Genesis 45 & 46

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Genesis 45:1-28

“Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. 2 And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled [Hebrew “terrified”] at his presence. 4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not: 10 and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: 11 and there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty. 12 And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. 13 And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. 14 And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him. 16 And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. 17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan; 18 and take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. 19 Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. 21 And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. 23 And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way. 24 So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way. 25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, 26 and told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not. 27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: 28 and Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED543]

“We have come to the 45^th chapter in Genesis, Joseph, sold into Egypt, refusing Potiphar’s wife, in years of prison, interpreting Pharaoh’s dream, raised up over the land, encountering his brothers coming down to buy grain, and then putting them through a series of tests, no doubt praying and agonizing to see whether they have changed. And finally, as Benjamin, the one brother he has from Rachel his mother, comes down, and Joseph saying then, planting the cup in his sack of grain, saying ‘You can leave from here, I’m not going to punish the rest of you for him,’ and Judah stepping forward, reflecting of course the Messiah who is in his loins, saying ‘Take my life, let him go free, make me a bondslave forever, it’ll break the heart of my father, he can’t face that,’ Joseph seeing no doubt there’s something that he longed to see, his heart being broken, no longer able to bear the circumstances…

The Great Reunion

verse 1 of chapter 45, “Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out form me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.” No doubt when the brothers hear Zaphnath-paaneah do this, he cries out in Egyptian ‘Tell everybody to leave the house,’ they’re thinking he’s saying ‘Go get the executioners’ or something, ‘Our name is mud.’ He cries out “Cause every man to go out from me.” in Egyptian, and they all leave “And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.” (verses 1b-2) Now he’s convulsing so loud that those in the household hear him crying. His brothers still are wondering what’s going on, he had spoken Egyptian, he sent everybody away, they’re standing there no doubt frozen. “And Joseph said unto his brethren,” now again in Hebrew, “I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled [Hebrew “terrified”] at his presence.” (verse 3) they were frozen in time, ‘I am Joseph, is dad still alive?’ Troubled is an interesting word, “terrified” as the Hebrew communicates. “And Joseph said unto his brethren,” because they’re all standing around like this, he has to say to them, “Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.” (verse 4) There’s a few different opinions in regards to the word study, but the bottom line is he calls them close to him, “And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.” Now realize, Benjamin is hearing this for the first time. The older ten brothers knew this these 27 years, Benjamin had believed what he was told along with Jacob, that his older brother Joseph was devoured by a wild beast and torn in pieces, and Benjamin now hears for the first time “whom ye sold into Egypt.” You know, is he kind of looking around at the rest of them? There’s a lot of chemistry here. “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.” (verse 5) Isn’t this interesting? ‘It wasn’t you selling, it was God sending,’ and again, you read that in Psalm 105, ‘that God sent a man to preserve life.’ “for God did send me before you to preserve life.” ‘You know, when it happened, it was heartbreaking beyond imagination, for me to be down in the pit crying out, and for the rest of you to be listening, and doing nothing, that day was etched in my mind for years, you sat down and ate while I cried.’ But along the way, this man Joseph step by step learns, because Potiphar throws him in prison, Potiphar’s wife turns on him, the butler forgets him, he learns blow after blow, this is not just my brothers, and in one day he becomes the most powerful man on earth besides Pharaoh, names his first son Manasseh ‘because God has caused me to forget,’ laying his bitterness aside. And he’s able to look at these people now, his brothers whom, it’s probably hard for us to imagine what the emotion had been for years, and he says to them ‘Don’t be hard upon yourselves, don’t be angry with yourselves. For the truth is, you didn’t sell me, God sent me before you, to preserve life,’ “For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” (verses 6-7) What things that the LORD must have ministered to the heart of Joseph. And I wonder, is God able to minister some of those things to our hearts if we remain in bitterness? If we refuse to forgive, ‘What they did was wrong!’ Ya, what they did was wrong. You’re right, what they did was wrong. ‘They should have never done that!’ You’re right, they should never have done that. ‘It was ungodly what they did!’ You’re right, it was ungodly. ‘It was mean!’ you’re right, it was mean. I want you to forgive. You know the first thing God began to say to him, somewhere along these 20 years, is ‘Joseph, had I taken a vacation that day? Had I fallen off the throne? Was I not still sovereign? Was I not able to override. Do you feel that I’m not in control?’ Somehow along the line Joseph had to say ‘You’re right LORD, I forgive. You’re right LORD, it wasn’t their hand, it was your hand.’ And in that he was able to hear the next thing that God wanted to say to him, ‘The plan is much bigger than you, Joseph, this is to save the lives, countless lives of people you’ll never know, of all different backgrounds, but also a posterity among the children of Israel, to bring about a great nation, to bring about the plan of Salvation.’ No doubt there were things that he had to let go of to hear the next things that God would say to him. ‘God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, to save your lives with a great deliverance.’ “So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me” this is remarkable, “a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.” (verse 8) Pharaoh was considered the embodiment of Ra, was considered a god, divine. And Joseph says ‘He’s even made me a father to Pharaoh, I counseled him, I told him the LORD was revealing things to him about the famine in his dream, he has come to me for counsel, he’s found comfort in me, he has handed everything in the land to me, he’s made me even a caretaker to Pharaoh, a father to him.’ Remarkable. “and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.” Hindsight is always 20/20. Isn’t it? To look back and say ‘I’m sorry for complaining for the first ten years of this program.’ “Haste ye,” they’re still standing there with their mouths open, “Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not: and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast:” (verses 9-10) Goshen is the word, the idea is “to draw near.” Do we want the people that have wronged us the most to be near us? You know, someone hurts us deeply, does something to us, even ‘ok, I forgive them,’ and all you need to do is hear their name or sound of their voice, and all of these things come and rise up back in us. Here he’s saying ‘I want you guys close to me, I want you to live close to me, I want you to be near me.’ It’s a remarkable story, but of course Joseph is reflecting someone else, and the children of Israel will one day say of Jesus ‘We sold him, we considered him stricken, smitten of God, there was no beauty in him that we should desire him,’ and they sold him. But he’s been raised up to the throne, he’s alive. And in all of our failing and all of our refusal, God raised him up to preserve life. And now he wants us near him. He wants us close. “and there” he says to his brothers, “will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty. And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.” (verses 11-12) no interpreter now, he’s speaking in Hebrew. “And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither.” (verse 13) Now they’re going to have to go back and say ‘Dad, remember the story we told you about Joseph? Little change…’ “And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.” (verse 14) Benjamin, a young man, late 20s probably somewhere in there. What a scene, reunited after about 22 years, Benjamin the whole time thinking he was non-existent, that he was dead. To see these two brothers holding each other weeping, from the same mom, from Rachel. “Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.” (verse 15) Now with the rest of them, embracing, making up. “and after that his brethren talked with him.” I bet they did, I bet they did. And I wonder if they were trying to say ‘I’m sorry that day, we were having a bad day…’ ‘I don’t want to talk about that, tell me about this, tell me about your wives, tell me about your kids, tell me about my nephews and nieces.’ Because Jacob’s going to come down into Egypt with three wives, Rachel’s dead, his twelve sons will be there, at least one daughter, 54 grandchildren, and four great grandchildren, plus servants. They got a lot to talk about. 20 years to catch up on, ‘Tell me about this, tell me about that.’ you mean he cares about the little idiosyncrasies, ya, ya, he’s just like our Lord. We get saved, he pays the price for our forgiveness, he preserves life, and then he actually wants to talk with us, he actually wants to talk with us. And it says ‘Cast all of your cares upon him, because he careth for you,’ he does care about the idiosyncrasies of our lives, he does, more than I care about the idiosyncrasies of my children’s lives. ‘I want to know about the small things.’ When your kids get older you say ‘How you doing?’ ‘How was your day?’ ‘Good.’ ‘pretty good.’ And sometimes I think ‘Lord, is that the way you feel trying to get me to talk to you?’ They talked with each other, just imagine what this scene was like. I bet they did talk. Maybe it was the first time they had really talked to Joseph, because they despised him [before this, when they sold him]. They talked.

