GENESIS 47 - Passing Through

Introduction

Of all the remarkable skills that farmers in Western Pennsylvania have, one of the most impressive is the ability to plow a straight furrow over hillsides, into hollows and back up the other side. Dad was fantastic at this, and the fact that we have exactly no level ground anywhere on our property made it all the more impressive. He always said the secret was to line up the muffler of the tractor on a fixed point in the distance (a tree or electric pole or something), and never take your eyes off of that point as you plow. That was the way to keep from veering off on one side or another.

In many ways, the story of Joseph and his family has been a story of continual temptations to veer away from the covenant promises of YHWH—consider Judah’s Canaanite wives in Genesis 38, Joseph’s meteoric rise to power and wealth in Genesis 41, for instance. And here in Genesis 47 we find Joseph’s whole clan faced with the same temptation: What will they do when Israel gets everything he ever wanted?

Consider what we see in this chapter—Israel the patriarch has come down out of the Promised Land, which is wasting away from the famine. He has come with his entire clan, the entire covenant family of Abraham, at the personal invitation of the most powerful ruler on earth—Pharoah of Egypt—to take possession of the best land his kingdom had to offer:

Genesis 47:5–6 LSB

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

Jacob and his family are healthier, safer, more secure and more at peace now than they have ever been. And with that security, peace and wealth will come the same temptation that threatens God’s people today: That the wealth and prosperity and possessions of the world would make them forget God and the covenant promises He had made to them. How easy would it have been for them to feel as though they had come “home”—peace, security, comfort, prosperity and ease were freely given to them by YHWH’s faithfulness, but they were in constant danger of forgetting Him in the middle of all of that abundance.

Four hundred forty years later, God would warn the descendants of Jacob of that very temptation when they were ready to return to Canaan:

Deuteronomy 8:11–14 LSB

“Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God by not keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes which I am commanding you today; lest you eat and are satisfied and build good houses and live in them, and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, and your heart becomes lifted up and you forget Yahweh your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

The temptation to forget God amidst prosperity is a peril that you and I know something about, isn’t it? Just as He did for Jacob’s family, He will so often surround us with such protection and meet our needs so faithfully that we have a tendency to forget Him in the midst of his provisions for us.

The passage that we read earlier in our worship speaks to the way Abraham and his descendants faced these temptations:

Hebrews 11:13–14 LSB

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

I want to show you here in Genesis 47 that Jacob and his family saw themselves as “strangers and exiles” in the land of Egypt—just as the old Gospel song puts it, “This world is not my home; I’m just a-passing through...” Just as his father and grandfather had done before him, Jacob was looking ahead to the promise of God that he and his seed would return to his home in Canaan one day, and he set his sights there, and not on all the prosperity of Egypt.

In the same way, beloved, just like Jacob, you will plow a straight line of faithfulness to God when you

Fix your SIGHTS on the HOME God has PROMISED you

You have a better home than this, Christian—you have better promises than the world can give you—and when you fix your eyes on the better home God has promised you, you will easily see the difference

I. Between POWER and AUTHORITY (Genesis 47:7-10)

There is a remarkable meeting in Verses 7-10 of our chapter, when Joseph brings his father Jacob to meet with Pharoah:

Genesis 47:7–10 LSB

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and stood him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.” And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

You may have seen depictions of Egyptian pharaohs holding two symbolic instruments in their hands, sometimes you see them crossed over their chest—a shepherd’s crook, symbolizing his power to give life and health, and a flail, representing his power to inflict punishment and death.

And we’ve seen already in this chapter that

Pharoah had great PERSONAL power

The power of life and death over his subjects (and we will see that power grow in this chapter!), the reverence his people had for him as a god. And it is undeniable that Pharoah used that great power to extend life to Joseph’s family—the heart of the king was in the hand of YHWH to turn like a river for the purpose of blessing His covenant people.

So here is Pharoah, possibly the most powerful man on the face of the earth at this time, in all of his majesty and splendor, and into this great hall walks an old man, leaning on his staff as he limps into Pharoah’s presence.

Pharoah had great personal power, but

Jacob had true FAITHFUL authority (cp. Heb. 7:7)

Jacob had an authority greater than any power Pharoah possessed—and if we’re not careful we can run right by it as we read about this encounter. But look at what Jacob did when he entered Pharoah’s court, and what he did when he left:

Genesis 47:7 LSB

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and stood him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

Genesis 47:10 LSB

And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

What does the writer of Hebrews say about blessing?

Hebrews 7:7 LSB

But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater.

This moment represents Jacob’s final transformation from a bitter old heartbroken man to the truest and greatest patriarch of the Old Testament. Gone is the whining, the faithless anxiety, the pining away for lost sons—here is the Seed of Abraham blessing the nations! Israel has stepped into his true authority, faithful to YHWH and fulfilling his covenant role! He has come full-circle—he has none of the wealth or influence or power he always tried to scheme for himself, but standing there in his humble shepherd’s robes he is now a full representative of YHWH’s covenant promises to bless the nations (and he starts with Egypt!)

