God had promised Abraham, “I will make you a great nation” (Genesis 12:2). He promised Abraham to give him the land of Canaan, the “promised land” (Genesis 15::18). But he also told Abraham, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13). What was this whole story of Joseph and Egypt about? Genesis 46:3 God told Jacob as he was about to bring his whole family to Egypt to see Joseph, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. ⁴ I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes.” This was about God making a great nation from Jacob, whose name had been changed to “Israel” (i.e. the nation of Israel). Jacob was excited to see Joseph alive after thinking he was dead for 20 years, but he was also afraid. He is 130 years old and knows he doesn’t have many years to live. He would be moving to a land filled where Pharoah probably had over 1,000 chariots and Jacob has a history of being afraid. So God tells him not to be afraid. Have you ever made a major move to a new place that scared you? Maybe moving that first time into a dorm or an apartment at college, far away from home? Maybe moving to a new city on a new job? Were you afraid? My wife and I moved around a lot during our mission travels. I counted 11 moves that we made in a 10 year period when we were in our 20’s and early 30’s. We loaded my ’69 mustang and moved 300 miles from our house we had just bought to a school of preaching in Louisiana to live in a house trailer for 2 years. We got on a plane to fly 2,000 miles to the island of Trinidad in the West Indies to do mission work. I remember the fear I felt when we boarded that plane and I sat down in my seat. All the excitement of going was gone. All the supporters sending us off were left back at the departure gate, including all our parents. Now it was just fear of the unknown. Jacob was afraid of the move to Egypt, but God eased his fears. God had a plan. His family would not be slaves to begin with. They would live in Goshen, isolated as shepherds b/c the Egyptians did not like sheep and considered shepherds as “loathsome” (Genesis 46:34). Have you read of the range wars between cattle herders and sheep herders out west from 1870-1900? Cattle herders don’t like sheep b/c the sheep will eat all the grass right down to the root (cattle don’t). Another aspect of the providence of God to isolate Jacob’s family in Goshen for the next 400 years where they would not mix with the pagan Egyptians. They were not slaves at first. Joseph was about 40 when Jacob moved his family to Egypt, and Joseph died at 110. Exodus 1:6-11 says that they only became slaves at some point after Joseph died, so that means that Jacob’s descendants had at least 70 years of peace and prosperity in Egypt before they became slaves. What is this whole story about? God is making a great nation of Jacob, fulfilling the promise to Abraham. Jacob’s descendants will grow from 70 (Genesis 46:27) to maybe 2 million at the end of their stay in Egypt. They would never have grown that large in Canaan. This whole story of the providential working of God in the life of Joseph is about God making a great nation of Jacob (Israel).

Most of Genesis 46-50 is about the last 17 years of Jacob’s life spent in Egypt with Joseph. A couple of incidents stand out to me. 1) Joseph met Pharoah for the first time. Genesis 47:⁷ Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many years have you lived?” ⁹ So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.” The Hebrew word for “unpleasant” is ra’: Evil, bad, wicked, harmful, unpleasant. So Joseph is using a really strong word to sum up his 130 years so far. I am 76 and can’t have many more years to live. If someone asked me to sum up my life, I hope I would not say my life has been “unpleasant” or miserable so far. And I wouldn’t say that. God as blessed me with many great years and memories. A few difficulties, but overall great and blessed. Why would Jacob say that his 130 years had been unpleasant? Let’s review his life: He lied to his father and steals Esau’s blessing, and fled his home in Canaan b/c. Esau was going to kill him. He was deceived and cheated by Laban for 20 years in Haran. He had a terrifying meeting with Esau at Penuel. He had a horrible incident at Shechem with the raping of Dinah, the vengeful acts of Simeon and Levi, and his fear that the Canaanites will all unite against him. He had many conflicts with the Philistines over wells that his men dug. His favorite wife Rachel, the only one he loved, died in childbirth (“to his sorrow, Genesis 48:7) as they arrived in Canaan after 20 years in Haran. He spent 20 years thinking his favorite son was dead, killed by an animal. He was terribly afraid of letting Benjamin go with the other brothers to Egypt and no doubt worried greatly while they were gone. I guess I can see why he said his years were “unpleasant”? But the main issue is that he spent most of those years “wrestling’ with God for control (which is what God was tellling him at Penuel). He spent his whole life trying to control his circumstances and get physical blessings by using his own cunning instead of trusting God, and it always led to disaster even though, as in Haran, God blessed him physically anyway.

