Preaching the Word

Genesis 47 - Faith in Foreign Lands - The Mysteries of God's Word

• Nathan Dietsche • Season 4 • Episode 71

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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.


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Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com

Speaker 1:

Grace and peace to you in the name of God, our Father and our Lord and our Savior, jesus Christ. Today we're in Genesis, chapter 47, where Israel and his family settle in the land of Goshen, beginning at verse 1,. So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh my father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen, and from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to his brothers what is your occupation? And they said to his brothers severe, in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen. Then the Pharaoh said to Joseph your father and brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your fathers and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of the Pharaoh's court. And he went in with only five of his brothers and began the court procedures. Joseph told the Pharaoh that his family had come from the land of Canaan and they were now in the land of Goshen. The Pharaoh then asks what is your occupation? Just as Joseph had anticipated they would be asked, the brothers answered, as they were instructed by Joseph, both humbly, honestly and briefly, that both they and their forefathers were shepherds and they've come to the land of Goshen because of the severity of the famine. Finally, they politely ask the Pharaoh if they could please dwell in the land of Goshen. After the brothers officially describe their circumstances, the Pharaoh acknowledges how Joseph's family has indeed come to be with him. And then the Pharaoh tells them that they may settle in the land of Goshen and raise their livestock there, adding that if there were any able men among them, they could certainly come and be in charge of the Pharaoh's livestock as well.

Speaker 1:

Picking up in verse 7,. Then Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and stood him before the Pharaoh and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob how many are the days of the years of your life? And Jacob said to Pharaoh the days of the years of my sojourning 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 sojourning. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

Speaker 1:

In verses 7 through 10, after the initial business meeting took place between the five brothers and Pharaoh and the location of the land was settled with the Pharaoh, joseph brings in his elderly father, israel, and presents him to Pharaoh. This interaction between Israel and Pharaoh was truly the graciousness of Israel. Israel wanted to bless Pharaoh and thank him for his help to his family during this time of famine. Now there was a natural and cultural respect that was given to elderly men in Egypt. Additionally, jacob understands who he is in the Lord. He understands his position as a child of the Most High God, and Jacob, deliberately and with a godly understanding, comes into the Pharaoh and blesses him. The young Pharaoh asks Jacob how old is he, and Jacob's reply is that he's 130 years old.

Speaker 1:

Jacob then describes the days of his life as days of sojourning, and that they've been few and evil. This is actually a very fitting way to describe Jacob's life, considering that he's never owned any land and his life has always been a struggle, with many sorrows and crisis. However, it also reminds us of something deeper. As a believer in the coming Messiah, jacob, as well as those today who believe in Jesus Christ, are considered foreigners and sojourners in someone else's land. 1 Peter, 2.1 reads Beloved. I urge you, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Philippians 3.20 reads. But our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jacob's comment that his days are few and evil should also remind us to make the most use of our time for God's kingdom, because our days on this earth are indeed few and evil. Jesus told us in Matthew 6, verses 19-21, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And Ephesians, chapter 5, verse 16, also tells us make the best use of the time, because the days are evil. After Jacob blesses the Pharaoh in the name of the Lord, god Most High, for his generosity and provision to the people of 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 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 provided for his father, his brothers and all his father's household with food according to the number of their dependents.

Speaker 1:

In verses 11 and 12, joseph was able to secure for his family ownership of land in Egypt. This land is some of the most fertile soil in all of Egypt as it was on the very delta of the Nile River. The name of Ramses was actually given to the land of Goshen during the time of Moses, and then we see that Joseph provided for his family. It can be easy to skip over verse 12 or read it and kind of pass by it, but we're told Joseph provided for his family during the famine, and we're told he did so in an intentional and systematic way so that every family received food according to the number of people they had in their household.

Speaker 1:

Picking up in verse 13, now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. Here in verse 13, and in the next few verses we find an actually very detailed description of what's happening in the land of Egypt. But here in this verse 13,. The Hebrew word for food means bread or grain, and the Hebrew word for land means the earth, the ground or the territory. So what we're actually learning here in verse 13 is that at this point in the famine, it was so severe that no grain would grow in the ground. There was no grain found growing either in all of Egypt or in Canaan found growing either in all of Egypt or in Canaan. And it says the land languished, or in other words, it had wasted away and it was unable to produce.

Speaker 1:

Verse 14, and Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan in exchange for the grain that they had bought. And Joseph brought the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan in exchange for the grain that they had bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone. And Joseph answered Give your livestock and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock if your money is gone. So they brought their livestock to Joseph and Joseph gave them food in exchange for their horses, the flocks, the herds and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.

Speaker 1:

In verses 14 through 17, we see that over the course of time, the Egyptians, and as well as those living in the land of Canaan, had come to buy grain from Joseph and they ran out of money. The famine literally bankrupted all of Egypt and Canaan, and Joseph brought all of this monetary wealth into the house of Pharaoh, so that the Pharaoh had all of the money in the land. From what we're going to learn shortly, it would seem that this was sometime around the end of the fifth or early in the sixth year of the famine, and when all of the people in the land had run out of money, the people in Egypt came to Joseph asking for food and they pleaded with him. At this point, joseph develops a barter system so the Egyptians can get food in exchange for their livestock, and we're told that this barter system lasted for one year Verse 18. And our land? Why should we die before your eyes? Both we and our land Buy us and our land for food and we, with our land, will be servants to the Pharaoh and give us seed that we may live and not die and that the land may not be desolate. In verses 18 and 19, it is affirmed again twice that that barter system for livestock lasted one year. Considering the emphasis that is placed on this one year being the time of bartering for livestock, and what we're about to learn next, it's very reasonable to conclude that that year of bartering for livestock was the last year of the famine.

