genesis 47:1 48:22 - calvary chapel elk grove · the dictionary defines the word ‘pilgrim’ as...

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Genesis 47:1-48:22 (10/7/15)

Genesis 47:1-4 (NKJV) 1

Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, and said, "My father and my brothers, their flocks

and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed

they are in the land of Goshen." 2

And he took five men from among his brothers and

presented them to Pharaoh. 3

Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What is your

occupation?" And they said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, both we and also

our fathers." 4 And they said to Pharaoh, "We have come to dwell in the land, because

your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of

Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen."

Goshen was located in the northeastern part of Egypt and was one the most fertile areas in the

world covering some 900 square miles—perfect for the grazing of livestock.


Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, "Your father and your brothers have come to

you. 6

The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of

the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among

them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock." 7

Then Joseph brought in his

father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

Here’s something interesting—Jacob the old shepherd, an abomination in the eyes of the people

of Egypt—blesses Pharaoh the greatest ruler of the greatest nation on earth.

Hebrews 7:7 says, “Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the greater.”

In the eyes of the world it would have been no contest Pharaoh was definitely greater than

Jacob—but in the eyes of God His lowliest servants are still greater than the greatest leaders in

the eyes of the world!

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Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How old are you?" 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of

the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the

days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of

my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."

“My years have been few and evil” Jacob told Pharaoh.

The word “evil” doesn’t imply wickedness, but rather “misery” or “distress.”

Jacob’s life had been a difficult one—much of that Jacob brought upon himself because of his

carnality, selfishness and always trying to run his life instead of trusting God.

“The years of my life have been ‘few’”—at this point Jacob thought he would die far short of

his father Isaac who died at age 180; and his grandfather Abraham who died at age 175—he

wound up living another 17 years so he “caught up” to them before he died.

A hundred and thirty years or a hundred and seven-five years to us seems like a very long time to

live—but in the light of eternity it is nothing.

This is the way we must live our lives—not putting so much emphasis on the temporal but on the

eternal—(Luke 12:16-21).

But notice the word “pilgrimage” (v.9)—Jacob was a pilgrim in Egypt just as we are ‘pilgrims’

in the world.

The dictionary defines the word ‘pilgrim’ as “a traveler or wanderer, especially in a foreign

place.”

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The more we make this world our ‘home’ the more we will identify with it and settle down and

get comfortable in it.

Pastor Chuck Smith—

“We don't belong to this earth, we are just passing through. We are strangers and pilgrims

here. It is sad when we start feeling at home in this corrupted society. The more I read the

newspaper and watch Television, the more I realize that I am an alien. I don't belong in this

mess. I am a stranger and a pilgrim here, I am just passing on looking for that city whose maker

and builder is God [where] I am going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

The more we stand against this world’s thinking and values the more the world will persecute

and hate us—so we must choose between serving the Lord or living for the world.

Hebrews 11:24-26 (NLT) 24

It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s

daughter. 25

He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting

pleasures of sin. 26

He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the

treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.


So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. 11

And Joseph situated

his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of

the land, in the land of Rameses [later name for ‘Goshen’], as Pharaoh had commanded. 12

Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with bread,

according to the number in their families. 13

Now there was no bread in all the land; for the

famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished

because of the famine. 14

And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land

of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought

the money into Pharaoh's house. 15

So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in

the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, "Give us bread, for why

should we die in your presence? For the money has failed." 16

Then Joseph said, "Give

your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone." 17

So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for

the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with

bread in exchange for all their livestock that year. 18

When that year had ended, they came

to him the next year and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord that our money is

gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord

but our bodies and our lands.

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19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for

bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and

not die, that the land may not be desolate." 20

Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for

Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon

them. So the land became Pharaoh's. 21

And as for the people, he moved them into the

cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. 22

Only the land of the priests

he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their

rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.

Many have criticized Joseph for how he treated the Egyptian people—taking advantage of them

for his own personal gain, they say, and turning them into slaves of the state.

First of all Joseph didn’t get rich himself—he was just being a good servant of Pharaoh who

became very rich.

Secondly the people came to him and with their requests—he didn’t go to them.

One thing I find interesting is that the people didn’t demand the government give them ‘free

stuff’—they were willing to pay for it even if it meant putting themselves into slavery to the

state.

The mentality today among so many in our country is that the government owes them ‘cradle to

grave’ entitlements which is destroying our nation. (Comment)

One author said this—

“It is true that it created what amounted to a feudalistic economy, but the alternative—that of

placing everyone on a dole system—would have destroyed personal and national morale, would

have bankrupted the government, and probably would have culminated in social anarchy. The

stores of food would soon have been depleted and mass starvation would have followed.”