And see here the full humility of Jacob—he confesses to Pharoah that his days have been “few and evil”—that he has squandered so much of his life. But he is at peace now; he has repented of his faithlessness and has received the grace of God extended to him. And the authority Jacob has as a faithful member of God’s covenant promises is something that no personal power of Pharoah can match.

Fix your sights on the home God has promised you, Christian, and you will easily see the difference between mere power and true authority; you will also see the difference

II. Between FREEDOM and SLAVERY (Genesis 47:13-27)

Starting with Verse 13, Moses makes some striking comparisons between Egypt and Israel during the famine.

Genesis 47:13 LSB

Now there was no food in all the land because the famine was very heavy, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.

You’ll remember that we have been tracing the themes of the Land, the Seed and the Blessing through Joseph’s story—the three elements of the covenant YHWH made with Abraham. God has moved Israel out of Canaan in order to preserve Abraham’s seed. But as Israel moves out of Canaan because of the famine, we see that the land of Egypt was languishing as well!

And as this section of the narrative continues, what we see is how God’s provision for His covenant people meant that they were untouched by the Egyptians’ loss of their land, and their seed and their blessing!

You can trace in these verses how

The Egyptians slowly LOST their LIBERTY

In verses 14-15, the people of Egypt (and Canaan) spend all the money they have to feed themselves as the famine progresses, until “the money came to an end in the land of Egypt”. And when there was no money left, Joseph says

Genesis 47:16 LSB

“Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is gone.”

And so for the next year, Joseph gave the people grain in exchange for their livestock (v. 17). The next year, when they had lost all their animals, they gave up their land, saying

Genesis 47:19 LSB

“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.”

Finally, with nothing else to give to Pharoah, the people turned themselves over to him—see in Verse 25 they tell Joseph

Genesis 47:25 LSB

So they said, “You have kept us alive! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

Even though they were the most secure nation on earth in the midst of the famine, the Egyptians slowly lost their possessions, their land, and finally their liberty—all that they had and all that they were was sold to Pharoah, their lord and master.

But at the same time the Egyptians were slowly losing their liberty,

Israel gradually PROSPERED and GREW (v. 27)

Genesis 47:27 LSB

Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they took possession of property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.

The Egyptians lost their livestock—but Israel were keepers of livestock. They were the ones who oversaw and took care of the livestock that Pharoah was taking as payment for grain! While the Egyptians were turning over the deeds for their land to Pharoah, Israel was taking possession of property in Goshen! Moses makes it very clear that while the Egyptians were selling themselves into slavery in order to survive the famine, Israel was free. While the Egyptians were losing their land, their seed, and their liberty, Israel continued to grow and flourish and prosper.

But did all that prosperity cause Israel to forget their home? Were they going to become so comfortable in Egypt that they would turn their back on what YHWH had said He would do for them?

As we move through the rest of the chapter we see in Jacob’s words the signs of a heart that is not looking only at the good things that are theirs in Egypt, but looking ahead to the promises YHWH had made to him—when you fix your sights on the home God has promised you, you can see the difference

III. Between PROSPERITY and PROMISE (Genesis 47:27-31)

Genesis 47:27–28 LSB

Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they took possession of property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years.

With these verses we move past the years of famine—seventeen years after Jacob brought his family to Egypt. And in that time, his family grew and became prosperous:

Israel was well ESTABLISHED in GOSHEN (vv. 27-28)

Here in their exile, YHWH begins to bring His promises to bear—Abraham’s seed is beginning to “be fruitful and multiply”. This verse also gives us a connection to the beginning of the Book of Exodus, where we read

Exodus 1:7 LSB

...the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased and multiplied and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.

The famine was over; Israel’s role as Pharoah’s herdsmen had given them enormous privilege and power in Egypt (since now Pharoah owned all the cattle). They no longer had to live as nomads, moving from place to place as they had in Canaan. Notice in Verse 27 the text says that “they took possession of property” in Goshen—their grandfather Abraham spent his whole life in the Land promised him and the only thing he ever owned was a graveyard—and his grandchildren are taking possession of land in Egypt! This was their land—their prosperity, their possessions.

Jacob spent seventeen years watching his descendants thriving and prospering and growing

Genesis 47:28 LSB

And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years.

—and yet

Israel was deeply HOMESICK for his COUNTRY (vv. 29-31)

That prosperity and growth there in Goshen did not turn Jacob’s eyes away from his true home—

Genesis 47:29 LSB

Then the days for Israel to die drew near, and 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 lovingkindness and truth. Please do not bury me in Egypt.

Remember how we saw Joseph in Genesis 41, after 20 years in Egypt, name his sons with Covenant family names, and refer to Egypt as “the land of his affliction?” In the same way, Jacob spends nearly two decades amidst all the splendor and prosperity of Egypt, and yet longs to go home again! All he wanted at the beginning of the chapter is to leave Canaan so he could see his boy; all he can think about seventeen years later is going home to God’s promised land again!