Speaker 1:

And now, at the end of the famine, the Egyptians have nothing left. They have no money, they have no livestock, they have no seed, they have no food. They are literally without anything. At the end of the famine and they come again to Joseph and, in a great irony, the Egyptians offer themselves to Joseph to be the Pharaoh's slaves. One can only imagine the feelings of Joseph as the Egyptians are asking to be made into slaves, when he himself had been sold as a slave to the Egyptians over 20 years ago. When the Egyptians tell Joseph, give us seed that we may live and not die, it signals to us that the famine had let up and that the ground had received water. The Egyptians' desire for seed to plant, along with their statement that the land shouldn't remain desolate or abandoned, shows us that they do in fact have hope, that if they plant seed it will now grow in the ground Verse 20.

Speaker 1:

So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh's. As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other. Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land. In verses 20-22, after hearing the plea of the Egyptian landowners and their desire to actually sell their land to the Pharaoh, joseph begins to buy up all of these fields in Egypt. He buys the fields from the people of Egypt who own land with the Pharaoh's great wealth that he had accumulated, and after these Egyptian landowners sell their fields to Joseph, the people of Egypt become the servants of the Pharaoh. This new system of governance sounds very familiar to what might be considered a feudal system, where the Pharaoh owned the land, but the people were allotted portions of it in exchange for their labor and their care for the land.

Speaker 1:

And then we read that the priests did not sell their land. The reason for this is simple. The priests in the land of Egypt were given what we might think of as a salary. The pharaoh himself paid them for their service as priests in Egypt. And because the priests had this regular income to buy food and seed if needed, they weren't in the same desperate situation as the rest of Egypt. Therefore they didn't sell their land Verse 23,. Then Joseph said to the people Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now, here is seed for you and you shall sow the land, and at the harvest you shall give a fifth to the Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households and as food for your little ones and as food for your little ones. And they said you have saved our lives. May it please my lord, we will be servants to the Pharaoh. So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day that Pharaoh should have the fifth. The land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's.

Speaker 1:

In verses 23 through 26, joseph begins by making a public declaration to the people of Egypt so that all the people of Egypt hear how he has bought them and their land for Pharaoh. Then Joseph gives the people of Egypt the needed seed to begin planting, with the following conditions First, they must sow the seed in the land. Second, they must harvest the grain. Third, they must give Pharaoh one-fifth of all the harvest. Fourth, they must keep some of the harvest as seed for the next year. And finally, fifth, they can use whatever is left over to feed themselves and their families. After this great declaration by Joseph to all the people of Egypt, in what seems to be a great twist of providence, the people of Egypt, so grateful for Governor Joseph, declare that he has saved their lives. Joseph himself, who once was a slave, now has made all of the people of Egypt a slave to the Pharaoh. And in so doing, by buying the people's land for cash and then making them the Pharaoh's servants, so that they immediately had seed and a crop to look forward to the coming year, joseph was seen as a hero, as a man of great kindness and mercy. And as the people of Egypt embraced this new feudal system of government in Egypt, joseph made it a statute. It became the law of the land for future generations. Moses even records that during his day, this law that Joseph implemented remained intact and the Egyptians still gave one-fifth of all their produce to the Pharaoh, with the exception of the priests Verse 27 Thus, israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they gained possessions in it, and they were fruitful and they multiplied greatly.

Speaker 1:

And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of 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 the promise of God fulfilled to make him into a great nation in Egypt Genesis 46.3. As we consider this context and how the Egyptian landowners had sold their land to Joseph and become servants of the Pharaoh, while the Hebrews were given the land of Goshen and provided for by Joseph, we see that the hand of God was at work to protect and bless Israel during the time of Joseph's rule as governor, and we see that Israel had come to Egypt when he was 130 years old. And now, having spent 17 years in Egypt, jacob will die at the age of 147.

Speaker 1:

Verse 29,. And when the time drew near that Israel must die Verse 29. Do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place. He answered I will do as you have said. And he said Swear it to me. And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed. In our last verses 29 through 31, when Jacob was getting close to the end of his life, he called for his beloved and trusted son, joseph, and Israel asks Joseph to place his hand under his thigh Now. This was a sign of taking a solemn oath in the patriarchal period.

Speaker 1:

Then Jacob tells Joseph to promise to act in kindness and in truth, to not let him be buried in Egypt, but rather to be buried with his forefathers, abraham and Isaac.

Speaker 1:

Jacob was asking to be buried in the cave in the field of Ephron in Mekpila, which was east of memory. Genesis 23, 17 and 18. Even after Joseph, the very trusted and beloved son of Jacob, said that he would do this, jacob still said swear to me, because being buried in the land of Canaan was of great importance to Jacob. Jacob trusted in the Abrahamic covenant given by God and he knew that Abraham's descendants were to be part of the promised land. Here, in faith and in eternal hope, israel anticipates one day the resurrection of his dead body along with his fathers in the promised land, and Joseph swore to Israel that he would do it. After Jacob felt certain that Joseph would do what he had promised to do and he would bury him with his fathers, israel was now at peace and rested himself upon the head of his bed. Thank you for joining me today for this wonderful chapter in Genesis 47. Join me next week for Genesis chapter 48, when Jacob blesses Joseph's two sons, ephraim and Manasseh. God bless you this week.