Jospeh Part 15: Jocob's Journey to Egypt

Jacob’s Journey to Egypt

We just finished the second act of the story of Yoseph and his brothers. 

The brothers have reconciled. The seven rounds of hostility in the Genesis scroll have been inverted and reconciled with this scene that we just read in the previous session. Remember the plot conflict between Joseph and his brothers, that's what was driving everything up to that point. 

What's left is not hostility between brothers anymore. But what is left is the fact that the Eden that's available right now is not in the land that was promised to Abraham. It's in their exile.

This last act to turn our focus to being settled in this temporary Eden with an eye towards the bigger restoration to the ultimate Eden that lay beyond this moment. So with this last third, we begin to look out way into implications for the rest of the Torah and the Prophets as we go forward. 

They're going to settle there for the seven-year famine. And Joseph will both provide for his family, there's a whole narrative about that, then he's going to provide and save all of Egypt, and there's a whole story about that.

Then Jacob is going to crawl up onto his deathbed and request that when he die, he gets buried up in Canaan.

Then comes two deathbed scenes, where he's going to pass the covenant blessing on to the next generation. And he does it in chapter 48 to Joseph, and then he does it for all 12 sons, highlighting especially Judah and Joseph in Genesis 49.

We finish the blessings that are at the center here, and then we come to the last literary unit, and Jacob will again make a request to be buried in Canaan. It's very conspicuous, 'cause it's like, "Well, you already asked, but now you're asking again." But it's all about the symmetry because of the differences and similarities of the two request scenes are important. And then he dies, and Joseph and the brothers all go up to bury Jacob in Canaan.

Joseph has to reconcile with his brothers again, 'cause they're still afraid he's gonna kill them.

Then Joseph requests to be buried in Canaan, makes them swear an oath that they'll do it. And the last line is, "And he died, and he was placed in a ark in Egypt." And that's the last line of the book.

So everything's future-oriented. What's gonna happen with the seed, the 70 and their future in the land, the blessings for the future generations, the burial back in, it's all about getting back to Canaan for the experience of the blessing. That's what this whole section is all about. So it's like a hinge. It both concludes everything in the Genesis scroll, but it also is just the pivot into the Exodus scroll and everything that's beyond. 

Genesis 45:25–46:30 CSB

25 So they went up from Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 They said, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them. 27 But when they told Jacob all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 Then Israel said, “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go to see him before I die.” 1 Israel set out with all that he had and came to Beer-sheba, and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 That night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” he said. And Jacob replied, “Here I am.” 3 God said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you back. Joseph will close your eyes when you die.” 5 Jacob left Beer-sheba. The sons of Israel took their father Jacob in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him, along with their dependents and their wives. 6 They also took their cattle and possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan. Then Jacob and all his offspring with him came to Egypt. 7 His sons and grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters, indeed all his offspring, he brought with him to Egypt. 8 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt—Jacob and his sons: Jacob’s firstborn: Reuben. 9 Reuben’s sons: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 Simeon’s sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 Levi’s sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 Judah’s sons: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 Issachar’s sons: Tola, Puvah, Jashub, and Shimron. 14 Zebulun’s sons: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These were Leah’s sons born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, as well as his daughter Dinah. The total number of persons: thirty-three. 16 Gad’s sons: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17 Asher’s sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. Beriah’s sons were Heber and Malchiel. 18 These were the sons of Zilpah—whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah—that she bore to Jacob: sixteen persons. 19 The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 20 Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt. They were born to him by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, a priest at On. 21 Benjamin’s sons: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22 These were Rachel’s sons who were born to Jacob: fourteen persons. 23 Dan’s son: Hushim. 24 Naphtali’s sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. She bore to Jacob: seven persons. 26 The total number of persons belonging to Jacob—his direct descendants, not including the wives of Jacob’s sons—who came to Egypt: sixty-six. 27 And Joseph’s sons who were born to him in Egypt: two persons. All those of Jacob’s household who came to Egypt: seventy persons. 28 Now Jacob had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to prepare for his arrival at Goshen. When they came to the land of Goshen, 29 Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. Joseph presented himself to him, threw his arms around him, and wept for a long time. 30 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I’m ready to die now because I have seen your face and you are still alive!”

"And they came to the land of Canaan to Yaaqov, their father.

And they told him, saying, 'Yoseph, you won't believe it, he's alive!

