April 22, 2025 • 22 mins
Jacob journeys to Egypt with his entire family after receiving divine reassurance that God will be with him and make his descendants into a great nation there. The emotional reunion between Jacob and Joseph after 22 years of separation reafirms God's providence through all things to fulfill His purpose.
• God appears to Jacob in a night vision, promising to make him into a great nation in Egypt
• Jacob brings all his possessions, all his livestock, and all his direct descendants to Egypt
• The genealogical record carefully documents all family members by their mothers
• Joseph prepares his chariot and rushes to meet his family in Goshen
• Joseph strategically plans to settle his family in Goshen, separate from Egyptian society
• Hebrew shepherds were considered an "abomination" to Egyptians due to their pagan practices.
• Jacob declares he can now die in peace after seeing Joseph alive
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Grace and peace to you from God, our Father and our
Lord and Savior, jesus Christ.
Today we're in Genesis, chapter46, where Joseph brings his
family down to Egypt, beginningat verse 1,.
So Israel took his journey withall that he had and he came to
(00:24):
Beersheba and offered sacrificesto the God of his father, isaac
.
And God spoke to Israel invisions of the night and said
Jacob, jacob.
And he said here I am.
And then he said I am God, theGod of your father.
(00:47):
Do not be afraid to go down toEgypt, for there I will make you
into a great nation.
I myself will go down with youto Egypt and I will also bring
you up again, and Joseph's handshall close your eyes.
In our first four verses ofchapter 46, we see that Israel
(01:14):
picked up all that he had andjourneyed from Hebron, where he
was, until he came to Beersheba,which was about 25 miles away,
came to Beersheba, which wasabout 25 miles away.
Beersheba was a town that wasfounded by Jacob's grandfather,
abraham, in the desert of Negev,and it still exists today.
(01:38):
Beersheba is also known as thesouthernmost part of the
Israelite kingdom, and it'slocated just 45 miles southwest
of Jerusalem.
This is a place where Abraham,isaac and now Jacob offer
sacrifices to the Lord God andthey call upon the name of the
(02:01):
Lord.
Here God speaks to Israel.
After Israel sacrificed to theLord, god spoke with him in a
vision, comforting him about histrip to Egypt.
Why would he have to becomforted?
(02:21):
Well, previously, in the lifeof Isaac, who is Israel's father
, god had warned Isaac not to godown to Egypt during a famine.
That was in Genesis 26, verses1 through 5.
Additionally, israel'sgrandfather, abraham, ran into
(02:42):
some trouble in Egypt when hehad first gone down there in a
famine as well, back in Genesis,chapter 12.
Therefore, it's very likelythat Jacob has some anxiety, or
even fear regarding going downinto Egypt during this famine.
And we read that God spoke toIsrael in visions of the night.
(03:06):
This Hebrew word for visions isunique in Genesis.
It's different than the wordthat's used for dreams, which is
more commonly a way that Godwould speak to people during the
night.
The root of this word forvisions means to look at or
(03:27):
inspect.
It infers that Jacob actuallysaw something during the night
with his eyes open.
Other uses of this word alsomean an apparition or like
looking in a mirror, and ittells us Jacob likely saw
something, as if he were seeinga reflection in a mirror and
(03:49):
possibly even ghost-like figures, and God speaks to him saying
Jacob, jacob.
In addition to seeing somethingduring the night with his eyes,
in this vision, the Lord speaksin an audible voice to Jacob
saying Jacob, jacob.
(04:11):
And Jacob replies here I am.
This is similar to how, 560years later, samuel will hear
the voice of God in the temple,when God audibly speaks to him
during the night calling hisname.
And during this vision, the Lordcomforts Jacob with a promise.
(04:33):
He promises Jacob that he'sgoing to make him into a great
nation in Egypt.
While this certainly soundslike a reaffirmation of the
Abrahamic covenant and itcertainly is tied to the
Abrahamic covenant and thecoming Messiah, this promise
(04:54):
from the Lord is separate anddistinct from the Abrahamic
covenant.
God is promising Jacob that hischildren will flourish and
become a great nation in Egypt.
