Genesis 47.7-10-Jacob Meets Pharaoh
Thursday March 29, 2007
Genesis: Genesis 47:7-10-Jacob Meets Pharaoh
Lesson # 305
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 47:1.
Last evening we studied Genesis 47:1-6, which records Joseph’s brothers meeting Pharaoh and this evening we will note Genesis 47:7-10, which presents to us the record of Jacob meeting Pharaoh.
Genesis 47:1, “Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, ‘My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.’”
Genesis 47:2, “He took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh.”
Genesis 47:3, “Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, ‘What is your occupation?’ So they said to Pharaoh, ‘Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.’”
Genesis 47:4, “They said to Pharaoh, ‘We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, therefore, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.’”
Genesis 47:5, “Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Your father and your brothers have come to you.’”
Genesis 47:6, “The land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know any capable men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”
Genesis 47:7, “Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.”
“Bless” is the verb barakh (Er^B*), which means, “to endue with power for success, prosperity, fecundity, longevity, etc.”
Therefore, the verb barakh indicates Jacob’s desire for Pharaoh that he would be endued with power by the Lord for success, prosperity, fecundity (offspring in great numbers) and longevity.
This desire to bless Pharaoh in the sense of enduing him with power for success, prosperity, fecundity and longevity was according to the will of God since Pharaoh blessed Joseph and his family who were descendants of Abraham.
In Genesis 47:7, the verb barakh does “not” refer to a “greeting” since if it was we would expect Joseph’s brothers to do the same, which they do not.
The fact that Pharaoh blessed Joseph and his family was another manifestation of the fulfillment of the promise contained in the covenant that the Lord gave to Abraham that He would “bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse.”
This promise is contained in the “Abrahamic” covenant and was originally established with Abraham when he left Haran and is recorded in Genesis 12:1-3.
Genesis 12:2, “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing.”
Genesis 12:3, “And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
The “Abrahamic” covenant was “unconditional” meaning that its fulfillment was dependent upon the Lord’s faithfulness but we need to clarify an important aspect of an unconditional covenant.
An unconditional covenant which binds the one making the covenant to a certain course of action may have “blessings” attached to it that are conditioned on the response of the recipient, which is simply faith or to trust that God will deliver on His promise, which expresses itself in obedience to the commands of God.
The blessings that Abraham received in Genesis 12:1-3 were conditioned on his obedience to the Lord’s command to leave his country and his father’s house and go to the land, which the Lord would show him, namely, the land of Canaan.
The Abrahamic covenant contained three categories of promises: (1) Personal (2) National (3) Universal and Spiritual.
(1) Personal: “I will bless you and make your name great” (Gen. 12:2), which refers to the fact that the Lord would make Abraham a famous character with a great reputation among men and before God.
This fame and reputation is expressed in that Abraham is called a “father of a multitude” in Genesis 17:5, a prince of God in Genesis 23:6, the man in God’s confidence in Genesis 18:17-19, a prophet in Genesis 20:7, the servant of God in Psalm 105:6 and the friend of God in 2 Chronicles 20:7 and James 2:23.
(2) National: “I will make you into a great nation” (Gen. 12:2), which refers to the nation of Israel.
(3) Spiritual and Universal: “And all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” refers to the fact that through Jesus Christ, Abraham would be a blessing to all mankind since it is only through Jesus Christ that one becomes Abraham’s seed and heirs of the promise (Gal. 3:29; Eph. 2:13, 19).
The phrase “and you shall be a blessing” is “not” a promise since the verb hayah, “you shall be” is in the “imperative” mood expressing a command and literally means, “so become a blessing” indicating that Abraham had a responsibility to walk by faith, which is expressed by obedience to the Lord’s commands.
The promises “I will bless them that bless you and the one who curses you I will curse” refers to the fact that the Lord is identifying Himself with the cause of Abraham and guaranteeing protection for Abraham and his descendants.
Therefore, blessing Abraham and his descendants, the Israelites would therefore, be equivalent to doing it to God whereas those who curse Abraham and his descendants, the Israelites would be cursing God.
The promises “I will bless them that bless you and the one who curses you I will curse” refers to the fact that the Lord would bless those who bless Abraham and his descendants and curse those who curse him and his descendants.
Pharaoh blessed Joseph who was a descendant of Abraham by promoting him to prime minister of Egypt and he blessed Joseph’s family by settling them in the land of Goshen.
Therefore, God the Holy Spirit through Jacob would bless Pharaoh by prospering him and this is reflected later on in Genesis 47 where Joseph obtains for Pharaoh almost all of Egypt’s wealth, including the people themselves (47:13 26).