Even more, he's not just alive, he's the ruler of the land of Egypt.'" Think exaltation. You thought he was dead, but actually, he's alive. And in the narrative, his death was going to the pit, and now he's exalted as the ruler. So death and life, being low and being high, these are all paired concepts in the narrative. So it makes perfect sense, he's alive and not dead, he is a ruler and not a slave. "And Yaaqov, his heart stopped because he didn't believe them." He died. was stunned, comes from the root to turn cold.

"Then they spoke to him, all the words of Yoseph that he spoke to them, and when Jacob saw the carts that Joseph has sent, then their father Yaaqov's spirit, his ruakh, came back to life.

And Israel said, 'It is more than enough the fact that my son Yoseph is alive, but I get to go see him before I die.'"

So we get the report, Joseph is alive. And he dies.

Then he sees, and why does he die? 'Cause he doesn't trust. But then he sees, and by implication, believes. And it's that belief that revives his ruakh back to life. 

Yaaqov’s Death and Revival

Like what's this here for? This is such a odd little paragraph. And then what he says is, "Oh, my son's alive. Before I actually die, I want to go see him." So he hears a story about the son he thought was dead is actually alive, then he undergoes a little death and resurrection right here to go see the son before I die.

Notice how in this section, Yaakov undergoes a death and resurrection as he processes the news that his son Yoseph, presumed to be dead, is actually alive.

A - v. 26: “Yoseph is alive!” > “his heart stopped” B - v. 27: Yaaqov sees and comes “back to life” A’ - v. 28: “Yoseph is alive!” > “I will see him before I die”

This short sequence is an important first statement of a key theme in this section about death and the hope for future life. Here Yaaqov metaphorically dies and is revived from that death. This anticipates the future moment when Yaaqov is going to literally die at the conclusion of this act (in Gen. 50). Yaaqov’s “revival” is also a future anticipation of when he will be made to “go up” to be buried in Canaan in the cave of Makpelah, an Eden spot that is familiar to the reader from Genesis 23. The imagery of Yaaqov's body “going up” to an Eden burial is an important icon of the hope of resurrection in Genesis that will be drawn upon and developed by the later prophets (Ezek. 37 is a great example).

These images of Yaaqov’s (a.k.a. Yisrael's) death and resurrection act as surrounding frames around the whole of this final act of the Genesis scroll.

Elohim informs Yaaqov that he will be descending to his death in Egypt, but that the divine presence will be with him and will bring up him up out of Egypt as well (Gen. 46:4). This revelation at Beersheba creates an important analogy between Yaaqov and his son that continues throughout the rest of the Genesis scroll.

Yoseph goes down into a pitand to Egypt // “going down”into the grave. (בור)  (ירד) 

Yahweh was with Yoseph in Egypt (Gen. 39:2, 21).

Yoseph was elevated out of the pitand up over Egypt // “alive from the dead” (בור)  (Gen. 45:28).

Yaaqov will go downto Egypt and will die there. (ירד) 

Yahweh will be with Yaaqov in Egypt (Gen. 46:4).

Yahweh will make Yaaqov “go up”from Egypt. (עלה) 

Yaaqov as a New Abraham and Isaac

chapter 46, verse 1.

"So Yisrael and all that belonged to him, he set out," and guess what? "He came to Beer Sheva," Which is two Hebrew words, "well" and "sheva'" is the Hebrew word "seven." The Well of Seven.

"And he sacrificed sacrifices to the Elohim of his father, Yitskhaq.

And Elohim said to Yisrael in visions of the night," visions is the correspondent to dreams. dreams is when you lose consciousness, and then you are in an altered state, visions is when you're awake, but you enter the same altered state of consciousness.

"And he said, 'Yaaqov, Yaaqov,' And he said, 'Look, it's me.'"

In Genesis 22:1

Genesis 22:1 CSB

1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.

When God tests Abraham, He says, "Abraham," and he says, "Here I am."

Genesis 22:11 CSB

11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.”

And then this double repetition comes from the moment that Abraham takes the knife, you have the double repetition. "Avraham, Avraham," "Here I am." And it was the ultimate test of whether he would surrender the future of his family over to God.

"Yaaqov, Yaaqov." "Look, it's me." "I'm El, the Elohim of your father.

Listen, we're in the middle of a famine, it's a long road trip, hundreds of miles through dangerous, desolate wilderness, but I need you to bring all 70 of your descendants through that wilderness down to Egypt."

