April 29, 2025 • 24 mins
Jacob's family settles in the land of Goshen during the severe famine, demonstrating God's providence in protecting His covenant people even in foreign lands. The chapter reveals the striking contrast between the Egyptian people who surrender all possessions to survive and Jacob's family who flourishes under divine protection.
• Joseph strategically presents five brothers to Pharaoh, securing the fertile land of Goshen
• Jacob meets Pharaoh and blesses him, describing his 130 years as "few and evil" days of sojourning
• Joseph implements progressive economic policies as Egyptians trade money, livestock, and finally land for food
• Egyptians voluntarily become servants to Pharaoh while receiving seed and a 20% taxation system
• Jacob's family thrives in Egypt, gaining possessions and multiplying greatly over 17 years
• Jacob requests burial in his ancestral homeland, demonstrating his faith in God's covenant promises
• The chapter illustrates how believers remain "sojourners" whose true citizenship is in heaven
Join me next week for Genesis chapter 48, when Jacob blesses Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Grace and peace to you in the name of God, our
Father and our Lord and ourSavior, jesus Christ.
Today we're in Genesis, chapter47, where Israel and his family
settle in the land of Goshen,beginning at verse 1,.
So Joseph went in and toldPharaoh my father and my
(00:23):
brothers, with their flocks andherds and all that they possess,
have come from the land ofCanaan.
They are now in the land ofGoshen, and from among his
brothers he took five men andpresented them to Pharaoh.
Pharaoh said to his brotherswhat is your occupation?
And they said to his brotherssevere, in the land of Canaan.
(01:01):
And now, please let yourservants dwell in the land of
Goshen.
Then the Pharaoh said to Josephyour father and brothers have
come to you.
The land of Egypt is before you.
Settle your fathers and yourbrothers in the best of the land
.
Let them settle in the land ofthe Pharaoh's court.
(01:23):
And he went in with only fiveof his brothers and began the
(01:44):
court procedures.
Joseph told the Pharaoh thathis family had come from the
land of Canaan and they were nowin the land of Goshen.
The Pharaoh then asks what isyour occupation?
Just as Joseph had anticipatedthey would be asked, the
(02:06):
brothers answered, as they wereinstructed by Joseph, both
humbly, honestly and briefly,that both they and their
forefathers were shepherds andthey've come to the land of
Goshen because of the severityof the famine.
Finally, they politely ask thePharaoh if they could please
(02:28):
dwell in the land of Goshen.
After the brothers officiallydescribe their circumstances,
the Pharaoh acknowledges howJoseph's family has indeed come
to be with him.
And then the Pharaoh tells themthat they may settle in the
land of Goshen and raise theirlivestock there, adding that if
(02:50):
there were any able men amongthem, they could certainly come
and be in charge of thePharaoh's livestock as well.
Picking up in verse 7,.
Then Joseph brought in Jacob,his father, and stood him before
the Pharaoh and Jacob blessedPharaoh.
And Pharaoh said to Jacob howmany are the days of the years
(03:12):
of your life?
And Jacob said to Pharaoh thedays of the years of my
sojourning are one hundred andthirty years.
Few and evil have been the daysof the years of my life and
they have not attained to thedays of the years of the life of
my fathers in the days of theirsojourning.
And Jacob blessed Pharaoh andwent out from the presence of
(03:37):
Pharaoh.
In verses 7 through 10, afterthe initial business meeting
took place between the fivebrothers and Pharaoh and the
location of the land was settledwith the Pharaoh, joseph brings
in his elderly father, israel,and presents him to Pharaoh.
This interaction between Israeland Pharaoh was truly the
(04:02):
graciousness of Israel.
Israel wanted to bless Pharaohand thank him for his help to
his family during this time offamine.
Now there was a natural andcultural respect that was given
to elderly men in Egypt.
Additionally, jacob understandswho he is in the Lord.
(04:25):
He understands his position asa child of the Most High God,
and Jacob, deliberately and witha godly understanding, comes
into the Pharaoh and blesses him.