This promise to Jacob is tocomfort him that when he goes to
Egypt, his children will becomea great nation, and it does
(05:18):
stand in contrast to the eternalpromise that God made Abraham,
that Abraham would be the fatherof many nations and that that
promise was grounded inAbraham's faith and the Messiah
to come.
God tells Jacob, I myself willgo down with you.
(05:39):
God continues to comfort Jacobby telling him I'm going to be
with you as you go down into theland of Egypt and one day, god
says, I will also bring you outof Egypt again.
God's final comfort to Jacob isthat his beloved son, joseph
(06:01):
will care for him during hisdeath.
Verse 5.
Then Jacob set out fromBeersheba.
The sons of Israel carriedJacob, their father, their
little ones and their wives inthe wagons that Pharaoh had sent
to carry him.
They also took their livestockand their goods which they had
(06:24):
gained in the land of Canaan,and they came to Egypt.
Jacob and all his offspringwith him, his sons and his sons'
sons with him, his daughtersand his sons' daughters, all of
his offspring he brought withhim to Egypt.
His offspring he brought withhim to Egypt.
(06:49):
In verses 5 through 7, we seeIsrael journeyed out from
Beersheba after making anoffering to the Lord and having
received that vision from theLord that night before, it tells
us that's riding in the wagondown to Egypt.
The rest of this versedescribes the details of how
(07:14):
everything Israel had in theland of Canaan was brought down
to Egypt All of the livestock,all of the possessions they had
acquired, all of the childrenand grandchildren, the boys and
the girls.
The scripture goes into greatdetail and it's quite specific
describing how Israel pulled upeverything that he had and he
(07:37):
went to Egypt.
The relationship that we seehere between Jacob and his
children is very interesting toconsider, as all of Jacob's sons
, other than Benjamin, are nowover 40 years old.
They're married, but yet theycontinue to live within the
community of their father,israel.
(07:59):
Now these are the names of thedescendants of Israel who came
into Egypt Jacob and his sons,reuben, jacob's firstborn, and
the sons of Reuben, hanak, paliu, hezron and Carmi.
The sons of Simeon, jemuel,jamin, ohad, jachin, zohar and
(08:29):
Shol, the son of a Canaanitewoman.
The sons of Levi, gershon,kohath and Mererai.
The sons of Judah, ur, onan,shelah, perez and Zerah.
But Ur and Onan died in theland of Canaan, and the sons of
(08:49):
Perez were Hezron and Hamal.
The sons of Issachar, tola,puva, job and Shimran.
These are the sons of Leah,whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan
(09:16):
Aram, together with hisdaughter, dinah.
Together, his sons and hisdaughters numbered 33.
Here, in verses 8 through 15,are listed the descendants of
Jacob and Leah according totheir sons, grandsons and
Israel's daughter, dinah.
(09:37):
While the following lists afterthis are very self-explanatory,
this first list, with a total of33, can be a little bit
confusing for a couple ofreasons.
This number of 33 includesJacob himself, minus the two
grandsons, ur and Onan, thatdied in the land of Canaan, onan
(10:04):
that died in the land of Canaan.
And an additional note is thatthe number of 33 does include
the twin sons of Perez, whichare Hezron and Hamul, but they
haven't been born yet.
They're in Perez's loins,likely because one of those
twins, hezron, will be thecontinued line of the Messiah.
Picking up in verse 16, the sonsof Gad, ziphion, haggai, shunai
(10:31):
, ezbon, eri, arodai and Arli.
The sons of Asher, imnah,ishvah, beriah with Sirah, their
sister, and the sons of Beriah,heber and Malkiel.
These are the sons of Zilpah,whom Laban gave to Leah, his
(10:55):
daughter, and these she bore toJacob.
Sixteen persons, here in verses16, 17, and 18, are listed the
sixteen descendants of Jacob andZilpah, the servant of Leah.
It includes their sons,grandsons and daughters.
(11:16):
This list is verystraightforward Sixteen names,
sixteen people, verse 19.
