September 13, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Proverbs 23-24

Weekly Memory Verse: 2 Timothy 2:15

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

Daily Reminder, pray for the "Forty days of purpose" that is coming up on September 25th at 9pm each evening.  I am looking forward to the weekly meetings at Starbucks with many of you, be sure to email me and let me know if you plan to participate.  I reworked the schedule today.  The plan is to finish the last few chapters of Genesis, then go through a short book study of Titus, which will lead us right in to the Forty Days of Purpose.  During that time I will focus on the daily principles that Rick Warren speaks about in the book.  It would be a good idea to either purchase the book, or to come out on the 25th and get a free copy.  Unless the author gives me permission to duplicate the book for our  study, I don't feel right about copying and pasting the entire book.  I own the E-book, and a hard cover of it, the price is relatively inexpensive.  If you wish to purchase a copy, I can get one for you through my church for $7.00.  Once we finish the Forty days, our study will resume the original format of one week in the New and one week in the Old Testament.

Genesis 46:1-7 (NASB95)
¹ So Israel set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ² God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” ³ He said, “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.” ⁵ Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob and their little ones and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. ⁶ They took their livestock and their property, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him: ⁷ his sons and his grandsons with him, his daughters and his granddaughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.^[1]

It is interesting that Jacob did not seek the face of God.  In this chapter it is indicated that once they started moving on their journey to Egypt, Jacob stopped at Beersheba and offered sacrifices to "the God of his father Isaac".  It is interesting that he did not offer sacrifices to his own God.  He also did not reveal to Jacob earlier that Joseph was alive, yet here building upon the knowledge that Jacob had, God verified that Joseph was alive and alleviated the fears of an old man.  He went further to let Jacob know that Joseph would be there at his death bed.  I wonder if Jacob had forgotten how to walk with God many years earlier.

God makes it clear that He is the God of Jacob, and the God of Jacob's father.  God refers to Himself as "I am God", to clarify in Jacob's mind who is speaking with him, and to put His mark of approval on Jacob moving to Egypt.  God also renews the covenant that He had made with Abraham, promising to make Jacob a great nation.

Notice also that they did not leave everything as Pharaoh had suggested.  They brought all of their belongings with them.  Egypt was further advanced than other cultures, this is evident by the use of wagons. 

Genesis 46:8-34 (NASB95)
⁸ Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. ⁹ The sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi. ¹⁰ The sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹ The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹² The sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³ The sons of Issachar: Tola and Puvvah and Iob and Shimron. ¹⁴ The sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel. ¹⁵ These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, with his daughter Dinah; all his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three. ¹⁶ The sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli. ¹⁷ The sons of Asher: Imnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah and their sister Serah. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. ¹⁸ These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah; and she bore to Jacob these sixteen persons. ¹⁹ The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰ Now to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. ²¹ The sons of Benjamin: Bela and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard. ²² These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob; there were fourteen persons in all. ²³ The sons of Dan: Hushim. ²⁴ The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem. ²⁵ These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and she bore these to Jacob; there were seven persons in all. ²⁶ All the persons belonging to Jacob, who came to Egypt, his direct descendants, not including the wives of Jacob’s sons, were sixty-six persons in all, ²⁷ and the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt were two; all the persons of the house of Jacob, who came to Egypt, were seventy. ²⁸ Now he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out the way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. ²⁹ Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; as soon as he appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time. ³⁰ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.” ³¹ Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me; ³² and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ ³³ “When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴ you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is loathsome to the Egyptians.”^[2]

I'm not going to get into the genealogy except to say that God had already blessed Jacob's family.  When they returned to the land of Egypt, Jacob came with twelve rulers of twelve tribes, Joseph included.  Remember Joseph's second dream?  The sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to him.  That could have been an ancient symbol for powers, or leaders.  When they returned to Egypt, Joseph's entire family existed under his authority, and was subject to his rule over them.  This was the fulfillment of the second dream.

The mention of seventy descendants indicates that it is the perfect will of God, and a fulfillment of the promise of God to Jacob.  Seventy is used several times in the Bible to indicate large groups of Gods people.  Start with Genesis 10, where there are seventy nations that descend from Noah, then add the following scriptures:

Exodus 24:1 (NASB95)
¹ Then He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance.

Exodus 24:9 (NASB95)
⁹ Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,

Judges 8:30 (NASB95)
³⁰ Now Gideon had seventy sons who were his direct descendants, for he had many wives.

Judges 12:14 (NASB95)
¹⁴ He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys; and he judged Israel eight years. ^[3]

We only have a brief account of the welcome of Jacob by Joseph, there is a quick reference to the tears that was shed, then on with business as usual.  Joseph was a prophet of God and he was also a business man.  He coached his brothers on what they were to say to Pharaoh. Shepherds and keepers of livestock were despised in the land of Egypt, therefore they were instructed by Joseph to ask to live in the land of Goshen, which would allow them to have the benefit of the Egyptian wealth, and to retain their national solidarity as Jews.  Since the Egyptians didn't like or associate with shepherds they were somewhat safe from being corrupted by the Egyptians.  This worked in theory, but we will later find out that they bought into the gods and idols from the land, this was a problem when they went into the exodus. 

There is a lot of stuff in this chapter, actual accounting of travels, and accounting of God working through Jacob.  What stood out to me was that Jacob turned toward the obvious path that God had opened for him.  Joseph walked with God and stood in the gap for his family, opening an opportunity for them to weather the storm of the famine.  I wonder how often that God works through those who are faithful to Him and blesses those who are not so faithful.  The point is that God carries out His promises even though we are not faithful in keeping up our end of the bargain. 

Father, as we consider Your word today, I pray that each of us will be encouraged by the fact that Jacob and his family were blessed as a result of promise.  Let each of us cling desperately to Your Word knowing that You will be true to Your promises even though we aren’t.

In Him,

Joe Turner.