2873.) Genesis 50

. . . of all the beginnings of the book of Genesis.

Genesis 50   (NRSV)

Then Joseph threw himself on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. ²Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel; ³they spent forty days in doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

Jacob was mourned for 70 days among the whole nation of Egypt. A royal mourning period in Egypt was 72 days. Jacob was obviously a greatly honored man.

–David Guzik

⁴When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph addressed the household of Pharaoh, “If now I have found favor with you, please speak to Pharaoh as follows: ⁵My father made me swear an oath; he said, ‘I am about to die. In the tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.’ Now therefore let me go up, so that I may bury my father; then I will return.”

⁶Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

⁷So Joseph went up to bury his father.

Luther remarks that there is no burial recorded in the Scriptures quite as honorable as this or with such wealth of detail.

With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. ⁹Both chariots and charioteers went up with him. It was a very great company.

¹⁰When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed a time of mourning for his father seven days. ¹¹When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. ¹²Thus his sons did for him as he had instructed them. ¹³They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, the field near Mamre, which Abraham bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.

So Jacob is buried alongside Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah. 

¹⁴After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

Jacob’s sons burying their father, from the “Psalter of St. Louis,” thirteenth century

Joseph Forgives His Brothers

¹⁵Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?”

¹⁶So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, ¹⁷‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.”

Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.”

¹⁹But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? ²⁰Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. ²¹So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.

Romans 8:28 (Amplified Bible)

We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.

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Music:

Are we able to be so generous with those who have hurt us, so trusting in a God who sometimes takes a long time to make things right? Oh, that I would be able to live my life in God’s grace and peace, and leave the judgment to Him!  HERE  is  “My Life Is in You, Lord.”

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Joseph’s Last Days and Death

²²So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s household; and Joseph lived one hundred ten years. ²³Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation; the children of Machir son of Manasseh were also born on Joseph’s knees. ²⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die; but God will surely come to you, and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

Joseph was the human agent most responsible for bringing this family to Egypt. Yet he knew that because of the covenant God had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, this would not be their resting place. They were headed — eventually — back to Canaan.

²⁵So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.” ²⁶And Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old; he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Joseph’s remains were taken to Canaan four hundred year later, and he was buried at Shechem:

Exodus 13:19 (NIV)

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”

Joshua 24:32 (NIV)

And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.

Reflection:

The book of Genesis begins with Creation, the Fall, the Flood, and the origin of nations at the Tower of Babel. Next come the wonderful stories of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and his family, and Joseph.

What have you learned as you have been “DWELLING in the Word” in Genesis?

Please write a comment below!

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

neon sign.  https://pinkmsg.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/the-end1.jpg

map.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/jacobs-life-map1.jpg?w=434&h=320

Jacob’s burial.  https://www.chronologicalbibleblog.com/2018/01/page/2/

Egyptian coffin.  http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/unpacking/Resources/mumprnt.jpg

cartoon.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/genesis-cartoon.jpg?w=450

2872.) Genesis 49

Genesis 49  (NRSV)

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

Then Jacob called his sons, and said: “Gather around, that I may tell you what will happen to you in days to come. ²Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father.

Some of these are not so much “blessings” as they are prophecies regarding what God will do with these tribes in the future.

–all comments from David Guzik

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the first fruits of my vigor, excelling in rank and excelling in power. ⁴Unstable as water, you shall no longer excel because you went up onto your father’s bed; then you defiled it—you went up onto my couch!

Reuben’s immorality with his father’s concubine Bilhah (the mother of his brothers Dan and Naphtali) is recorded in Genesis 35:22.

. . .

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. ⁶May I never come into their council; may I not be joined to their company— for in their anger they killed men, and at their whim they hamstrung oxen. ⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

The second-born son Simeon and the third-born son Levi received the same “blessing” for the same evil deed. They were instruments of cruelty when they wiped out all the men of Shechem in retaliation for the rape of their sister Dinah (Genesis 34:25-29).

. . .

⁸Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. ⁹Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion, like a lioness—who dares rouse him up? ¹⁰The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his.

The “leadership” prophecy took some 640 years to fulfill in part (with the reign of David, first of Judah’s dynasty of kings), and some 1600 years to fulfill in Jesus.

¹¹Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes; ¹²his eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

Revelation 5:4-5 (NIV)

I wept and wept because no one was found
who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.
Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep!
See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.
He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

. . .

¹³Zebulun shall settle at the shore of the sea; he shall be a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon.

The tribe of Zebulun seems to settle the piece of land sitting between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee. Literally, shall dwell by the haven of the sea can be rendered “looking towards the sea.” Zebulun did look to the sea, both to the East and West.

. . .

¹⁴Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds; ¹⁵he saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant; so he bowed his shoulder to the burden, and became a slave at forced labor.

Issachar was a large tribe — third in size according to the Numbers 26 census. Because of their size and abundance, they were often targets of oppressive foreign armies who put them into servitude. Thus, they became a band of slaves.

. . .

¹⁶Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷Dan shall be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider falls backward.

The tribe of Dan did judge his people. They supplied one of the most prominent of the Judges, Samson (Judges 13:2). But Dan was a troublesome tribe. They introduced idolatry into Israel (Judges 18:30). Jeroboam set up one of his idolatrous golden calves in Dan (1 Kings 12:26-30) and later Dan became a center of idol worship in Israel (Amos 8:14).

. . .

¹⁸I wait for your salvation, O Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:9   (NRSV)

For God has destined us . . .  for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹⁹Gad shall be raided by raiders, but he shall raid at their heels.