The sons of Rachel, jacob's wife, joseph and Benjamin, and to
Joseph, in the land of Egyptwere born Manasseh and Ephraim,
whom Asenath, the daughter ofPotipharah, the priest of On,
(11:41):
bore to him, and the sons ofBenjamin, bela, beker, Ashbel,
gera, naaman, ehai, rosh, mopan,hopan and Ard.
These are the sons of Rachelwho were born to Jacob.
(12:04):
Fourteen persons in all.
Again, here in these versesverses 19 through 22, are listed
the fourteen descendants ofJacob and Rachel according to
their sons and grandsons, andthis list again is very
straightforward Fourteen names,fourteen people Verse 23.
(12:33):
The son of Dan Husham, the sonsof Naphtali, jazihel, gunai,
jezer and Shillim.
These are the sons of Bilhah,whom Laban gave to Rachel, his
daughter, and these she bore toJacob.
Seven persons in all.
(12:53):
Again, in verses 23-25 arelisted seven descendants of
Jacob and Bilhah, who was theservant of Rachel, according to
their sons and grandsons.
And again, seven names andseven people Verse 26,.
(13:29):
All the persons belonging toJacob who came into Egypt.
We see two different numbers 66and 70.
As noted, the number 66 are thedirect descendants or seed that
(13:50):
came to Egypt and it doesn'tinclude the wives of the sons.
This is the direct descendantsof Israel, not including Jacob
himself.
This is the direct descendantsof Israel, not including Jacob
himself.
However, when we do includeJacob himself, as well as Joseph
and Joseph's two sons, ephraimand Manasseh, we come to the
(14:15):
total number of 70.
Picking up in verse 28, he hadsent Judah ahead of him to
Joseph to show the way beforehim in Goshen.
So they came into the land ofGoshen.
Then Joseph prepared hischariot and went up to meet
Israel, his father in Goshen.
(14:35):
He presented himself to him andfell on his neck and he wept on
his neck for a good while.
Israel said to Joseph Now letme die, since I've seen your
face and I know that you arestill alive.
In verses 28 through 30, we seethat Jacob or Israel chose to
(14:58):
send Judah to take the lead,that Jacob or Israel chose to
send Judah to take the lead, tobe responsible and go ahead of
them into Egypt and tell Josephthey were coming.
You may remember that Judah hasa very promiscuous and
adulterous past.
He had left his family to livewith the pagan Canaanites.
But it would seem that recentevents seem to show that he has
(15:20):
a change of heart and he haschanged his ways from the life
of shame and guilt and he'sstepped up to the plate and he
wants to protect and care forthe family that God gave him and
he went to Joseph and toldJoseph that his family was
arriving, and Joseph preparedhis chariot.
(15:43):
What a sight this must havebeen as Joseph, the governor of
all of Egypt, prepares his greatchariot and his team of horses
to go out and meet his fatherand the entire family who are
coming into the land of Goshenin Egypt.
And when Joseph meets hisfamily, he presents himself to
(16:07):
his father, israel, and he fallson his neck.
It's hard for us to imagineexactly what Joseph did when it
says he presented himself toIsrael.
Certainly, coming up on achariot drawn by horses, in all
of his grandeur, which wasrequired of the nobles in Egypt
(16:28):
but yet so different from thehumble axe-drawn wagons of the
shepherds, was a presentation initself.
Yet the context here seems toimply that Joseph shown himself
as Joseph the son of Israel.
How did the great governor, inall of his splendor, reveal he
(16:50):
was still the humble son thatloved his family and loved the
Lord, god, during this preciousmoment?
What we do know is that afterJoseph presented himself, he
fell upon the shoulder of hisfather and he wept for a very
long time.
The last time Joseph had seenhis father he was 17 years old
(17:13):
and it had now been 22 yearssince they had seen one another
and both of them had always felta special bond towards the
other.
Now their feeling of beingreunited was of great joy and
peace.
Israel's response to seeingJoseph alive is that he can now
(17:36):
die in peace.
Israel now recognizes the handof God was at work all of these
years, even though he thoughtJoseph was dead, and now seeing
with his own eyes what must looklike a resurrected son who has
great authority and power, jacobis reassured that the plans of
(17:59):
God cannot be thwarted.