The young Pharaoh asks Jacobhow old is he, and Jacob's reply
is that he's 130 years old.
(04:48):
Jacob then describes the days ofhis life as days of sojourning,
and that they've been few andevil.
This is actually a very fittingway to describe Jacob's life,
considering that he's neverowned any land and his life has
always been a struggle, withmany sorrows and crisis.
(05:08):
However, it also reminds us ofsomething deeper.
As a believer in the comingMessiah, jacob, as well as those
today who believe in JesusChrist, are considered
foreigners and sojourners insomeone else's land.
1 Peter, 2.1 reads Beloved.
(05:32):
I urge you, as sojourners andexiles, to abstain from the
passions of the flesh which wagewar against your soul.
Philippians 3.20 reads.
But our citizenship is inheaven and from it we await a
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
(05:52):
Jacob's comment that his daysare few and evil should also
remind us to make the most useof our time for God's kingdom,
because our days on this earthare indeed few and evil.
Jesus told us in Matthew 6,verses 19-21, do not lay up for
(06:19):
yourselves treasures on earthwhere moth and rust destroy,
where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven whereneither moth nor rust destroy,
where thieves do not break inand steal.
For where your treasure is,there your heart will be also.
(06:40):
And Ephesians, chapter 5, verse16, also tells us make the best
use of the time, because thedays are evil.
After Jacob blesses the Pharaohin the name of the Lord, god
Most High, for his generosityand provision to the people of
(07:01):
God During this time of famine,jacob leaves the presence of the
Pharaoh, picking up in verse 11, then Joseph settled his father
and his brothers and gave thema possession in the land of
Egypt, in the best of the land,in the land of Ramses, as
(07:21):
Pharaoh had commanded, andJoseph provided for his father,
his brothers and all hisfather's household with food
according to the number of theirdependents.
In verses 11 and 12, joseph wasable to secure for his family
ownership of land in Egypt.
(07:41):
This land is some of the mostfertile soil in all of Egypt as
it was on the very delta of theNile River.
The name of Ramses was actuallygiven to the land of Goshen
during the time of Moses, andthen we see that Joseph provided
(08:02):
for his family.
It can be easy to skip oververse 12 or read it and kind of
pass by it, but we're toldJoseph provided for his family
during the famine, and we'retold he did so in an intentional
and systematic way so thatevery family received food
(08:23):
according to the number ofpeople they had in their
household.
Picking up in verse 13, nowthere was no food in all the
land, for the famine was verysevere, so that the land of
Egypt and the land of Canaanlanguished by reason of the
famine.
Here in verse 13, and in thenext few verses we find an
(08:48):
actually very detaileddescription of what's happening
in the land of Egypt.
But here in this verse 13,.
The Hebrew word for food meansbread or grain, and the Hebrew
word for land means the earth,the ground or the territory.
(09:08):
So what we're actually learninghere in verse 13 is that at
this point in the famine, it wasso severe that no grain would
grow in the ground.
There was no grain foundgrowing either in all of Egypt
or in Canaan found growingeither in all of Egypt or in
Canaan.
And it says the land languished, or in other words, it had
(09:39):
wasted away and it was unable toproduce.
Verse 14, and Joseph gathered upall the money that was found in
the land of Egypt and in theland of Canaan in exchange for
the grain that they had bought.
And Joseph brought the moneythat was found in the land of
Egypt and in the land of Canaanin exchange for the grain that
they had bought.
And Joseph brought the moneyinto Pharaoh's house.
And when the money was allspent in the land of Egypt and
in the land of Canaan, all theEgyptians came to Joseph and
(10:03):
said Give us food.
Why should we die before youreyes?
For our money is gone.
And Joseph answered Give yourlivestock and I will give you
food in exchange for yourlivestock if your money is gone.
So they brought their livestockto Joseph and Joseph gave them
(10:24):
food in exchange for theirhorses, the flocks, the herds
and the donkeys.
He supplied them with food inexchange for all their livestock
that year.