The tribe of Gad supplied many fine troops for David (1 Chronicles 12:14).

. . .

²⁰Asher’s food shall be rich, and he shall provide royal delicacies.

In Deuteronomy 33:24, Moses again took up this prophecy regarding Asher: Asher is most blessed of sons; let him be favored by his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil.

. . .

²¹Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears lovely fawns.

Naphtali’s land was in a key portion near the Sea of Galilee, the region where Jesus did much of His teaching and ministry.

Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned” (Matthew 4:12-16).

. . .

²²Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. ²³The archers fiercely attacked him; they shot at him and pressed him hard. ²⁴Yet his bow remained taut, and his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, ²⁵by the God of your father, who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. ²⁶The blessings of your father are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains, the bounties of the everlasting hills; may they be on the head of Joseph, on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

In his words about Joseph, Jacob listed five great titles for God. These titles show that Jacob did come to an understanding of who God is.

• The Mighty God of Jacob
• The Shepherd
• The Stone of Israel
• The God of your father
• The Almighty

. . .

²⁷Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey, and at evening dividing the spoil.”

This was the tribe with a reputation for fierceness. To see the great extent of this, look at Ehud (Judges 3:15-23), Saul (1 Samuel 9:1, 14:47-52), and Paul (Acts 8:1-3). The cruelty of the tribe in general is seen in Judges 19 and 20.

. . .

²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, blessing each one of them with a suitable blessing.

Jacob’s Death and Burial

²⁹Then he charged them, saying to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors—in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰in the cave in the field at Machpelah, near Mamre, in the land of Canaan, in the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. ³¹There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried; and there I buried Leah— ³²the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.” ³³When Jacob ended his charge to his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

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Words:

HERE  is a set of instructions for blessing your children in the Jewish way.  “Blessing Your Children”  by Rabbi Wyne.

Music:

Our song today is “Day by Day”  by Carolina Sandell Berg (1832-1903), the “Fannie Crosby of Sweden.”  She wrote this hymn shortly after she witnessed the death of her father in a boating accident.   HERE  it is sung by the Antrim Mennonite Choir from Antrim, Ohio.  (This video is a slow starter; the music doesn’t begin until you are 17 seconds in.)

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Last will and testament.   http://michprobate.com/practice_areas/decendents-estate/

water drop.    http://realitypod.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Aquagenic-Urticaria.jpg

sword.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/viking_sword_01.jpg

lion.  https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/watch-escaped-lions-spotted-on-r505-near-makwassie-video/

ship.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/guernsey/content/images/2004/07/27/cog_ship_203x152.jpg

donkey.  https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/dead-horse-pompeii-was-actually-donkey

snake.    http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/photos/others/grass-snake-32959.jpg

raider logo (haha).   http://content.sportslogos.net/logos/7/585/full/2341.gif

cupcakes.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cupcake1.png

doe with fawn.     https://www.wvgazettemail.com/outdoors/west-virginia-authorities-warn-against-handling-wild-babies/article_e52289bb-63d2-5e0d-8669-7eae433b76e0.html

grapes on vine.  https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/grapes-on-vine.jpg

wolf.   https://schoolof1.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/wolf11.jpg

2871.) Genesis 48

“Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Children” by Shoshanna Brombacher, 2008

Genesis 48   (NRSV)

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons

After this Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” he summoned his strength and sat up in bed.

³And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and he blessed me, ⁴and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers; I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for a perpetual holding.’ ⁵Therefore your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are now mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are.

Jacob’s adoption of Manasseh and Ephraim explains why there is some confusion about the 12 tribes and why they are often listed in different combinations. Because of this adoption, there are actually 13 sons of Israel. The 12 were born, but Joseph was divided into two tribes. Therefore as the tribes are listed through the Old Testament, they can be juggled and still remain 12 tribes. There are more than 20 different ways of listing the tribes in the Old Testament.

–David Guzik

⁶As for the offspring born to you after them, they shall be yours. They shall be recorded under the names of their brothers with regard to their inheritance. ⁷For when I came from Paddan, Rachel, alas, died in the land of Canaan on the way, while there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).

⁸When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”

⁹Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.”

And he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.”

¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, and he could not see well. So Joseph brought them near him; and he kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹Israel said to Joseph, “I did not expect to see your face; and here God has let me see your children also.”

¹²Then Joseph removed them from his father’s knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. ¹³Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them near him. ¹⁴But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

“Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons” by graphic artist Duncan Long.

from Whispers of His Power,
by Amy Carmichael

Genesis 48:14 (KJV) — And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

Psalm 78:72 (KJV) — So he . . . guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

“Guiding his hands wittingly.” Do we ever read this story without thinking of the mean and faithless scheming of Genesis 27 (when Jacob, as he was then known, disguised himself to steal the blessing meant for Esau)? Israel must have thought of it. He must have felt humbly and sorrowfully how needless it all was.

There is a wonderful sense of release when we understand that we need never plan for ourselves, never try to twist circumstances so that our wishes shall come to pass. We have only one thing to do, such a happy, peaceful thing that we can never be glad enough and grateful enough for it. We have only to commit ourselves and our ways to Him who guides us by the skillfulness of His Hands.

¹⁵He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my ancestors Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, ¹⁶the angel who has redeemed me from all harm, bless the boys; and in them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my ancestors Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude on the earth.”

“Jacob Blessing Ephraim and Manasseh” by American artist Benjamin West, 1768 (Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio)

Hear Jacob proclaiming his faith! His life is not the accumulation of his successes, but of the Lord’s faithfulness to him.