Verse 31,.
Joseph said to his brothers andto his father's household I
will go up and tell Pharaoh andI'll say to him my brothers and
my father's household, who werein the land of Canaan, have come
to me and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of
(18:23):
livestock and they have broughttheir flocks and their herds and
all that they have.
When Pharaoh calls you and sayswhat is your occupation, you
shall say your servants havebeen keepers of livestock from
our youth, even until now, bothwe and our fathers, in order
that you may dwell in the landof Goshen, for every shepherd is
(18:47):
an abomination to the Egyptians.
In these our last four verses.
Joseph says he's going to goand talk to Pharaoh, even though
Pharaoh himself had invitedJoseph's family down to Egypt.
The initial invitation fromPharaoh had mentioned to have no
(19:08):
concern for their goods, forthe best of all of the land of
Egypt is yours.
However, israel and his sonsbrought all of their livestock,
which were very likelyconsiderably sized herds.
Now Joseph is going to talkwith the Pharaoh about these
(19:28):
large herds that his family hasbrought with them and how their
lifelong profession has beenshepherding.
In so doing, joseph is going totry and secure this place in
Egypt, away from the mainstreamof Egyptian society for his
family.
Joseph tells his fathers andbrothers to be honest about this
(19:51):
generational occupation ofbeing shepherds when they're
called upon by the Pharaoh, howthis occupation was passed down
from their forefathers so thatthe Pharaoh might confirm the
location of Goshen for them andtheir livestock.
And Joseph tells his familythat every shepherd is an
(20:11):
abomination for the Egyptians.
The Egyptians as a culture had areligious stigma against
shepherds, and particularlyHebrew shepherds, because they
would raise, sacrifice and eatsheep, rams and cows, and all of
(20:32):
these animals were sacred tothe Egyptians.
It was part of their paganworship to different gods.
Additionally, the line of Egypt, who was the grandson of Noah
through his son Ham, consideredthemselves to be a race closer
(20:52):
to the gods than any other race.
Since the Hebrews came from theline of Eber, who was the
great-grandson of Noah throughSeth, and since the Hebrews only
worshipped one God, who wasabove all people and animals,
the Egyptians considered theHebrews to be an abomination to
(21:14):
their pagan religious practices.
Thank you so much for joiningme this week.
I hope you join me next weekwhen Jacob's family settles in
Goshen.
God bless you this week.
Grace and peace to you from God, our Father and our
Lord and Savior, jesus Christ.
Today we're in Genesis, chapter46, where Joseph brings his
family down to Egypt, beginningat verse 1,.
So Israel took his journey withall that he had and he came to
(00:24):
Beersheba and offered sacrificesto the God of his father, isaac
.
And God spoke to Israel invisions of the night and said
Jacob, jacob.
And he said here I am.
And then he said I am God, theGod of your father.
(00:47):
Do not be afraid to go down toEgypt, for there I will make you
into a great nation.
I myself will go down with youto Egypt and I will also bring
you up again, and Joseph's handshall close your eyes.
In our first four verses ofchapter 46, we see that Israel
(01:14):
picked up all that he had andjourneyed from Hebron, where he
was, until he came to Beersheba,which was about 25 miles away,
came to Beersheba, which wasabout 25 miles away.
Beersheba was a town that wasfounded by Jacob's grandfather,
abraham, in the desert of Negev,and it still exists today.
(01:38):
Beersheba is also known as thesouthernmost part of the
Israelite kingdom, and it'slocated just 45 miles southwest
of Jerusalem.
This is a place where Abraham,isaac and now Jacob offer
sacrifices to the Lord God andthey call upon the name of the
(02:01):
Lord.
Here God speaks to Israel.
After Israel sacrificed to theLord, god spoke with him in a
vision, comforting him about histrip to Egypt.
Why would he have to becomforted?
(02:21):
Well, previously, in the lifeof Isaac, who is Israel's father
, god had warned Isaac not to godown to Egypt during a famine.
That was in Genesis 26, verses1 through 5.
