This week’s reading: Genesis 47:1-31
Hi Friends,
Jacob is reunited with Joseph as his whole family moves to Egypt to survive the rest of the severe famine under Joseph’s care and provision. There still remains five more years of this devastation and God has made The Way for His people to, not only survive, but thrive. We are in Genesis chapter 47, reading it all, that is verse 1 through 31. Listen to Jacob’s final request towards the end of his days.
“Jacob lived in Egypt, seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, ‘If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt, and bury me where they are buried.’ ‘I will do as you say,’ he said.” Gen 47:28-30 NIV
Great Respect
Once again, Joseph displays his honorable character as he, respectfully, comes to Pharaoh to let him know his family is officially there in Egypt. Joseph seeks Pharaoh’s permission to settle his family in Goshen, which had rich pasture lands for their flocks and herds. This is one of the reasons why Joseph had coached his brothers on what to say when Pharaoh asked about their profession. More on that in a moment. Interestingly enough, Joseph chooses only five brothers to present to Pharaoh. Could this be because Joseph had a purpose and strategy that bringing all 11 of his brothers might mess up? According to my research, there have been several interpretations made about why he brought only five brothers. But the Bible does not specify, so they all are only best guesses from the students of Scripture. Some say he chose only five because five was a special number for the Egyptians, just like seven is important for the people of God. Others suggest that Joseph presented those that would be a good representation of his family, but not so much that Pharaoh might be tempted to make them join his court or military. This certainly makes a lot of sense as one of Joseph’s main goals is to keep his family separate from the Egyptians. Again more in a moment. Yet might I be so bold to add my own idea about why only five brothers?
Joseph knows that these brothers are still growing into their new hearts, and might be concerned about their behavior in front of Pharaoh if they were all together. I cannot help but think about his warning to them as they headed back home to retrieve their father and bring him to Egypt. Joseph warns them, “Don’t quarrel on the way.” (Gen 45:24) His brothers are still unsure about Joseph’s forgiveness, as we will see later on after the death of their father. Personally, I think Joseph believes, the fewer brothers he presents to Pharaoh, the better. The last thing he wants Pharaoh to witness is potential trouble with allowing this family to reside in his land. He would want to present his best foot forward, as the saying goes, and not let Pharaoh witness a rowdy bunch of quarreling brothers who might cause problems in his kingdom. And so Joseph only takes with him five brothers to represent his whole family.
Again, I am only speculating here, but what we can be completely sure about is that Joseph certainly wants his family to stay separated from the Egyptians. Listen to this quote from “bethmelekh.com“: “What is clear is that Joseph intended to establish his brothers before Pharaoh as being of great value as herders of Egypt’s animals but of little value to the court of the monarchy and to its military. It seems that his goal was to keep the sons of Israel set apart, in order to maintain their culture and more importantly their priestly role before the one true God…”. Keeping his family separate from the Egyptians was first and foremost in Joseph’s mind and heart. He did not want to open any opportunity for them to walk away from worshipping the God of their fathers. And so the instructions to be honest with Pharaoh and tell him they have been shepherds all their lives. Recall how the Egyptians detested shepherds? And some believe, probably even more the Hebrew shepherds. Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible commented on why Egyptians may have thought specifically of the Hebrew shepherds as an abomination, in this quote, “…the Egyptians, being plagued for Abraham’s and Sarah’s sake, made a law, that for the future none should converse with Hebrews, nor with foreign shepherds, so familiarly as to eat or drink with them.” Not forgetting their past experience with Abraham and Sarah, the Egyptians wanted nothing to do with these descendants of Abraham. (see Gen 12:10-20 for what Pharaoh’s household had suffered because of this first couple of God’s people.) But all of this was part of God’s Plan and He was still, and is still, working it all together for the greatest good.
Don’t Assimilate
Knowing that Joseph’s brothers were shepherds would lead Pharaoh to keep his promise of allowing Joseph’s family to live in the region of Goshen. Here they would be separated from the Egyptians, who wanted nothing to do with them. Why is this important? Because God wanted, and still wants, His people to be distinct and Joseph knew this. Recall how he kept himself separate from the Egyptians even though he lived with them, cared for them and helped them prosper. Yet they continually referred to him as the Hebrew. Joseph is a clear example that it is possible to live IN this world, yet be completely different FROM this world. This is how God’s people should live and Joseph wants to make sure his family does not assimilate with the cultures around them. And God still desires this from His people. They were to remain different than the rest of the nations around them…and we Christians are supposed to do likewise. Joseph had been able to live in Egypt and yet remain unique in that he lived for God and by God’s standards, as opposed to others who lived for themselves and by whatever standard they came up with. Nothing has really changed, has it? We, Christians, are supposed to do the same as Joseph did. Yet, sadly, it seems like too many are being influenced by the world, instead of being an influence to the world.