In verses 14 through 17, we seethat over the course of time,
the Egyptians, and as well asthose living in the land of
(10:46):
Canaan, had come to buy grainfrom Joseph and they ran out of
money.
The famine literally bankruptedall of Egypt and Canaan, and
Joseph brought all of thismonetary wealth into the house
of Pharaoh, so that the Pharaohhad all of the money in the land
(11:08):
.
From what we're going to learnshortly, it would seem that this
was sometime around the end ofthe fifth or early in the sixth
year of the famine, and when allof the people in the land had
run out of money, the people inEgypt came to Joseph asking for
food and they pleaded with him.
(11:29):
At this point, joseph developsa barter system so the Egyptians
can get food in exchange fortheir livestock, and we're told
that this barter system lastedfor one year Verse 18.
(12:03):
And our land?
Why should we die before youreyes?
Both we and our land Buy us andour land for food and we, with
our land, will be servants tothe Pharaoh and give us seed
that we may live and not die andthat the land may not be
desolate.
In verses 18 and 19, it isaffirmed again twice that that
(12:28):
barter system for livestocklasted one year.
Considering the emphasis thatis placed on this one year being
the time of bartering forlivestock, and what we're about
to learn next, it's veryreasonable to conclude that that
year of bartering for livestockwas the last year of the famine
(12:51):
.
And now, at the end of thefamine, the Egyptians have
nothing left.
They have no money, they haveno livestock, they have no seed,
they have no food.
They are literally withoutanything.
At the end of the famine andthey come again to Joseph and,
(13:12):
in a great irony, the Egyptiansoffer themselves to Joseph to be
the Pharaoh's slaves.
One can only imagine thefeelings of Joseph as the
Egyptians are asking to be madeinto slaves, when he himself had
been sold as a slave to theEgyptians over 20 years ago.
(13:35):
When the Egyptians tell Joseph,give us seed that we may live
and not die, it signals to usthat the famine had let up and
that the ground had receivedwater.
The Egyptians' desire for seedto plant, along with their
statement that the landshouldn't remain desolate or
(13:56):
abandoned, shows us that they doin fact have hope, that if they
plant seed it will now grow inthe ground Verse 20.
So Joseph bought all the land ofEgypt for Pharaoh, for all the
(14:17):
Egyptians sold their fieldsbecause the famine was severe on
them.
The land became Pharaoh's.
As for the people, he madeservants of them from one end of
Egypt to the other.
Only the land of the priests hedid not buy, for the priests
had a fixed allowance fromPharaoh and lived on the
(14:40):
allowance that Pharaoh gave them.
Therefore, they did not selltheir land.
In verses 20-22, after hearingthe plea of the Egyptian
landowners and their desire toactually sell their land to the
Pharaoh, joseph begins to buy upall of these fields in Egypt.
(15:01):
He buys the fields from thepeople of Egypt who own land
with the Pharaoh's great wealththat he had accumulated, and
after these Egyptian landownerssell their fields to Joseph, the
people of Egypt become theservants of the Pharaoh.
This new system of governancesounds very familiar to what
(15:24):
might be considered a feudalsystem, where the Pharaoh owned
the land, but the people wereallotted portions of it in
exchange for their labor andtheir care for the land.
And then we read that thepriests did not sell their land.
The reason for this is simple.
The priests in the land ofEgypt were given what we might
(15:46):
think of as a salary.
The pharaoh himself paid themfor their service as priests in
Egypt.
And because the priests hadthis regular income to buy food
and seed if needed, they weren'tin the same desperate situation
as the rest of Egypt.
Therefore they didn't selltheir land Verse 23,.
(16:08):
Then Joseph said to the peopleBehold, I have this day bought
you and your land for Pharaoh.
Now, here is seed for you andyou shall sow the land, and at
the harvest you shall give afifth to the Pharaoh, and
four-fifths shall be your own,as seed for the field and as
(16:33):
food for yourselves and yourhouseholds and as food for your
little ones and as food for yourlittle ones.