Additionally, israel'sgrandfather, abraham, ran into
(02:42):
some trouble in Egypt when hehad first gone down there in a
famine as well, back in Genesis,chapter 12.
Therefore, it's very likelythat Jacob has some anxiety, or
even fear regarding going downinto Egypt during this famine.
And we read that God spoke toIsrael in visions of the night.
(03:06):
This Hebrew word for visions isunique in Genesis.
It's different than the wordthat's used for dreams, which is
more commonly a way that Godwould speak to people during the
night.
The root of this word forvisions means to look at or
(03:27):
inspect.
It infers that Jacob actuallysaw something during the night
with his eyes open.
Other uses of this word alsomean an apparition or like
looking in a mirror, and ittells us Jacob likely saw
something, as if he were seeinga reflection in a mirror and
(03:49):
possibly even ghost-like figures, and God speaks to him saying
Jacob, jacob.
In addition to seeing somethingduring the night with his eyes,
in this vision, the Lord speaksin an audible voice to Jacob
saying Jacob, jacob.
(04:11):
And Jacob replies here I am.
This is similar to how, 560years later, samuel will hear
the voice of God in the temple,when God audibly speaks to him
during the night calling hisname.
And during this vision, the Lordcomforts Jacob with a promise.
(04:33):
He promises Jacob that he'sgoing to make him into a great
nation in Egypt.
While this certainly soundslike a reaffirmation of the
Abrahamic covenant and itcertainly is tied to the
Abrahamic covenant and thecoming Messiah, this promise
(04:54):
from the Lord is separate anddistinct from the Abrahamic
covenant.
God is promising Jacob that hischildren will flourish and
become a great nation in Egypt.
This promise to Jacob is tocomfort him that when he goes to
Egypt, his children will becomea great nation, and it does
(05:18):
stand in contrast to the eternalpromise that God made Abraham,
that Abraham would be the fatherof many nations and that that
promise was grounded inAbraham's faith and the Messiah
to come.
God tells Jacob, I myself willgo down with you.
(05:39):
God continues to comfort Jacobby telling him I'm going to be
with you as you go down into theland of Egypt and one day, god
says, I will also bring you outof Egypt again.
God's final comfort to Jacob isthat his beloved son, joseph
(06:01):
will care for him during hisdeath.
Verse 5.
Then Jacob set out fromBeersheba.
The sons of Israel carriedJacob, their father, their
little ones and their wives inthe wagons that Pharaoh had sent
to carry him.
They also took their livestockand their goods which they had
(06:24):
gained in the land of Canaan,and they came to Egypt.
Jacob and all his offspringwith him, his sons and his sons'
sons with him, his daughtersand his sons' daughters, all of
his offspring he brought withhim to Egypt.
His offspring he brought withhim to Egypt.
(06:49):
In verses 5 through 7, we seeIsrael journeyed out from
Beersheba after making anoffering to the Lord and having
received that vision from theLord that night before, it tells
us that's riding in the wagondown to Egypt.
The rest of this versedescribes the details of how
(07:14):
everything Israel had in theland of Canaan was brought down
to Egypt All of the livestock,all of the possessions they had
acquired, all of the childrenand grandchildren, the boys and
the girls.
The scripture goes into greatdetail and it's quite specific
describing how Israel pulled upeverything that he had and he
(07:37):
went to Egypt.
The relationship that we seehere between Jacob and his
children is very interesting toconsider, as all of Jacob's sons
, other than Benjamin, are nowover 40 years old.
They're married, but yet theycontinue to live within the
community of their father,israel.
(07:59):
Now these are the names of thedescendants of Israel who came
into Egypt Jacob and his sons,reuben, jacob's firstborn, and
the sons of Reuben, hanak, paliu, hezron and Carmi.
The sons of Simeon, jemuel,jamin, ohad, jachin, zohar and
(08:29):
Shol, the son of a Canaanitewoman.
The sons of Levi, gershon,kohath and Mererai.
The sons of Judah, ur, onan,shelah, perez and Zerah.
But Ur and Onan died in theland of Canaan, and the sons of
(08:49):
Perez were Hezron and Hamal.
