The Beverly Hillbillies - Genesis 46
Genesis 46 esv - esv.org/Genesis+46/
Joseph Brings His Family to Egypt
46 So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to gBeersheba,and offered sacrifices hto the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God spoketo Israel iin visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here Iam.” 3 Then he said, “I am God, jthe God of your father. Do not be afraid to godown to Egypt, for there I will kmake you into a great nation. 4 I myself will godown with you to Egypt, and I will also lbring you up again, and mJoseph’s handshall close your eyes.”
5 Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob theirfather, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons nthat Pharaoh had sent tocarry him. 6 They also took their livestock and their goods, which they had gainedin the land of Canaan, and ocame into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring withhim, 7 his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’daughters. All his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.
8 pNow qthese are the names of the descendants of Israel, who came intoEgypt, Jacob and his sons. rReuben, Jacob’s firstborn, 9 and the sons of Reuben:Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad,Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 The sons of sLevi:Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 The sons of tJudah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, andZerah (but uEr and Onan died in the land of Canaan); and the sons of vPerezwere Hezron and Hamul. 13 wThe sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Yob, andShimron. 14 The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These are the sons ofLeah, xwhom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, together with his daughterDinah; altogether his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.
16 The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17 yThesons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, with Serah their sister. And the sonsof Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. 18 zThese are the sons of Zilpah, awhom Labangave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob—sixteen persons.
19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. 20 And bto Joseph inthe land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, thedaughter of Potiphera the priest of cOn, bore to him. 21 And dthe sons ofBenjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim,and Ard. 22 These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob—fourteenpersons in all.
23 The son1 of Dan: Hushim. 24 eThe sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer,and Shillem. 25 fThese are the sons of Bilhah, gwhom Laban gave to Rachel hisdaughter, and these she bore to Jacob—seven persons in all.
26 All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his owndescendants, not including Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all.27 And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. hAll thepersons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.
Jacob and Joseph Reunited
28 He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him inGoshen, and they came iinto the land of Goshen. 29 Then Joseph prepared hischariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself tohim and jfell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. 30 Israel said toJoseph, k“Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are stillalive.” 31 Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, l“I will go upand 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 mAnd the men areshepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought theirflocks and their herds and all that they have.’ 33 When Pharaoh calls you and says,m‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you shall say, m‘Your servants have been keepersof livestock nfrom our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in orderthat you may dwell oin the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is panabomination to the Egyptians.”
AI Transcript
This transcript is generated by artificial intelligence. It may contain errors, misidentifications, or omissions.
11:00:00
Thank you please be seated. Well good morning. Please take your Bibles and turn them to the book of Genesis. Book of Genesis first book in our English Bibles. And turning them to Genesis chapter 46 we're continuing our series in the book of Genesis and we are close to the end
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we find ourselves in the section dealing with Joseph and his brothers his brothers had sold him into slavery in Egypt because they hated him in part because of the favoritism of their father towards Joseph Joseph then is elevated through God's providence to the second most powerful man in the world he's the right hand man of Pharaoh of Egypt his brothers due to a famine are forced to come to Egypt to receive grain Joseph had received a dream of revelation from God that there would be seven years of bounty in the land and then seven years of famine and so Joseph wisely prepares in the seven years of bounty to store up grain for Egypt and the other nations to preserve life when the seven years of famine come the brothers of Joseph are forced to come to Egypt for that grain when they encounter Joseph they don't recognize him it's been so many years
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and Joseph looks differently but Joseph recognizes them and he puts them through a series of tests to determine whether they're the same men that they once were when they sold them into slavery in other words have they truly repented and so he puts them through these elaborate tests and the tests show to Joseph they have repented that they are different men they feel the guilt of their past sin and they are so Joseph is then able to reconcile with them he reveals himself to his brothers and they he forgives them they reconcile they weep together then he gives his brothers instruction to go home and to get his father and bring his father to Egypt that he will settle them in the land of Egypt to live there and he will provide for them in Egypt they need not worry about the rest of the famine he will provide for them so they're to get them but in the process they have to go
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tell their dad that they had lied to him for over 20 years about the death of their brother Joseph and as we come to chapter 46 we now come to the actual journey where Jacob also known as Israel moves out from Canaan the land of promise the land that God promised to his people first given to that to Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant and move his whole family down there and so this is the chapter he's now to leave that land of promise and go down to Egypt where they end up moving their family so I'm going to read the text for us and we have in the middle here a genealogy which is listing God's faithfulness really in growing this family along the way and so follow along as I read Genesis chapter 46 so Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba
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and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac and God spoke to Israel and visions of the night and said Jacob Jacob and he said here am I then he said I am God the God of your father do not be afraid to go down to Egypt for there I'll make you into a great nation I myself will go down with you to Egypt and I will also bring you up again and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes then Jacob set out from Beersheba the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father their little ones and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him they also took their livestock and their goods which they had gained in the land of Canaan and came into Egypt Jacob and all his offspring with him his sons and his son's sons with him his daughters and his son's daughters
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all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt now these are the names of the descendants of Israel who came into Egypt Jacob and his sons Reuben Jacob's firstborn and the sons of Reuben Hanoch Palu Hezron and Carmi the sons of Simeon Jemuel Jamon Ohad Jachin Zohar and Shaw the sons of a Canaanite woman the son of a Canaanite woman the sons of Levi Gershon Kohath and Merari the sons of Judah Air Onen Shelah Perez and Zerah but Air and Onen died in the land of Canaan and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamel the sons of Issachar Tola Puva Yob and Shimron the sons of Zebulon
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Sared Elon Jaliel these are the sons of Leah whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram together with his daughter Dina altogether his sons and his daughters numbered 33 the sons of Gad Ziphyon Haggi Shuni Esben Ari Erodi and Areli the sons of Asher Imna Ishva Ishvi Beraiah with Sarah their sister and the sons of Beraiah Heber and Maltiel that one was cut in half in my Bible here so it's hard to read you know there's a hyphen you know these are the sons of Zilpah whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter and these she bore to Jacob 16 persons the sons of Rachel Jacob's wife Joseph and Benjamin and to Joseph
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in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim whom Asenath the daughter of Potiphara the priest of On bore to him and the sons of Benjamin Bella Becker Ashbel Gera Namin Ehi Rosh Mupim Hupim and Ard these are the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob 14 persons in all Jaziel Guni Jezer and Shilem these are the sons of Bilha whom Laban gave to Rachel the sons of Dan Hushim the sons of Naphtali his daughter and these she bore to Jacob seven persons in all all the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt who were his own descendants not including Jacob's sons wives were 66 persons in all and the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two all the persons of the house of Jacob
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who came into Egypt were 70 he had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen and they came into the land of Goshen then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen he presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while Israel said to Joseph now let me die since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive 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 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 when Pharaoh calls you and says what is your occupation from our youth even until now you shall say your servants have been keepers of livestock both we and our fathers
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in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians this is the word of the living God on September 26 1962 CBS ran the first episode of the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies when the show premiered it was it attracted one of the largest TV audiences to that point the sitcom was rated number one for its first two seasons and continued to be one of the most popular TV shows during its run the show some of the younger ones younger than me probably maybe have never seen this show so hang with me the show followed the story of the clampet family a rural family from the Ozarks who discover oil on their properties and instantly become multimillionaires the family decided to take their millions and move to a place that they had heard of before but had never been to
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Beverly Hills California they buy a massive extravagant mansion that when they get there they mistake for a prison because there's a gate in front of it and there's a bunch of like landscapers working with their tools and they they're like wow they're you know their garden this place and and so they buy this extravagant mansion move their entire family there they've never seen a swimming pool before that they mistake for a pond which they call a cement pond and the show's comedy plays on the difference between the culture and values of the clampets and those of the their wealthy neighbors in Beverly Hills they don't quite fit in to the culture around them but they never seem to be very concerned about it which provides a lot of humor in the show and this morning we encounter another kind of Beverly Hillbillies situation
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Israel is moving all of their family all of their possessions to Egypt and when they get there they will move into the best of the land Beverly Hills Goshen or Goshen Egypt it's the best part and as they move in it becomes apparent that their occupation and lifestyle is off-putting to the Egyptians to be a shepherd to Egyptians was an abomination it was disgusting looked down upon they don't quit quite fit in but actually this turns out to their advantage in the plan of God and Joseph sees it that way in this way they will be protected from assimilating with the Egyptian culture and becoming like them they will remain distinct which is God's intention for his people Israel in a way they're going into a kind of exile in Egypt but they will be brought back to the land of promise in the future
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throughout the patriarchs lives and even through Israel's sojournings they are referred to as such as sojourners strangers exiles we might say pilgrims the Genesis 15 verse 30 predicted this already God speaking to Abraham about his promise of land seed and blessing he says then Yahweh said to Abram know for certain that your offspring your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there he's talking about Egypt and they will be afflicted for 400 years so long before Jacob or Israel goes into Egypt God had already predicted how long that they would be there those who are reading Genesis for the first time are the generation of Israelites who are about to enter back into Canaan
