Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.
Remember, Goshen means “fertile land of comfort.”
Like we saw last chapter, It is north eastern part of the Nile delta
East of Memphis, Egypt.
and described as a place in Egypt that had non Egyptian inhabitants.
So Jacob and all his descendants that were in the land of Canaan, are now in Goshen and Joseph spots them and relays this information unto Pharaoh.
And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.
And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers.
Remember we saw back in chapter 46 that Joseph prepared them what to say to guide them to the fertile land or Goshen.
They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.
So Joseph’s guidance was come to pass in order for them to dwell in land of Goshen
James did a fantastic job illustrating Joseph mirroring Christ like actions here.
Joseph is guiding his family into a fertile home. Their original home in Canaan was barren during this famine.
Just like Christ in our lives. Christ is the one that leads us into the “fertile” land or Heaven, eternal life with God.
Life in the flesh in the bigger picture is the “barren” or “famished” home
Life with God in heaven for eternity is our “fertile” and prosperous home.
The only way we can get there is by being lead by Christ and following his word.
Just like we are seeing Joseph’s family here following Joseph’s word.
Again, no matter looking ahead or behind in the bible it always points back toward Christ.
Christ IS the answer. Christ is the reference, the example to follow.
And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:
I want us to pay attention to the emphasis taking place here from Pharaoh to Joseph.
Where it says “ Pharaoh spake unto Joseph”
This is pointing out that he is speaking specifically to Joseph when he grants permission for his family to dwell in Goshen.
Why is this important to notice?
This is almost like a “thank you” towards Joseph from the Pharaoh.
It’s a way for Pharaoh to try and give thinks to Joseph for leading him and his people through this long famine.
and remember Joseph was not doing all of this for him and his family to gain reward from it.
He was doing this because he was being lead by God and letting God’s plan of action take place in his life.
Seeking out reward for his actions was not what Joseph was after.
These rewards and honorable thanks from the Pharaoh are just a byproduct for allowing God’s will to be done in his life.
Use Joseph here as an example for our own lives.
Don’t just do good seeking out reward,
Do good unto God and let his will be done in our lives out of purity and honor,
and the rewards will be a byproduct.
I think James hit on this last chapter but Christ will provide ALL of our needs. Not some, But All,
He knows what we need better than we do.
Following Christ isn’t about seeking just seeking reward after we allow his will to be done.
Being a Child of Christ is about Love and Compassion and Honor towards him and reflecting His live into other peoples lives around you.
Don’t go seeking reward for being a follower of Christ.
Joseph is an example here, the reward is a byproduct for a greater life in Christ.
The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.
That men of activity, meaning men of strength and virtue among them, giving them an offer to be overseer of the Pharaoh’s flock.
He is offering them an elevated status.
Once again there is segregation among foreigners and Egyptians here.
The Pharaoh’s offer and permission to Joseph and his family, is going that much further,
Not just fertile land, but also an elevated social statues unto them.
And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
Blessed here meaning,
thankful greeting,
Jacob is not worshiping the Pharaoh.
And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?
And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
Jacob’s age is 130 years give or take.
He is saying his years have been “few and evil”
To us, 130 years is older than we can imagine,
He is referencing his ancestors, his father
Isaac,
His grandfather Abraham,
And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.
Score being 20 years
Isaac died at 180 years old
And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.
Abraham died at 175 years old
So just wanting to see what he is referencing here, he is telling the Pharaoh, I’m 130 years old but my father and grandfather lived to be 175 to 180 years before they died,
Remember that was one of the big turning points a couple chapters ago,
Joseph asked his brothers how their father was doing and portrayed how he is in pretty rough health, he needs a servant. He isn’t a young strong man anymore.
And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
Again, blessed being like a thankful greeting or in this case, a departure.
And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
The land of Rameses is just another name for land of Goshen.
It is a region in the Nile Delta
and I know James hit on this last chapter some but we are going to see in Exodus that this is where the Israelite depart from.
Again land of Rameses and land of Goshen names are used interchangeably here.
And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.
Again,
Joseph reflecting Christ here.
He is nourishing his family with bread,
What does Christ do for us?
He nourishes us and our families and with what?
Himself who IS the Bread of Life.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Joseph being an example unto his father and family by providing nourishment unto his family
The same way Christ provides nourishment unto us and our families if we come unto him.
We’ve said it before and Ill say it again,
We are constantly seeing the reflection of Christ throughout the bible.
Christ is the ONLY nourishment for the body and soul.
Without Him, we would all be stuck in a great famine both spiritually and physically.
Starting here we are going to see a big shift in what is taking place in Egypt .
Joseph’s going to start really be buckling down on the rations as the famine continues on.
The severity of this famine is really going to start showing here.
And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
Remember, Joseph has a great storage of food,
what this is saying is that the Egyptian people arent able to grow and obtain food on there own.
There were still local small home farmers and such that could probably grow enough crop to help the famine,
But now it has gotten so bad that they are fully having to rely on Joseph’s preparation
Not just for other lands, but for their own as well.
And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
People are coming in using money to buy food from Joseph because they could no longer grow it themselves.
We have to remember times back then weren’t like they are today,
Today we rely heavily on Grocery stores for our food.
Back then 99 percent of the families had their own gardens and way to produce their own crops.
It is kind of uncommon for the native Egyptians to be using their currency to buy food.
They used their crops to barter.
It was usually foreigners and people passing through that would buy food with money.
This is like a major culture shock almost for the Egyptians.