And they said you have savedour lives.
May it please my lord, we willbe servants to the Pharaoh.
So Joseph made it a statuteconcerning the land of Egypt,
(16:54):
and it stands to this day thatPharaoh should have the fifth.
The land of the priests alonedid not become Pharaoh's.
In verses 23 through 26, josephbegins by making a public
declaration to the people ofEgypt so that all the people of
(17:15):
Egypt hear how he has boughtthem and their land for Pharaoh.
Then Joseph gives the people ofEgypt the needed seed to begin
planting, with the followingconditions First, they must sow
the seed in the land.
Second, they must harvest thegrain.
(17:39):
Third, they must give Pharaohone-fifth of all the harvest.
Fourth, they must keep some ofthe harvest as seed for the next
year.
And finally, fifth, they canuse whatever is left over to
(18:00):
feed themselves and theirfamilies.
After this great declaration byJoseph to all the people of
Egypt, in what seems to be agreat twist of providence, the
people of Egypt, so grateful forGovernor Joseph, declare that
he has saved their lives.
Joseph himself, who once was aslave, now has made all of the
(18:21):
people of Egypt a slave to thePharaoh.
And in so doing, by buying thepeople's land for cash and then
making them the Pharaoh'sservants, so that they
immediately had seed and a cropto look forward to the coming
year, joseph was seen as a hero,as a man of great kindness and
(18:43):
mercy.
And as the people of Egyptembraced this new feudal system
of government in Egypt, josephmade it a statute.
It became the law of the landfor future generations.
Moses even records that duringhis day, this law that Joseph
implemented remained intact andthe Egyptians still gave
(19:06):
one-fifth of all their produceto the Pharaoh, with the
exception of the priests Verse27 Thus, israel settled in the
land of Egypt, in the land ofGoshen, and they gained
possessions in it, and they werefruitful and they multiplied
greatly.
And Jacob lived in the land ofEgypt seventeen years.
(19:29):
So the days of Jacob, the yearsof his life, were one hundred
forty-seven years years.
Verses 27 and 28 describe how,during Jacob's last 17 years of
life, he began to see thepromise of God fulfilled to make
(19:51):
him into a great nation inEgypt Genesis 46.3.
As we consider this context andhow the Egyptian landowners had
sold their land to Joseph andbecome servants of the Pharaoh,
while the Hebrews were given theland of Goshen and provided for
by Joseph, we see that the handof God was at work to protect
(20:17):
and bless Israel during the timeof Joseph's rule as governor,
and we see that Israel had cometo Egypt when he was 130 years
old.
And now, having spent 17 yearsin Egypt, jacob will die at the
age of 147.
(20:38):
Verse 29,.
And when the time drew nearthat Israel must die Verse 29.
Do not bury me in Egypt, butlet me lie with my fathers.
(21:00):
Carry me out of Egypt and buryme in their burying place.
He answered I will do as youhave said.
And he said Swear it to me.
And he swore to him.
Then Israel bowed himself uponthe head of his bed.
(21:21):
In our last verses 29 through31, when Jacob was getting close
to the end of his life, hecalled for his beloved and
trusted son, joseph, and Israelasks Joseph to place his hand
under his thigh Now.
This was a sign of taking asolemn oath in the patriarchal
(21:41):
period.
Then Jacob tells Joseph topromise to act in kindness and
in truth, to not let him beburied in Egypt, but rather to
be buried with his forefathers,abraham and Isaac.
Jacob was asking to be buried inthe cave in the field of Ephron
(22:03):
in Mekpila, which was east ofmemory.
Genesis 23, 17 and 18.
Even after Joseph, the verytrusted and beloved son of Jacob
, said that he would do this,jacob still said swear to me,
(22:23):
because being buried in the landof Canaan was of great
importance to Jacob.
Jacob trusted in the Abrahamiccovenant given by God and he
knew that Abraham's descendantswere to be part of the promised
land.
