I.
Israel
a.
Genesis
47:1 – Then Joseph came and
told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their
herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold,
they [are] in the land of Goshen.
§
Joseph acting as
advocate before Pharaoh
§
Could Israel Goshen
§
Matthew 10:32 - Whosoever
therefore shall confess me before men, him
will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him
will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
b.
Genesis
47:2 – And he took some of
his brethren, [even] five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.
§
Another reference
to 5, another reference to grace
§
Joseph did not
present all 11 of his brothers, but 5. Similarly
the parable of the 10 virgins, only 5 were prepared to go into the marriage.
c.
Genesis
47:3 – And Pharaoh said unto
his brethren, What [is] your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy
servants [are] shepherds, both we, [and] also our fathers.
§
Precisely as
Joseph had correctly predicted the first question from Pharaoh, Joseph shows
that he and Pharaoh are of one mind.
o
John 10:30 - I
and [my] Father are one.
o
This principle
comes through in many examples today…when two people spend enough time
together, getting to know and understand the wishes of the other it’s natural
for them to be inclined to think like the other and pursue the wishes of the
other. i.e. Boss, employee
relationships, friendships, marriages, siblings, parent/child
relationships. We see Pharaoh also
demonstrating his keen insight into Joseph’s wishes by inviting his family to Egypt
o
This seems to
demonstrate that Joseph and Pharaoh had more than just a formal relationship,
but a close relationship similar to father/son.
§
What is the
motivation behind his question? Pharaoh
likely wants to make sure that he is not taking on free-loaders but people who
can contribute to his kingdom. He
intends to incorporate them into the kingdom as laborers in his fields, tending
his flocks.
o
We should also
expect to use the giftings that God has blessed us with to serve the Kingdom
for the glory of God.
o
2 Thessalonians
3:10 - For
even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work,
neither should he eat.
o
Matthew 21:28 - But what think ye? A [certain] man had two sons;
and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
§
Family business
d.
Genesis
47:4 – They said moreover
unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no
pasture for their flocks; for the famine [is] sore in the land of Canaan: now
therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.
§
A side note here
that doesn’t seem to get noticed by the commentators, Hagar, Ishmael’s mother,
was Egyptian and likely returned to Egypt Egypt
o
Genesis 21:18 - Arise,
lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great
nation.
e.
Genesis
47:5 – And Pharaoh spake unto
Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:
f.
Genesis
47:6 – The land of Egypt [is]
before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in
the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest [any] men of activity
among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.
§
Proverbs 22:29 -
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he
shall not stand before mean [men].
§
Rulers over
Pharaoh’s cattle? But shepherds are an abomination to Egyptians? Why would Pharaoh have flocks?
g.
Genesis
47:7 – And Joseph brought in
Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
§
Blessed him
coming in
§
Jacob blessed
Pharaoh, Jacob deemed the greater?
Typically the greater blesses the lesser in rank
o
Hebrews
7:7 - And without all
contradiction the less is blessed of the better.
h.
Genesis
47:8 – And Pharaoh said unto
Jacob, How old [art] thou?
§
Leviticus 19:32 - Thou
shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and
fear thy God: I [am] the LORD.
i. Genesis 47:9 – And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of
my pilgrimage [are] an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of
the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of
the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
§
Hebrews
11:13 - These
all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar
off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
o
More than just
strangers and pilgrims here in Egypt
o
Similarly we are
all on a pilgrimage, the houses we live in are not our homes, but a tent or a
temporary dwelling. Just like the patriarchs
we are on a journey toward the promised land.
§
Psalm
90:12 - So teach [us] to number our days, that we may
apply [our] hearts unto wisdom.
§
Such an
unsettled outward state of life would have served to such a man of God as Jacob
was as an excellent type of the spiritual truth that all of a man’s life is but
a pilgrimage to the eternal home where we no longer stay for the time being as
strangers. ~Leupold
§
Few and evil?
o
It cannot
be denied that not one of his ancestors had so many hardships and disappointments
to encounter as he, who was compelled to flee from home, was treated wretchedly
and deceived by his father-in-law in a strange land, encountered the hostility
of Esau, was grieved by the rape of his daughter Dinah and by the murder
perpetrated by his sons, Simeon and Levi, was deeply pained by Reuben’s incest,
and grieved almost to the point of death by the loss of Joseph and Benjamin, as
well as by the death of Rachel. The man can well foretell that his years will
not come up to those of Abraham, who became 175 years old, or of Isaac, who
reached 180. But that the same spirit animated them as well as him appears from
this that he calls their life too a "pilgrimage." ~Commentary on
Genesis, H.C. Leupold
o
Job 14:1 - Man [that is] born of a woman [is] of few days, and
full of trouble.
·
If our days are
full of trouble, is it not a good thing that they are few?
j.
Genesis
47:10 – And Jacob blessed
Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
§
Blessed him going
out
o
In worldly wealth
Pharaoh was the greater, yet Jacob was the anointed of God and Pharaoh
recognized that
o
Matthew 10:41 - He
that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's
reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man
shall receive a righteous man's reward.
§
Deuteronomy
28:6 - Blessed [shalt] thou
[be] when thou comest in, and blessed [shalt] thou [be] when thou goest out.
II.
Joseph Fulfills
Calling (Genesis 47:11-26)
a.
Genesis
47:11 – And Joseph placed his
father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt land of Rameses
§
Psalm
37:19 - They shall not be
ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
§
Ramses – name
given later to Goshen
b.
Genesis
47:12 – And Joseph nourished
his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread,
according to [their] families.
§
Joseph provided
bread
§
Jesus is the bread of life
o
John 6:35 - And
Jesus said unto them, I am the bread
of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst.
c.
Genesis
47:13 – And [there was] no
bread in all the land; for the famine [was] very sore, so that the land of Egypt land of Canaan
§
A prophetic
picture of last days
§
Amos 8:11
- Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the
words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the
north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD,
and shall not find [it].
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