Genesis 45.9-11-Joseph Sends Message to Israel to Find Refuge from Famine in Egypt
Thursday March 1, 2007
Genesis: Genesis 45:9-11-Joseph Sends Message to Israel to Find Refuge from Famine in Egypt
Lesson # 289
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 45:1.
Last Thursday evening we read Genesis 45:1-4, which records Joseph revealing his true identity to his brothers after hearing Judah offer himself as a substitute for Benjamin so that his father would not have to suffer the loss of another child.
On Tuesday we noted Genesis 4:5-8 and in particular we noted the “magnanimity” of Joseph towards his brothers.
On Wednesday we studied this same passage, where we saw Joseph reassuring his brothers that he will not exact revenge upon them but rather reveals to them that their cruel treatment of him twenty two years before was a part of God’s plan to deliver their family and the entire world from famine.
This evening we will study Genesis 45:9-11 and read where Joseph sends a message to his father Israel through his brothers to find refuge from the famine in Egypt.
Genesis 45:1, “Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, ‘Have everyone go out from me.’ So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.”
Genesis 45:2, “He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it.”
Genesis 45:3, “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.”
Genesis 45:4, “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Please come closer to me.’ And they came closer. And he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.’”
Genesis 45:5, “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”
Genesis 45:6, “For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.”
Genesis 45:7, “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.”
Genesis 45:8, “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
Genesis 45:9, “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, ‘God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.’”
Genesis 45:10, “You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have.”
Genesis 45:11, “There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.”
In Genesis 45:9-11, we see Joseph commanding his brothers to communicate to their father his counsel that their family migrate to Egypt in order to escape the famine that would continue for another five years.
If Joseph’s family dies of starvation, then the nation of Israel dies in its infancy and if so, then the Savior cannot come into the world and then there would be no salvation for man and no fulfillment of the four unconditional covenants to Israel (Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New) and thus making God unfaithful.
In this passage, Joseph reveals to his brothers one of the reasons why God permitted them to sell him into slavery in Egypt, namely, to deliver their family from the famine and preserve their embryonic nation so that the Savior could come into the world at a later date.
The fact that Joseph is commanding his brothers to communicate his plan to relocate their entire family to Egypt to their father would reassure his brothers and set their minds at ease that he had no plans to exact revenge upon them for selling him into slavery since he is including their father in his plans for all of them.
Joseph’s counsel is according to the will of God since God prophesied to Abraham that his descendants would be in Egypt for four hundred years (See Genesis 15:12-16) and so Joseph’s counsel is the first step in the fulfillment of this prophecy.
Genesis 15:12, “Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.”
Genesis 15:13, “God said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.’”
“Your descendants” is a reference to the nation of Israel and the “land” in which the nation of Israel would be strangers in and would be enslaved to and oppressed for four hundred years is Egypt.
“Four hundred years” is a “round” number for the more precise figure of four hundred thirty years appears in Exodus 12:40-41; Acts 7:6; Gal. 3:16-17.
Genesis 15:14, “But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.”
“The nation” is a clear reference to Egypt (Ex. 6:6; 7:4; 12:12).
“I will judge the nation (Egypt)” is a reference to the Lord judging Pharaoh and the nation of Egypt through the ten plagues for not letting Israel leave as God had commanded Pharaoh as recorded in Exodus 6-14.
Genesis 15:15, “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.”
Genesis 15:16, “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
“They” is a reference to Abram’s descendants, namely, the Israelites who will return from the slavery of Egypt to the land promised to Abram and his descendants.
“Generation” is the noun dor (rw{D) (dore), which denotes a “cycle of time, a life span,” which in the context of Genesis 15 is calculated to be one hundred years since Abram had his first child at one hundred years of age (Gen. 21:5).
Therefore, the “fourth generation” indicates that after four hundred years Abram’s descendants, i.e., the nation of Israel would come back into to the land of Canaan promised to Abram by the Lord.
Exodus 6:16-26 records that it was exactly in the fourth generation that the children of Israel left Egypt and returned to Canaan.
The Lord gives the reason for the delay in Abram’s descendants possessing the land of Canaan, namely, that the “iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
The “Amorite” is a figure of speech called “synecdoche of the part” where a part is put for the whole, thus the term “the Amorite” is put for the ten nations listed in Genesis 15:19-21, of which “the Amorite” was a part of (cf. Gen. 48:22; Nm. 13:29; 21:21).