Here, in faith and in eternalhope, israel anticipates one day
(22:49):
the resurrection of his deadbody along with his fathers in
the promised land, and Josephswore to Israel that he would do
it.
After Jacob felt certain thatJoseph would do what he had
promised to do and he would buryhim with his fathers, israel
(23:10):
was now at peace and restedhimself upon the head of his bed
.
Thank you for joining me todayfor this wonderful chapter in
Genesis 47.
Join me next week for Genesischapter 48, when Jacob blesses
Joseph's two sons, ephraim andManasseh.
(23:32):
God bless you this week.
Grace and peace to you in the name of God, our
Father and our Lord and ourSavior, jesus Christ.
Today we're in Genesis, chapter47, where Israel and his family
settle in the land of Goshen,beginning at verse 1,.
So Joseph went in and toldPharaoh my father and my
(00:23):
brothers, with their flocks andherds and all that they possess,
have come from the land ofCanaan.
They are now in the land ofGoshen, and from among his
brothers he took five men andpresented them to Pharaoh.
Pharaoh said to his brotherswhat is your occupation?
And they said to his brotherssevere, in the land of Canaan.
(01:01):
And now, please let yourservants dwell in the land of
Goshen.
Then the Pharaoh said to Josephyour father and brothers have
come to you.
The land of Egypt is before you.
Settle your fathers and yourbrothers in the best of the land
.
Let them settle in the land ofthe Pharaoh's court.
(01:23):
And he went in with only fiveof his brothers and began the
(01:44):
court procedures.
Joseph told the Pharaoh thathis family had come from the
land of Canaan and they were nowin the land of Goshen.
The Pharaoh then asks what isyour occupation?
Just as Joseph had anticipatedthey would be asked, the
(02:06):
brothers answered, as they wereinstructed by Joseph, both
humbly, honestly and briefly,that both they and their
forefathers were shepherds andthey've come to the land of
Goshen because of the severityof the famine.
Finally, they politely ask thePharaoh if they could please
(02:28):
dwell in the land of Goshen.
After the brothers officiallydescribe their circumstances,
the Pharaoh acknowledges howJoseph's family has indeed come
to be with him.
And then the Pharaoh tells themthat they may settle in the
land of Goshen and raise theirlivestock there, adding that if
(02:50):
there were any able men amongthem, they could certainly come
and be in charge of thePharaoh's livestock as well.
Picking up in verse 7,.
Then Joseph brought in Jacob,his father, and stood him before
the Pharaoh and Jacob blessedPharaoh.
And Pharaoh said to Jacob howmany are the days of the years
(03:12):
of your life?
And Jacob said to Pharaoh thedays of the years of my
sojourning are one hundred andthirty years.
Few and evil have been the daysof the years of my life and
they have not attained to thedays of the years of the life of
my fathers in the days of theirsojourning.
And Jacob blessed Pharaoh andwent out from the presence of
(03:37):
Pharaoh.
In verses 7 through 10, afterthe initial business meeting
took place between the fivebrothers and Pharaoh and the
location of the land was settledwith the Pharaoh, joseph brings
in his elderly father, israel,and presents him to Pharaoh.
This interaction between Israeland Pharaoh was truly the
(04:02):
graciousness of Israel.
Israel wanted to bless Pharaohand thank him for his help to
his family during this time offamine.
Now there was a natural andcultural respect that was given
to elderly men in Egypt.
Additionally, jacob understandswho he is in the Lord.
(04:25):
He understands his position asa child of the Most High God,
and Jacob, deliberately and witha godly understanding, comes
into the Pharaoh and blesses him.
The young Pharaoh asks Jacobhow old is he, and Jacob's reply
is that he's 130 years old.
(04:48):
Jacob then describes the days ofhis life as days of sojourning,
and that they've been few andevil.
This is actually a very fittingway to describe Jacob's life,
considering that he's neverowned any land and his life has
always been a struggle, withmany sorrows and crisis.
(05:08):
However, it also reminds us ofsomething deeper.
As a believer in the comingMessiah, jacob, as well as those
today who believe in JesusChrist, are considered
foreigners and sojourners insomeone else's land.
