GENESIS

Notes on Genesis 47

Genesis 47:1 Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.
2 And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.
3 And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers.
4 They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

By humbling themselves and calling themselves servants, they are assuring Pharaoh that they come in peace and that they are at his service and have not come to spy out the land with any desire to overthrow or take over their government. They are there for peace only and to save the lives of their loved ones. They did not come to push themselves upon the lives of the Egyptians.

Genesis 47:5 And Pharaoh spoke unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:
6 The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

Pharaoh welcomes them and even asks Joseph if any are talented to take care of cattle, they can care for his. He probably figures that his country was greatly blessed because of Joseph so how much more will they be blessed if more like Joseph come to dwell in the land. Children of Abraham are very brilliant in practically anything that set out to do. A country would do well to treat them fairly and honestly. The Pharaoh that made slaves of them years later really made a stupid move which cost them plenty in the long run. Egypt has been a weaker country ever since. They do not excel in strength. Any great country which has persecuted Israel has either been destroyed or they have been made weak when once they were mighty. It is a fact of history.

If the United States would turn against their Jewish population or those that are true followers of Jesus Christ which are adopted children of Abraham, they would lose their power very quickly.

Genesis 47:7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?
9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
11 And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families.
13 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.
15 And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.
16 And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail.
17 And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.
18 When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not aught left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:
19 Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.
20 And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's.
21 And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.
22 Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.
23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.
24 And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.

This type of thing may be the reason that some places in Europe later had rich landowners who had many servants. It probably saved their lives. I know it is better that everyone own their own property and everyone make their own living and it's hard for us to imagine serfdom and servants especially here in the United States but in many cases in the past, these systems saved many lives who ordinarily would have starved. This type of system cannot work though unless there is a godly person like Joseph in charge. I mean a godly person in truth not just anyone claiming to be a representative of God. Since men are so weak in this area, Republics and Democracies work best but those only work if people fear God and keep have moral restraints.

God requires all the rich landowners who use servants to treat them kindly though. He never endorses the kind of cruel slavery that the children of Israel later suffer from a future Pharaoh, neither does He endorse the type of slavery that the early Americans practiced when people were stolen from their families in Africa and sold to rich land owners in the south.

I truly believe that it is because of the influence of Jesus Christ that a country like the United States has a better lifestyle than other countries. We need to be grateful and not murmur and complain so much. God gave this to us and He can take it away. I fear that we may lose this great country if we don't repent and take heed to God's word. We repented of slavery but what of abortion, the teaching of evolution and many such things we do that oppose the word of God. Without the fear of God, a country will eventually destroy itself. God will not stay where He is not wanted and without His protection, we are history.

Genesis 47:25 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.
26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.
27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.
28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was a hundred forty and seven years.

The way Jacob talked before of dying when he saw Joseph, we may have gotten the impression that he would die right away but it seems he lived 17 more years after uniting with Joseph again.

Genesis 47:29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:

This shows that Jacob recognized the word of God and the land that God promised Abraham, Isaac and then Jacob (Israel). He wanted to be buried back into that land of promise.

Genesis 47:30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burial place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.
31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he swore unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.

If Israel had not have cared for the promise of God he would have been willing to be buried in Egypt. This was a sign of faith.

This promise is only fulfilled in part now. The land was given to them through Moses years later but it was taken away again because of sin. The biggest sin being idolatry. Israel was back again after 70 years of captivity to other Babylon so that Jesus Christ could come and die for sins like He was sent to do. In seventy AD the land was taken away again because of their rejection of God's Son. It was given back in part in 1948. They still do not have all that was promised to them. They probably will not have it all until the second coming and return of Jesus Christ in which all Israel will acknowledge that the one their ancestors had crucified was indeed the prophet that Moses promised would come. This prophet was Jesus the Messiah (Christ); the only way of salvation. DC

Word of Moses:

Deuteronomy 18:17 And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

Words of Jesus

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Genesis 48