He's being asked to surrender the seed. 

"Don't be afraid to go down to Egypt," presuming there's a lot of reasons to be afraid by going down to Egypt. "I will set you up as a great nation there."

This is very similar to, "Go to a land that you don't know, but I will show you, and I will make you a great nation." So at the end of the scroll, Elohim is saying to the grandson of Abraham, what he said to grandfather Abraham back in Genesis 12.

"'I will go down with you, and I will make you go back up, indeed a going up.

And Yoseph will set his hand on your eyes.' And so Yaaqov got up from the Well of Seven."

Well of Seven this is where God provided for Yishmael. Eden spot Beersheba was where Abraham settled after his great act of obedience in Genesis 22, and Beersheba was where Isaac settled after God explicitly told him not to go to Egypt (Gen. 26:2).

The divine summons “Yaaqov, Yaaqov!” recalls the same summons given to Abraham in the moment his act of greatest obedience (Gen. 22:11). In Genesis 22, Abraham has just given away his beloved son, while in Genesis 46, Yaaqov is about to receive back his beloved son.

"So Yaaqov got up, and the sons of Yisrael picked up Yaaqov, their father, and their children and their wives on the animal carts that Pharaoh sent to carry them, they took the herds, they took the possessions, you know, the ones that they possessed in the land of Canaan, and they went to Egypt, Yaaqov and all of his seed, his sons, and the sons of his sons, his daughters, and the daughters of his sons, all of the seed," did you see the emphasis here? Remember, this seed contains the future of the universe, as according to God's purposes, they all go down to Egypt.

The 70 From Yaaqov and From Noah

What follows is a genealogy. 

"These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt, Yaaqov and his sons," and you get four lists here, all corresponding to the four wives of Jacob.

So you have a list of the sons of Leah.  there were six, plus the seventh is the daughter, Dinah.

Then you get the two sons of Zilpah, and then all of their sons. 

You get the two sons of Yoseph, now they were already down in Egypt.

Then you get the two sons of Bilhah, and then all the grandchildren get filed out. 

Then you get every living being that went down to Yaaqov in Egypt. Those who came out of his loins, except for the wives, he didn't give birth to them, 66, and now there's also Yoseph and his wife, and his two sons down there, equal a total of 70.

70 who came out from the loins who go down into Egypt. 

That's the image. 

So you just have to pause and ask, "Why am I being told this information? Like I've already come across most of this in the birth narratives to follow, what's new here? Well, what's new is the grandchildren, and their names. What's new is that there are 70, and that at least ought to lead us to a meditation on a list of 70 descendants.

Genesis 9:18 CSB

18 Noah’s sons who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.

There's only one other list, of 70, which is what we call the Table of Nations, Or Genesis chapter 10, which is a list of Noah's descendants. But that is introduced by a little line here at the end of Genesis 9:18. It says, "Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were the three sons.

And from these three, all the land was populated." So the sons that come out of the ark turn into, chapter 10, list of 70.

And so also the list of those who come out of the loins of Jacob is a list of 70. So there has to be a connection.

The question is, what is it? So to come out of the ark is to come out of the little refuge,

And right now, Jacob's loins were the refuge of the seed, so to speak, that went into his wives, and then gives birth to the 70 seed, that is the family. Except in Genesis 10, it's the nations.

In Genesis 46, it's just one nation.

And even then, a subset of a subset of a nation.

So think through the logic of the story, but the moment we pivoted to Abraham, and then start peeling off non-chosen versus chosen, the fate of the nations is bound up with the fate of these 70.

Just a few go into the ark, but out come the 70 nations, so to speak. 70 go down into Egypt, are fruitful and multiply, and they become the great nation that begins the- So 70 come out of the ark, 70 come out of Jacob, and then go down to Egypt and become even more among the nations.

You have the 70 nations come from the remnant that was preserved through the flood. The 70 descendants of Jacob are the remnant that's preserved through the coming famine.

The 70 nations are the nations that is referred to when God says to Abraham, "All the families of the nations will be blessed through you," referring back to this list of 70. And now here, it's in these 70 that the source of the divine blessing goes forward. 