Pharaoh Hears That Joseph’s Brothers Have Come--Sends Them Back With Wagons To Pick Up Jacob & His Whole Clan

“And the fame thereof” this reunion, “was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.” (verse 16) they loved Joseph. “And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan; and take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.” (verse 17-19) ‘Come on down.’ Look at this, “Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.” (verse 20) Some people spend their whole lives guarding their stuff. What a wonderful picture, the Lord I’m sure would say that to so many of us. You’re coming into a Kingdom, an inheritance incorruptible, that fadeth not away, the glory and wonder of it, please don’t spend your whole life guarding your stuff, let’s move forward. All of the good of the land of Egypt is yours. “And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment;” which was very expensive in those days, “but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.” (verses 21-22) The number five among the Egyptians pointing to a prince. “And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way. So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.” (verses 23-24) the idea is, ‘don’t become troubled, don’t doubt, don’t start arguing, all of this has happened, I’ve waited for years for this, take the stuff, go up to Dad, get the family together, but don’t get discouraged, don’t argue, don’t have any falling out, just go and take care of these things, no falling out along the way.’ “And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father,” (verse 25) Now it just says that, this is a journey, and they have wagons, they have meat, they have changes of clothing. Just imagine as they’re traveling through Canaan, are there carcasses along the side of the road? there’s been a famine and a drought for two years now, and here they come like royalty through the land of Canaan with wagons and with beasts of burden, with horses no doubt pulling the wagons, with clothing, with grain, with food, with bread, with meat it says, just this amazing scene, here they come up into the land of Canaan. They “came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, and told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not.” (verses 25b-26) I’m sure it was a longer explanation than that. He did a Fred Stanford, he started walking around, ‘This is the big one, this is the big one,’ he was troubled. ‘Hey dad, we were only kidding, about the animal tearing him apart, Joey’s still alive, and he’s the Vizier of all of the land of Egypt.’ And it says “Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not.” because they all took after him, they were chips off the old block, they were all schemers and connivers too, he said ‘No way! No way!’ ‘Hey dad, look at the wagons, look at the clothing, ask the one son you trust, ask Benjamin.’ “And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: and Israel said,” now it’s Israel now, notice? “It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.” (verses 27-28) Just part of this dialogue that we don’t have, because the picture of Christ is, ‘Don’t be angry at yourselves that you sent me into Egypt, it wasn’t you, it was God that sent me before you, forgive yourselves, I forgive.’ Because of that we don’t even have the explanation here. They must have said ‘Dad, we lied,’ 22 years of agony and sorrow. Again, Sunday morning, when we came to Jairus’ daughter, you read about, you see the passion and the struggle there on the part of Jairus as he hears his daughter has died, or you think of Mary and Martha, four days, they never read the chapter, they had no idea that Jesus was going to raise their brother. The agony of that, and just reading one of my favorite authors, Cambell Morgan, and he said forty years ago I lost a 12-year-old, my lass, my daughter, he said ‘I’m over 60 years old now, and there hasn’t been a day that’s gone by that I haven’t thought of her, there hasn’t been a day.’ And what was it like for Jacob for 22 years, to think about Joseph? And now all of a sudden to hear ‘Dad, we lied, we weren’t telling you the truth, he’s in Egypt, God’s raised him up. And he told us we shouldn’t be angry with ourselves, so probably you shouldn’t be either.’ And finally Israel says ‘It’s enough.’

