Book of Genesis - Ch. 46, Vs. 1-Ch. 47, Vs. 31 (05/20/2001)

Park Meadows Church

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Now, chapter 46, we deal with all of the boys, his sons, and so forth, until we get to the list, and I have it after 26,

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Jacob's children, eleven sons and one daughter. Let me go through the list,

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Reuben's sons, four, Simeon's sons, six,

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Levi's three, Judah's sons and two grandsons, five,

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Ishgar's sons, four, Zebulun's three, Gad's sons, seven,

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Arthur's four sons and one daughter and two grandsons, seven,

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Dan's son, one, Nathiel's four, Benjamin's sons, ten, total of sixty -six people that came into Egypt, Joseph and his family were already there, twenty -seven, and the sons of Joseph which were born in Egypt were two souls, all the souls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt were three score and ten, or seventy people.

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And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph to direct his face unto

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Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. We said last week that Goshen was the delta of the

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Nile, the rich part of Egypt. It was then, but the

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Nile River does not overflow like it used to and is needed for that production.

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Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to meet Israel, his father, to Goshen and presented himself unto him.

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And he fell on his neck, wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.

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As we've said before, Jacob has been, since Joseph, all of his life thinking that he was dead.

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The boys never did tell him different. And he now has found out. And Joseph said unto his brethren and unto his father's house,

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I will go up and show Pharaoh, say unto him, My brethren, my father's house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me, and the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle, and they have brought their flocks and their herds, and all that they have.

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The word shepherd includes shepherding cattle, not just sheep. And it shall come to pass, when

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Pharaoh shall call on you, and shall say, What is your occupation? That you will say,

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Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we and also our fathers, that we may dwell in the land of Goshen.

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For every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. The proof of that is that they were overrun by, who was it,

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Roger? Egypt was overrun by, David, where are you?

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What's the name of the people that had Egypt under control for two hundred and ninety some years?

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Well, they were called shepherd kings, but there's another name for them. Yes, thank you.

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I should have known to ask you first. All right, 47.

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We have here now Jacob's most, we have here

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Jacob and all his family has arrived in the land of Egypt. Joseph, as a move of strategy, brought them into the land of Goshen.

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That actually was the richest land in that day. But right now, they're in the midst of a famine and no land's very valuable to its owner, being in a famine.

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Now, we're going to find that this is Jacob's, in this chapter, Jacob's highest point in his life so far.

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Jacob doesn't appear in a good light. When we first meet him, we've gone through all of his life, and I wouldn't have picked him, but God did.

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In fact, not until he makes the trip to Egypt do we begin to see that he'd become a man of faith.

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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 the land of Canaan, and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

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Now, Joseph is going to present his father and his brothers to Pharaoh, the king.

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They're all moved in, have unpacked their goods, and everything's settled. And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto

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Pharaoh. Now, we find out that sheep and cattle didn't get along, even in those days, much like it was in the

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Western days here. So that opened up an opportunity for the children of Israel to do something that Egyptians didn't want to do.

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Pharaoh said unto his brethren, what is your occupation? And they said unto

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Pharaoh, thy servants are shepherds, both we and also our father.

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And they said moreover unto Pharaoh, for to sojourn in the land we are come, for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan.

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Now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. Well, Bill, they were already moved in and unpacked.

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It'd be hard to move them. Pharaoh spoke unto Joseph, saying, the father, thy father, and thy brethren are come unto thee.

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The land of Egypt is before thee. In the best of the land, make thy father and brethren to dwell.

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And in the land of Goshen, let them dwell. And if thou knowest any man of activity among them, then make them rulers over the cattle.

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My cows, over my cattle.

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Well, since shepherding was not very popular among the Egyptians, Pharaoh needed someone to care for his cattle.

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Joseph presents his own father to Pharaoh, and this is really, this is quite a remarkable event.

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I want you to notice, Jacob now stands in the highest light that we've ever seen him during our study.

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Joseph brought to Jacob his father and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed

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Pharaoh. Rather unusual. He's beginning to live up to his name.

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He's a witness for God. Pharaoh said to Jacob, how old are you?

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Well, Jacob must have looked old, and he was old.

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And this gave Jacob a wonderful opportunity. If Jacob were living by that old nature, which controlled him at the beginning, he would have said, well,

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Pharaoh, let me tell you, I'm 130 years old, and I want to tell you what

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I have accomplished in my lifetime. He would have told him how

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I outsmarted my brother and got the birthright when I was a young fella, and how

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I went to live with my father -in -law, and I outsmarted him. He did at the last, but he didn't start with.

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He would have bragged about his family. I've got 12 sons. It should have gone on, but, and could have gone on, but Jacob's a different man now.

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He doesn't do all of that. Jacob said unto Pharaoh, the days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years.

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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 father in the days of their pilgrimage.

