So, welcome back.
We are making our way through Genesis today on this Tuesday.
We’re moving into the 47th chapter.
Glad that you’re with us.
Kind of breeze through this first part here.
I want to,
I think we will,
I feel like we will probably spend a significant amount of
time on the back part of our text today.
But let me read through the front part and then we’ll pause for some discussion.
So Joseph went and told Pharaoh,
“My father and brothers with their flocks and herds and all
they possess have come from the land of Canaan.
They are now in the land of Goshen.
From among his brothers,
he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh.”
Pharaoh said to his brothers,
“What is your occupation?”
They said to the Pharaoh,
“Your servants are shepherds as our ancestors were.”
They said to Pharaoh,
“We come to reside as aliens in the land,
for there’s no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan.”
Now,
we ask you to let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.
And
the Pharaoh said to Joseph,
“Your father and brothers have come to you.
The land of Egypt is before you.
Settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land.
Let them live in the land of Goshen.
And if you know that there are capable men among them,
put them in charge of my livestock.”
So this is kind of some housekeeping.
They’ve been in Goshen.
Now we get the official approval of that from the Pharaoh,
who I think the text treats very graciously,
Michael.
I mean, he hears them.
He says,
“Yeah, they essentially ask him,
you know, if it’d be okay with you.”
And he tells Joseph, “Look,
you pick where you want them.
Put them anywhere you want.
You have your choice of Egypt.
All the land of Egypt
is before you.
Settle your father and brothers in the best part.”
Again,
an extremely high praise of Joseph,
a very gracious act on behalf of the Pharaoh
in honor of Joseph in the connection to his family.
This is probably this series of stories.
I think, Michael, is the last time we will see the Scripture have
sort of a positive spin on a Pharaoh.
Yeah, not that I can think of.
No, there’s not a moment where we’re going to see,
with such clear detail,
the good that could possibly come with a relationship with Egypt.
And I think, Clint, that’s part of why the text goes so far out of its way to point out the
positives that the family is incurring in going to Egypt.
You have Pharaoh, who’s giving them this choice land.
We get the sense he’s even giving them a task or a job
in saying, “If you have people who are capable and you can even be in charge of my livestock,”
there’s a sense in which they are allowing the Israelite family,
or in this case,
Jacob’s family, to arrive, and they’re rolling out the red carpet for them.
And so it makes sense here that this is a good place,
that this is a sign of God’s providence,
a sign of God’s faithfulness,
that God is indeed being faithful to that promise that he made.
And it makes sense for the fact why the family settles there.
We’re not surprised, as readers to know,
that God has made a way,
but it’s a stopping point along their journey.
It’s essential, if you were with us for our study yesterday,
you know, we know that a little bit farther down the road,
this is going to become complicated
by some of the relationships with Egypt.
But the point for now, Clint,
that the text is making,
God’s been faithful, brought them to this place,
and when they get there,
their experience is blessed.
That’s the recurring theme that we’ve seen through Genesis over and over again,
even in the midst of adversity,
God will bring you to a place of blessing,
and that’s what’s happened here.
And it’s very subtle,
and I don’t know,
you can make your own determination if you buy this or not,
but there are some commentators,
there are some people who think
that it goes even further than that in regard to Pharaoh’s sort of openness here.
This last bit about,
if you know men,
if they are capable men among them,
put them in charge of my livestock.
At its simplest, that could simply be the Pharaoh saying,
“I need some good people.”
It is possible, though, at least there are some who suggest,
that this is a very shrewd move on behalf of the Pharaoh,
that as these foreigners,
these aliens move in and settle a good part of the land,
that if they have Pharaoh’s animals,
people are less likely to fuss about it.
Nobody’s going to complain about them if they get told,
“Yeah, those are the people watching the Pharaoh’s herds,”
rather than, “Well, Joseph brought his family in,
and they took some of the great property.”
And it is very possible,
or at least it is conceivable,
that Pharaoh here is with a really high level of shrewdness,
paving the way and trying to make it easier for Joseph and his family.
