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13 There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. 14 Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace. 15 When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”

16 “Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.

“And he brought them through that year…” (17a).

There are certain years (or days, or weeks, or months) when you wonder if you’ll make it through. You’re hanging on by your finger-nails. Maybe, like Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:8, you feel “under great pressure, far beyond” your “ability to endure.” Perhaps you can also say, like him, that you despair “even of life.” Paul goes on to say, “Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (verse 9). Then looking back, some time later, you can say, ‘I trusted the Lord and He brought me through that year.’

We are continuing to think of Joseph as a ‘type’ of Christ. Times were desperate in “both Egypt and Canaan” (13). Eventually, when the people had no money, they came to Joseph and said, “Give us food” (15). In the crisis they looked to him, not to themselves. All their hopes were fixed on him. They trusted in him. They were total believers in his wisdom, ability and resourcefulness. They cast themselves upon his mercy, and he did not fail them:

“…he brought them through that year with food…”

So it is with Jesus. If we trust in Him, He will carry us through.

I believe the missionary, Hudson Taylor, was once asked, ‘Is pressure good for you?’ His reply was, ‘Yes, so long as it presses you nearer the heart of God.’

PRAYER: Lord, help me to understand that no problem I face is too big to handle, so long as I look to you for the answer.

7 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh, 8 Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?”
9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” 10 Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.

‘Jacob was a blessing in Egypt. He blessed Pharaoh (47:7,10), Joseph and Joseph’s sons (48:15,20), and all twelve of the sons of Israel (49:1ff.). God blesses us that we might be a blessing. Circumstances change, but God never changes.’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.44.

God blesses us to be a blessing – even in ‘Egypt’, amidst the pomp and splendour and corruption of this rotting, dying world system. It’s been pointed out that Jacob was not ashamed to give testimony before Pharaoh.

In Psalm 84:5-7 we read:

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.”

God’s pilgrim people live transformative lives, even in the barren places of the world. They bring refreshing in arid places. They are blessed to be a blessing.

I am slightly intrigued by Jacob’s words:

“The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult…”

‘Few’? It sounds like a long life to me. Yes, but in the light of eternity life is short even when it is long. “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14b). We all look back and say, ‘Where did it all go?’ Life whizzes by. Jacob recognised he had not lived as long as his “fathers”.

‘Difficult’? Yes. Jacob had his trials for sure. But I’m thinking to myself as I read this that a lot of his difficulties were ‘babies’ of his own conceiving.

Someone said, ‘We make our decisions, and then our decisions turn around and make us.’

But don’t miss the point that, with his many flaws and imperfections, God nevertheless blessed Jacob and made him a blessing. Thankfully, we do not earn the grace, the goodness of God. Otherwise none of us would experience it.

PRAYER: Lord God, I cannot point the finger at Jacob, nor at anyone else. I am aware that I am a ‘cracked pot’. But thank you that you take the imperfect and make them a blessing, in spite of their imperfections. Thank you for using even me.

28 Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 29 Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father[h] and wept for a long time.
30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”
31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ 33 When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”

47 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.” 2 He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.
3 Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?”
“Your servants are shepherds,” they replied to Pharaoh, “just as our fathers were.” 4 They also said to him, “We have come to live here for a while, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants’ flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen.”
5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you, 6 and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock.”

‘So Jacob came to Egypt, no longer feeling old.’ Or so goes the song at the conclusion of ‘Joseph and the amazing technicolour dream coat.’ Personally, ‘I’m not sure about the ‘no longer feeling old’ bit, but I get the sentiment the song is wanting to convey. What a touching scene in 46:29. After years of separation, the father and beloved son were reunited.

Although this is more implicit than explicit, I think we are meant to see God’s providence in that Jacob’s family were settled in “Goshen”, away from the general Egyptian populace. Here they could grow, and keep their culture and customs. It enabled them to maintain their distinctive identity. In this place they would prosper and thrive, and have opportunities to employ their gifts. Oh, and by the way, Goshen was no slum:

“…settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen” (6a).

We go on to read in verses 11, 12:

“So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed. Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their children.”

They had all the space they needed to grow and develop. Their needs were generously taken care of.

We may trust God with the details – great and small. He knows where He wants us and He will provide.

“7 Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.8 These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt:Reuben the firstborn of Jacob…
26 All those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons’ wives—numbered sixty-six persons. 27 With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all.”NIV

“With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all” (27).

“Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky” (Deuteronomy 10:22).

Today’s passage contains a long list of names, and for the purposes of space I have included only the beginning and ending of the said list above. We tend to see these lists as somewhat uninspiring and hard-going. But I’m grateful to Matthew Henry and Tom Hale for helping to make my heart sing over the inspirational truth they uncover in this text:

‘We have here a particular account of Jacob’s family. Though the fulfilling of promises is always sure, yet it is often slow. It was now 215 years since God had promised Abraham to make of him a great nation, ch. 12:2 ; yet that branch of his seed, to which the promise was made sure, had only increased to seventy, of whom this particular account is kept, to show the power of God in making these seventy become a vast multitude.’ Matthew Henry.