And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.
And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail.
The Egyptians are running out of money so Joseph goes to the next resource,
Livestock.
Trade your livestock to me for food.
And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.
When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:
There is no other resource or goods that they can exchange for food.
All that is left is their bodies or ,their work, and their land.
Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.
They are saying,
What good is our land when we die anyways,
Buy us and our land in exchange for food and survival,
and we will serve the Pharaoh.
And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s.
What are the people of Egypt realizing?
That the goods they have are worth nothing without life.
By fully submitting themselves, selling all their belongings, and serving Joseph and to the Pharoah in order to live and survive
This is more important than having all the land and goods they have because in death, these resources will be useless anyway.
Yet again what kind of example are we seeing here?
Without fully submitting and serving Christ during our lives here in the flesh,
Without giving up the way of the world and all the resources of man,
We too should be put to death, eternal death.
Dont get so caught up in materialistic things
Fully submit your work, your resources, etc etc unto Christ
and HE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU.
the same way we see Joseph taking in the people of Egypt.
Offer your hand to Christ, perform the work He guides you to do,
AND through Christ, through faith in Him, and through works for Him,
We too do not have to worry about death, again eternal death.
Christ takes us in as his children and guides and provides for us as long as we submit ourselves to him and not unto the flesh,
Just like we see Joseph doing here for the Egyptians.
And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.
He brought them in from the land into the city.
Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.
These are the Egyptian priests here.
They were except from Joseph’s reforms because like it says here, the Pharaoh assigned them portions himself separately.
State-sponsored religion was taking place here.
Same kind of way we have it here in American today,
Alot of Churches are non profit organizations and have certain tax exceptions.
Government taxation is a long road we aren’t going to dig into
But the same idea has been used even unto today in American.
Churches have certain exemptions from Government reforms
Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.
Joseph full fulling what was done. Feeding them, providing them goods, and materials they need, and they are to work the land.
And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
Joseph is explaining how as the food and crop begins to grow,
He further gives them instructions on how they are to ration the crops.
Some commentaries I have studied have compared this to tithing,
I want to make clear here, that is NOT what is being represented here,
when he tells them to give a 5th to the Pharaoh,
this is representing a governmental tax on what there works.
We all pay governmental tax even unto this day.
The Egyptians keep 80% of their crops.
They are to give 20% to the Pharaoh.
Keep in mind these Egyptians sold themselves unto Joseph and the Pharaoh.
It’s sad in today’s time we pay more in governmental taxes than Egyptian slaves back then.
Just a side note, not to get political but put that into perspective.
And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.
So they agreed to this instruction.
And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.
Again, we aren’t going deep down the political side in this lesson,
But you can look it up for yourselves,
The median tax bracket for Egypt is still 20% till this day.
There are 7 different tax brackets in Egypt today and the fourth which is dead in the middle is 20%
So although its a more complex tax system now. They have expanded on this which is taking place here in this chapter
And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.
Make a note on this verse here.
James brought this up last chapter,
but this verse here is going to set the stage for what we are going to see starting in Exodus.
The Israelite are so numerous that the new era of Egyptian rulers are going to view them as a threat to their nation.
Again like we mentioned last Sunday.
The growth of the Israelites here in Goshen was at a MUCH faster rate than we have seen take place so far.
Their tribe is growing at an exponential rate that exceeds WAYYYY faster than we have seen so far.
But remember this was Gods covenant with Abraham.
God’s covenant taking place. being passed down his seed.
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
This is God speaking to Abraham.
Have you ever looked up at the stars on a clear night?
if not go out tonight and look up and try and count the stars.
This is the analogy used by God to represent the descendants of Abraham which is what we are going to see take place here.
But again, verse 27 just setting the stage for what we will see upcoming in the book of Exodus
And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.
So here we see they lived in Goshen well after the famine.
And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:
Jacobs life is coming to an end and he is telling Joseph he does not want to be buried in Egypt.
But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.
So rewind here a minute,
Jacob is wanting to be buried in his fathers buring place.
Remember back the cave of Machpelah? Near Hebron?
And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure
Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.
And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.
So two generations prior, Abraham, like we learned back in chapter 23 of Genesis
He stood on business.
Business that was generational
Now Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and later we will see Jacob and Leah buried their as well.
Were not going to go in depth just yet on this but keep a note here that he is requesting to be buried in this place.
And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.
Jacob swore to his father Jacob that he would bury him in the cave of Machpelah where his ancestors were buried.
Conclusion:
So looking over this chapter, what are we seeing taking place here during this famine?
Joseph, providing food in order to survive to the Egyptians.
He requests that they sell themselves and their works and land to them for food for survival.
What is being represented here?
The way Christ provides life for us
Just like the Egyptians, we cant worry about the materialistic things in this world,
Life is more important than owning land, or having a nice car ETC...
We have to fully submit ourselves, and our works unto Christ and provide our services unto Him and HE WILL give us everlasting life.
Especially this day in time it is easy to get caught up in greed and materialistic things, new car, flashy clothes, whatever the case may be,
Having nice things is awesome, but these things are going to give us passage into the kingdom of heaven,
ONLY Christ give us that, Only with Christ can we have everlasting life.
Just like the Egyptians here, the only way they are going to survive this famine, is by giving up their materialistic things, and submitting their works unto Joseph.
Genesis Chapter 47 (Jacob Settles in Goshen)
Genesis Chapter 47 (Jacob Settles in Goshen)