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father! Since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.”

“Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons” by Rembrandt, 1656 (Kassel, Germany)

¹⁹But his father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.” ²⁰So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will invoke blessings, saying, ‘God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.’“ So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. ²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your ancestors.

This completes a wonderful work regarding Jacob’s recognition of God’s presence his life.

• I am with you (Genesis 28:15): God gives the young believer every possible assurance of His presence and grace

• I will be with you (Genesis 31:3): God expects the growing believer to trust He will be with us, even when we only have the promise of His presence

• God . . . has been with me (Genesis 31:5): God gives a glorious testimony to the mature believer, able to say how God has been with us, even when we haven’t felt His presence in the way we wished

• God will be with you (Genesis 48:21): God gives the mature believer the opportunity to encourage others with the promise of God’s presence

–David Guzik

²²I now give to you one portion more than to your brothers, the portion that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.”

The promise of another inheritance,
from 1 Peter 1:3-6 (NLT)

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,  and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.  And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

So be truly glad.

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Music:

I love the idea of blessing our children and grandchildren, as we have seen Abraham and Isaac and Jacob do in these stories of Genesis. Of course, we often ask God to bless us — yet it will be our great joy in heaven to bless God!  HERE  Phillips, Craig & Dean sing “When The Stars Burn Down (Blessing and Honor).”

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Brombacher.   http://www.chabad.org/media/images/255/ANJh2556075.jp

Long.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/48-jacob-jos-sons-duncanlong71.jpg?w=450

West.    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Jacob_Blessing_Ephraim_and_Manasseh,_by_Benjamin_West.jpg

Rembrandt.  http://liberty92.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/jacob_blessing_the_children_of_joseph-rembrandt1.jpg

2870.) Genesis 47

Did Jacob take a trip to see the pyramids? Some of them were already several centuries old.

Genesis 47   (NRSV)

So Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; they are now in the land of Goshen.” ²From among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh.

³Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?”

And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our ancestors were.” ⁴They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to reside as aliens in the land; for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, we ask you, let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.”

⁵Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ⁶The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land; let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know that there are capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

Jacob blesses Pharaoh

⁷Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob, and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

⁸Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the years of your life?”

⁹Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my earthly sojourn are one hundred thirty; few and hard have been the years of my life. They do not compare with the years of the life of my ancestors during their long sojourn.” ¹⁰Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

I find it interesting that Pharaoh, himself considered a god, would accept a blessing via Jacob of another God.

¹¹Joseph settled his father and his brothers, and granted them a holding in the land of Egypt, in the best part of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had instructed. ¹²And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents.

The Famine in Egypt

¹³Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ¹⁴Joseph collected all the money to be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁵When the money from the land of Egypt and from the land of Canaan was spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us food! Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.”

¹⁶And Joseph answered, “Give me your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” ¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph; and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. That year he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock.

wallpainting in the tomb of Mennah under Pharaoh Thutmosis iv.

Joseph buys all the money, land, and people under Pharaoh in exchange for food. He makes them slaves of Pharaoh! Yet the people of Egypt regard Joseph not as a tyrant, but as a savior. 

“What is a man’s life worth?” Jesus asked . . .

¹⁸When that year was ended, they came to him the following year, and said to him, “We can not hide from my lord that our money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹Shall we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food. We with our land will become slaves to Pharaoh; just give us seed, so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”

. . . When I was a child, we sometimes visited my uncle and his family in Chicago for Thanksgiving or Christmas. He was a surgeon, and always the house was filled with many very large bouquets of flowers and several huge gift baskets of food. When I asked my mother why these things were there (such gifts did not show up at our house!), she told me that my uncle had saved these people’s lives with his medical work, and how do you say “Thank you” for getting your life back? A bouquet of flowers is a small thing in comparison.

This memory has come back to me many times, and I think — Who has saved my/your life, not just for a few human years, but for all eternity? How are we saying “Thank you” to the Lord?

²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. All the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe upon them; and the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹As for the people, he made slaves of them from one end of Egypt to the other. ²²Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh, and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh, here is seed for you; sow the land. ²⁴And at the harvests you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.”

²⁵They said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be slaves to Pharaoh.”

And we are slaves, too — slaves of this King Jesus — yet who are so free as we?

Romans 6:22 (NIV)

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

²⁶So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. The land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.

God uses Joseph’s administrative leadership to put an incredible amount of power and wealth in the hands of Egypt, making Egypt the most powerful nation in the known world. Given the choice of starving or giving up their lands, the people of Egypt (and even the people who live throughout Canaan) willingly trade away their livestock and their lands to Pharaoh in exchange for food (Gen. 47:13–19). In the process, all these people become the servants of Pharaoh, plowing Pharaoh’s fields and paying Pharaoh a heavy tax from their crops (Gen. 47:21, 23–26).

There is significant irony in this plot wrinkle. In Exodus, Pharaoh will boast as though he himself had built his empire, his power, and his wealth. So, when Moses comes to Pharaoh, claiming that the God of the poor, oppressed Hebrew people has told him to let Israel go, Pharaoh scoffs at their request.

But in Genesis 47, we realize that the source of Pharaoh’s wealth and power is actually Joseph, a son of Israel and a servant of the Living God. Everything Pharaoh had was a gift from God, despite the fact that Pharaoh saw it as clear evidence of his own power and glory.

In the same way, it can be a convicting exercise for us to audit the blessings we have received from the hand of God in order to discover the places where we have misattributed God’s gifts as evidence of our own abilities, goodness, and hard work.