Though not stated by Joseph in Genesis 45:9-11, God not only wanted to deliver Joseph’s family from the famine but also from the corrupt Canaanite influence, which had already begun to trouble his family (See Genesis 34 and 38).
The embryonic nation could develop into a great nation while in Egypt since the Egyptians unlike the Canaanites, would not seek to intermarry with Israel’s family since they despised Hebrews because of their occupation as shepherds.
Moses refers to the development of Israel’s family into a great nation while in Egypt.
Deuteronomy 26:5, “You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation.’”
Genesis 45:9, “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, ‘God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.’”
The statements “Hurry and go up to my father…come down to me, do not delay” expresses the urgency to Israel that his family migrate to Egypt since it is according to the will of God that they do so since it would be the first step in the fulfillment of the prophecy given to Abraham recorded in Genesis 15:12-16.
Notice that Joseph does not procrastinate but rather immediately counsels his brothers to inform their father that their family must migrate to Egypt.
The urgency in which Joseph seeks to do God’s will is a fulfillment of a spiritual principle noted in Psalm 119:60.
Psalm 119:60, “I hastened and did not delay to keep Your commandments.”
Joseph opens his speech to his father pointing to Elohim, “God,” which emphasizes the sovereignty of God over Joseph and his family as well as the providence of God in that their lives were not ruled by chance or fate but by God.
Therefore, Joseph invokes the name Elohim, “God” to emphasize that it is God’s sovereign will that Israel and his family migrate to Egypt.
The noun Elohim, “God” also emphasizes that God is omnipotent and is able to bring to pass that which He has determined to take place, which was to deliver Joseph’s family, the Egyptians and the entire world from starvation.
Joseph’s statement “God has made me lord of all Egypt” emphasizes that his authority and power over Egypt was given to him by God Himself.
This statement would also emphasize to Joseph’s father God’s providential care of their family and that it was God’s sovereign will that Joseph became prime minister of Egypt to deliver their family from famine.
God worked out the circumstances so that Pharaoh would promote Joseph as prime minister of Egypt.
For example, God gave the cupbearer his dreams and Joseph the ability to interpret those dreams, which led to the cupbearer eventually informing Pharaoh two years later of Joseph’s supernatural abilities.
God also gave Pharaoh his dreams and Joseph the ability to interpret those dreams and make recommendations in light of his interpretation of those dreams, which resulted in Pharaoh promoting Joseph.
The Lord demonstrated His sovereignty over the nations by causing Pharaoh to promote Joseph to prime minister of Egypt.
Psalm 113:5-8, “Who is like the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of His people.”
1 Samuel 2:7-8, “The LORD makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts. He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles, and inherit a seat of honor; For the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and He set the world on them.”
Genesis 45:10, “You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have.”
“Goshen” is the proper noun Goshen (/v#G) (go-shen), which was located in the eastern part of the Nile Delta, northeast of the Egyptian capital, Memphis and approximately 900 hundred square miles, well suited for grazing and for certain types of agriculture and sparsely occupied allowing room for Hebrew expansion.
This area was also called the “land of Rameses” in Genesis 47:11 and according to the Exodus narrative, which records that the Israelites left Goshen under Moses and went from Rameses through the Wadi Tumilat (a valley connecting the Nile and the Bitter Lakes region, now a part of the Suez Canal system) to Succoth (Compare Exodus 8:18; 12:37; 13:17f).
Rameses was probably a later name of an urban complex including Avaris and was built to the north of Avaris, adjoined to it.
“You shall live” is the verb yashav (bv^y*) (yaw-shav), which means, “to live in a place for a period of time” and does “not” mean to live in a place permanently.
Therefore, Joseph was counseling his father to live in Goshen for an unspecified period of time, which according to the prophecy given to Abraham recorded in Genesis 15:12-16 turned out to be four hundred years.
Although this would be a long term migration from the human perspective, from the divine perspective it would not be permanent.
The fact that Joseph’s family would reside in Goshen would later on protect their descendants, the Israelites from the plagues that God placed upon the nation of Egypt during the Exodus generation (See Exodus 8:22; 9:26).
Genesis 45:11, “There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.”
Joseph’s statement “there are still five years of famine to come” repeats the point Joseph made to his brothers in Genesis 45:6 and anticipates resistance by his father to a migration of his entire family from Canaan to Egypt.
Joseph counsels his father to move to Goshen in Egypt to escape the famine in Canaan in order that they might not become impoverished and lose all they had to debt.
In famines, the poor mortgaged their lands or sold their family and even themselves into slavery and some of course, died.