Genesis 47:30–31 LSB

“But I will lie down with my fathers, and you will carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.” Then he said, “Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed.

As he came closer to the end of his days, Jacob is resting more and more deeply in the faithful promises of YHWH. Remember his anxiety and fretfulness and abdication earlier in this account—bereaved of Joseph, refusing to let Benjamin go, standing by idly as his sons blasphemed the covenant and plotted and schemed against each other.

But the Jacob that we meet here in his final days is a man transformed—a man who has said to YHWH, “Here I am”, a man who is resting in the faithfulness of God to him and his family. He calls Joseph to make an oath that he will carry his body back to the Land of the Promise for his burial—he is so completely sure that God will keep His promise to “bring him up again” and bring his people up again to Canaan that no amount of prosperity or ease or comfort or wealth could persuade Jacob to identify with Egypt as his home—even in death!

Jacob had fixed his sights on the home God had promised him—and so he could see the difference between the power that the world gives and real spiritual authority that comes from faithfulness to God. Consider the way the world around you relates to power—are you consumed with getting and holding on to the kind of power or influence that the world around you values? Because you can get yourself bogged down in a hurry trying to chase the respectability and recognition of the world.

But when you are fixing your sights on the home God has promised you, you will have the same attitude towards the power and popularity of the world as the writer of Hebrews described:

Hebrews 13:12–14 LSB

Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the one to come.

The reproaches and scorn of this world for your allegiance to a crucified Savior are nothing to you, Christian, because you have your sights set on a better city, a greater hope, and a more lasting inheritance!

Jacob had his sights set on the home God had promised him, and so he knew the difference between real freedom and real slavery. Once again—wealth and riches and abundance in this world come with all the promises of freedom.

But Jesus made it abundantly clear that our real freedom does not come with gaining the riches of this world:

Matthew 16:25–27 LSB

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay each one according to his deeds.

Spend your life with your sights set on what kind of gain you can have in this world, and when it comes to the day when Christ returns in the glory of His Father with His angels, you will have nothing. All of the freedom and power and influence that you thought you had will disappear like a snowflake in a blast furnace; everything you thought was gain to you will be revealed in that Day to be the cause of your eternal damnation.

But fix your sights on the eternal reward that God has promised you on that Day, and the promises of this world’s riches and prosperity will be shown for the empty and hollow promises that they are. Fix your eyes on the reward promised you in 1 Peter 1:3-7

1 Peter 1:3–7 LSB

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Jacob had his sights set on the home YHWH had promised him, and that meant that the fickle prosperity of this world did not distract him from the true promise of his “better country”:

Hebrews 11:16 LSB

But now, they aspire to a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He prepared a city for them.

It didn’t matter if Jacob’s fortunes soared or plummeted in Egypt—it was still for him (as it was for Joseph), the “land of his affliction”. His inheritance could be neither improved nor impoverished by the circumstances around him. And beloved, this is the assurance you need to set your sights on in the land of your affliction as well!

We live in an incredibly volatile world, don’t we? And while God’s Word shows us that (just like Jacob) fixing your eyes on the inheritance God has promised you will keep you from being drawn in by all of the world’s promises of comfort and wealth and ease and satisfaction.

But just the same—see here that when you fix your sights on the home that God has promised you, you will not be shaken when your home in this world is threatened! There are so many for whom the threats and upheaval all around us—war, crime, political instability, economic fragility, social civil war, all of it—threatens and frightens and de-stabilizes them. Even Christians can get sucked into the doomsday prepper, evil conspiracy, sky is falling mindset of anxiety and stress over what is going on in the news with Iran and immigration and politics and Israel and Charlie Kirk and the midterm elections and all the rest of it.

But Christian, look at what God’s Word says: Your inheritance is not touched by any of it!

Hebrews 12:28 LSB

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;

There is nothing that is going on in this great big giant anthill of human civilization that will affect one atom of your eternal inheritance of the Kingdom that you will someday receive! And so what is your response? Like Jacob, your response is gratitude, and acceptable service with reverence and awe.

First of all, like Jacob, be grateful for the unshakeable home God has promised you. Live that gratitude day by day in the middle of the anthill. Be thankful for everything He has given you in this world and everything He has promised you in the next. And let that gratitude flow from you to those around you.

Because fixing Iran is not your job. Figuring out how to fix immigration in this country or what to do about Congress after the midterms has not been assigned to you! God has given you people outside your door, in your circle, and within your own sphere, and has called you to be faithful there. Be faithful to God in your dealings with your children, your spouse, your co-workers, your classmates and neighbors. Tend to the sphere of influence God has given you, content that He will deal with the rest, and you have a certain and unshakeable inheritance to set your sights on.

And as you faithfully labor where God has put you—in your own home with your own people and your own place—you can be content that you are “only passing through”, no matter what happens here, your real home is one that you will never lose, one that can never be shaken, one that will never be taken from you—your True Home, your True Treasure, your True Promised Kingdom—your Savior, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Hebrews 13:20–21 LSB

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.