–Jacob D. Gerber

The Last Days of Jacob

²⁷Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; and they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years. ²⁹When the time of Israel’s death drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor with you, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal loyally and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt. ³⁰When I lie down with my ancestors, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”

Jacob knew Egypt was not his home. He belonged in the land promised to him and his descendants and he wanted to be buried in the tomb there with his parents and grandparents. He believed and understood he was the inheritor of Abraham’s covenant.

He answered, “I will do as you have said.”

³¹And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the head of his bed.

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Music:

Egypt was not Jacob’s home. Planet Earth is not our home. This is not where we belong!

David’s (my husband’s) daughter Sarah and her two daughters belted this song out for us while we were at the beach together some years ago! Imagine a 6 year old and a 3 year old singing this song — loudly and with actions!

How can I not love it with their version in my head?!  HERE  is “Where I Belong”  by Building 429.

from Wikipedia:  Building 429 is a Christian rock band signed to Essential Records.  They were the Gospel Music Association 2005 New Artist of the Year.  Their name is derived from a Biblical passage known as Ephesians 4:29, which, in the New International Version of the Bible, reads as follows: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

pyramid in Egypt.    http://travel.smart-guide.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Pyramids-of-Egypt.jpg

Jacob blesses Pharaoh.      http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2005/images/jacob_pharaoh.jpg

wallpainting.   https://www.bibleblender.com/wp-content/uploads/wallpainting-in-tomb-of-mennah-under-pharaoh-thutmosis-iv.png

2869.) Genesis 46

Jacob and his whole family move to Egypt to be with Joseph.

Genesis 46   (NRSV)

Jacob Brings His Whole Family to Egypt

When Israel set out on his journey with all that he had and came to Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ²God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.”

³Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. ⁴I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again; and Joseph’s own hand shall close your eyes.”

Reflection:

Are you worried about your future? Do you feel anxious while facing the unclear and unknown? The promise God made to Jacob is also meant for you. Take heart and believe the Lord:  “Do not be afraid, (insert your name here), for I am God. I have good plans for you. I myself will go with you wherever you go, and even death cannot separate you from my love.”

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Music:

HERE  is a song that speaks to the divine providence of God.  “God will make a way where there seems to be no way”  by Don Moen is a very encouraging song!

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⁵Then Jacob set out from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. ⁶They also took their livestock and the goods that they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and they came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, ⁷his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters; all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.

Designs on this tapestry symbolize the sons of Jacob and their tribes.

⁸Now these are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his offspring, who came to Egypt.

Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, ⁹and the children of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

¹⁰The children of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

¹¹The children of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹²The children of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan); and the children of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

¹³The children of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Jashub, and Shimron.

¹⁴The children of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel ¹⁵(these are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, together with his daughter Dinah; in all his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three).

¹⁶The children of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷The children of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. The children of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel ¹⁸(these are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah; and these she bore to Jacob—sixteen persons).

¹⁹The children of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.

²¹The children of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard ²²(these are the children of Rachel, who were born to Jacob—fourteen persons in all).

²³The children of Dan: Hashum.

²⁴The children of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem ²⁵(these are the children of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and these she bore to Jacob—seven persons in all).

“Jacob and His Family Entering Egypt” by Willem Reuter (The Iraq Museum, Baghdad)

²⁶All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own offspring, not including the wives of his sons, were sixty-six persons in all. ²⁷The children of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two; all the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.

Jacob Settles in Goshen

²⁸Israel sent Judah ahead to Joseph to lead the way before him into Goshen. When they came to the land of Goshen, ²⁹Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. He presented himself to him, fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.

Joseph is reunited with his father, Jacob. What a reunion that must have been!

³⁰Israel said to Joseph, “I can die now, having seen for myself that you are still alive.”

³¹Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ³²The men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.’

³³When Pharaoh calls you, and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our ancestors’ —in order that you may settle in the land of Goshen, because all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians.”

Remember the musical Oklahoma? Well, the Egyptians are the farmers, and the Hebrews are the ranchers, and at this place and this time, they can’t be friends!

John 10:14-15 (ESV)

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

_________________________

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Jacob moves to Egypt.    http://www.torahfamilyliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/01046001-RLW-Genesis-46-1-Jacob-moves-to-Egypt-to-be-with-Joseph.jpg

Twelve Tribes.   https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-twelve-tribes-of-israel-5-tomi-junger.html

Reuter.   https://www.allposters.com/-sp/Jacob-and-His-Family-Entering-Egypt-Posters_i13560872_.htm?UPI=PUUKL10&PODConfigID=8880731&sOrigID=1362

Joseph is reunited with Jacob and his brothers.    http://sprngoflfe.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/joseph027.jpg?w=432

sheep and shepherd.    http://bibledaily.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/shepherd-sheep.jpg

2868.) Genesis 45

“The Recognition of Joseph by his Brothers” fresco by Peter Cornelius, 1816 (Nationalgalerie, Berlin)

Genesis 45   (NRSV)

Joseph Reveals Himself to His Brothers

No character in the drama of the book of Genesis better illustrates the fundamentals of forgiveness than Joseph, and no chapter more clearly defines and describes the essentials of forgiveness than chapter 45.

Those years which Joseph spent in slavery and prison could have been the occasion for a slow burn that might have ignited into an explosion of anger at the sight of his brothers. How angry Joseph could have been with God for getting him into such a situation. But Joseph recognized that God was with him in his sufferings and that these were from the loving hand of a sovereign God. Most of all, Joseph could have been angry with his brothers, who had callously sold him into slavery.