‘In this section we are given the names of Jacob’s sons and grandsons who made the journey to Egypt. We are told that sixty-six direct descendants of Jacob made the journey (verse 26). If one adds Jacob himself and Joseph and his two sons born in Egypt, the total number of Jacob’s family that settled in Egypt (excluding daughters-in-law) comes to seventy persons (verse 27). Seventy seems like a very small number compared with God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be like the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5; Deuteronomy 10:22). But God has no problem multiplying numbers. No matter how small our number, no matter how tiny our offering, God will multiply it (Isaiah 60:22) Indeed, there is only one number God can’t multiply: zero.’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.197. (Tom Hale adds a footnote in which he says, ‘God can create something out of nothing, but He can’t “multiply” something that does not exist. We may think that our labour or our offering is insignificant, but it is not insignificant to God; He will multiply it. He will not multiply what we do not offer to Him.’).

“The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly” (Isaiah 60:22).

‘ “Here I am,” he replied’ (2b).

‘It would not be easy for Jacob, now 130 years old, to leave the land God gave him and go to Egypt. Moving to a new home is usually a difficult experience, and the older we are the more difficult it is. Furthermore, Abraham got into trouble in Egypt (12:10ff.), and God had stopped Isaac from going there (26:2ff.).
But Jacob was able to go with confidence and peace because he was sure of God’s promise and presence (46:1-4). In the crisis hours of life, God speaks to us and assures us when we take time to worship. Furthermore, Jacob knew that God had gone before him and that Joseph was there making everything ready for him. The future is your friend when Jesus is your Lord and you follow Him.’ Warren W.Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.44.

So, when you know God is telling you to go…

• Go with worship – with thankfulness and joy (1). Has not God been good to you thus far on your pilgrimage? You have been blessed with much already that you can carry into your new season of life (6). Although, sometimes you have to leave certain ‘baggage’ behind before you can move on. It’s interesting that Pharaoh had told them not to bring these things. Whatever, ‘We’ll praise Him for all that is past, and trust Him for all that’s to come’;
• Go available (2): ‘Here I am, wholly available; As for me, I will serve the Lord.’ Let this be our song, even into old age (and possible obscurity.) We can still be ‘wholly available’ to God;
• Go unafraid (3a);
• Go trusting in God’s purpose (3b), surprising though it may be;
• Go trusting God’s presence and promises (4a);
• Go relying on God’s provision (5). We regularly find His provision to be amazing and surprising;
• Go with hope (4b): Ultimately, all will be well. Whatever may lie in the intervening period, a true believer knows that the final chapter is a great one. We may not yet have lived in its pages, but we do know it’s a happy ending.

‘He was not only to go down into Egypt, but to go there under divine guidance and protection. When we visit Egypt at our own impulse we shall land ourselves, as Abraham and Isaac did, in temptation and failure; but when God bids us go, we may make the journey with absolute impunity. Though we walk through the dark valley, we need not fear, if He be with us.’ F.B.Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, p.32.

“So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!” “Here I am,” he replied.3 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”5 Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. 6 So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan.” NIV

“Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there” (3).

This is precisely what God did and where He did it. We only have to look at Exodus 1:7 to see it. God knows precisely the condition of ‘soil’ we require, in order to to grow into what He wants for us. This is true of both individual believers and Christian communities. There is nowhere God cannot work, and we should not fear to go anywhere He may send us.

‘…who would have supposed that the promise would be realised amid the pressure and persecution of Egypt!…faith is led by very uncommon paths. Trust and obey!’ F.B.Meyer.

‘Even as to those events and undertakings which appear most joyful, we should seek counsel, assistance, and a blessing from the Lord. Attending on his ordinances, and receiving the pledges of his covenant love, we expect his presence, and that peace which it confers. In all removals we should be reminded of our removal out of this world. Nothing can encourage us to fear no evil when passing through the valley of the shadow of death, but the presence of Christ.’ Matthew Henry

‘When compared with the last two sections this one seems rather subdued, with long lists and the gloom of Jacob’s impending death. But this is the third and most decisive journey to Egypt, in which Jacob left Canaan, the land of promise, for Egypt, the land of future slavery. Was this a big mistake? No. Jacob’s migration was not prompted just by Joseph’s invitation; it was divinely authorised. 46:3-4 records the only divine vision in the Joseph story, and in it Jacob is told ‘to go down to Egypt’ and is assured that ‘I will go down…with you, and I will surely bring you back again’ (cf.28:15). The stay in Egypt was to be only temporary; it was indeed part of the divine purpose (cf.15:13-14). The section ends with Jacob enjoining Joseph to bury him with his fathers in Canaan (47:29-30). God’s promises were to be fulfilled.’ G.J.Wenham: ‘New Bible Commentary’, pp.88,89.

PRAYER: Lord, please guide all our steps (and our stops) and may we never to fear to go where you send

“So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”NIV

“I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive.”