“The list of names in these verses appears to have been selected to total 'seventy' (46:27). It can hardly go without notice that the number of nations in Genesis 10 is also 'seventy.' Just as the 'seventy nations' represent all the descendants of Adam, so now the 'seventy sons' represent all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the children of Israel. Here in narrative form is a demonstration of the theme in Deuteronomy 32:8 that God apportioned the boundaries of the nations (Gen. 10) according to the number of the children of Israel. Thus the writer has gone to great lengths to portray the new nation of Israel as a new humanity and Abraham as a second Adam. The blessing that is to come through Abraham and his seed is a restoration of the original blessing of Adam, a blessing which was lost in the Fall. The picture of God that emerges from these pages is not merely a God who works with his own chosen people for their good alone, but also a God who works with the nations to bring about his plan of salvation and blessing.”

Sailhamer, John H. (1995). The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary. Zondervan Academic. 225.

(thank you Victoria for buying this book for me)

To be fruitful and multiply, there need to be a lot more female descendants in this list. So yeah, it's obviously, the list has been selective. To achieve the number. And actually, the same is true in Noah's, the list of Noah's descendants in Genesis 10. And the narrative even tells you.

When you get to the sons of Yapheth, what are listed are lists of sons that are all in multiples of seven.

Genesis 10:5 CSB

5 From these descendants, the peoples of the coasts and islands spread out into their lands according to their clans in their nations, each with its own language.

And then what you're told is from these, the coast lands of the nations were separated. So one of the son, you're just given multiples of seven of his descendants, and then there's just a note, and you know, a bunch of other nations came out from there. But this is the Table of Nations. So why aren't the nations of those nations named? Well, that would go over 70.

It's a good example where the way that these genealogies function is different than maybe how we conceive of genealogies today, which is a lot more for true archival record keeping.

And in the Bible, genealogies are as much vehicles of literary creativity to communicate the message and theology. And so they are creatively shaped.

Matthew 1:17 CSB

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations; and from David until the exile to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the exile to Babylon until the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Famously, the New Testament example of this is Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, that he structures, he even tells you that he structures it into three sets of 14.

And you can go to Genesis, Kings, or Chronicles, and read for yourself that there are more than three sets of 14. And he knows that. You know what I mean? So he has creatively shaped and chosen and selected, to achieve the parallelism of two times seven generations, and for other things that are going on there. 

So that's a bit of a paradigm shift that the genealogies are creative literary products as much as the narratives, to achieve a message. 

Now, does it mean that like, "Oh, therefore it's all fiction"? No, I think actually like, this comes from an actual genealogy, but it's also been shaped to fit into the narrative to carry on the message. 

From Canaan to Goshen

Genesis 26:28–30 CSB

28 They replied, “We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties—between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you: 29 You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have done only what was good to you, sending you away in peace. You are now blessed by the Lord.” 30 So he prepared a banquet for them, and they ate and drank.

Verse 28

Notice the amount of times that it says, "And they went down to Egypt." It's all over. So it's another great example where the narrative style is repeating it over and over and over again, but to break up the narrative into these chunks. And so the last chunk is right here in verse 28.

"Now he, that is Yaaqov, he sent Yehudah before him to Yoseph, to instruct before him toward Goshen. And they came to the land of Goshen. Yoseph bound up his chariot, he went to meet Yisrael his father. He saw him. He fell on his neck, and he wept on his neck even more." Is that familiar by now? Yeah, the reunion of Yoseph with his brothers and Benyamin, that's all exactly the same thing. And that was mirrored after the reunion of Yaaqov and Esau, and now here, Yoseph and his father.

"And Yisrael said to Yoseph, 'Now I can die after I have seen your face, because you are still alive.'"

So you remember the beginning of this was when he got the report. This whole unit began with, he got the report that Yoseph is alive, and he died, and then he came back to life. And then he said, I'm gonna go see my living son so I can see his face before I die. And then here we are, gives a nice little bookend here. 

So seeing the face of Yoseph, the ruler (equated with) is alive, he was lost and now he's found. But this becomes the moment where he can die now. Once you've looked upon the face of the image, life or death, it doesn't matter. 'Cause you've seen the face.

the narrative singles out, among all the 70 that are going down to Egypt, it singles out Yehudah.

It highlights for us Yehudah and Yoseph once again. Yoseph is the ruler of Egypt, Yehudah is the instructor of the family.  And then that's gonna get matched again by the last dimension of Yehudah, which is the blessing that he receives, that he will become the ruler among the brothers.