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their parents had left Egypt in the Exodus they'd wandered in the wilderness they hadn't believed the Lord's promise and so that generation that first generation in the wilderness died they like to say they're in screensaver mode those old screensavers that bounce around and you're always wondering are they going to hit in the corner just right and they're always it never gets right in the corner right that's how Israel that first generation is that they're kind of bouncing around in the wilderness and they never quite make it into the land of promise but it's that second generation that's going to enter in and receive that promise and of course they will conquer the land and divide the land under Joshua and so that is the generation then about to inherit the promised land that is reading this book and they're learning their history about how they ended up in Egypt in the first place for so long chapters 46 and 47 of Genesis describe the relocation of Jacob and his family to Egypt
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and these chapters we'll see lessons on living faithfully as a sojourner awaiting God's future place this morning we want to consider three keys for living faithfully as sojourners awaiting God's future place three keys for living faithfully as sojourners awaiting God's future place that's how we are described in First Peter 2:11 we are sojourners we are strangers in this land number one the first key to live faithfully is to is the assurance from God's word assurance from God's word in verses 1 to 4 Jacob is also known as Israel God renamed him Israel he went from being named as really he was named as deceiver to God fights for you Israel that's what Israel means so now he is setting out towards Egypt probably from Hebron with his family he is an old man he's 130 years old
11:15:00
that's a difficult move to make this is significant undertaking for him and he wants to be sure that this is God's will for his life he wants to have assurance that this is the right thing to do of course he wants to see his son Joseph whom he's just discovered is alive but this is the promised land that he will be leaving likely to never return in his lifetime and so how is it that he is to find assurance that this is the will of God Jacob needs to know that this is the right thing for his life to leave the promised land Richard Philips he says this more even than the evil of the world believers should fear acting against God's will should fear acting against God's will and Joseph wants to be sure he's not doing that very thing and so how is it that God assures him that moving to Egypt with all of his family the promised seed is the right decision
11:16:00
how is he assured he's assured in a number of ways number one he's assured by the place that he comes to he's assured by the place so Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba now I heard one pastor I know he called this a flyover verse and what he meant was like you know there's like flyover country in the US you just kind of you know people live there but you just kind of fly over it and going from one place to another well he said this is like a flyover verse you just kind of read it and you keep going you're like at Beersheba great I said it right moving on you know but but this is significant that this place is mentioned we'll see why in just a moment really Beersheba is a pit stop on the way to Egypt it's kind of the last stop on the way it's a significant place so you know if you're on a road trip and you hit one of those rest stops and it's like last rest stop for you know 150 miles you're like okay hey we should maybe stop here before we keep going
11:17:00
I don't know where you're driving that it's that long before a rest stop but anyway Beersheba is the last major stop it's it's in the southern part of Israel it's near the Gaza Strip there's a statement throughout the Old Testament to refer to all the land of Canaan or Israel which says from Dan to Beersheba so Dan is the in the uppermost northern part and Beersheba is in the southernmost part of the land so if you think you know Jacob is traveling down he's driving towards Egypt I guess it would be opposite for you looking at me and and they're going to stop here in this last southern part before they move into Egypt it's like stopping in Valdosta before you before the land of Florida right so we might say something like from Blairsville to Valdosta okay that's what we would say before you move into the the land of Florida
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so why is Beersheba significant for Jacob well this was a significant place for Abraham go back to Genesis chapter 21 Genesis 21 and in the context Abraham and a king named Abimelech is they're making a covenant with one another concerning a well the rights to a well and Abraham worships at Beersheba Genesis 21 verse 33 Abraham verse 32 so they made a covenant at Beersheba rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines then Abimelech and Philcol the commander of his army Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of Yahweh the everlasting God and Abraham journeyed many days in the land of the Philistines so here it begins Abraham worships there he plants this tree
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it becomes a place of worship for Abraham now fast forward to Abraham's son Isaac and this becomes a significant place for Isaac go to Genesis chapter 26 Genesis 26 verse 23 chapter 26:23 from there he went up this is Isaac to Beersheba and Yahweh appeared to him the same night and said I am the God of Abraham your father fear not for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake so he built an altar there and called upon the name of Yahweh and pitched his tent there and there Isaac's servants dug a well so it becomes again a place of worship it's established Abraham Isaac as a place of worship and the way God reveals himself to Isaac is very similar to the way
11:20:00
that God will reveal himself to Jacob Isaac's son in this very place so now Jacob goes to Beersheba likely knowing this very history he had earlier Jacob had been to Beersheba and then he left there on his way to Haran and in Haran God appeared to him or he he gave him a dream rather of the staircase to heaven he was about to leave the land of promise at that point as well but in a different direction and he was leaving one commentator named Matthews he he puts it like this quote it was on this first journey leaving his homeland that he first met with God in a dream and received the promise of a safe return in chapter 28:10 to 22 Jacob needs the same reassurance before he carries on departing a land once again so Jacob has left the land before and he was reassured by God before he left now he's going to leave the land again in a different direction and God is going to reassure him there as well and if go back just for a moment