I don’t know if that can be proven one way or another.
Again, I throw it out there,
you can make a decision about it,
but it is possible that the Pharaoh is not only acting directly on their behalf,
but in a subtle way,
acting indirectly on their
behalf as well.
You know, Clint, I think a thing that maybe is surprising to us,
and might even be frustrating to us,
depending upon our proclivities,
is how little the Scriptures really care about the politics of these encounters.
It doesn’t really care about what Pharaoh thinks about the family,
as much as it cares about the proclamation of Pharaoh’s blessing upon the family.
So the idea of the politics of Pharaoh with his subjects,
Pharaoh with trying to figure out the best way to do things,
whether or not that’s the case in this text,
that Genesis is almost always uninterested in telling the story of the other nation,
or telling the story of the person who is in power,
who either,
you know, take your pick,
Abram or Joseph or Jacob,
whoever the character is at the time.
We don’t get a whole lot of detail about that backstory,
because the Scriptures aren’t interested in it.
Ultimately,
these are, in some ways,
side characters to the story of God’s people.
They’re side encounters with these different nations and groups,
and all we need to know is the thing that sets the people of God forward in their story.
And that’s what’s happening here.
Pharaoh is saying these really nice things.
You could have an argument.
In fact, I think scholars have talked about, you know,
what would have Pharaoh actually said if you had stood in the room?
Would have it been this laudatory?
Would have it been,
you know, is there some positivity in the remembering of the story?
That stuff doesn’t really matter to the book of Genesis.
What does matter is the clear point that God has blessed the people with this move
in the midst of an international famine.
Not only is the family going to now have access to bread,
they’re actually going to have access to the best land for their flocks.
The people who could barely keep themselves alive
now have access to an economy where they can grow.
That’s the kind of blessing upon blessing the text wants us to see.
And, you know, so I think that that’s what needs emphasized in this section.
And I mentioned coming in,
I think the next part,
I think the concluding part of this passage is fascinating for a couple of reasons,
and we’ll talk about them.
Let me read it for you,
and then we’ll dig in.
“Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and presented him before the Pharaoh.
And Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
Pharaoh said to Jacob,
‘How many are the years of your life?’
Jacob answered,
‘The years of my earthly sojourn are one hundred thirty.
Few and hard have been the years of my life.
They do not compare with the years of life of my ancestors during their long sojourn.’
Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.
Joseph settled his father and brothers and granted them a holding in the land of Egypt,
in the best part of the land,
in the land of Ramses.” That’s Goshen,
as Pharaoh had instructed.
“And Joseph provided his father,
his brothers, and all his father’s household with food,
according to the number of their descendants.”
So let’s start backwards.
The end of the story just indicates that they get settled.
They find their land.
They begin their work.
They have provisions.
This is the transition.
It has now happened.
And though it seems quick in the Bible,
likely it took some time.
But the reality is,
this is the Bible’s way of saying,
now the family is in Egypt.
That’s where they live.
That’s where they work.
That’s where their people are.
And they have enough.
What I think is interesting about this part of the story
is the interaction between Jacob and the Pharaoh.
We won’t see this kind of interaction again until Exodus,
Moses.
And it’s a very different kind of interaction.
Here we have two men largely,
at least through biblical eyes, viewed as equals.
And if they’re not equals,
Pharaoh is second, not first.
And so it’s very much a standing on the head of what we think we’re looking at.
And two times,
the text tells us
that Jacob blessed Pharaoh,
which is fascinating.
The idea that the pillar of Israel,
the man named Israel himself, blesses the Pharaoh.
Part of that may be gratitude,
part of that.
But the idea, knowing the history that is about to come,
knowing what is going to unfold,
the idea that Jacob and Pharaoh stand before one another,
have a conversation,
and not once, but twice,
Jacob blesses him,
is a really fascinating sideline in the story.
Yeah, and if you think that it is providential, as it is,
that God uses Joseph to provide for
his brothers and his family at large,
you see that in verse 12.
He provides all of them with a measure of food that’s needed for their family.