The sons of Issachar, tola,puva, job and Shimran.
These are the sons of Leah,whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan
(09:16):
Aram, together with hisdaughter, dinah.
Together, his sons and hisdaughters numbered 33.
Here, in verses 8 through 15,are listed the descendants of
Jacob and Leah according totheir sons, grandsons and
Israel's daughter, dinah.
(09:37):
While the following lists afterthis are very self-explanatory,
this first list, with a total of33, can be a little bit
confusing for a couple ofreasons.
This number of 33 includesJacob himself, minus the two
grandsons, ur and Onan, thatdied in the land of Canaan, onan
(10:04):
that died in the land of Canaan.
And an additional note is thatthe number of 33 does include
the twin sons of Perez, whichare Hezron and Hamul, but they
haven't been born yet.
They're in Perez's loins,likely because one of those
twins, hezron, will be thecontinued line of the Messiah.
Picking up in verse 16, the sonsof Gad, ziphion, haggai, shunai
(10:31):
, ezbon, eri, arodai and Arli.
The sons of Asher, imnah,ishvah, beriah with Sirah, their
sister, and the sons of Beriah,heber and Malkiel.
These are the sons of Zilpah,whom Laban gave to Leah, his
(10:55):
daughter, and these she bore toJacob.
Sixteen persons, here in verses16, 17, and 18, are listed the
sixteen descendants of Jacob andZilpah, the servant of Leah.
It includes their sons,grandsons and daughters.
(11:16):
This list is verystraightforward Sixteen names,
sixteen people, verse 19.
The sons of Rachel, jacob's wife, joseph and Benjamin, and to
Joseph, in the land of Egyptwere born Manasseh and Ephraim,
whom Asenath, the daughter ofPotipharah, the priest of On,
(11:41):
bore to him, and the sons ofBenjamin, bela, beker, Ashbel,
gera, naaman, ehai, rosh, mopan,hopan and Ard.
These are the sons of Rachelwho were born to Jacob.
(12:04):
Fourteen persons in all.
Again, here in these versesverses 19 through 22, are listed
the fourteen descendants ofJacob and Rachel according to
their sons and grandsons, andthis list again is very
straightforward Fourteen names,fourteen people Verse 23.
(12:33):
The son of Dan Husham, the sonsof Naphtali, jazihel, gunai,
jezer and Shillim.
These are the sons of Bilhah,whom Laban gave to Rachel, his
daughter, and these she bore toJacob.
Seven persons in all.
(12:53):
Again, in verses 23-25 arelisted seven descendants of
Jacob and Bilhah, who was theservant of Rachel, according to
their sons and grandsons.
And again, seven names andseven people Verse 26,.
(13:29):
All the persons belonging toJacob who came into Egypt.
We see two different numbers 66and 70.
As noted, the number 66 are thedirect descendants or seed that
(13:50):
came to Egypt and it doesn'tinclude the wives of the sons.
This is the direct descendantsof Israel, not including Jacob
himself.
This is the direct descendantsof Israel, not including Jacob
himself.
However, when we do includeJacob himself, as well as Joseph
and Joseph's two sons, ephraimand Manasseh, we come to the
(14:15):
total number of 70.
Picking up in verse 28, he hadsent Judah ahead of him to
Joseph to show the way beforehim in Goshen.
So they came into the land ofGoshen.
Then Joseph prepared hischariot and went up to meet
Israel, his father in Goshen.
(14:35):
He presented himself to him andfell on his neck and he wept on
his neck for a good while.
Israel said to Joseph Now letme die, since I've seen your
face and I know that you arestill alive.
In verses 28 through 30, we seethat Jacob or Israel chose to
(14:58):
send Judah to take the lead,that Jacob or Israel chose to
send Judah to take the lead, tobe responsible and go ahead of
them into Egypt and tell Josephthey were coming.
You may remember that Judah hasa very promiscuous and
adulterous past.
He had left his family to livewith the pagan Canaanites.