Genesis 46:1-34

“And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. 3 And he said I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: 4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. 5 And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh has sent to carry him. 6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: 7 his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. 8 And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. 9 And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. 10 And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman. 11 And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron. 14 And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padan-aram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three. 16 And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli. 17 And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel. 18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls. 19 The sons of Rachel Jacob’s wife; Joseph, and Benjamin. 20 And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. 21 And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, and Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard. 22 These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen. 23 And the sons of Dan; Hushim. 24 And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Gunni, and Jezer, and Shillem. 25 These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven. 26 All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six; [66] 27 And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: [3 souls, Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim] all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten. [66+3=69, 69+Jacob=70] 28 And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. 29 And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. 30 And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive. 31 And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me; 32 and the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have. 33 And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation? 34 that ye shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.”

Jacob & His Family, Now 70 Souls, Travel To Egypt

“And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he said I am God, the God of thy father: fear not” and it tells us the condition of Jacob’s heart, because God has to speak to it, “to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:” (verses 1-3) This is a very interesting picture, because this man is Israel now, “governed of God,” a prince of God, one who has favour with God and man. And the greatest longing of his natural heart has just been placed in front of him, that he would see Joseph again. But before he goes to Egypt he remembers that Abraham went to Egypt and it was a disaster, and his father Isaac was warned not to go to Egypt, by God, in the area of Beersheba. So he loads everything up, and he goes down to the southern part of the land in that day, to the area of Beersheba, and there he seeks the LORD, and he offered sacrifices, and God spoke to that fear that he has in his heart. He said ‘I am the God of your father Isaac, don’t be afraid,’ what a wonderful thing, ‘go down into Egypt,’ he said, “for I will there make of thee a great nation:” notice, “I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.” (verses 3b-4) at death, your son Joseph will be the one to close your eyelids. “And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh has sent to carry him. And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him:” (verses 5-6) this is not just a quick move, it’s hard enough to move somewhere with one baby, you got to take up the car seat and all the gear, and the playpen, just imagine this scene. “his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.” (verses 7-8) Isn’t it interesting, they’re called the children of Israel, when you hear of the children of Israel you’re going to hear of the twelve (12) tribes, the twelves sons of Jacob are the children of Israel. “And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.” and from verse 8 down to verse 15 we’re going to get the sons of Leah, whom Laban had substituted for Rachel, of course the one that Jacob loved so dearly, and it just tells us in verse 9, “And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.” Verse 10, “And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.” And it tells us the sons of Simeon, one of them, Shaul was the son of a Canaanitish woman, that Simeon had a hard place in his heart, had murdered, him and Levi, the whole town of Shechem, and he no doubt against his father’s wishes at one point had taken a Canaanite for one of his wives, a Canaanite woman. Verse 11, “And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.” Verse 12, “And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.” Pharez, who is the Messianic line. And then Pharez, it gives us his son Hezron before it’s over, which we have in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 1, it’s letting us know the Messianic line is moving forward. Verse 13, “And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron.” and “And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padan-aram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three.” (verses 14-15) So verses 9 to 15 give us 33 descendants. Now it gives us the sons of Zilpah who Laban gave to Leah, verses 16-18, “And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli. And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel. These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.” Verses 19-22, “The sons of Rachel Jacob’s wife;” now it says “Jacob’s wife” because that was the only one he wanted in the first place, “Joseph, and Benjamin. And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, and Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard. These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.” Interesting in verse 21, Benjamin has ten sons, he has more sons that any of the rest of them. So he was in his 20s, no doubt married early, 10 sons was considered a blessing. And then, lastly we have the sons of Bilhah “And the sons of Dan; Hushim. And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Gunni, and Jezer, and Shillem. These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven.” (verses 23-25) “All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six; [66] 27 And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: [3 souls, Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim] all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten. [66+3=69, 69+Jacob=70]” (verses 26-27) “And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.” (verse 28) So as they’re getting close to the land now, he sends Judah ahead, Judah has begun to take a prominent place now. Now they’re given a specific area in the delta region, very lush, very beautiful, called Goshen, but it would be a place that God would separate them. We’re going to see that, very important. But let’s get to that.