Life Lesson: Look back at your life so far. Have you been letting God control your life, your decisions, your morals, your actions or have you tried to control evrything? Has your lack of trust in God’s control caused you to spend your years in fear and worry just like Jacob? I must admit that I have spent my life much like Jacob, in fear and worry and “what if’s”. Here’s a great image:

2) In Genesis 48, Jacob is sick, can’t see any longer, and is literally on his “dying bed”. He somehow finds the strength to “sit up in his bed” and call for Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to be brought to him so he could bless them before he died. He elevated Joseph’s two sons to equal status as Jacob’s biological sons. That also explains why Ephraim and Manasseh are given land when the promised land is divided among the 12 tribes. The Levites get 48 cities but no large portion of land. Joseph is not one of the 12 land divisions but his two sons are. So technically the 12 tribes of Israel which included Ephraim and Manasseh are not the same as the 12 biological sons of Jacob (Israel). But what interests me is what he said as he blessed the two boys, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads” (Genesis 48:15-16). It seems as if on his dying bed he finally realizes that, in spite of wrestling with God most of his life for control, that God was his shepherd all along the way: protecting him, guiding him, rescuing him, providing for his physical needs, doing all the things a shepherd does for the sheep! He just seldom realized that. He was filled with worry and fear b/c he didn’t trust God as his shepherd. Contrast that with David in Psalm 23. David found great peace and courage b/c God was his shepherd even though he had his moment of fear and doubt. Jacob had very little peace in his life.

Life Lesson: I can look back at my life and see how God was my shepherd all along the way even when I didn’t realize it or when I didn’t turn to him for protection and guidance. Can you look back at your life and see that? But more importantly, what about your life now and in the future? Are you allowing God to be your shepherd? Are you trusting Him to guide, protect, and provide for your needs? Are you trusting the “good shepherd” Jesus to do the same? Does this verse resonate with you: 1 Peter 2:²⁵ For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” Jesus wants to be your shepherd. Will you let him?

Jacob’s story and life ends as he blesses his 12 sons before he dies. Most notably is the blessing to Judah: Genesis 49:10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes”. Most interpret this as saying that the rightful kingly line of Israel down to Jesus (Shiloh) will come from the tribe of Judah. He charged his sons to bury him in the cave of Machpelah where Abraham, Sara, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah (Rachel was buried near Bethlehem). Genesis 49:³³ When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.” Hebrews 11:²¹ By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.” I find it interesting that the only moment of faith in Hebrews “hall of faith” is that moment as he was dying and worshipping God. He could finally let go of all his fears, worries, plotting, and planning. He could just praise God who had been his shepherd and be joined to his ancestors. I kinda look forward to that day myself when it is inevitable that I am going to die (if I am allowed that moment). I might still have a little fear of the unknown and of dying, but finally I will be able to quit worrying about all the “what if’s” that I dream up, quit being afraid of so many things, quit struggling with the flesh and evil thoughts. I can just relax and worship God and look forward to seeing my mom and dad again along with many others.

Read chapter 50. It was a marvelous, unparalleled funeral procession from Egypt to Canaan. Joseph and his brothers buried Jacob in the cave of Machpelah. When they returned to Egypt, Joseph’s brothers were afraid that Joseph would retract his forgiveness of them now that their father was dead. Genesis 50:¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? ²⁰ As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” Joseph is still confident that his whole story is about the providence of God in saving Jacob’s family and making a great nation from Jacob. The next book of the Bible, Exodus, will fast forward for a couple of hundred years.