He sent, Yaaqov sends Yehudah to instruct, to offer instruction before him toward Goshen. So I'll, we'll just do a little Hebrew awesomeness.

Our English translations struggle here.

NIV has "Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Yoseph to get directions."

ESV, "He sent Judah ahead of him to show the way." That's different than getting directions, isn't, you know? Really different. 

New American Standard, "to point out the way."

NRSV, "to lead the way."

King James, "to direct the face."

Anytime you see this much variety, that's why it's good to have access to multiple translations. When you see this kind of variety, you know something funky is going on that is worth double-clicking on, so to speak. 

So the Hebrew word, is from, it's "horot" is the form, but it's from the key word "yarah." It's the root of the word Torah. Instruction.

To teach the law and instruction. So Yehudah is here, put in the position of the family instructor. He's appointed by Yaaqov to become the family Torah instructor. And this is gonna match something that Yaaqov is gonna say about Yehudah in the blessing he gives him, that he is appointed as the lead instructor of the family. 

So we're already seeding this idea, this pivot in Yehudah's character is opening up this new role in the family of the family teacher. The family instructor.

So notice that the three main characters are on the scene here. Yehudah, Yoseph, Yaaqov. The father and the two sons. And Yoseph is the ruler of Egypt, Yehudah is now the lead instructor of the family. And they're kinda in that rival relationship that was presented all the way back in chapter 37, where it was Yehudah who instructed the brothers to put him in the pit. Whereas Yoseph was having the dreams of being the royal ruler. So they both were playing their roles. 

Genesis 46:31–47:4 CSB

31 Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s family, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him, ‘My brothers and my father’s family, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 The men are shepherds; they also raise livestock. They have brought their flocks and herds and all that they have.’ 33 When Pharaoh addresses you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you are to say, ‘Your servants, both we and our ancestors, have raised livestock from our youth until now.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable to Egyptians.” 1 So Joseph went and informed Pharaoh: “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen.” 2 He took five of his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. 3 And Pharaoh asked his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants, both we and our ancestors, are shepherds.” 4 And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to stay in the land for a while because there is no grazing land for your servants’ sheep, since the famine in the land of Canaan has been severe. So now, please let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.”

You remember that Yoseph was portrayed as a new Noah, and the famine as a new de-creation. And so now that we've got the family down in Egypt, he can finally do the Noah thing, which is rescue everybody by providing them food and refuge in the midst of the famine. 

"And Yoseph said to his brothers, and to the house of his father, 'I will go up and I will tell Pharaoh, and I will say to him, my brothers and the house of my father who were in the land of Canaan, they've come to me. And the men are shepherds. They are men of the herd. And their flocks and their cattle,'" It's really, right, they're clearly shepherds. Lots of flocks, lots of cattle. "Everything that belongs to them, they have brought. 

Now Pharaoh is gonna call for you all, and he's gonna ask you and say, 'What do you guys do for your work?' So here's what you all need to say. 'Your servants, we are men of the herd from our youth until now. We actually don't know how to do anything else.

Both us and our fathers.' And on account of this, you will end up dwelling in the land of Goshen. Because listen, shepherds of the flock, like, Egyptians don't like shepherds in their cities.

They don't want shepherds around. So make sure," do you see what he's doing here? So he's like, Yoseph knows the cultural situation. And even though they're down in Egypt, he wants to make sure that they're set apart in Goshen. 

So think about what's happening here. They're coming to the refuge, but even then, the seed of Yaaqov needs to remain set apart in the little garden.

he's a wise planner, yeah?

So what follows in the narrative is exact, the narrative happens in exactly the way that Yoseph predicted that it would happen. 

it's literally a repetition, but it's a narrative way of showing Yoseph's wisdom. What he's planned would happen is exactly what happens. And to us it might seem like, what, what's the scene about? It's just, it's the same thing over again. And it's like, exactly. That's the way the narrative is communicating, is wisdom. 

“[An] apparent difficulty [is caused] by Joseph’s mention in 46:34 that all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians. The best solution is to regard this clause as the reason to mention the brothers’ occupation, rather than as a reason to avoid mentioning it. Since the Egyptians will be wary of semi-nomadic shepherds, there will be less trouble if they are kept away from the capital, even if it means that they must stay in what was a sensitive border region. Since other Egyptians may have viewed them suspiciously, Pharaoh may be more inclined to keep them separate, and not move them from their current location in Goshen (47:1). … On this reading, Joseph correctly anticipates Pharaoh’s question to the brothers ('What is your occupation?' in 46:33 and 47:3), which was essential to the success of his plan. ... Joseph’s carefully prepared plan secures his goal of enabling the brothers to live in Goshen, use its rich land, and keep a degree of separateness from the Egyptians. … The focus in this passage appears to be on yet another of Joseph’s wise plans coming to successful fruition.”