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to chapter 28 this is Jacob he's not in Beersheba but he's in Haran and he's being encouraged before he leaves the land 28 verse 15 behold I'm with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you and we're going to see a very similar assurance in this place again but there's something else to note about Beersheba until I have done what I have promised you so here's the assurance that God gives him then remember that Abraham and Isaac both have circumstances in their lives concerning Egypt that might have given Jacob pause before going there in Genesis chapter 12 verse 10 we read this about Abraham Abram chapter 12 verse 10 now there was a famine in the land so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there for the famine was severe in the land
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so what is Jacob's situation there's a severe famine in the land and he's going to go to Egypt but in Abraham's case bad things happen when he left the land he got in some trouble and God preserved him from that but it it didn't go well for Abram it wasn't a positive thing then in chapter 26 there's another famine in the land during the life of Isaac go to chapter 26 and notice what God says to Isaac this would give Jacob some pause before he leaves to go to Egypt in a time of famine chapter 26 verse 1 now there was a famine in the land besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham so notice how this text is connecting us to Genesis 12:10 that we just read verse 1 continues and Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines and Yahweh appeared to him and said do not go down to Egypt dwell in the land of which I shall tell you sojourn in this land and I will be with you and will bless you
11:23:00
for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands and in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed so here there's a similar circumstance a famine Isaac is going to go to Egypt like Abraham did but God appears to him and says do not go to Egypt so okay here's a rerun Jacob is in Beersheba he is going to leave and what's going to happen should he do this it seems like he should Joseph is there there's a famine but is this really what he should do and so he comes to this place where Abraham and Isaac worship the Lord to seek the Lord to worship the Lord for himself and seek counsel from the Lord so ask you have there been important places in your life where God is really worked
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you can think about that place and you remember you know sometimes it's funny I'll be uh driving somewhere and I listen a lot of like audio books and podcasts and and I can remember writing my bike you know I'm like I remember this book that I was listening to when I drove right past that stop sign and I remember exactly what they said I don't know certain things stick with you but certain places have significance in your life where God worked in a in a particular way and this is one of those places for Abraham Isaac and Jacob this is the place for direction for counsel and so he goes there remembering what happened with Abraham his grandfather Isaac his father he seeks wisdom so he's assured by the place secondly assurance by we could call it the pardon assurance by the pardon Joseph or excuse me Jacob worships the Lord there by offering sacrifice and giving thanks it says he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac now this is before the Mosaic covenant which gave the the very detailed stipulations
11:25:00
for sacrifice and offerings for Israel but that doesn't mean that they were they weren't sacrificing before that to the Lord of course they were and we see that with Abraham with Isaac with Jacob they they understand sacrifice even Cain and Abel understand sacrifice likely taught to them by their parents uh Adam and Eve of what is required for approaching God rightly and of course there's different kinds of sacrifices some for the forgiveness of sins to to look forward to that and to also uh to offer thanks to God dedication to God uh not only that Job offers sacrifices on behalf of his children almost like the priest of his home and so we see this happening what we can observe here in part is that Jacob recognizes his own sin and that sacrifices needed he he he offers a sacrifice he would be assured of forgiveness based upon the proper worship of God through sacrifice this is how you come to God now we don't offer sacrifice today
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because Jesus Christ the perfect sacrifice has been offered he's given his life as a ransom for many he is the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world who who gave himself as a ransom have you been assured by God based upon the pardon that Jesus offers offers you through the sacrifice of himself these sacrifices though likely had an element of thanksgiving as well Jacob has much to give thanks for as he embarks on this journey he he is now aware that his son is alive Joseph is alive and he's going to see him we as Christians though we don't offer like a physical sacrifice we do offer our lives as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable before God which is our reasonable acts of worship according to Romans 12 verse 1 and so we might say that when embarking on a decision or something important
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it's vital to be assured of our right standing with God through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ and then to recommit ourselves to his Lordship now that we are saved his sacrifice by Jacob and time of worship likely involved the confession of his sin celebration of thanksgiving and seeking clarity from God at this significant place as to what to do and so we we can observe that he's he's assured in this significant place he's assured by the pardon as he worships God appropriately and he's also assured by the promise of God he's assured by the promise of God notice what the text says in verse 2 and God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said Jacob Jacob and he said here am I then he said I am God the God of your father now what we can notice about this is there are many similarities
11:28:00
between what happens for Jacob here and what happened to Abraham before and others have observed these same patterns notice that he has visions in the night similar to Abraham in Genesis 15 he is in the same place that Abraham was Beersheba God calls his name twice Jacob Jacob just like he called Abraham twice Abraham Abraham in Genesis 22 verse 1 when he was going to test Abraham to offer up Isaac he responds Jacob does by saying here am I and that is essentially how Abraham responds in chapter 22 verse 1 as well James Hamilton makes an interesting observation here that seems to be true he this is my paraphrase of what he what he said he said essentially Jacob is called to give up the land promise similar to how Abraham was called to give up the seed promise when he was called to sacrifice Isaac
11:29:00