We read in Acts 1:3a about Jesus:

“After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.”

Here is another of those points in the Joseph story where we see a likeness to the Jesus story. How will people come to believe that Jesus is alive? Well, this is what struck me as I reflected on the passage early on Monday morning:

• The church must give its witness (26). We have to ‘tell’ them Jesus is “still alive”;
• We should encourage them to get back to the primary source (27a). We want them to hear Jesus for themselves; to listen to His words in the four gospels;
• There is also a place for pointing to the evidence (27b). There is no absolute proof. If there was we wouldn’t need faith. But there is such convincing evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, that many who were adamant they didn’t believe, were won over and came to faith in spite of their earlier prejudices. Frank Morrison is one such person. He wrote the classic, ‘Who moved the stone?’ He entitled the first chapter, ‘the book that refused to be written.’ He had intended to explain that the resurrection accounts were human inventions – fairy-tale endings to the matchless story of Jesus. But when he began to sift the evidence, his mind was changed, and he was honest enough to admit it. He is just one among many who could tell a similar story. In recent years, Lee Strobel has written many books on Christian apologetics. He said: “I owe Morrison a great debt of gratitude. Who Moved the Stone? was an important early link in a long chain of evidence that God used to bring me into his kingdom. Morison’s stirring intellectual exploration of the historical record proved to be an excellent starting point for my spiritual investigation.”

Every Christian can affirm that Jesus is alive, and we will “go and see” Him after we die. This is our glorious hope. We see Him now by faith, but one day we will see Him face to face.

‘Behold Jesus manifesting himself as a Brother and a Friend to those who once were his despisers, his enemies. He assures them of his love and the riches of his grace. He commands them to lay aside envy, anger, malice, and strife, and to live in peace with each other. He teaches them to give up the world for him and his fulness. He supplies all that is needful to bring them home to himself, that where he is they may be also. And though, when he at last sends for his people, they may for a time feel some doubts and fears, yet the thought of seeing his glory and of being with him, will enable them to say, It is enough, I am willing to die; and I go to see, and to be with the Beloved of my soul.’ Matthew Henry.

²⁴ Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!”NIV

“Don’t quarrel on the way!”

This seems to be a knowing comment from Joseph. He was well aware of what his brothers were like (or, what they used to be like). Perhaps he was afraid that on the way home they might descend into recriminations, and start blaming one another for what had happened. No doubt his admonition would have quite an influence on them. They were now very much in awe of this man!

Of course people differ and will have differences of opinion. Life would be dull if we were all the same. We need to learn to respect these differences and be able to listen to one another. We could learn so much – even from people with whom we disagree – if we only had the courtesy to give them an ear. Sadly, in the church, we often dig in behind entrenched views, and become rude to others who see things differently. Frankly, it’s a terrible witness, and the world is often scandalised by our behaviour. Meanwhile, we hide in our ‘silos’, and from the apparent safety of our ‘echo chambers’ we lob grenades at one another.

But it is possible to disagree without being disagreeable. May God help us in our weaknesses.Our unity, and our witness to a watching world, are at stake.

“⁹ Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. ¹⁰ You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. ¹¹ I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute. “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. ¹³ Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”¹⁴ Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. ¹⁵ And he kissedall his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.¹⁶ When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased.¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸ and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.’¹⁹ “You are also directed to tell them, ‘Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come. ²⁰ Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.’”²¹ So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. ²² To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels^[b] of silver and five sets of clothes. ²³ And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey.

“You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me…I will provide for you there…” (10,11).

Almost thirty years ago, as I was on the cusp of leaving the church I was serving in Leeds, to throw myself into leading a church plant in Boston Spa full time, I was preaching through the life of Elijah, and I remember these words seeming to ‘light up’:

“Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there” (3,4).

“…to feed you there.”

It was F.B.Meyer who helped me to see that God will provide wherever He guides. If He says , ‘Go there’, He will provide for you there. God will never send you where His grace cannot keep you, and where His provision cannot reach you.

As in the Joseph story, God’s provision can be surprising, and it is abundant. He does far more than we can ask or imagine. For both Elijah and Joseph’s family, this provision came in the midst of “famine”. However unpromising our current circumstances may appear, we serve the God of super-abundance.

Throughout this chapter we see Joseph’s desire for his family to be close to him (4,9,10). His brothers felt his love for them, and were freed up to respond to him (15). As I intimated yesterday, in the story of each of our lives, the Lord wants us to draw near to Him and He’ll draw near to us (James 4:8a).

I have just finished reading the biography of Eugene Peterson, and I discovered that Eugene repeatedly said he wanted to be a ‘saint’ more than anything else. Of course, I’m sure he knew that, Biblically speaking, all believers are ‘saints’. But I think he was saying something else. He wanted to live prayerfully – to have an unhurried life of communion with God and attentiveness to God.

When we draw near to God, He draws near to us, and we have more than all we need. In proximity to Him there is also provision.