The high point of Joseph’s relationship with his brothers comes in a reconciliation brought about between them. This was made possible on the brothers’ part by their genuine repentance, regretting their sin with regard to Joseph, and reversing their actions when a similar situation was presented with regard to Benjamin. But on Joseph’s part, reconciliation was achieved through his sincere and total forgiveness of his brothers for the evil they had committed against him.

Forgiveness is a vital part of the Christian experience. It is necessary in terms of our relationship with God:

For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
—Matthew 6:14-15

Forgiveness is also an essential part of our responsibility toward others, both friends and enemies:

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
—Ephesians 4:31-32

–Bob Deffinbaugh

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ²And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

³Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

Because of the punishment they anticipated, the great emotion of Joseph, and the total shock of learning Joseph was not only alive but right in front of them, the brothers were dismayed. The ancient Hebrew word for dismayed (bahal) actually means, “amazed” or “frightened” or even “terrified.”

—David Guzik

⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer.

He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. ⁷God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.

All Joseph’s sorrows were for a purpose. God used them to preserve his family and provide the conditions for it to become a nation. Joseph was a victim of men, but God turned it around for His glory. And remember, if this family does not go into Egypt, then they assimilate among the pagan tribes of the Promised Land and cease to become a distinctive people. God had to put them in a place where they could grow in numbers, yet stay a distinctive nation.

–David Guzik

^8″So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹Hurry 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. ¹⁰You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. ¹¹I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.’

¹²“And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. ¹³You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” ¹⁴Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. ¹⁵And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

What a touching scene! I think of Odysseus telling Telemachus, “I am your father.” I think of children welcoming home their father or mother from war in a distant land. I think of Jesus telling the woman at the well, “I am the Messiah.” Suddenly the world is turned right side up! Wonder and joy!

What meeting or reunion are you longing for? Remember, “Nothing is impossible with God”  (Luke 1:37).

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Music:

HERE  is such a warm and friendly song! “It’s Always Better When We’re Together” by Jack Johnson, a former favorite of my son Sean.

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¹⁶When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” Pharaoh and his servants were pleased. ¹⁷Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your animals and go back to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸Take your father and your households and come to me, so that I may give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you may enjoy the fat of the land.’

^19″You are further charged to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. ²⁰Give no thought to your possessions, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’“

Psalm 37:18-19 (NIV)

The days of the blameless are known to the LORD,
and their inheritance will endure forever.

In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

²¹The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons according to the instruction of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey. ²²To each one of them he gave a set of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five sets of garments. ²³To his father he sent the following: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. ²⁴Then he sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Do not quarrel along the way.”

²⁵So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. ²⁶And they told him, “Joseph is still alive! He is even ruler over all the land of Egypt.” He was stunned; he could not believe them. ²⁷But when they told him all the words of Joseph that he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸Israel said, “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die.”

Luke 15:22-24 (NIV)

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”

_________________________

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Cornelius.  http://www.wga.hu/art/c/corneliu/fresco2.jpg

reconciliation.   https://www.comolakeunitedchurch.com/news/genesis-45-1-15

Joseph hugs his brother.    http://www.bibleexplained.com/moses/Gene/Joseph-bro.jpg

“The Prodigal Son” by Liz Lemon Swindle.   http://www.artprints.com/images/ARTISTS/142-swindle/large/ls00033.jpg

2867.) Genesis 44

“Joseph’s cup is found in Benjamin’s sack” by New York-based Dutch artist Shoshanna Brombacher, 2008

Genesis 44   (NRSV)

Joseph Detains Benjamin

Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the top of his sack. ²Put my cup, the silver cup, in the top of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.

Joseph’s silver cup is reinterpreted as a chalice for the blood of Christ at Holy Communion.

³As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. ⁴When they had gone only a short distance from the city, Joseph said to his steward, “Go, follow after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you returned evil for good? Why have you stolen my silver cup? ⁵Is it not from this that my lord drinks? Does he not indeed use it for divination? You have done wrong in doing this.’“

⁶When he overtook them, he repeated these words to them. ⁷They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing! ⁸Look, the money that we found at the top of our sacks, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan; why then would we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? ⁹Should it be found with any one of your servants, let him die; moreover the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”

The brothers confidently stated they they did not have the cup. This shows that they had a healthy trust in each other. If they did not trust each other they would have immediately wondered which brother stole the cup. They were so confident they did not have the cup (and trusted each other so much), they declared the thief should be killed and all the others taken as slaves.

–David Guzik

¹⁰He said, “Even so; in accordance with your words, let it be: he with whom it is found shall become my slave, but the rest of you shall go free.”

¹¹Then each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack. ¹²He searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.

“Joseph’s Brothers Find the Silver Goblet in Benjamin’s Sack” by Alexander Ivanov, 1861 (Tretjakov Gallery, Moscow)

¹³At this they tore their clothes. Then each one loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

When Joseph was taken as a slave, the brothers allowed him to go and thought nothing of it. Now they are willing to stand with Benjamin as he faces slavery or death. This demonstrates a significant change in the hearts and attitudes of Joseph’s brothers.

¹⁴Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house while he was still there; and they fell to the ground before him. ¹⁵Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that one such as I can practice divination?”

¹⁶And Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; here we are then, my lord’s slaves, both we and also the one in whose possession the cup has been found.”

With these words, Judah revealed God’s work among the brothers. In Judah’s mind, the brothers are now destined to live the rest of their lives as slaves in Egypt because they sold Joseph as a slave some 20 years before.