The fact that Jacob is recorded as to have blessed Pharaoh fulfills the spiritual principle taught in Hebrews 7:7 that “the lesser is blessed by the greater.”
Jacob was superior to Pharaoh in that he was the recipient of the promises, privileges, responsibilities and blessings of the Abrahamic covenant whereas Pharaoh was superior to Jacob in the temporal realm in that he was the king of the most powerful nation on the earth in that day, Egypt.
The promise that appears in Genesis 12:3 “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” was fulfilled through Joseph’s wise administration during the seven years of prosperity and famine, which delivered the nation of Egypt from destruction.
It was also fulfilled in that God prospered Egypt economically in that all the nations of the earth had to go to Egypt to buy food.
So we can see that Jacob is functioning as the instrument used by God to bring blessing to this Gentile, heathen king and his nation.
Genesis 47:7, “Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.”
Genesis 47:8, “Pharaoh said to Jacob, ‘How many years have you lived?’”
Bruce K. Waltke commenting on Pharaoh questioning Jacob with regards to his age, writes, “The question is perhaps prompted by a blessing of longevity from Jacob or possibly marks the honor of Jacob’s long life and many children. Egyptians were preoccupied with death, and the pharaohs, who professed to be eternal, sought to immortalize their bodies. Jacob at 130-and he will live another seventeen years (47:28)-already exceeds the ideal Egyptian life span of 110 years (see 50:22). His age must impress Pharaoh.” (Genesis, page 587, Zondervan).
Genesis 47:9, “So Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.’”
“My sojourning” is a reference to Jacob’s life long status as a resident alien in the land of Canaan.
He lived in Beersheba with his father and mother until the age of forty and then had to flee to Paddan Aram because Esau was threatening to kill him and on the way to Paddan Aram, he stopped at Bethel where the Lord met him.
Upon returning from Paddan Aram, he stopped at Penuel where the Lord met him again and then he stayed temporarily at Succoth and Shechem before returning to Bethel to fulfill his vow to the Lord and finally, he returned to his father in Hebron.
Therefore, we can see that Jacob was an excellent type of the spiritual truth that the believer’s life on planet earth is a pilgrimage to the eternal home in heaven.
Hebrews 11:1-2, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen for by it the men of old gained approval.”
Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”
Hebrews 11:4, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”
Hebrews 11:5, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”
Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:7, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
Hebrews 11:8, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”
Hebrews 11:9-10, “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
Hebrews 11:11, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”
Hebrews 11:12, “Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.”
Hebrews 11:13, “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.”
Hebrews 11:14, “For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.”
Hebrews 11:15, “And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.”
Hebrews 11:16, “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
Genesis 47:9, “So Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.’”
The statement “few and unpleasant have been the years of my life” appears to be a poor testimony before Pharaoh who was an unbeliever but this is not the case since it is a true statement.
This statement reflects that Jacob has spent many years of self-induced misery and divine discipline as a result of his poor decisions as well as many years of experiencing undeserved suffering.
For example, He experienced undeserved suffering as a child as a result of living in a home where his father Isaac favored his twin brother Esau while his mother favored him.
Jacob experienced self-induced misery by getting Esau to exchange his birthright for a bowl of red lintel soup, which resulted in Esau hating him.
There was more self-induced misery when Jacob attempted to gain the blessing of the birthright from his father by deception and then had to flee to his uncle Laban in Paddan Aram because Esau threatened to kill him.
This was followed by a twenty year exile in Paddan Aram with his uncle Laban who cheated him out of his wages.
Jacob sought Rachel to be his wife and ended up with four, and the outcome of this was continual competition and problems in his home.
He finally fled from his uncle and eventually had to make a non aggression pact with him to prevent a war.
Then, Jacob’s daughter Dinah was raped at Shechem, which would have never happened had he not procrastinated and went directly to Bethel to fulfill his vow to the Lord.
This poor decision also resulted in his sons Simeon and Levi exacting revenge for the rape of their sister Dinah by killing all the men of Shechem, which in turn led to the cities surrounding Shechem seeking to destroy Jacob’s family, which would have taken place had the Lord not intervened and protected him.
Then, this was followed by Rachel, his favorite wife, dying while giving birth to Benjamin along the way to Bethlehem, which was of course undeserved suffering.
Next, his oldest son Reuben had sex with his con¬cubine who was Rachel’s maid, which was a reaction to his father not loving his mother Leah as much as Rachel.