The only way Abraham’s descendants, and you and I, can be a blessing to the rest of the lost and hurting world is to remain distinct from them. Distinct doesn’t mean we never interact with the world. Look at the life of Jesus while He walked this earth. We are most definitely to engage with the non-believing world around us, but not join them in the way they may live their lives, apart from God. We are to love them into God’s waiting arms. To show them what it means to be a child of God. We don’t look down on anyone, because it is only by the Grace of God that we are saved and can lived the saved life. But what we do is love them, whichever way is necessary, to bring them to repentance so they too can surrender to Christ and be saved by Grace through Faith. We act as God’s ambassadors pointing others to Him by the way we live our lives. The way we dress. The way we speak. The way we make our decisions. Even something as simple as praying grace over our meal when we eat out, can signal something to someone who just might want the peace we have. We must be different than the world. Not “holier than thou.” That is not how Jesus lived His life here, so we should definitely not do that either! Humble. Gracious. Generous with our time, talents and treasures. Faithful. Filled with integrity. A people who say what we mean and mean what we say. Genuine. Vulnerable. Honest about our own flaws, faults and failures. And always pointing to God, not man. This, of course, includes not pointing to the man in the mirror, either. We are never to turn the spotlight on ourselves. We are to shine for Christ. God’s people are meant to reflect God, and Joseph knew this very well. It is exactly what got him through the last 22 years!
I cannot say this enough, we must be different than the world, Church. The moment we assimilate, is the moment we stop acting like the children of God, because God is completely different than the creatures He created. We are supposed to become like Him, not try to make God be like us. Even when Jesus came incarnate, He remained Holy by never sinning. If we truly love God and desire to draw others to Him so they too can be saved, then we have to be distinct. To be like God, not like the fallen world. This has always been God’s Plan for Humanity…and so He chose Abraham whose heart was obedient and faithful towards God who called him. He is rightly called the Father of Faith and everyone who imitates his Faith, God will give the gift of righteousness. We will be counted as descendants of Abraham too. (see Gal 3:7) Isaac too, following his father’s example, kept himself from being corrupted by other nations. And Jacob sought to do the same. Joseph is simply following in their footsteps by ensuring that the whole family would live apart from the Egyptians, and not become intermingled or intermarried with them, and lose their distinct identity as the followers of the God of Abraham.
The Egyptians hated shepherds. Nothing is by accident or a coincidence in God’s Plan. Listen to this quote from Geneva Study Bible: “God permits the world to hate his own, so they will forsake the filth of the world, and cling to him.” And God continues this with us Christians too. The world may not even be able to vocalize why, but Christians are hated by those who continue to attempt to live this life by MMI. You see, if the world loved us, then they would become like us, children of God, who are growing to fully rely on His Love and Grace, for everything. We are supposed to be independent of the world, but totally dependent on God, again I say, for everything. Do we understand this? Being fully dependent on God. This is not what the world does…and it is not what we used to do either. Before we received Christ as our Savior, we would try to manipulate situations so we could get whatever we wanted. We would get impatient if things did not turn out the way we wanted. We might get nasty with others who seem to keep us from getting what we wanted. We wanted. We lived by our own will, by the things we thought we wanted, and that got us into trouble. But the moment we become God’s and start maturing in His Grace to control ourselves, we become different than who we used to be, and certainly different that the rest of the world…and like these shepherd brothers of Joseph, we too will be hated. Yet as we trust God, we can remain filled with peace and joy, no matter what happens or who tries to bring us down.
Part of being a distinct people of God is being able to keep that peace and joy, no matter what. Here’s a quick example. Right now I am writing this on an airplane flying back home to the states after visiting with my in-laws in Portugal. My husband, sister-in-law and I, left my in-laws’ home at 4am to make the 2 hour drive to the airport in Lisbon. We had plenty of time to get there, hand in the rental car, ship our luggage, go through the maze of TSA and security and make it to the gate on time. Everything seemed fine as we left towards the airport. Then it happened! The traffic came to a complete stand still! It was a backwater two lane road, one going south and the other north, with a concrete divider down the middle. Of course, the southbound, where we were headed, had two accidents up ahead of us which meant there was no way out or around them. We had no choice but to wait for police and tow trucks. Three…hours…later…the road was finally clear, but we had to really “book it” if we expected to make our flight. The whole time we trusted God to do what only He can do, make a way for us to catch that flight. Did we rush? We sure did! This is part of relying on God for all things: we do our part, then we trust God for the rest. Again I say, I am sitting on the airplane right now, peaceful as can be. And we all remained peaceful through the whole ordeal. You see, it is natural to have gotten upset and tried to figure out a way out of our situation. Or gotten nasty with people at the airport who did not care a wink about the reason for our delay. Or there could have been a whole other range of worldly attitudes and actions that would have messed up our day….and our witness. Yet, by God’s Grace, with God’s help, we did not lose our cool. We centered ourselves in God and knew, if He wanted us on this flight, then we would be on this flight, so we could hold on to peace and joy in the meantime. We could be patient as we waited in the traffic jam. We could be gracious to the airport employees who did not seek to help us. We could laugh instead of stress out. This is not normal. This is not what others expect from this kind of situation. And this makes those “others” feel guilty about their own immature heart attitudes, as they think about how they would have reacted. And that guilt causes the lost, either consciously or unconsciously, to hate us Christians. It should go without saying that we never seek to be hated. But we are unrealistic if we expect to never sense hostility. Because we are God’s, growing to be more and more like Him, we will suffer discrimination, just like these Hebrew shepherds did.