Joseph Jumps Into His Chariot & Drives Up To Meet His Dad

Here it says “And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.” (verse 29) ok, please, this is a human being, imagine this morning, gets up, maybe Judah had already gotten to him, said ‘Dad’s coming, the whole family,’ he gets up in that morning, put a little extra mascara on, probably shined his gold a little more, out there with the Minwax on his chariot, his heart must have been pounding, he must have been torn between crying and smiling. He had waited years and years, and decades, imagine this day, Joseph made ready his chariot, heart pounding, “and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.” He could care less what Pharaoh thought of him, there was somebody much greater than Pharaoh in his life this day, he went to present himself to his dad. He wanted to know that his dad still loved him, wanted to know his dad was proud of him, dad’s pleased to notice, how powerful, it is with your boys, your love, your approval, you sons, your daughters. It says in the Book of Proverbs the glory of the children is the father. “Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.” (verse 29) it was a good cry, and it was a good while, and it was a long time coming. And he took hold of this old man, 130 years old at this point in time. And he took hold of him, he saw him coming in the distance, his gait, limping on his thigh, with his staff, ‘That’s my dad, I’d recognize that limping.’ “And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.” (verse 30) Wonderful first words after waiting 20 years, “now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.” He’s going to live 17 more years, “let me die, I’ve seen your face.” God still does the same things today. I have this article, I couldn’t find it, so I had to listen to my own tape and actually write this down and then get my wife to type it. Jack gave this to me years ago, and it was an article that was in the Jerusalem Post probably ten years ago, probably ten years ago. And the writer said “I know a man who grew up in South Africa, having been rescued as a child by Christians during the holocaust. He lived in Johannesburg and he turned religious under the Chabad influence, and eventually he became a rabbi. Once, he found himself on a plane next to an elderly gentleman to whom he felt particularly drawn. They spoke Yiddish, and they talked about Israel and about politics and about the Jewish world. And when breakfast was served, the older man ate the regular meal, sausages, eggs, milk, juice, while the rabbi ate his specially provided kosher breakfast. The rabbi gently suggested that perhaps the elderly man could do without the sausages. The rabbi was told in no uncertain terms that since he had lost his only child in Auschwitz the old man ate whatever he liked. They parted, but the rabbi could not get the elderly gentleman out of his mind, he was deeply disappointed that he had not asked for a telephone number. Two years later on a visit to the Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, the rabbi saw a familiar figure near the entrance to the building. Rushing over he said in Yiddish “Do you recognize me? Do you remember our plane trip?” and the man smiled and nodded his head and said “And I still eat sausages.” The rabbi wanted to see the exhibits, and he asked that the old man would join him. The old man said “I never go in, didn’t I tell you I lost my only son in Auschwitz.” Something suddenly clicked in the rabbi’s brain. He said “What was your name before the War?” and when the man answered, the rabbi leaned over and whispered, with tears running down his cheek, [something I can’t make out in the tape] which means “dad.” “All that I was given by the people that adopted me was your name, I am your son.” Now they both live together in Israel, the father no longer eats sausages, the only thing that the rabbi complains about is that whenever he enters into the room, his father stands up. Same God, the same yesterday, today and forever. The same towards every broken heart in this room this evening. Every one who has a prodigal, every one whose lost a loved one, every one who has a son or daughter who is serving in harms way, every one who has given someone up for adoption, every one whose had an abortion and has come to Christ, and their heart is broken, looking forward to the reunion in heaven someday, same God, power, same gentle, powerful, graceful, sovereign hand that guides our lives and leads us. Joseph took hold of Jacob’s neck, and before he could say anything he just wept for a good long while. Everybody here in this room knows that experience, where you can’t get a human language out of your mouth, and the tear ducts take over and do the job. He wept for a good long while. Jacob stood there with his eyes closed, tears running down, and the first thing he was able to say ‘Oh now I can die, now I can die.’ Just like a dad, “since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.” “And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me;” ‘this is what I’m going to tell Pharaoh,’ “and the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have. And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation? that ye shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers:” he said ‘the reason I want you to tell him this, was’ “that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen;” and Joseph tells them “for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.” (verses 31-34) There was one mediator between Pharaoh and his brethren now, who could put his hand on both, and that was Joseph, and through Joseph’s words he knew they would be accepted. But Joseph knew something else, no doubt that God put on his heart, they were to be in Egypt, but not of Egypt. They were to grow into a nation, but maintain their own language, maintain their own identity. Yes, they were to learn math, and geometry, and they learned many things that helped them form as a nation. But they were never to learn and turn to Egyptian deities. They were to remain true to Jehovah, Yahweh, El-Shaddai, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God has so set the stage, you know, those of you who like to study, you read about Greece and Archer’s Survey of the Old Testament, Kenneth Kitchen’s book on the Old Testament, and we can tell this is before the 18^th Dynasty, we’ll talk about it more when we get to Exodus, before the Hyksos kings take power in Upper Egypt, which is northern, it’s lower Egypt, everything’s backwards, because apologetically explaining to this Pharaoh that they are Haburi, shepherds, and he says to his brethren that shepherds are an abomination to the Egyptians.”