Abraham was tested with the seed promise God finally gave him the the promised seed a child and then he says I want you to sacrifice him and so it's a test of do you really believe me to fulfill the seed promise now Jacob is in the land and he's told to leave the land of promise and he has to trust God that somehow some way God will bring him back to this land and so in many ways God is reminding Jacob of the promise of the Abrahamic covenant now look at verse 3 then he said I am God the God of your father do not be afraid to go down to Egypt for there I will make you a great into a great nation now this is an explicit reference to Genesis 12:2 where God said to Abraham when he made the covenant with Abraham and I will make of you a great nation God is emphasizing that promise again to Jacob but he adds something he says there I will make you into a great nation
11:30:00
well there is Egypt so he gives assurance through the past promise that God will still fulfill his promise to make them into a great nation even in this place outside of the land of promise there's just a great reminder here about reminders God often needs to remind us over and over again of the same promises for new circumstances in fresh new ways and and it encourages it bolsters our faith no doubt Jacob knows these truths but God freshly reminds him of what he has promised to do Egypt will be like a womb for Israel for them to grow this is what God had promised and here's a reminder of that previously given revelation God reminds Jacob of his word he will keep his promise really in in many ways God just takes what he took what he already said what is already scripture and that's often what we need as well in decision making and pursuing the Lord and he just put it back in front of Jacob
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it's not that we we need a new revelation from God every day we need fresh reminders of what God has already said in his word now in light of this promise he tells Jacob not to fear going down to Egypt well there's many reasons we are fearful we are afraid in our lives but it's the word of God we must cling to in trust listen to Psalm 56 verses 3 and 4 when I am afraid I put my trust in you in God whose word I praise in God I trust I shall not be afraid what can flesh do to me or Psalm 112 verses 6 and 7 for the righteous will never be moved he will be remembered forever he is not afraid of bad news his heart is firm trusting in Yahweh how often are we afraid of bad news almost every day almost every week and here the song
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I love this verse you know he's not afraid of bad news his heart is firm trusting in Yahweh what what a great passage to turn into prayer Lord I'm afraid of bad news afraid of this bad news and and Lord help me to be firm to trust you to remember your promises no matter what he's assured in many ways here by the promise of God he's also assured by the presence of God by the presence of God in verse 4 look there I myself will go down with you to Egypt and I will also bring you up again and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes Jacob is assured of God's presence once again and this is emphatic in the text it's I myself will go down with you God's presence has been a big theme in in Jacob's life in the narrative we read Genesis 28:15 how God had told him to wherever he goes he would be with him this is a very comfort the Lord Jesus has given us as we go as we go out
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to proclaim his name Matthew 28:20 I'm with you always I will never leave you nor forsake you he's assured of the presence of God and he's assured by the peace of God by the peace of God I will also bring you up again and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes here this is referring to Jacob in particular Israel in particular you how will God do this how will he bring him up again well he he will have his bones brought back Jacob makes provision for this that he might be buried not in Egypt but in Canaan not only that but in another way just as there's a connection between the leader of the people and the people Israel will be brought out of Egypt in the Exodus brought back to the land but the reason they are buried in the land of promise is because they have a strong hope that God said that he would give them not only a future generation but he would give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the land of promise
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to to live in that land in a kingdom and so they have this hope I believe they had a resurrection hope that the way God would fulfill this must be that he would resurrect their bodies so they want to be buried in the land awaiting that resurrection from the dead where they might enjoy that remember when Jeremiah in a time when Israel was about to be sent into exile outside the land God tells him to buy a piece of property he's like he probably got a great deal on that property the land's about to be taken over but why why do that well he he buys a piece of property in the hope that one day he's going to own that land when will Jeremiah enjoy and own that land in the kingdom when Messiah reigns on the earth he's going to he's going to have great real estate we're going to want to visit him it's going to be great go to Jeremiah's house uh it'd be a great Airbnb in the kingdom you know if you want to rent that one Jeremiah's house so God is giving Israel great encouragement
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great assurance in this momentous move he gives him this peace that Joseph his son will close his eyes in death he will be reunited with his son Joseph when he gets to Egypt and he will get to spend Joseph Jacob's not going to die right away when he gets there he'll be able to spend some years with Joseph and he's assured that Joseph will be the one to tenderly close his eyes in death he will die a peaceful death Alan Ross is such words of comfort and clarification in times of confusion and perplexity serve to strengthen the faith of God's people we may move many times in our lives or just have many changes in our lives but we can do so with the promises of God's plans which are sure discerning the will of God for your life as a pilgrim can be challenging at times but to live faithfully as a sojourner you need the assurance that comes from God's word
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it's been said that the child of God does not live by explanations but by promises God does not always explain why this why that but he does give us promises to live on this is the first key that we have for living well as sojourners the second is the acknowledgment of God's faithfulness acknowledgment of God's faithfulness this is key for living faithfully as a sojourner acknowledgment of God's faithfulness and we see this in verses 5 to 27 in verses 5 to 7 Jacob sets out for Egypt the emphasis in the text is that with all who are his and all that is his he takes everything with him and everyone with him no one and nothing is left behind in Canaan the word for goods in verse 6 is often used in connection with God's blessing of the covenant family throughout the prior passages and chapters God is is multiplying them in their possessions blessing them