My Friends, my little story above is a tiny example of what I’m talking about when I say we need to be different. The world is watching. If you have claimed to be a Christian, then those who are not, are looking to see what that means. If we act the same exact way they would in any difficult circumstance, then why would they even think about becoming a Christian too? Being kind to someone who has been cruel to you. Giving the full tithe to your church or charities from the top of your budget, not just whatever you might have leftover at the end of the month. Being diligent to fulfill your commitments. All these things matter. First, they matter to God because you are imitating His kindness and His generosity and His faithfulness. Second, it matters to our witness to those around us who might directly see or hear of our actions. And lastly, it matters to us too. God is looking for people who will not be bullied by the world, but who will stand strong in Christ and remain distinct from the world around us. This is what Joseph has done throughout his exile in Egypt. And now he desires to help his brothers and their families do the same. The Egyptians were watching, and even though they wanted nothing to do with this small and lowly family, the whole world would be changed because of them and what God does in, with and through their lives. And as we remain His distinct people, God can use us as a blessing as well.
It is so very important to God that we, His children, remain different than the world. This is one of the reasons He chooses to elevate those He chooses. God knows we will not be perfect. None of the Saints got it all right, all the time. Yet their hearts were surrendered to God. And God can work with that. When we desire to be set apart from the rest of the world, God can open doors for us to reflect His Goodness, His Forgiveness, His Love and so on to those around us. No, God does not save us because of our own merit. We are only saved by His Grace as He initiates our relationship by stirring our Faith in Him. When we simply say, “Yes” to God’s Love, receiving His Grace, His Son’s sacrifice through Faith, then we are His and He will continue to stir our Faith and reshape our hearts. Surrendered to Jesus as Savior means He will continue to help us get rid of our sinful thoughts and habits. Surrendered to Jesus as Lord means He will continue to help us form new righteous thoughts and habits. First, Jesus takes away our sinful nature so that we will want these changes in our lives, so we want to be different than who we used to be, and different than rest of the fallen world. That’s Salvation. Then the process of Sanctification where we become distinct from this world begins. Again I remind us, we are not better than others, but we should be different than them. If no one can tell “there’s something different about you,” then my Friends, you just might want to reassess the way you are living your life. Perhaps some possessions must go. Or maybe some language has to change. Or you might possibly need to evaluate where you hang out on Saturday nights. My point is: we must… be… different! Distinct people who serve God by loving Him with all we’ve got and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. Dependent on God. Different. Distinct. Ok, I think you got the message, let’s move forward.
Cautionary Tale
As Joseph serves those who come to him for relief from the famine, we read about how he acquires all the Egyptian’s funds, possessions and lands for Pharaoh. No doubt the citizens must have heard about the approaching famine and viewed the safety measures Joseph had implemented for Pharaoh. Yet it would seem no one took heed of the warning. The Egyptians end up becoming slaves to Pharaoh because they did not save during the good years. We too must make sure we are prepared for any trouble ahead. For example, too many live paycheck by paycheck and would not be able to handle any economic downturn. They end up borrowing money against credit cards and become slaves to the payments that inevitably will come. We have talked before about the importance of having our finances in order, including putting aside funds for emergencies. This sad story is a great example of why. Joseph does all he can to help, but he does not reward their lack of responsibility. And God will not reward ours either. God empowers us to do the right things. He does not enable us to continue doing the wrong things. He loves us way too much to do that. This concept is true for our finances and it is true in every other area of our lives as well. Do you feel like you are currently imprisoned by anything in your life? Then that might be a call to sit with God and pray about the changes you need to implement in your life so that you can be free in that area. Let this section of Scripture serve as a cautionary tale. We need to pay attention to the times around us. We need to listen to godly counsel. And then we need to live prepared for come what may. God will help us, because God always loves us, but He will not reward any sinful habits that cause us to dismiss Him and His Word.
Ending Well
Lastly, we read that Jacob lives in Egypt with all his family for 17 more years. This puts him at 147 years old. He may have had struggles and sorrows along the way, but he ends his life at peace, surrounded by his family and grateful for all God’s blessings. When it comes down to his final days, Jacob calls Joseph to his side and makes him promise to not leave his remains there in Egypt. He wants to be buried with his fathers in the land God had promised them. Joseph swears to his father to carry out his last wishes. It will be just like God had promised Jacob, “And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.” (Gen 46:4b) Jacob ended well, despite all the problems along life’s journey. May we seek to do the same. As we continue to grow in Christ to be different, and as we learn the godly lesson from the Bible to responsibly live prepared, we too can leave this world at peace and enter into the glory of God in Heaven with pure joy. This is my plan. I hope it is yours as well. If so, won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