This should be a lot shorter than past blogs. You can read the chapters and get most of the details. We all know Pharoah’s two dreams: the fat cows that came up first, then the skinny cows came up and ate the fat cows. The same with the 7 full ears of grain followed by 7 withered ears that ate the full ears. We need to notice that Joseph gives full credit to God, not himself, for interpeting Pharoah’s dreams. He constantly says that God is the one who will cause the 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. Giving credit to God is typical of the character and integrity of Joseph. So Genesis 41:39 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. ⁴⁰ You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.” ⁴¹ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Joseph then set about with a plan to store excess grain during the 7 years of plenty and then sell it to people all over suffering from the 7 years of famine. BTW Joseph is 30 when he stood before Pharoah 41:46. He was 17 when his brothers sold him to a caravan. He spent 2 years in prison false accused by Potiphar’s wife. The restored butler forgot Joseph for 2 years so that means he spend 4 years total in prison. That means he spent about 9 years as a slave in Potiphar’s house. That’s longer than I thought!

I’m not going to give all the details of Joseph’s brothers two trips to Egypt to buy food. That’s fairly easy, plain reading. I am going. to focus on chapter 45. Joseph is moved to tears as he hears Judah make a very passionate appeal to Joseph not to keep Benjamin in Egypt. Judah said that would kill Jacob, their father. He offered to take Benjamin’s place and stay in Egypt as a slave if Joseph would let Benjamin go back to his father in Canaan. Joseph heard that plea and realized that that his brothers had changed. Joseph wept so loudly that Pharoah’s household heard him weeping. He then revealed to his brothers that he was Joseph. He then said, “Genesis 45:⁵ Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. ⁷ God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. ⁸ Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.” We could call this an epiphany (a sudden moment of clear understanding or a great realization). It finally dawned on him that everything that had happened was part of God’s providential working to get Jacob’s family to move to Egypt where they would end up enslaved but multiplying to over a million people so that God’s promises in Genesis 15 could come true, i.e. that Abraham’s descendants would be slaves for 400 years and then come out to go possess the promised land of Canaan.  They would never have grown so much if they had stayed in Canaan. Joseph told his brothers that it wasn’t them that sent him to Egypt: it was God. It actually was his brothers who sold him into slavery in Egypt but was in control of making that happen. We don’t know how God works behind the scenes to make His plans happen. He uses the free will choices of people but He also directs circumstances to make things happen. Joseph forgave his brothers and they had a tearful but joyous reunion. Joseph, with Pharoah’s help and wagons, had Jacob moved from Canaan to Egypt, about 75 people.

Life Lesson: When bad things happen, you never know what good things God might make happen out of the bad. You have to trust God. Romans 8:28 God causes all things to work together for good to those who love him. That’s called the “behind the scenes providential working of God. It’s a mixture of God allowing people to make good and bad choices but sill making things work out like He wants them to. Usually there are no Bible miracles involved. The story of Joseph and the story of Esther are ttwo great examples of the providence of God working. The book of Esther doesn’t even have the name of God in it, but the hand of God is seen throughout the book and the events in the book. I will close with my example. I have only been fired once in my 76 years. It wasn’t for anything bad I had done. The elders where I was preaching just decided to tell me to move on since I had been telling them that I was probably going to take another job in Huntsville at Madison Academy when it came open. But they did fire me. It was very rough making the move to Huntsville. I took a 50% cut in pay to come to Madison Academy and my wife lost her new, very good paying teacher job in Vernon Alabama. But God blessed us, my wife found a good job, and I became principal of the school a year later which doubled my pay. I also started preaching part time with a church in Huntsville. But the greatest blessing of getting fired was my 3 children finding their mates in Huntsville over the next few years after we moved. I truly believe that God was working to get us to Huntsville. I believe that He was behind our firing. He did not make the elders fire me. They did so on their own, but God somehow influenced them to make that decision. Before they fired me, I had just decided to not move to Huntsville, but after they fired me I had no choice since I no longer had the preaching job in Vernon. That was rough on us at the time, but I look back and it was one of the best things that has ever happened to my family. Do you have a story of God working in your life? Of God making bad things work for good? Have you ever had an epiphany like Joseph did and it just hit you that God had been working all along even though you didn’t realize it?