¹⁷But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the one in whose possession the cup was found shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Judah Pleads for Benjamin’s Release

¹⁸Then Judah stepped up to him and said,

Donald Gray Barnhouse (pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, PA from 1927 to 1960) called this speech of Judah “the most moving address in all the Word of God.”

“O my lord, let your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are like Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ ²⁰And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead; he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’

^21″Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²²We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ ²³Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’ ²⁴When we went back to your servant my father we told him the words of my lord.

^25″And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ ²⁶we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother goes with us, will we go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons; ²⁸one left me, and I said, Surely he has been torn to pieces; and I have never seen him since. ²⁹If you take this one also from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to Sheol.’

“Old father, young son” by Rembrandt

^30″Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, ³¹when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die; and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. ³²For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame in the sight of my father all my life.’ ³³Now therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord in place of the boy; and let the boy go back with his brothers. ³⁴For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the suffering that would come upon my father.”

Judah shines forth as one willing to be a substitutionary sacrifice out of love for his father and for his brothers. Remember, Judah was the one who suggested selling Joseph 20 years earlier (Genesis 37:26-27). Here he willingly offers to lay down his life for his brother.

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Music:

HERE  is “Have Mercy on Me, O Lord God,” by Johann Sebastian Bach (BWV 721), played by American organ virtuoso Carlo Curley.  The music almost sounds like a beating heart — “Have mercy, Lord, my sin forgive, for Thy long-suffering is great!”

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from John Wesley’s Notes on the Bible:

Now, had Joseph been, as Judah supposed, an utter stranger to the family, yet even common humanity could not but be wrought upon by such powerful reasonings as these;  for nothing could be said more moving, more tender;  it was enough to melt a heart of stone:  but to Joseph, who was nearer a-kin to Benjamin than Judah himself, and who, at this time, felt a greater passion for him and his aged father, than Judah did, nothing could be more pleasingly nor more happily said. Neither Jacob nor Benjamin needed an intercessor with Joseph, for he himself loved them.

_________________________

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Brombacher.  http://www.chabad.org/media/images/255/OmsD2556072.jpg

silver chalice.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/chalice.png?w=348&h=633

Ivanov.    http://static.artbible.info/large/jozef_beker.jpg

Judah pleads for Benjamin’s release.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/36-judah-pleads-for-ben.gif?w=450

Rembrandt.   http://www.stanfieldfineart.com/common/imgpiece.php?galleryId=18C5-ECFH-6E59&titleId=2270&whichimage=1

2864.) Genesis 43

The Ballroom of Buckingham Palace was set up for a State Banquet and then opened to tourists in the summer of 2008. The actual experience of eating with the Queen at such an event is reserved for only a small number of people. Certainly Joseph’s brothers never imagined that they would have a similar experience. And for us — just imagine what it will be like when Revelation 19:9 comes true: “Then the angel said to me, ‘Write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”‘”

Genesis 43   (NRSV)

The Brothers Come Again, Bringing Benjamin

Now the famine was severe in the land. ²And when they had eaten up the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little more food.”

³But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food; ⁵but if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’“

⁶Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?”

⁷They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

⁸Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and let us be on our way, so that we may live and not die—you and we and also our little ones. ⁹I myself will be surety for him; you can hold me accountable for him.

Judah put his own life on the line as a guarantee for Benjamin. This is the first good thing we see Judah doing. Previously, he was the one who had proposed the sale of Joseph. He was also the one who wronged his daughter-in-law Tamar and had sex with her as a prostitute.

If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”

¹¹Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry them down as a present to the man—a little balm and a little honey, gum, resin, pistachio nuts, and almonds.

This gift basket includes roasted almonds, roasted pistachios, and honey peanut butter crunch.

¹²Take double the money with you.

They took double money with them to Egypt to buy grain and the Egyptian leader’s favor. Since ten brothers went to Egypt and they took double money, there were 20 units of money. This answers exactly to the 20 pieces of silver they sold Joseph for (Genesis 37:28). The words for silver and money are the same.

–David Guzik

Carry back with you the money that was returned in the top of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³Take your brother also, and be on your way again to the man; ¹⁴may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, so that he may send back your other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

Proverbs 18:16 (NLT)

Giving a gift can open doors;
it gives access to important people!

¹⁵So the men took the present, and they took double the money with them, as well as Benjamin. Then they went on their way down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.”

Revelation 3:20 (ESV)

Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

¹⁷The man did as Joseph said, and brought the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸Now the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house, and they said, “It is because of the money, replaced in our sacks the first time, that we have been brought in, so that he may have an opportunity to fall upon us, to make slaves of us and take our donkeys.”

Yes! Yes! Joseph, the second-most powerful man in Egypt, wants to take their donkeys! — How skewed our outlook can become when all we think about is ourselves! Any “donkeys” in your world recently?

¹⁹So they went up to the steward of Joseph’s house and spoke with him at the entrance to the house. ²⁰They said, “Oh, my lord, we came down the first time to buy food; ²¹and when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each one’s money in the top of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it back with us. ²²Moreover we have brought down with us additional money to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.”

²³He replied, “Rest assured, do not be afraid; your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your sacks for you; I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴When the steward had brought the men into Joseph’s house, and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder, ²⁵they made the present ready for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they had heard that they would dine there.

²⁶When Joseph came home, they brought him the present that they had carried into the house, and bowed to the ground before him.

“Joseph and his brothers” a woodcarving by contemporary Canadian artist Robert Whitehead

²⁷He inquired about their welfare, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

²⁸They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and did obeisance.