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Now, it's plain to see Jacob is a changed man. It doesn't sound like the old

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Jacob does it. He's given glory to God for his life, and is making no boast that he has accomplished a great deal.

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This isn't Jacob. Jacob's changed, not just with age.

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Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from before Pharaoh. In our day, we hear so much boasting on the part of many

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Christians. We attempt to applaud certain men for what they've done.

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We haven't done anything to brag about, except a wonderful Savior has been gracious and patient with us down through the years.

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You know, a lot of us go to college, and we think our dad's rather stupid when we go, but we come home four to six years later and are amazed at what he's learned.

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Joseph placed his father and his brother and gave them a position in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

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The land of Rameses is the same as Goshen, and Joseph nourished his father and his brothers, and all his father's household was bred according to their families.

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And there was no bread in the land, for the famine was very sore that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.

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And Joseph gathered up all of the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the corn which they brought.

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And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house for the corn which they bought.

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He had all of the money now. There was still corn left, but they didn't have anything with which to buy it.

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And Joseph stays within the confines of law and supply and demand. And when money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all of the

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Egyptians came unto Joseph and said, Give us bread, for why should we die in thy presence?

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For our money faileth. What would have happened in the United States when he said,

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Give us bread? Don't you all know?

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They would have given bread. The government would have passed out bread. Not to Joseph.

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Joseph said, Give me your cattle, and I'll give you for your cattle if your money faileth.

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And they brought their cattle into Joseph. And Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses and for the flocks and for the cattle of the herds, for the asses.

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And he fed them with bread for all of their cattle for that year. They couldn't work the cattle.

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There was no need to farm. So Joseph keeps them alive and their cattle by taking their cattle.

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When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year and said unto him, We will not hide it from my

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Lord, how that our money is spent. My Lord hath also our herds of cattle.

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There is not aught left in the sight of my Lord but our bodies and our land.

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We have come down to this. Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes?

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Both we and our land. Buy us and our land for bread. And we and our land will be servants unto

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Pharaoh and give us seed that we may live and not die, that the land be not desolate.

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Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. For the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them.

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So the land became Pharaoh's. So he has gone from money to cattle to land.

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There is no doubt that the famine was a very terrible thing. And as for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other.

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Now, why did he move them into the cities?

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Well, that's true. There's another reason. He moved them closer to the granaries.

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Only the land of the priests bought he not. For the priests had a portion assigned to them of Pharaoh and did eat their portion which

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Pharaoh gave them. Wherefore they sold not their lands. Then Joseph said unto the people,

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Behold, I have the sons of Jacob that were living in the land of Yes, yes.

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Well, you're talking about the Israelites. Did they move to the cities?

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I don't know if they did or didn't. We may find out.

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I bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh. Lo, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.

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And it came to pass in the increase, and it shall come to pass in the increase, that you shall give the fifth part unto

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Pharaoh. And four parts shall be your own for seed of the land, and for your food, and for them of your household, and for food for your little ones.

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So he knows that next year the famine will be over because he tells them to plant.

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And they said, Thou hast saved our lives. Let us find grace in the sight of my

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Lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. 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

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Pharaoh's. Who are these priests, Greg? Egyptians.

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Right. Not Israelites, but Egyptians. And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt in the country of Goshen, and they had possessions therein, and grew and multiplied exceedingly.

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Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, so the whole age of Jacob was a hundred and forty and seven years.

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And the time drew nigh that Israel must die. He called his son Joseph and said unto him,

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If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under that my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me.

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Bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. Now my question is why?

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Why did he want to be taken back? Jesse?

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All right. He wanted to be buried with his wife. Greg? Bill?

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I thought he wanted to be buried where God was. He had to be buried where God was at the holy mountain of Israel.

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He had to be there rather than anywhere.

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Virge? Okay. Trudy?

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All right. Russell? That's what it was.

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The religion in the Old Testament is an earthly religion. It's a physical religion and an earthly religion that they believed that there was a resurrection coming, but it would come only in the land of Canaan.

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Therefore they had to be buried in Canaan. But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place.

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And he said, I will do this as thou hast said. And he said, swear unto me.

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And he swore unto him, and Israel bowed himself upon his bed's head. I think there are several factors involved in Jacob wanting to be buried in Canaan.

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The hope of the Old Testament is an earthly hope, as I said. You see, the hope in the

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Old Testament is not to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. We believe that.

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It's taught in the Old, but not in plain language. The hope of the

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Old Testament is in Christ's kingdom, which will be set up on this earth.

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When that happens, Israel's great hope will be fulfilled. This is why

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Jacob does not want to be buried in Egypt. If he had no hope in God's promise to him, what difference would it make where he wanted to be buried?

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Jacob has now become a man of faith. So, he looked forward to the physical resurrection, but that only in Egypt.

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Alright, is there anything that we've overlooked? Greg dismisses.

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Would you stand, please? Father in heaven, thank you for another good day.