1 Peter, 2.1 reads Beloved.
(05:32):
I urge you, as sojourners andexiles, to abstain from the
passions of the flesh which wagewar against your soul.
Philippians 3.20 reads.
But our citizenship is inheaven and from it we await a
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
(05:52):
Jacob's comment that his daysare few and evil should also
remind us to make the most useof our time for God's kingdom,
because our days on this earthare indeed few and evil.
Jesus told us in Matthew 6,verses 19-21, do not lay up for
(06:19):
yourselves treasures on earthwhere moth and rust destroy,
where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven whereneither moth nor rust destroy,
where thieves do not break inand steal.
For where your treasure is,there your heart will be also.
(06:40):
And Ephesians, chapter 5, verse16, also tells us make the best
use of the time, because thedays are evil.
After Jacob blesses the Pharaohin the name of the Lord, god
Most High, for his generosityand provision to the people of
(07:01):
God During this time of famine,jacob leaves the presence of the
Pharaoh, picking up in verse 11, then Joseph settled his father
and his brothers and gave thema possession in the land of
Egypt, in the best of the land,in the land of Ramses, as
(07:21):
Pharaoh had commanded, andJoseph provided for his father,
his brothers and all hisfather's household with food
according to the number of theirdependents.
In verses 11 and 12, joseph wasable to secure for his family
ownership of land in Egypt.
(07:41):
This land is some of the mostfertile soil in all of Egypt as
it was on the very delta of theNile River.
The name of Ramses was actuallygiven to the land of Goshen
during the time of Moses, andthen we see that Joseph provided
(08:02):
for his family.
It can be easy to skip oververse 12 or read it and kind of
pass by it, but we're toldJoseph provided for his family
during the famine, and we'retold he did so in an intentional
and systematic way so thatevery family received food
(08:23):
according to the number ofpeople they had in their
household.
Picking up in verse 13, nowthere was no food in all the
land, for the famine was verysevere, so that the land of
Egypt and the land of Canaanlanguished by reason of the
famine.
Here in verse 13, and in thenext few verses we find an
(08:48):
actually very detaileddescription of what's happening
in the land of Egypt.
But here in this verse 13,.
The Hebrew word for food meansbread or grain, and the Hebrew
word for land means the earth,the ground or the territory.
(09:08):
So what we're actually learninghere in verse 13 is that at
this point in the famine, it wasso severe that no grain would
grow in the ground.
There was no grain foundgrowing either in all of Egypt
or in Canaan found growingeither in all of Egypt or in
Canaan.
And it says the land languished, or in other words, it had
(09:39):
wasted away and it was unable toproduce.
Verse 14, and Joseph gathered upall the money that was found in
the land of Egypt and in theland of Canaan in exchange for
the grain that they had bought.
And Joseph brought the moneythat was found in the land of
Egypt and in the land of Canaanin exchange for the grain that
they had bought.
And Joseph brought the moneyinto Pharaoh's house.
And when the money was allspent in the land of Egypt and
in the land of Canaan, all theEgyptians came to Joseph and
(10:03):
said Give us food.
Why should we die before youreyes?
For our money is gone.
And Joseph answered Give yourlivestock and I will give you
food in exchange for yourlivestock if your money is gone.
So they brought their livestockto Joseph and Joseph gave them
(10:24):
food in exchange for theirhorses, the flocks, the herds
and the donkeys.
He supplied them with food inexchange for all their livestock
that year.
In verses 14 through 17, we seethat over the course of time,
the Egyptians, and as well asthose living in the land of
(10:46):
Canaan, had come to buy grainfrom Joseph and they ran out of
money.
The famine literally bankruptedall of Egypt and Canaan, and
Joseph brought all of thismonetary wealth into the house
of Pharaoh, so that the Pharaohhad all of the money in the land
(11:08):
.