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as he said he would the word seed or it's offspring in the ESV here it's mentioned twice in verse 6 and verse 7 the promise seed is connected as a major theme in Genesis it first comes up in Genesis 3:15 after Adam and Eve's sin God gives a promise that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent so the rest of Genesis and the rest of the Old Testament is all about who is the seed who is this person who will redeem humanity and restore humanity forgive their sin and reign successfully in the place of Adam where he failed and so there's the search for the seed and it's going to be through Abraham's family then Isaac's family and then Jacob's family and so now this family is growing it's going to be someone from Jacob's family and now the whole seed the whole family all of human history rests upon this family and they're survival for the Messiah to come through them and God is taking all of them now out of the promised land to Egypt
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that's the emphasis upon in in this text the seed plural will produce the seed singular who will be the savior of the world and God is emphasizing his promise in this section so he takes both the stuff and the seed and usually daughters and granddaughters are not mentioned but they are here to show everyone everyone is coming no man no woman no child left behind and then in verses 8 to 27 we have another genealogy in Genesis seen a number of these and there's others in the Old Testament listen list of names it may not be the most riveting for you but great names to to to name you know different people or things animals I don't know it is describing the sons of Israel in particular God is forming the nation these genealogies are very significant
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there's a list of names here of Israel and it and his children's children the list doesn't include everyone who came with them it's not that they only had 70 but the emphasis is upon the Abrahamic covenant promise he's highlighting those who are Jacob's children and his children's children showing the seed promise is advancing likely they had many others who had come along with them who care for Jacob's wealth all of his all of his things but the focus is on Jacob and his sons and it represents this list the the beginnings of the nation of Israel the birthing of from from Israel being an individual person to Israel being a nation and the list is organized by the wives of Jacob and their maidservants you have Leah's children in verses 8 to 15 and then Zilpah's in 16 to 18 Rachel's 19 to 22 and then Bilha's in 23 to 25 and the four four wives move and descending
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amount of descendants from 33 to 16 to 14 to 7 the number comes out to 70 I just imagine they all walk into a restaurant table for 70 please you know just imagine the hostess trying to figure out what do we do here or just imagine the the big family picture and you've got you know Jacob and his four wives and and then well one one has died okay but just you know entertain me for a second and then you've got all these 70 and you know kids and grandkids and it's just this massive photo okay everyone you know serious one this time like serious photo and they're all just standing there this is the family this is the promised family that God has produced now there's some you could get in some technical details we're not going to do that about these numbers and things like that but 70 is a significant number in scripture it actually comes up in Genesis 10 regarding the 70 nations in the table of nations
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Israel serves as a as a nation out of the nations that will be a blessing to the nations God raises up one nation to bring the savior through to bring salvation to the other nations so they Israel become a microcosm of God's intended blessing for the nations they will be God's representative nation to bless the other nations of the world so what else can we learn from this section of moving and names well there are a number of lessons observed by many a very basic one seems that God cares about individuals right not just nations he does care about nations talks about nations a lot but he cares about individuals we have a lot of genealogies in the Bible a lot of specific names we've read Chronicles lately or Numbers God cares about individuals Matthew 1 bunch of people listed there God knows your name
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and if you're a believer in Christ if you if you're in Christ then your name is written in the book of life and we'll never be erased you are secure another lesson maybe more pointed to the text is God is faithful to his promises God is showing a sampling of fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise this is not the full fruition of the promise but it is a sample the family has grown I mean remember how long it took for Abraham to wait he said you're going to have all these descendants and he can't have one kid he can't have one son and then finally God gives him a son he's like all right now sacrifice him and now he doesn't you know Abraham believes that he's going to have to resurrect him from the dead because he believes that much in the promise but then it's just Abraham and Isaac he's the promised child and then you get Jacob slowly but surely at least from our perspective
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and then okay the family is growing though and God is fulfilling his promise God had told Abraham he would make his descendants like the sand of the seashore there are only 70 right now listen to Deuteronomy 10 verse 22 Moses says your fathers went down to Egypt 70 persons and now Yahweh your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven he's he's bringing about this fulfillment he's growing them a boy points out that it had been 215 years since the promise to Abraham but in 430 years they will have 600,000 men probably over 2 million in total with women and children when they leave Egypt God is going to multiply them like crazy in Goshen and so this is a a sampling a down payment if you will on God's promise to multiply them so God is faithful to his promises third this list demonstrates the historicity and reliability of scripture and its precision
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the Bible is full of names of people and places and events that actually took place you could go there right you could fly there and go to many of these locations and places today and these are real people who lived there is theology on every page of scripture but that theology is connected to history real history so we see the historicity of the Bible and the Bible's care for precision when it comes to the details this is the way the world really is and fourth this list is another installment in the anticipation of the Messiah another installment the search for the seed continues these lists prepare for the ultimate seed these records allowed later writers to demonstrate how Jesus was the Messiah I mean it culminates in Matthew 1 and his genealogy which draws on all these other genealogies