The fact that they get to settle in the land of plenty,
the fact that they
get access to potentially even serving for Pharaoh himself.
All of this is a blessing for the family.
What we’re going to discover as the story goes on is not everyone has access to the same blessing
that’s being afforded to this family.
The famine goes on.
These are difficult times.
And so the text is doing a really interesting thing because it’s showing us,
even in Jacob giving that blessing,
Clint, the text is showing us that
there’s a way in which that’s a one-way street, right?
Jacob doesn’t need Pharaoh’s blessing,
though he does need Pharaoh’s bread,
but he doesn’t need Pharaoh to bless him and his family.
He, in fact, gives that to Pharaoh,
which is, as you say, it’s an inversion.
It’s a way in which we’re reminded that this story is not about the Egyptians.
It’s not about them saving the day.
It’s about the one who blessed Jacob,
the very one by whom Jacob could even bless the
Pharaoh being active in the story.
So that is seen up to this point as we see that sort of inversion with the power structure.
It’s going to continue,
though, as the famine goes on,
as Joseph’s power continues to be a source
of an interesting sort of turn in future studies.
What we’re going to discover is that this situation in many ways is not getting more
clear or simple.
It’s getting more complex and more nuanced because as we march forward,
Genesis is both telling us this is a good thing,
an act of God,
a blessing for the people.
Genesis is also telling us that there are dangerous straights ahead and that the turn
will come because everyone in Israel who’s later reading this text knows,
well, wait a minute,
something bad happens in Egypt.
And so the text is telling us both.
This is how we got here.
And this is how the beginning of that troublesome turn is already beginning to be seen around the corner.
It’s outside the scope of the story,
but if Pharaoh is
insightful,
right, if Pharaoh is prone to reflect on this moment,
look at the pieces he has to put together.
He now stands in front of a man without whose family
Egypt would have been in dire straights.
The acts of providence that produce Joseph and then
end up with Joseph being in Egypt ultimately before the Pharaoh that saves the nation of Israel.
The nations around them,
we’ll see this more clearly tomorrow,
the nations around them are in dire
straights and Egypt has been delivered from that through Joseph.
And Joseph comes to that position by a very random happenstance kind of way from an observer’s perspective, at least.
And if Pharaoh thinks about that at all,
it has to be amazing to him.
And so he knows if he is reflective,
if he’s honest,
he knows that Egypt’s future has not
been procured by his own wisdom,
by his own power,
but by this seemingly random course of events.
And so Egypt and this family is connected
in a way that I think we can underestimate
and hence
probably Pharaoh’s
graciousness to the family and giving them their choice of Egypt,
etc.
And then the other thing I just wanted to touch on,
I think this is a fascinating line.
Pharaoh asked Jacob,
“How old are you?”
And Jacob says 130 and then he says this,
“Few and hard have been the years of my life.” Now,
130 does not seem few to us,
but in the scope of,
he says my fathers and grandfathers,
they all outlived that, they lived longer.
But I
wanna be careful with this because I don’t wanna give the impression that the
Bible is pessimistic.
I actually don’t think that’s accurate.
But the Bible,
unlike our sort of modern assumption that life should be relatively easy and comfortable,
the Bible assumes that life on planet earth is difficult,
that it is hard.
You have to scratch your way forward.
You need guidance, you need blessing.
And I think this is a fascinating
phrase, “Few and hard have been the years of my life.” Now,
we know Jacob has done really well,
and yet as an old man,
very near his own demise,
as he looks back,
he seems to remember those difficult moments.
And keep in mind that the last portion of his life has been colored by
what he thought was the loss of his son and what was really a loss,
but not in the way that he ultimately thought.
But I just think that’s an interesting phrase,
Michael.
“Few and hard have
been the years of my life.” Yeah,
I was actually gonna turn exactly there and I would have mirrored
most of that statement,
Clint. I think the only thing I would add to this is,
I think it does,
at least has me ask,
is this a form of complaint?
Is this Jacob being pessimistic?
Or is this a kind of sign of humility?
You know, I’ve lived 130 years,
but they’ve not all been easy years.