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Verse 21 tells us that Joseph, after buying up all the land in Egypt, then moved most of the

people into the cities where the storehouses were (no doubt to make the distribution of food more

efficient) and probably gave many of them jobs with the government in various capacities.

At this point the famine is finally over and we read—


Then Joseph said to the people, "Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for

Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24

And it shall come to pass

in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as

seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little

ones." 25

So they said, "You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord,

and we will be Pharaoh's servants." 26

And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to

this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, except for the land of the priests only, which

did not become Pharaoh's.

Henry Morris said,

“The system certainly left something to be desired in terms of human freedom; but a

centralized bureaucracy is preferable to mass starvation and anarchy, especially when the

bureaucracy is administered intelligently and unselfishly, as it was by Joseph.”

And so Joseph, a type of Christ, became a ‘benevolent dictator’—and the people loved him!

I would rather live under a system where I am a slave to a kind, loving, benevolent dictator than

to live in a world where personal freedom is exercised to the point of chaos and anarchy where

the strong are preying upon the weak.

That system is coming when Jesus reigns during the Millennial Kingdom. (Explain)

So the people became Pharaoh’s slaves—but really they lived as free men under a feudal system

which charged them a straight twenty percent tax.

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Actually that’s not that bad when compared with all the taxes we pay—federal and state income

taxes—property taxes as well as sales tax, gas tax etc.

One historian commenting on this said,

“As royal serfs, the Egyptians paid 20 percent to the crown—which was a normal percentage

and even low in its day. Forty percent was not uncommon in Mesopotamia. And there are

examples as high as 60 percent. The happy result in Egypt was that the coffers were overflowing

with foreign wealth, bolstering the economy. As the famine worsened, everyone in Egypt was

equitably fed and the twenty percent in taxes?—No one complained about it. Joseph was Egypt’s

national hero. They all would have been dead without him.”

One group that was exempt under Joseph’s administration was the priests of Egypt.

They had extensive land holdings but were considered employees of the state since Egypt had an

official state religious system.

And so they received an allocation of grain from the state for their own personal needs in return

for their services—thus making it unnecessary for them to sell their lands.


And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob's life was

one hundred and forty-seven years. 29

When the time drew near that Israel must die, he

called his son Joseph and said to him, "Now if I have found favor in your sight, please put

your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in

Egypt, 30

but let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in

their burial place." And he said, "I will do as you have said." 31

Then he said, "Swear to

me." And he swore to him. So Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.

A man taking an oath by putting his hand under the thigh of the man he was swearing the oath to

was a common practice in that part of the world at that time—we saw this in chapter 24 when

Abraham made his eldest servant swear an oath to him by putting his hand under Abraham’s

thigh that he would go to the land of Mesopotamia, where Abraham was originally from, to get a

bride for Isaac.

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Jacob has been sojourning in Egypt for 17 years—but he doesn’t want to be buried in Egypt—he

wanted to be buried in the Promised Land where his father and grandfather were buried.

Chapter 48

Genesis 48:1 (NKJV) 1

Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, "Indeed your father is sick";

and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

At this time Joseph was around 56 or 57 years old—his two sons were in their early twenties.


And Jacob was told, "Look, your son Joseph is coming to you"; and Israel strengthened

himself and sat up on the bed. 3

Then Jacob said to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to

me at Luz [Bethel] in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4

and said to me, 'Behold, I will

make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give

this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.'

Jacob is recounting to Joseph the promise that God first gave to Abraham, then to Isaac and then

to him while he was in Bethel.

God had appeared to Jacob twice while he was in Bethel.

The first appearance was when Jacob was fleeing the wrath of Esau, and God gave him the

vision of heavenly angels ascending and descending on his behalf—accompanied with the verbal

promise of the land on which he lay and offspring like the dust of the earth (cf. 28:12–14).

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The second appearance at Bethel was when he returned after a twenty-year absence—and it is

this second appearance that Jacob is referring to here (35:11–15).

He is reminding Joseph of this because he (Jacob) is about to do something very important in

light of the covenant God made with him and his descendants.


And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of

Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 6

Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name

of their brothers in their inheritance. 7

But as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel

died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go

to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)."

When Jacob said to Joseph that his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh “are mine”—he was

officially adopting them as his sons.

He goes on in v.6 to say, “Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours…”

This actually means that there were 13 tribes in Israel—but we always see 12 listed in

Scripture—how can that be?

It’s the Holy Spirit’s way of being able to manipulate the tribes when He needs to and yet always

wind up with twelve.

For example if He wants to include Joseph and Levi in the number He leaves out Ephraim and

Manasseh (they’re implied through Joseph)—and you get twelve.

If He wants to include Ephraim and Manasseh He leaves out Joseph (he’s implied in his two

sons)—and again you end up with twelve.