Wilson, Lindsay (2004). Joseph, Wise and Otherwise: The Intersection of Wisdom and Covenant in Genesis 37-50. Paternoster. 189.

The opposition of the Egyptians to “shepherds of the flock” (רעה צאן, Gen. 46:32; 47:3, 34) also activates the ancient hostility between Abel the “shepherd of the flock” (רעה צאן, Gen. 4:2) and Cain the first city builder. In an analogous way, the sons of Shem (the Israelites) and the sons of Ham (the Egyptians) represent the same divide between vocation and between brothers.

Sinai, Zion, and the Place Where God Meets His People

Might skip depending on time

I. The Question: Sinai vs. Zion

The Hebrew Bible scholar Jon Levenson, who teaches at Harvard, poses a provocative question in his book From Sinai to Zion: Why is it that when you read through the Torah and the Prophets, Mount Sinai and the tabernacle command so much more narrative space than the temple and Jerusalem?

Jerusalem is undeniably important. It is where David establishes the capital. It is where Solomon, the son of David, builds the temple. And there remains the promise of a future temple builder. Yet when you read straight through, the ideal seems to be the desert — and the desert tabernacle receives far more detailed attention than the temple ever does.

In fact, most of the book of Kings functions as a record of how the temple became a net loss for Israel: the gold was plundered, idols were installed, and what was meant to be a sacred dwelling became, in Levenson's terms, an anti-Eden. The tabernacle, by contrast, remains an ideal — pure, mobile, and wholly defined by God's initiative.

Discussion / Reflection Question:

▶ Why might God's dwelling in a portable tent in the wilderness carry more theological weight than a fixed temple in a capital city?

II. Sinai as Eden-in-the-Wilderness

Mount Sinai is depicted in the narrative as an Eden mountain — but situated in the wilderness, the very opposite of a garden. On the mountain, God reveals Eden to Moses. He then gives a command: "Make a little symbolic, mobile Eden — the tabernacle." God descends from the mountain to dwell in it and travel with his people.

All of this is held up as the pinnacle of God dwelling with his people. The moment it was relocated to Jerusalem, something changed: it became politicized. Solomon co-opted it. The kings of David's line treated the temple as if it were an idol — something they controlled, something that worked on their terms.

"The tabernacle and what happened out in the desert is somehow the ideal. Even though all the prophets point toward a new Eden connected to Jerusalem, the temple, and the seed of David, that vision is held alongside the Torah's idealization of what happens in the wilderness." — Jon Levenson

Key Insight:

▶ The wilderness is not a failure of Eden — it is the place where God can meet people precisely because they have nothing left to offer but dependence.

III. Why the Wilderness? Levenson's Argument

Levenson's argument is genuinely provocative: in the wilderness, you have no control. You cannot build a city around God and say, "This is our God. He works on our terms." In the desert, Israel was about to die — and God gave them sky bread (manna) and water from rocks. He met them on the mountain.

The wilderness strips away every human resource for generating meaning, identity, and blessing. In a city you can build temples, establish institutions, accumulate wealth, and maintain the illusion of self-sufficiency. In the wilderness, all of that is gone. What remains is God.

The wilderness, then, is not merely a setting — it is a theological condition. It is the place where God's holiness appears undiluted, because there is nothing human to compete with it or contain it.

Parallel Structure to Note:

▶ Goshen, where Jacob's descendants settled in Egypt, was itself a wilderness region — set apart from the great cities along the Nile. They were in Egypt, but they were in a wilderness zone within Egypt.

IV. Three Wilderness Generations

The theme of the wilderness creates a striking parallel structure across the biblical narrative:

1. Israel in Egypt (Goshen)

Jacob and his descendants make the long journey to Egypt, guided by Judah. They are settled not in the centers of power along the Nile, but in Goshen — the rural, peripheral wilderness zone. They are in Egypt, but set apart from it.