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God provides for the identification of his messianic promise from Genesis 3:15 and that's really the reason for most genealogies there's a few genealogies that are not uh looking at the line of promise but most of them are and so when you read a genealogy remember this is here to prepare God's people for the Messiah to remind them that he is still fulfilling and concerned about bringing one who will defeat sin and evil and redeem God's people the hope continues and so here we have a detailed acknowledgment of God's faithfulness this is what Sojourners like you and I need to continue to trust the Lord every little expression of God's faithfulness in our lives along the way is meant to keep us trusting in him they're like samples along the way to sustain your faith rations for reliance upon God let each of these names be another reason
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to trust him to fulfill his promises God is faithful is what each of these names proclaims so what is the pilgrim need what does the Sojourner need as he or she lives for God faithfully in this world well we need assurance of God's word and his promise we need acknowledgment of God's faithfulness in many ways he demonstrates that we need association with God's people really close association with God's people and then third in this chapter to identify ourselves with the people of God in verses 30 28 to 34 we come now to the long expected and long for reunion between Jacob and Joseph Jacob sends notice he sends Judah ahead to make preparation verse 28 he sent he had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen
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why is that significant well Reuben is the firstborn but he is slowly faded into the background and Judah has been elevated as the leader of the family now and this is not only the story the focus on Joseph it's the story of Judah as well we saw that in chapter 38 we saw it when when Judah says I will be the substitute and stand in the place for my brother and now we see Judah is taking this lead role we'll see that continue in chapter 49 God's plans for Judah but we're seeing more hints of it Judah goes ahead Matthews points out an interesting connection as well he says that Judah who disrupted their union chapter 37 verse 26 remember Judah is the one who said let's sell Joseph into slavery let's not kill him let's at least make some money Judah who disrupted their union should facilitate the reunion of father and son is most fitting so Judah tells them and breaks the relationship between father and son
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now Judah goes out to broker this reunion that's about to take place in verse 29 and 30 describe their reunion very sweetly verse 29 then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen he presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while a family reunion of epic proportions over 20 years Joseph and his father have been apart and now they embrace and they weep on one another's neck just like Joseph and his brothers each did Israel is now at peace verse 30 Israel said to Joseph now let me die since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive now when it says in verse 30 now let me die um I I like the way that uh the the LSB has it here it says um now I can die
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instead of now let me die instead it's now I can die so the idea is not that Israel wants to die at this moment but that he is now at peace and can die with this reunion now complete he he he he he wants nothing more in other words the the the translation notes for LSB actually give a helpful explanation they say this more clearly communicates the intended sense here which is not permissibility but possibility he's not saying like please permit me to die right now but he's saying I'm happy to die now the possibility whenever it comes he says whereas death previously seemed to Jacob to be the dreaded result of not seeing his son again here God has reversed his fortunes as the sight of his long lost son makes it possible for him to die in peace rather than sorrow end quote Israel's response to seeing the face of his son Joseph sounds very similar to old Simeon's response
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to seeing the face of the Messiah as a baby I'll remind you of this from Luke chapter 2 Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple for his dedication and Simeon has been waiting and waiting for the Messiah looking for the promised seed of the woman and in Luke 2 verse 25 it says now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and this man was righteous and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him and had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ or the Lord's Messiah and when the parents brought in the child Jesus and he came in the Spirit into the temple to do for him according to the custom of the law he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said Lord now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples
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a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel and his father and mother marveled at what was said about him or Kent Hughes says here Jacob beheld his son his temporal savior and said he could now die later Simeon would behold the son his eternal savior and knew he would die in peace how is it that you can be ready to die in peace how can you be really ready of course we all have many things we want to do and experience and those sorts of things but really only by seeing Jesus but with the eyes of faith can we really be ready to die in peace that we've looked upon him with the eyes of faith we've looked away from ourselves and we've looked upon Christ and we can say I can die now I don't want to die now I it's better for me to remain Paul says but I'm right I'm right with God through Christ through looking at him looking away from myself
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and looking upon him I can die now that's what you need to be able to say today you need to be able to say I can die I can die in peace whenever the Lord has it because I've looked upon the savior in trust and faith well after this reunion we see Joseph's plans to keep the sons of Israel separate from the Egyptians and this goes from verse 31 really into chapter 47 we'll pick it up next time in in 47 but at the end of chapter 46 we see Joseph has some really great political savvy his his wisdom is prudence he coaches his brothers and his father on how to interact with Pharaoh he even he'll only choose five of them we're not told which ones but he he'll put just five of them before Pharaoh and he wants to secure for them Goshen as their dwelling place now they've already kind of come there