²⁹Then he looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” ³⁰With that, Joseph hurried out, because he was overcome with affection for his brother, and he was about to weep. So he went into a private room and wept there. ³¹Then he washed his face and came out; and controlling himself he said, “Serve the meal.”

Delicious Egyptian food! Clockwise from top: pita bread, baba ghanoush, hummus, falafels with mixed vegetable salad

³²They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³When they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, the men looked at one another in amazement. ³⁴Portions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

–William Cowper

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Music:

HERE  is a very familiar table grace, “Be Present at our Table, Lord,”  sung by the Purduettes, a women’s choir from Purdue University.

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Buckingham Palace banquet table.    https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/gen-43-banquet-table.jpg?w=450

Gift basket.  http://www.giftbasketdropshipping.com/members/images/regular/Nuts_Gift_Packs=refresher-course=SKU-GB0244-.jpg

donkeys.   http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/04/25/donkeys10d.jpg

Whitehead.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/joseph_and_brothers-wood1.jpg?w=450

Egyptian food.   http://sphinxbazaar.com/images/all-about-egypt/gourmet-egypt/gourmet_egypt_large/pharos-food_large.jpg

2863.) Genesis 42

“Joseph’s Brothers Beg for Help” by Pontormo, 1515 (National Gallery, London)

Genesis 42   (NRSV)

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another?

Why indeed? Once Dad starts talking about Egypt, the sons start remembering Joseph’s cries as they sent him off as a slave to Egypt years ago. Assaulted by guilt and fear, they are in bondage to their sin.

²I have heard,” he said, “that there is grain in Egypt; go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.”

³So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he feared that harm might come to him. ⁵Thus the sons of Israel were among the other people who came to buy grain, for the famine had reached the land of Canaan.

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Music:

What a difference a day makes! Certainly the brothers, and Joseph, and Jacob, could hardly have envisioned the upcoming events of the next few days and weeks! And what a wonderful promise the Lord gives us in Matthew 28:20 — “I am with you always.” We have nothing to fear, since the Lord will lead us into and through each new day.  HERE  is “Lead Me, Lord”  sung by Gary Valenciano.

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⁶Now Joseph was governor over the land; it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.

Obviously, this reminded Joseph of the dream he had some 20 years before, that his brothers would bow down to him (Genesis 37:5-8).

When Joseph’s brothers plotted murder against him and sold him into slavery, they did it specifically attempting to defeat his dreams (Genesis 37:19-20). Instead, by sending Joseph to Egypt, they provided the way the dreams would be fulfilled.

The great and glorious truth of God’s providence is He can and does use the evil actions of man towards us to further His good plan. This never excuses man’s evil, but it means God’s wisdom and goodness are greater than man’s evil. Surely the wrath of man shall praise You (Psalm 76:10).

–David Guzik

⁷When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said.

They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

⁸Although Joseph had recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. ⁹Joseph also remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them.

He said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land!”

Meaning, you are spying to see if Egypt is vulnerable to attack.

¹⁰They said to him, “No, my lord; your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹We are all sons of one man; we are honest men; your servants have never been spies.”

¹²But he said to them, “No, you have come to see the nakedness of the land!” ¹³They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of a certain man in the land of Canaan; the youngest, however, is now with our father, and one is no more.”

“We are honest men.”
“One brother is no more.”
They have told these lies to themselves so often that now they almost believe them.

¹⁴But Joseph said to them, “It is just as I have said to you; you are spies! ¹⁵Here is how you shall be tested: as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here! ¹⁶Let one of you go and bring your brother, while the rest of you remain in prison, in order that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you; or else, as Pharaoh lives, surely you are spies.” ¹⁷And he put them all together in prison for three days.

¹⁸On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: ¹⁹if you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here where you are imprisoned. The rest of you shall go and carry grain for the famine of your households, ²⁰and bring your youngest brother to me. Thus your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they agreed to do so.

Yes, three days in prison in Egypt did the trick for the brothers!

²¹They said to one another, “Alas, we are paying the penalty for what we did to our brother; we saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this anguish has come upon us.”

The power of a guilty conscience! The United States government has something called the Conscience Fund (created in 1811), which collects money people send in because they know they cheated the government in some way. People have sent in money because they took army blankets for souvenirs or cheated on income tax. But our consciences are notoriously weak or corrupt. One man wrote the IRS and said, “I cheated on my taxes and can’t sleep at night. Here is a check for $100. If I still can’t sleep, I’ll send the rest I owe.”

–David Guzik

²²Then Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to wrong the boy? But you would not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.”

“Joseph sold into slavery by his brothers” by Karoly Ferenczy, 1900 (Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest)

²³They did not know that Joseph understood them, since he spoke with them through an interpreter. ²⁴He turned away from them and wept; then he returned and spoke to them. And he picked out Simeon and had him bound before their eyes.

²⁵Joseph then gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. This was done for them.

Joseph’s Brothers Return to Canaan

²⁶They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed. ²⁷When one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money at the top of the sack. ²⁸He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; here it is in my sack!” At this they lost heart and turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰“The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us, and charged us with spying on the land. ³¹But we said to him, ‘We are honest men,

Well, I guess that depends on how one defines “honest”!

we are not spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’

^33″Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. ³⁴Bring your youngest brother to me, and I shall know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will release your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’“

³⁵As they were emptying their sacks, there in each one’s sack was his bag of money. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed. ³⁶And their father Jacob said to them, “I am the one you have bereaved of children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has happened to me!”

Genesis 42:36 (NIV)

Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!”