2. The Wilderness Generation (Numbers)

The 40 years of wandering function as a kind of pre-exile exile. An entire generation is born, lives, and dies outside the land. They are neither in Egypt nor in Canaan — they exist in the in-between. This is a foreshadowing of the exile that will come centuries later.

3. The Babylonian Exile

When Ezekiel reflects on the meaning of the Babylonian exile, he reaches for wilderness language. In Ezekiel 20:35, he calls it "the wilderness of the peoples" — a strikingly unusual phrase. To be scattered among the nations is to be in a metaphorical wilderness.

"I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face." — Ezekiel 20:35

The Pattern:

▶ Egypt (wilderness-within) → Wilderness of Sinai (literal) → Babylon (wilderness-among-nations)

▶ In each case: exile from the land, stripped of self-sufficiency, dependent on God alone.

V. The Wilderness as Theological Theme

The wilderness is the opposite of a garden. Eden was abundance, fruitfulness, and unbroken fellowship with God. The wilderness is barrenness, exposure, and radical dependence. And yet — now that humanity is exiled from Eden — the wilderness becomes the ultimate proving ground. It is where God meets his people, precisely because they can no longer generate their own blessing.

In a garden or a city, humans can take of the trees, build, accumulate, and project their own sense of value and purpose. In the wilderness, none of that is available. All the usual strategies for self-preservation and self-justification are gone. What remains is either God — or death.

This is why the wilderness is not simply a place of testing. It is a place of revelation. When everything else is stripped away, who God is becomes visible with uncommon clarity.

VI. Jesus and the Wilderness

It is no coincidence that Jesus begins his public ministry with 40 days in the wilderness. The number and the setting are deliberate echoes of Israel's wilderness generation — but where Israel failed, Jesus holds.

The moment Jesus emerges from the wilderness, he begins announcing the Kingdom of God. The wilderness test is not incidental to his mission — it is constitutive of it. He has already, in the desert, worked out what it means to live in total dependence on the Father.

Then, at the end of his ministry, there is the garden of Gethsemane — a bookend. The garden test reprises what was worked out in the desert. In Gethsemane, Jesus does not do what Adam did in Eden. He does what he already resolved in the wilderness: "Not my will, but yours."

The Wilderness-to-Kingdom Arc:

▶ 40 days in the wilderness → emerges to announce the Kingdom

▶ Garden of Eden (Adam fails) → Wilderness of Sinai (Israel tested) → Desert of Judea (Jesus holds) → Garden of Gethsemane (Jesus holds again)

Summary: What the Wilderness Means

The wilderness is not a place God tolerates while waiting to get his people somewhere better. It is a recurring place of theological significance — where human self-sufficiency collapses and God's sufficiency becomes the only real resource.

The tabernacle in the desert, not the temple in Jerusalem, represents the ideal in the Torah: a holy God dwelling with a dependent people in a place where neither party's relationship can be confused with politics, power, or human achievement.

Every wilderness in Scripture — from Sinai to Goshen to Babylon to the Judean desert — is a version of the same stripping-down. And out of every one of them, God speaks, provides, and moves his purposes forward.

Closing Discussion Questions:

▶ Where in your own life or community does the "wilderness condition" — dependence with no alternatives — appear?

▶ How does understanding the theological meaning of the wilderness change how you read the Gospels?

▶ What is the difference between a God who meets us in the wilderness and a God we bring into our cities?

Primary Source Reference

Jon D. Levenson, Sinai and Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible (HarperOne, 1985).

Ezekiel 20:35 (wilderness of the peoples).

Before Pharaoh

Genesis 47:5–11 CSB

5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have come to you, 6 the land of Egypt is open before you; settle your father and brothers in the best part of the land. They can live in the land of Goshen. If you know of any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.” 7 Joseph then brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many years have you lived?” 9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “My pilgrimage has lasted 130 years. My years have been few and hard, and they have not reached the years of my ancestors during their pilgrimages.” 10 So Jacob blessed Pharaoh and departed from Pharaoh’s presence. 11 Then Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

"Pharaoh said to Yoseph saying, 'Your father and brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt, it's before you.

Have your father and brothers dwell in the good of the land.'" it's like a little Eden

"Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any of the young men of nobility, you know, make them captains of the flock since you guys are good at that."

Yoseph brought his father Yaaqov, and he stood Yaaqov in front of Pharaoh."

Just look at the scene here. It's like this old withered, right, grumpy man. Limping, you know, limping as he comes in.  And coming before the king of Egypt.