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but he wants to make sure he gets the stamp of approval from Pharaoh to make it official and so he shows his wisdom he he also shows his concern for their identity as the people of God he explains his plan to secure Joseph for them or Goshen for them he will go to Pharaoh first himself and he will explain how the family has come they're here now and they brought all their livestock and they are shepherds and when Pharaoh then summons them they are coached to emphasize their profession as shepherds make sure you say this make sure you emphasize that you're shepherds why why emphasize that well because of verse 34 for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians hmm verse 3 verse 32 of chapter 43 42 34 excuse me 43 32 says when Joseph had his brothers over for lunch they served him by himself and then by themselves and the Egyptians who ate with him
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by themselves because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews for that is an abomination to the Egyptians a shepherds are loathsome to Egyptians and we're not told why that is specifically here but Goshen then would be the perfect place for them it's a great land but it's outside the main cultural centers of Egypt out of the way why does Joseph come up with this plan why is he emphasize what they would not like about them because he wants to preserve their identity their national identity as followers of Yahweh to keep them from assimilating into the culture of Egypt he wants to keep them distinct and God will preserve their identity by isolating them from the Egyptians creating Goshen like an incubator for Israel to grow until he brings them back into the land he'll preserve their identity by isolating them from the Egyptians it doesn't mean they'll have no contact with them but but they're they're kind of isolated and from the cultural centers there's a difference between Egypt and Canaan and how this takes place in Egypt they're isolated
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from the culture in Canaan they end up assimilating with the culture in Judges you see the Canaanization of Israel they become just like the people intermarrying taking on their practices and it corrupts them you know also in Goshen they would be closer to Canaan than any other place in Egypt of Egypt in the kind of the northeast probably and so it's it's the closest you could get so it's like a it's like on the east side when you have to leave and go back to Canaan and they would be far from cultural centers Almolar has many times said on the briefing especially that the closer you get to a coast or a college town the more liberal you get and the more progressive you get now go figure you know he'll explain it to you and that's kind of the idea here Joseph understands that principle but in the ancient Near East with Egypt and so he wants to guard them from imbibing these cultural values of the Egyptians and their their practices to keep them distinct
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and this principle remains true for us as well though maybe slightly different Ian Dugwid says nothing must be allowed to get in the way of that goal no matter how much easier it would make life for Israel in the meantime if the people would assimilate indeed it is noticeable that in the Exodus account of the departure from Egypt the livestock will play an important role the location in Goshen in northeast Egypt keeps Israel close to the Egyptian border whence it will be easier to leave when the time comes to return home that God gave the food laws later to make them distinct wasn't for their health so much as it was to make them different to prevent them from being able to eat with other nations to separate them to preserve them because they're the people that will bring the Messiah so he wants to isolate them Solomon's heart is led astray by marrying multiple women and they turn their his heart away from the Lord so there are dangers of assimilation with the culture for us as well we too must be different
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from those who are not true Christians and therefore the principles we must associate closely with the people of God this doesn't mean we need to be weird we don't need to be awkward it doesn't mean we need to live in a different neighborhood or in a commune have a job where only Christians work there no but it means we do need to be distinct in our values in the way we think about marriage in the way we think about parenting family children life money church attendance worship sufficiency of scripture authority of scripture exclusivity of Christ all these issues we need to think differently than the culture Jesus said in John 17 when he prayed to the Father I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one and so yes we live in the world
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and yet you know our our boat is in the water we just don't want to get the water in our boat right and sink us as many have said Second Corinthians 6 verses 14 to chapter 7 verse 1 is also a helpful passage showing us the distinction we are to have the the not being unequally yoked with unbelievers in various ways there's lots of application that needs to be drawn out of that passage but the same principles there of the danger of assimilation and and and association that leads to change in our cultural values and our principles that's what God has preserving Israel for what do you need to live faithfully as sojourners awaiting God's future place some of the things you need are assurance from God's word acknowledgment of God's faithfulness and association with God's people and God's values often scripture views us as sojourners and strangers listen to First Peter 2 verse 11
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beloved I urge you as sojourners in exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul may the Lord keep us faithful to him no matter where he places us among whomever he places us to be faithful sojourners as we live for Christ as we proclaim Christ as we live out the truths that we so cherish and love let's pray father thank you for your word for its clarity to us for your being the same yesterday today and forever the being the god who is there for us the god who comforts us in our distresses in our fears in our worries gives us assurance based on your promises shows us your faithfulness over and over and over again to reinforce the truth and gives us the people of God to be around so that we are more effective and capable in interacting with those who differ now because we have tasted and seen your goodness and your word among your people and we can herald that to others we pray these things in Jesus name amen
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let's respond in song now how great thou art how great thou art number five in your hymn books turn there and as you're turning there please stand to join us