From what we're going to learnshortly, it would seem that this
was sometime around the end ofthe fifth or early in the sixth
year of the famine, and when allof the people in the land had
run out of money, the people inEgypt came to Joseph asking for
food and they pleaded with him.
(11:29):
At this point, joseph developsa barter system so the Egyptians
can get food in exchange fortheir livestock, and we're told
that this barter system lastedfor one year Verse 18.
(12:03):
And our land?
Why should we die before youreyes?
Both we and our land Buy us andour land for food and we, with
our land, will be servants tothe Pharaoh and give us seed
that we may live and not die andthat the land may not be
desolate.
In verses 18 and 19, it isaffirmed again twice that that
(12:28):
barter system for livestocklasted one year.
Considering the emphasis thatis placed on this one year being
the time of bartering forlivestock, and what we're about
to learn next, it's veryreasonable to conclude that that
year of bartering for livestockwas the last year of the famine
(12:51):
.
And now, at the end of thefamine, the Egyptians have
nothing left.
They have no money, they haveno livestock, they have no seed,
they have no food.
They are literally withoutanything.
At the end of the famine andthey come again to Joseph and,
(13:12):
in a great irony, the Egyptiansoffer themselves to Joseph to be
the Pharaoh's slaves.
One can only imagine thefeelings of Joseph as the
Egyptians are asking to be madeinto slaves, when he himself had
been sold as a slave to theEgyptians over 20 years ago.
(13:35):
When the Egyptians tell Joseph,give us seed that we may live
and not die, it signals to usthat the famine had let up and
that the ground had receivedwater.
The Egyptians' desire for seedto plant, along with their
statement that the landshouldn't remain desolate or
(13:56):
abandoned, shows us that they doin fact have hope, that if they
plant seed it will now grow inthe ground Verse 20.
So Joseph bought all the land ofEgypt for Pharaoh, for all the
(14:17):
Egyptians sold their fieldsbecause the famine was severe on
them.
The land became Pharaoh's.
As for the people, he madeservants of them from one end of
Egypt to the other.
Only the land of the priests hedid not buy, for the priests
had a fixed allowance fromPharaoh and lived on the
(14:40):
allowance that Pharaoh gave them.
Therefore, they did not selltheir land.
In verses 20-22, after hearingthe plea of the Egyptian
landowners and their desire toactually sell their land to the
Pharaoh, joseph begins to buy upall of these fields in Egypt.
(15:01):
He buys the fields from thepeople of Egypt who own land
with the Pharaoh's great wealththat he had accumulated, and
after these Egyptian landownerssell their fields to Joseph, the
people of Egypt become theservants of the Pharaoh.
This new system of governancesounds very familiar to what
(15:24):
might be considered a feudalsystem, where the Pharaoh owned
the land, but the people wereallotted portions of it in
exchange for their labor andtheir care for the land.
And then we read that thepriests did not sell their land.
The reason for this is simple.
The priests in the land ofEgypt were given what we might
(15:46):
think of as a salary.
The pharaoh himself paid themfor their service as priests in
Egypt.
And because the priests hadthis regular income to buy food
and seed if needed, they weren'tin the same desperate situation
as the rest of Egypt.
Therefore they didn't selltheir land Verse 23,.
(16:08):
Then Joseph said to the peopleBehold, I have this day bought
you and your land for Pharaoh.
Now, here is seed for you andyou shall sow the land, and at
the harvest you shall give afifth to the Pharaoh, and
four-fifths shall be your own,as seed for the field and as
(16:33):
food for yourselves and yourhouseholds and as food for your
little ones and as food for yourlittle ones.
And they said you have savedour lives.
May it please my lord, we willbe servants to the Pharaoh.
So Joseph made it a statuteconcerning the land of Egypt,
(16:54):
and it stands to this day thatPharaoh should have the fifth.
The land of the priests alonedid not become Pharaoh's.
In verses 23 through 26, josephbegins by making a public
declaration to the people ofEgypt so that all the people of
(17:15):
Egypt hear how he has boughtthem and their land for Pharaoh.