Genesis 47:1-12

Joseph Presents Jacob & Some Of His Brothers To Pharaoh

“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. And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.” (verses 1-2) Now we don’t know which five he chose and why he only chose five, he took some of the brothers, he presents them to Pharaoh, “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.” (verse 3) Now maybe Joseph took the five best looking, you know, in the hieroglyphics and in Egyptian art, shepherds, those who kept cattle, which were not migratory, they didn’t migrate like Canaanite shepherds, because they kept the flocks in the land in specific places, but they were considered the lowest caste amongst the Egyptian population. They were not allowed to marry anyone in an upper caste. And they were always portrayed in drawings as having one leg and one eye, dirty. So maybe Joseph picked out the brothers that had all of their teeth, they weren’t blind, bald. But he takes five, he took some of his brethren, “even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers. They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land 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.” (verses 3b-4) ‘We’re not here permanently, we’re here for a time.’ ‘We’re strangers, we’re pilgrims, we’re not staying.’ “And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: 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.” (verses 5-6) “If there are any like you at home, if any of your brothers are as good with flocks as you are with grain, if any of them can benefit Egypt the way you benefitted Egypt,’ he says ‘make them rulers over my cattle, give them government jobs.’ “And Joseph brought Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.” (verse 7) Jacob’s 130, we find out his eyes are a little bit bad, he kind of comes in like Mr. McGoo a little bit here. You can imagine Pharaoh’s court, you’ve all seen Charlton Heston come in, Pharaoh’s court, you got all the pomp and all this stuff, and here comes this old shepherd, halting on his thigh, walking with his staff, his rod, limping in, coming down. And instead of falling down before Pharaoh, like everybody else, he stands upright and comes up to Pharaoh, kind of says to Joseph ‘Whose this guy?’ and Joseph says ‘This is Pharaoh,’ so he blesses Pharaoh, ‘Bless Pharaoh—what’s his name?’ He doesn’t bow down in front of him, Jacob is the greater man, with all of the pomp of Egypt, from heaven’s side Jacob is the far greater man, and he blesses Pharaoh in front of his whole court, imagine this. And then Pharaoh looks at Joseph, “And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?” (verse 8) “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.” (verse 9) And he had lived many of those years, 360 days a year, with a broken heart. All years are made of days, the days of the years of my pilgrimage, how beautiful. Going one day to be with Abraham, and Isaac his fathers, in the presence of Jehovah. The days of the years, every one of them important how we use them, to redeem the time, to be good stewards of the opportunity that God gives us, ‘the days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years.’ “few and evil have the days of the years of my life been,” ‘the days of the years have been 130 years, and they’ve been tough ones too, they have not been easy.’ Few and evil, when you’re 130 looking back, they seem like few. Anybody here, you’re 60, 70, 80, you think ‘Where did it go?’ life is like a vapour. The Bible told me when I was a kid, I’d read it and didn’t believe it, here it was telling me the truth all the time. Life is like a dream, a vapour, it’s here and it’s gone. It says “few,” how can you say few have been the days of 130 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.” So he had learned something from them, Abraham lived to be 175, Isaac lived to be 180 [Genesis 35:28], Jacob’s going to die at 147. ‘My days have been few and difficult, but I haven’t attained to the years of my fathers in their pilgrimage.’ “And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.” (verse 10) He blesses him again, he blesses him when he comes in, he blesses him when he goes out, Pharaoh must be sitting there shaking his head thinking ‘What was that all about? Did you see that guy? his hands are all knarled, with crows feet on his face, he’s 130 years old, he comes limping in here, ka-klunk, ka-klunk.’ ‘How old are you, man?’ ‘I’m 130 years old.’ ‘You really are, aren’t ya.’ ‘Ya, and they’ve been tough years,’ ‘I can tell.’ ‘But they haven’t been as many as my fathers in their pilgrimage.’ And then Jacob blesses Pharaoh on the way out. And the Scripture tells us in other places that the lesser is always blessed of the greater, the greater man, what a blessing. Think we can finish chapter 47 in a minute and a half? We can’t. So we’ll read the next two verses. “And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ramses, as Pharaoh had commanded.” (verse 11) and we’re not sure, scholars debate, whether long before pharaohs were named Ramses, whether it was an area, has to do with the voice of thunder, there was an area actually earlier than the 18^th Dynasty called the area or the land of Ramses. They’re divided, some think Moses is remembering as he writes, in his own day, this area was called the area of Ramses. But it says “Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ramses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.” (verses 11-12) in the second or third year of the seven year famine. And I bet he visited them every day. Imagine what the first days and weeks were like, family meals, 54 grandchildren at the table. Imagine that. ‘Sit down! Don’t put that in your mouth!’ 54 grandkids, give them some more sugar. The things that are not here, just imagine what those days were like. Now we have some very remarkable closing chapters, we’re at 47, there’s only 50 chapters, you can read the next three a couple times this week and become familiar with them, just some very remarkable things, particularly the prophecy of Jacob on his deathbed when he props himself up on his staff, and he prophecies over his sons. It’s interesting, in Hebrews 11, where it goes through all of the Hall of Faith, it only gives one verse to Jacob, it says “By faith, Jacob when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and he worshipped leaning on the top of his staff.” So we have lying, leaving, limping, and leaning, as his life was brought before us, we find him at the pinnacle of his character, filled with the Spirit at the very end of his life, leaning on his staff, blessing the sons of Joseph [in chapter 48], and then prophecying over the 12 tribes [in chapter 49]. So I encourage you to read ahead. Let’s have the musicians come, sing a last song. Look, the same God, as we lift our hearts in worship tonight, if your heart is broken tonight, he attends, he binds up the brokenhearted, he cares, he hasn’t changed, he has a plan, he’s sovereign. That doesn’t make 10 years, 20 years easy to go by. But it is light and it is truth. If you’re here tonight and you need to forgive someone, do you want people that hurt you near you? The answer for me “no,” you can pray for me, have I reflected Christ the way the Lord wants him formed within me? My destination is not just a place, it’s an image, and God is working, conforming me into the image of his Son. And forgiveness, you know we can argue about eschatology, we can get all kinds of gear to help us in our spiritual pursuits, and be techno-savvy, and still be miserable, unforgiving, bitter human beings. It is a far greater thing that God desires to do within us than any of the theology that we could argue, to form Christ within us. I really encourage you this evening, bitterness will eat you alive, it will give you ulcers, it produces a chemical agida, and it’s not good for you, it’s the enemy getting everything he wants. And I have no intention of being naive or cavalier about it, I know it can be very difficult. But the God that we serve, that would inhabit us, specializes in that very thing, he’s a restorer, a redeemer, and a reconciler. Let’s stand and pray together…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Genesis 45:1-28, Genesis 46:1-34 and Genesis 47:1-12, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]