But it would seem that recentevents seem to show that he has
(15:20):
a change of heart and he haschanged his ways from the life
of shame and guilt and he'sstepped up to the plate and he
wants to protect and care forthe family that God gave him and
he went to Joseph and toldJoseph that his family was
arriving, and Joseph preparedhis chariot.
(15:43):
What a sight this must havebeen as Joseph, the governor of
all of Egypt, prepares his greatchariot and his team of horses
to go out and meet his fatherand the entire family who are
coming into the land of Goshenin Egypt.
And when Joseph meets hisfamily, he presents himself to
(16:07):
his father, israel, and he fallson his neck.
It's hard for us to imagineexactly what Joseph did when it
says he presented himself toIsrael.
Certainly, coming up on achariot drawn by horses, in all
of his grandeur, which wasrequired of the nobles in Egypt
(16:28):
but yet so different from thehumble axe-drawn wagons of the
shepherds, was a presentation initself.
Yet the context here seems toimply that Joseph shown himself
as Joseph the son of Israel.
How did the great governor, inall of his splendor, reveal he
(16:50):
was still the humble son thatloved his family and loved the
Lord, god, during this preciousmoment?
What we do know is that afterJoseph presented himself, he
fell upon the shoulder of hisfather and he wept for a very
long time.
The last time Joseph had seenhis father he was 17 years old
(17:13):
and it had now been 22 yearssince they had seen one another
and both of them had always felta special bond towards the
other.
Now their feeling of beingreunited was of great joy and
peace.
Israel's response to seeingJoseph alive is that he can now
(17:36):
die in peace.
Israel now recognizes the handof God was at work all of these
years, even though he thoughtJoseph was dead, and now seeing
with his own eyes what must looklike a resurrected son who has
great authority and power, jacobis reassured that the plans of
(17:59):
God cannot be thwarted.
Verse 31,.
Joseph said to his brothers andto his father's household I
will go up and tell Pharaoh andI'll say to him my brothers and
my father's household, who werein the land of Canaan, have come
to me and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of
(18:23):
livestock and they have broughttheir flocks and their herds and
all that they have.
When Pharaoh calls you and sayswhat is your occupation, you
shall say your servants havebeen keepers of livestock from
our youth, even until now, bothwe and our fathers, in order
that you may dwell in the landof Goshen, for every shepherd is
(18:47):
an abomination to the Egyptians.
In these our last four verses.
Joseph says he's going to goand talk to Pharaoh, even though
Pharaoh himself had invitedJoseph's family down to Egypt.
The initial invitation fromPharaoh had mentioned to have no
(19:08):
concern for their goods, forthe best of all of the land of
Egypt is yours.
However, israel and his sonsbrought all of their livestock,
which were very likelyconsiderably sized herds.
Now Joseph is going to talkwith the Pharaoh about these
(19:28):
large herds that his family hasbrought with them and how their
lifelong profession has beenshepherding.
In so doing, joseph is going totry and secure this place in
Egypt, away from the mainstreamof Egyptian society for his
family.
Joseph tells his fathers andbrothers to be honest about this
(19:51):
generational occupation ofbeing shepherds when they're
called upon by the Pharaoh, howthis occupation was passed down
from their forefathers so thatthe Pharaoh might confirm the
location of Goshen for them andtheir livestock.
And Joseph tells his familythat every shepherd is an
(20:11):
abomination for the Egyptians.
The Egyptians as a culture had areligious stigma against
shepherds, and particularlyHebrew shepherds, because they
would raise, sacrifice and eatsheep, rams and cows, and all of
(20:32):
these animals were sacred tothe Egyptians.
It was part of their paganworship to different gods.
Additionally, the line of Egypt, who was the grandson of Noah
through his son Ham, consideredthemselves to be a race closer
(20:52):
to the gods than any other race.
Since the Hebrews came from theline of Eber, who was the
great-grandson of Noah throughSeth, and since the Hebrews only
worshipped one God, who wasabove all people and animals,
the Egyptians considered theHebrews to be an abomination to
(21:14):
their pagan religious practices.
Thank you so much for joiningme this week.
I hope you join me next weekwhen Jacob's family settles in
Goshen.
God bless you this week.
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