"And Yaaqov blessed Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to Yaaqov, 'How old are you? How many are the days of the years of your life?' And Yaaqov said to Pharaoh, 'The days of the years of my migratings are 30 and 100.

Few and bad have been the days of the years of my life.

And they haven't even reached the days of the years of the lives of my fathers and the days of their migrating.' And Yaaqov blessed Pharaoh, and he went out from Pharaoh."

Blessing

In the context of the scene it Likely refers to a thankful greeting. The subsequent blessing (v. 10) represents a similar parting pleasantry.

This is the first time the word "blessing" has occurred since Yoseph was in Potiphar's house, and Yahweh blessed the house of Potiphar because of Yoseph there. 

when you're tracing a biblical theme, all roads lead back to Genesis 1. 

The word blessing appears three times in Genesis 1, the first time is when God creates the first creatures, land creatures, the fish in the sea, and the birds. And he says, God blessed them saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill." So up to that point, God has been the one separating, assigning order to the chaos and then beginning to fill with inhabitants. God is the one filling with inhabitants right there. So when God blesses the creatures, what he does is he takes his life-producing ability to bring abundance and to fill, and he passes that gift, it's like he plants the DNA in them so that they are not producers, but they're reproducers.

So the blessing is when God endows a creature with a reproducing ability that points back to the ultimate cause and producer. So it's life and reproduction and abundance. And so God blesses the fish and the birds. 

Then, second, God blesses the humans with the same, "Be fruitful and multiply." But then there's a little addition and rule. So there the blessing is to have responsibility over the creatures and their blessing. So for humans, the blessing is not just being reproducers, but it's overseeing the blessing of others. And here humans being given responsibility for how the blessing works itself out in the world, which is part of how they image God. 

So they reproduce, but they steward and manage the blessing that God has given to the rest of the creatures. 

And then the third blessing is the seventh day. He blesses the seventh day and set it apart as holy. And it doesn't explain what that means, I think 'cause you're supposed to think about what you know about blessing from the first two and then meditate on what it would mean for God to bless a day. And just think of the implications. If blessing means being fruitful, making more of oneself until it fills up to abundance. What would it mean for God to bless the seventh day, except that it would be over-abundant and fill all of creation.

And the seventh day has no evening and morning.

It's the eternal day. 

So that, this teaches you what a blessing is, and then the rest of the story is just gonna work out and develop that. And so he gives humans the blessing, they take the abundance of the garden and they squander it. They forfeit it through folly, and they end up bringing a curse on the land instead of steward and managing its blessing. 

Then it goes to Cain, he's cursed for murdering his brother. So instead of partnering with his brother and producing abundance, and you can just watch it kind of cascade from there. 

And so the family of Abraham becomes entrusted with a promise of rule and blessing, of abundance, but then also being the agent of blessing to the nations, which is, you know, the famous Genesis 12 verse 3, "Abraham gets blessed five times over so that in you all the families can get the Eden blessing restored to them."

So here is the grandson of Abraham blessing the king of another nation. 

And this is also what God said to Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you." So Pharaoh blesses the grandson of Abraham and his 70 seed, and he gets a blessing in return.

Yaaqov’s Disappointing Blessing on Pharaoh

In an ironic scene in Genesis 47:7-10, Yaaqov is presented as a sad, unhappy figure reflecting on his pain and loss over the decades while in the presence of the king who just saved his entire family by generously providing for them!

Yaaqov blesses Pharaoh before blessing any of his sons in Genesis 48-49. This is the first appearance of the word “bless” since Genesis 39:5 (God “blessed the house of Potiphar on account of Yoseph”). This story is the first explicit appearance of the word “blessing” that the patriarch offers to the nations, anticipated in God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3.

In Genesis 47:1-12, Pharaoh gives the Israelites a possession in the land of Goshen, Egypt. He sets the “good” (טוב ,מיטב) of the land before them and invites them to work “in the land of Ramses” (Gen. 47:11). As a result, Pharaoh receives a blessing (ברך) from Yaaqov (Gen. 47:7, 10). This is another example of the paradigm, “Those who bless you will be blessed” (Gen. 12:2-3). This is all setup for the Pharaoh of Exodus 1, who enslaves the Israelites, kills them, and forces them to build the store city in Ramses (Exod. 1:11), and that Pharaoh experiences curse instead of blessing.