Don’t look at my life and the blessings that I have and think that it’s
been a simple journey.
I think that you could read this a lot of different ways.
One aspect, I think it would be hard as a reader,
whether or not Jacob intended this,
I don’t know, but as a reader of his story,
trying to pay close attention to it,
be hard to hear that without
hearing some late in life affirmation about the difficulty of all of this family in fighting,
the mistrust,
the cycle upon cycle,
even the generational cycle of being dishonest,
of reaching for power,
reaching for wealth, reaching for the inheritance,
all of these themes that we’ve seen.
It’s hard as a reader, I think,
Clint, to at least not look at this and say,
you know, from that vantage alone,
it has been hard.
From the vantage of seeing son against son,
from the vantage of, in some cases,
sons making very, very poor choices with women.
You know, we saw that in the story of Job.
You know, so I think all of this, Judah,
sorry, not Job.
And I think that’s exactly what we’re seeing here,
is some kind of reflection upon
the difficulty of that journey.
And if it is so,
then I think it’s worth noting that God can be
faithful, even in the midst of our own poor choices.
I mean, God can bring us to Egypt,
which is a place of rescue,
even if that place may later be a great thorn.
On the way,
it still has a purpose.
And sometimes the choices that we’ve made are we have the consequences that we bear
today, and yet that doesn’t mean that God’s not at work.
It doesn’t mean that God’s not faithful.
It just means that when we’re honest about it,
life is full of lots of different things,
and it is all those things at the same time.
Yeah, I think in no way is Jacob saying here that he hasn’t been blessed.
I think,
you know, we may have a modern tendency to think few and hard
is opposed to good.
But I think my point is that the Scripture doesn’t assume that.
The Scripture
almost takes for granted that difficulty is built into life,
and that’s not opposed to good.
That doesn’t make it not good.
It just makes it both of those things,
difficult and good.
And, you know, it’s very likely that in this case,
Jacob is talking to the Pharaoh who’s younger than he is.
I just think this is one of those interesting…
There’s not a lot of this in Genesis.
This almost touches a book like Job or Ecclesiastes,
what we call the wisdom literature.
And that’s a lot to
read into probably three words in Hebrew,
but
it’s just an interesting phrase.
I think it’s kind of
one of those phrases ripe with meaning.
I don’t think I’ve ever preached this passage,
but if I did, it would be very hard not to pause and try to dig into what that phrase might mean.
Last note from me here today, verse 11.
Joseph settled his father brothers,
granted them a holding
in the land of Egypt.
Just note,
at this moment, they have a hold of the land of Egypt.
That’s a substantial thing.
They have a state.
They have a spot.
They own something.
That is a blessing,
but it’s worth noting that what they have now will not be theirs
forever.
And so as this story
starts, it starts with a material gain.
They’ve come to a place.
They’ve been sojourners.
He literally used that language.
But now for a moment,
they have a spot.
That is going to change, unfortunately,
for the sake of the family down the road.
But it’s worth noting that this is a moment
along the way where they have been given not only a place,
but a place in the best place of the best place.
And so, you know, it’s worth noting.
God’s been faithful to them.
He’s carried them thus far.
They are at a moment where things are good,
but as Genesis tends to do,
it complicates it very
quickly with the difficulty,
the scraping, the getting through life that you spoke of earlier, Clint.
Yeah.
We may have to talk about this,
Michael.
There’s a sense in which
maybe you only appreciate Genesis if you get into the first chapter or soul of Exodus,
and we may need to have a wrap-up on that.
But what’s fascinating is that Israel is now going to exist within Egypt,
but it’s never going to be part of Egypt.
And those seeds are planted here.
The promise now resides in Egypt,
but the promise does not belong to Egypt.
And that’s going to
play itself out in some really interesting ways.
It’s hard to not even reference Jesus
in that statement that you just made,
that the promise resides in.
Anyways, okay, that’s another story.
Thanks for being with us,
friends.
Hope that this has been helpful.
Look forward to seeing
you tomorrow as we continue studying together.