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 4.

Hamlet:  “How all occasions do inform against me . . .”

Romans 8:31-32 (NIV)

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him,  graciously give us all things?

³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

³⁸But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should come to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Pontormo.   http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/upload/img/pontormo-josephs-brothers-beg-help-NG6453-fm.jpg

“Joseph’s Dreams.”   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/josephs_dreams1.jpg

guilty conscience.   https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a9/db/3d/a9db3dd58fc7909a201257747cb48f1b.jpg

Ferenczy.   http://www.hung-art.hu/kep/f/ferenc_k/muvek/2/feren212.jpg

2862.) Genesis 41

“Pharaoh’s Dream” fractal art by contemporary American artist Doug Harrington

Genesis 41  (NRSV)

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dream

After two whole years,

The royal butler forgot about Joseph, and Joseph remained  in prison for two more years. What good was God building into Joseph’s soul during this long wait? During the times we think God isn’t doing anything, He is doing the work most important to Him: developing our character and transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ.

Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, ²and there came up out of the Nile seven sleek and fat cows, and they grazed in the reed grass. ³Then seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. ⁴The ugly and thin cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. And Pharaoh awoke.

⁵Then he fell asleep and dreamed a second time; seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. ⁶Then seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them. ⁷The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and it was a dream. ⁸In the morning his spirit was troubled; so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my faults today. ¹⁰Once Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard. ¹¹We dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own meaning. ¹²A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each according to his dream. ¹³As he interpreted to us, so it turned out; I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was hurriedly brought out of the dungeon. When he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. ¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

¹⁶Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not I; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

To God be the glory!

cows grazing on the banks of the Nile

¹⁷Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile; ¹⁸and seven cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. ¹⁹Then seven other cows came up after them, poor, very ugly, and thin. Never had I seen such ugly ones in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰The thin and ugly cows ate up the first seven fat cows, ²¹but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had done so, for they were still as ugly as before. Then I awoke.

^22″I fell asleep a second time and I saw in my dream seven ears of grain, full and good, growing on one stalk, ²³and seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouting after them; ²⁴and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. But when I told it to the magicians, there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. ²⁷The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, as are the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind. They are seven years of famine.

²⁸It is as I told Pharaoh; God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. ³⁰After them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; the famine will consume the land. ³¹The plenty will no longer be known in the land because of the famine that will follow, for it will be very grievous. ³²And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.

³³Now therefore let Pharaoh select a man who is discerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land, and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plenteous years. ³⁵Let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and lay up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ³⁶That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to befall the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

Joseph shows both his boldness and his gift of administration. No responsible leader would present such news without also suggesting a plan to meet the coming crisis.

Joseph’s Rise to Power

³⁷The proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. ³⁸Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find anyone else like this—one in whom is the spirit of God?”

³⁹So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. ⁴⁰You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command; only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.”

. . . thus making Joseph the straightest man in the Bible, since Pharaoh made a ruler out of him . . . hahaha . . .

⁴¹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴²Removing his signet ring from his hand, Pharaoh put it on Joseph’s hand; he arrayed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³He had him ride in the chariot of his second-in-command; and they cried out in front of him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴Moreover Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. Thus Joseph gained authority over the land of Egypt.

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Music:

HERE  is “Song of the King (Seven Fat Cows)” from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. If you have not seen this musical, get a copy — it is a lot of fun!

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Harvest in Egypt, from the tomb of Sennedjem, Thebes, ca. 1200 BC.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went through all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷During the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly. ⁴⁸He gathered up all the food of the seven years when there was plenty in the land of Egypt, and stored up food in the cities; he stored up in every city the food from the fields around it. ⁴⁹So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance—like the sand of the sea—that he stopped measuring it; it was beyond measure.

“Grain bins in a spring wheat field” photograph by Dave Reede

⁵⁰Before the years of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. ⁵¹Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” ⁵²The second he named Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortunes.”

From his Egyptian wife, Joseph fathered Manasseh, whose name means “forgetfulness.” This was because God made Joseph to forget all the previous pain and trial in his life. His second son is Ephraim, which means “fruitfulness,” because God made Joseph fruitful in Egypt.

We can’t be doubly fruitful until we are also forgetting. In his book The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis described hell as a place where no one forgets anything, remembering every slight, every cruel exchange of words, every wrong ever done to them, and everybody is utterly unforgiving. But in heaven all these things are put away because all things have become new.

Joseph did not forget the faith of his fathers even though he rose to great glory in Egypt and had an Egyptian wife. As a sign of this, his children were given Hebrew names, not Egyptian names.

–David Guzik

⁵³The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end; ⁵⁴and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.”

⁵⁶And since the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷Moreover, all the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine became severe throughout the world.

“Joseph, Overseer of the Pharaoh’s Granaries” by Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1874 (Dahesh Museum of Art, New York City)

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Harrington.   https://dwellingintheword.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/phar-dream-fractaljpg1.jpg?w=450

cows and wheat watercolor.   https://sincetimebegan.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/pharaohs-dream.gif

cows.  http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/2600906207_820c4d70b8.jpg?v=0

wheat.   http://www.infiniteunknown.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/wheat-beautiful.jpg

ruler.  http://iruler.net/ruler_0_10.jpg

Egypt harvest.   http://www.ancientegyptmagazine.co.uk/images/41permesut1.jpg

Reede.   http://www.davereedephoto.mb.ca/photoslg/wheat_spring_tiger_hills.jpg

Alma-Tadema.    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Joseph_Overseer_of_the_Pharaohs_Granaries.jpg