Then, of course, his sons sold his beloved son Joseph into slavery and deceived him into thinking that Joseph was dead, which again took place because the sons of Leah and the concubines resented Jacob favoring Joseph over them.
Finally, there was the famine which threatened the existence of his family, and the prime minister of Egypt appearing to want to take the lone surviving child of his favorite wife, namely Benjamin.
Therefore, Jacob’s statement to Pharaoh “few and unpleasant have been the years of my life” was a true statement and evaluation of his life and therefore not a poor testimony since he also knew that God had blessed him throughout all his adversities whether self-induced or undeserved.
Also, in Genesis 47:9, we read where Jacob says to Pharaoh that he has not lived as long as his fathers lived during the days of their sojourning, which is a reference of course to his father Isaac who lived to be a 180 years of age (See Genesis 35:28) and his grandfather Abraham who died at the age of 175 (See Genesis 25:7).
Unlike his sons, Jacob does not use deferential language and call himself Pharaoh’s servant since he views himself as the servant of God, which expresses his spiritual superiority over Pharaoh.
Genesis 47:10, “And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from his presence.”
Once again, the statement “Jacob blessed Pharaoh” expresses Jacob’s Spirit inspired desire that God would endue Pharaoh with power for success, prosperity, fecundity (offspring in great numbers) and longevity since Pharaoh had blessed his family who were descendants of Abraham.
In Genesis 47:10, the verb barakh does “not” refer to a “farewell” since if it was we would expect Joseph’s brothers to have done the same, which they did not.
Up to this point when Jacob met Joseph, Jacob did not see the hand of God in his adversity as his son Joseph did.
The more Jacob experienced adversity through his own bad decisions, the more fearful and protective he became while on the other hand, the more undeserved suffering that Joseph experienced the more forgiving he became and eager to serve others, even at his own expense.
In his adversity Joseph grew closer to God, while Jacob drifted farther and farther away from his relationship with God.
In this interview with Pharaoh all of these bitter experiences may have begun to come into focus for Jacob in that he realized that he was wrong for concluding to his sons that “all these things are against me” (42:36) since his fears did not conform to the facts.
Therefore, this audience with Pharaoh was a turning point in Jacob’s life in that just as his sons were brought through the providence of God to the place where they acknowledged their sins and obeyed God so Jacob seems to have done the same here.
At this point in his life, I believe Jacob recognized that most of his suffering and sorrow was the result of his own bad decisions, and has now begun to see God and the way that He deals with His people in an entirely different perspective.
The people that Jacob tried to withhold and protect, namely Rachel, Joseph, Benjamin were the very people that were taken from him.
It was only by giving up Benjamin that he gained him and by giving up Benjamin he preserved not only Benjamin’s life, but that of his entire family.
Up to this point in Jacob’s life, we have seen that all the blessings that he and his family received were the result of God’s grace policy and were entirely unmerited because of his bad decisions.
Grace is all that God is free to do in giving us eternal salvation and imparting unmerited blessings to us based upon the merits of Christ and His death on the Cross-and our eternal union with Him.
Grace is God treating us in a manner that we don’t deserve and excludes any human works in order to acquire eternal salvation or blessing from God.
Grace means that God saved us and blessed us despite ourselves and not according to anything that we do and gives the Creator all the credit and the creature none.
Therefore, the unmerited blessings that Jacob received manifested that the fulfillment of the promises of the Abrahamic covenant were unconditional meaning that its fulfillment depended upon the faithfulness of God exclusively.
It is at this point in his life where Jacob was advanced in age and helpless and hopeless that he realized the true meaning of grace.
Bob Deffinbaugh gives an excellent comment regarding Jacob at this point in his life, he writes, “I find it noteworthy to observe that while the book of Genesis covers a period of thousands of years, almost half of the book is devoted to the life and times of Jacob. Abraham, the great man of faith, spans chapters 11 24; Isaac, chapters 21 35; Joseph, chapters 30 50; but Jacob outspans them all, from chapter 25 through chapter 50. Why is it that Joseph was such a great and godly man, and yet he had no tribe named after him? Why did he not have a son whose heir would be the priestly line? Why did Messiah not come forth from Joseph rather than Judah? I do not know, other than the fact that God chooses to accomplish His purposes through men like Jacob and Judah, and you and me. If Joseph is a type of Christ, then surely Jacob is a type of most Christians. One reason why so much time and space is allotted to Jacob (in my opinion) is that it took this long for him to grasp the matters of salvation and sanctification.” (The Book of Genesis, page 363; Biblical Studies, 1997).