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If the Holy Spirit doesn’t want to include Levi when talking about the land each tribe inherited in

the Promised Land (because the Levites didn’t inherit any land) He counts Ephraim and

Manasseh (excluding Joseph who is implied)—and again you wind up with twelve tribes.

By doing this he (Jacob) arranged that the tribe of Joseph would receive a double portion of land

in Canaan when it would be divided among the tribes years later—the firstborn always got a

double portion of his father’s inheritance.

“Wait a minute” you say, “Joseph wasn’t the firstborn son of Jacob—Reuben was.”

That’s true, but as we’ve already seen, Joseph replaced Reuben as Jacob’s official firstborn

because Reuben slept with Jacob’s concubine and so he was disqualified as spiritual leader of the

family (the right of the firstborn after the father’s death)—

1 Chronicles 5:1-2 (NKJV) 1

Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel--he was indeed the firstborn, but because he

defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that

the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright; 2

yet Judah prevailed over his brothers,

and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph's--

Joseph thus received the birthright as far as territory was concerned—Judah would be blessed as

the tribe Messiah would come through.

Any offspring born to Joseph after them would be Joseph’s, not Jacob’s, and would dwell in the

territories allotted to Ephraim or Manasseh (v.6).

And so Joseph’s two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, would have an inheritance in the Promised

Land because their grandfather was adopting them.

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Then Israel saw Joseph's sons, and said, "Who are these?" 9

And Joseph said to his

father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place." And he said, "Please

bring them to me, and I will bless them." 10

Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so

that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and

embraced them. 11

And Israel said to Joseph, "I had not thought to see your face; but in

fact, God has also shown me your offspring!" 12

So Joseph brought them from beside his

knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. [they were in their twenties by this time

but were kneeling facing Jacob “beside Joseph’s knees] 13

And Joseph took them both,

Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand

toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. 14

Then Israel stretched out his

right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on

Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. (Explain

what Jacob’s doing and how he crossed his hands to bless the boys)

The right hand was always the place of greatest honor (Jesus was exalted to His Father’s right

hand) and so the oldest son was always blessed with his father’s right hand.

Now Joseph had been careful to put Manasseh, the oldest, on his left and Ephraim, the youngest,

on his right so that when he faced their grandfather Manasseh was on Jacob’s right hand side and

Ephraim on Jacob’s left hand side.

But Jacob crosses his hands putting his right hand on Ephraim’s head and his left hand on

Manasseh—


Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the

younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly,

for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15

And he blessed Joseph, and said: "God, before whom

my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has fed me [The Hebrew is

‘Shepherded me’] all my life long to this day, 16

The Angel [‘of the LORD’—Jesus Christ]

who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them, And

the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let them grow into a multitude in the

midst of the earth." 17

Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head

of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from

Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18

And Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father,

for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."

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19 But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people,

and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his

descendants shall become a multitude of nations." 20

So he blessed them that day, saying,

"By you Israel will bless, saying, 'May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!' "

And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

Manasseh would become “a people,” but Ephraim would become “a multitude of nations.”

For the fifth time in the Book of Genesis, we see a reversal of the birth order.

God had chosen Abel over Cain; Isaac over Ishmael; Jacob over Esau; and Joseph over

Reuben—and now He would choose Ephraim over Manasseh.

Joseph was upset with what his father did and tried to change his hands, but Jacob was guided by

God and knew what he was doing.

One author said, “When Joseph saw that his father was blessing Ephraim over Manasseh, he protested. But

Jacob’s words, I know, my son, I know, expressed the confidence of his faith: he was blessing

according to the divine plan, not according to normal custom. He had learned that in spite of

what man attempted to do God had blessed him, the younger. This he now carried forward to

Joseph’s sons. Years later Ephraim became a leading tribe in the Northern Kingdom, much

superior to the tribe of Manasseh, as Jacob had predicted.”

Jeremiah 31:9 (NKJV) 9

...For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn.

This shows how the idea of firstborn in the Bible is often a position of pre-eminence, not

necessarily meaning “first out of the womb.” (The same thing with David and Jesus—both were

called ‘firstborn’ by God—Explain)

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Then Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you

back to the land of your fathers. 22

Moreover I have given to you one portion above [‘more

than’] your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my

bow."

The Hebrew word for “portion” is šeḵem, a wordplay on the name of the town Shechem.

Later Joseph himself was buried in Shechem—

Joshua 24:32 (NKJV) 32

The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at

Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of

Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children

of Joseph.

Joshua 24:32 says Jacob bought the plot of ground in Shechem—however Genesis 48:22 says he

took it with the sword and bow from the Amorites—how do we reconcile this? (Explain)

genesis 47:1 48:22 - calvary chapel elk grove · the dictionary defines the word ‘pilgrim’ as...

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