Then Joseph gives the people ofEgypt the needed seed to begin
planting, with the followingconditions First, they must sow
the seed in the land.
Second, they must harvest thegrain.
(17:39):
Third, they must give Pharaohone-fifth of all the harvest.
Fourth, they must keep some ofthe harvest as seed for the next
year.
And finally, fifth, they canuse whatever is left over to
(18:00):
feed themselves and theirfamilies.
After this great declaration byJoseph to all the people of
Egypt, in what seems to be agreat twist of providence, the
people of Egypt, so grateful forGovernor Joseph, declare that
he has saved their lives.
Joseph himself, who once was aslave, now has made all of the
(18:21):
people of Egypt a slave to thePharaoh.
And in so doing, by buying thepeople's land for cash and then
making them the Pharaoh'sservants, so that they
immediately had seed and a cropto look forward to the coming
year, joseph was seen as a hero,as a man of great kindness and
(18:43):
mercy.
And as the people of Egyptembraced this new feudal system
of government in Egypt, josephmade it a statute.
It became the law of the landfor future generations.
Moses even records that duringhis day, this law that Joseph
implemented remained intact andthe Egyptians still gave
(19:06):
one-fifth of all their produceto the Pharaoh, with the
exception of the priests Verse27 Thus, israel settled in the
land of Egypt, in the land ofGoshen, and they gained
possessions in it, and they werefruitful and they multiplied
greatly.
And Jacob lived in the land ofEgypt seventeen years.
(19:29):
So the days of Jacob, the yearsof his life, were one hundred
forty-seven years years.
Verses 27 and 28 describe how,during Jacob's last 17 years of
life, he began to see thepromise of God fulfilled to make
(19:51):
him into a great nation inEgypt Genesis 46.3.
As we consider this context andhow the Egyptian landowners had
sold their land to Joseph andbecome servants of the Pharaoh,
while the Hebrews were given theland of Goshen and provided for
by Joseph, we see that the handof God was at work to protect
(20:17):
and bless Israel during the timeof Joseph's rule as governor,
and we see that Israel had cometo Egypt when he was 130 years
old.
And now, having spent 17 yearsin Egypt, jacob will die at the
age of 147.
(20:38):
Verse 29,.
And when the time drew nearthat Israel must die Verse 29.
Do not bury me in Egypt, butlet me lie with my fathers.
(21:00):
Carry me out of Egypt and buryme in their burying place.
He answered I will do as youhave said.
And he said Swear it to me.
And he swore to him.
Then Israel bowed himself uponthe head of his bed.
(21:21):
In our last verses 29 through31, when Jacob was getting close
to the end of his life, hecalled for his beloved and
trusted son, joseph, and Israelasks Joseph to place his hand
under his thigh Now.
This was a sign of taking asolemn oath in the patriarchal
(21:41):
period.
Then Jacob tells Joseph topromise to act in kindness and
in truth, to not let him beburied in Egypt, but rather to
be buried with his forefathers,abraham and Isaac.
Jacob was asking to be buried inthe cave in the field of Ephron
(22:03):
in Mekpila, which was east ofmemory.
Genesis 23, 17 and 18.
Even after Joseph, the verytrusted and beloved son of Jacob
, said that he would do this,jacob still said swear to me,
(22:23):
because being buried in the landof Canaan was of great
importance to Jacob.
Jacob trusted in the Abrahamiccovenant given by God and he
knew that Abraham's descendantswere to be part of the promised
land.
Here, in faith and in eternalhope, israel anticipates one day
(22:49):
the resurrection of his deadbody along with his fathers in
the promised land, and Josephswore to Israel that he would do
it.
After Jacob felt certain thatJoseph would do what he had
promised to do and he would buryhim with his fathers, israel
(23:10):
was now at peace and restedhimself upon the head of his bed
.
Thank you for joining me todayfor this wonderful chapter in
Genesis 47.
Join me next week for Genesischapter 48, when Jacob blesses
Joseph's two sons, ephraim andManasseh.
(23:32):
God bless you this week.
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