Jacob Moves to Egypt

Pharaoh hears that Joseph's brothers have come, and he is delighted. He sends an invitation and the means to accept it: “Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives; bring your father and come” (45:19). “The best of all the land of Egypt is yours” (45:20). Joseph's gifts. Joseph gives every brother new clothes, and Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments (45:22). He sends his father twenty donkeys loaded with good things and food for the journey (45:23). Then he gives the brothers one piece of advice: “See that you do not become troubled along the way” (45:24). The ICB puts it plainly: “Don't quarrel on the way home.” Jacob hears the news. “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt” (45:26). For more than twenty years Jacob had believed Joseph was torn to pieces (37:33). He had said he would go down to the grave mourning for his son (37:35). So “Jacob's heart stood still, because he did not believe them” (45:26). His spirit revives. Then they told him all Joseph's words, “and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived” (45:27). Revived means came back to life. “It is enough.” “Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die” (45:28). The old man who had refused to be comforted now has one thing he wants: to see his son.

In 45:17-28 Pharaoh invites the whole family to Egypt, and the news finally reaches Jacob. Pharaoh's generosity (45:17-20). “You will eat the fat of the land” (45:18) means the very best food Egypt grew. Pharaoh told them to take “carts” (agalot, say: ah-gah-LOHT, wagons), and those carts became the proof Jacob would need. “Do not be concerned about your goods” (45:20) meant they could leave their things behind and travel light. Benjamin's portion (45:22). Joseph gave Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments, just as he had given him the biggest portion at the feast (43:34). Then he told the brothers, “See that you do not become troubled along the way” (45:24). Joseph knew how favoritism had once torn the family apart, and he did not want old jealousy to start again. Disbelief (45:26). “Jacob's heart stood still” (vayyafag libbo, say: vai-YAH-fog lib-BOH) means his heart went numb or cold. Twenty years of grief could not be undone by one sentence. “He did not believe them.” Good news can be very hard to accept after a long sorrow. Revival (45:27). “The spirit of Jacob their father revived” (vatechi ruach Ya'aqov, say: vat-TEH-khee ROO-akh yah-ah-KOHV). Two things brought him back to life: Joseph's words, and the carts he could see with his own eyes. The name changes (45:28). “Then Israel said, ‘It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive.’” At the moment Jacob believed, he is called Israel, the name God gave him. Rav (say: RAHV), “enough,” was all he needed to say. The son he had mourned was alive.

Pharaoh is very happy about Joseph's family. He sends wagons to bring them to Egypt. He promises them the best land. Joseph sends gifts and food for the trip. Then the brothers hurry home. “Joseph is still alive!” they tell Jacob. For more than twenty years Jacob thought Joseph was dead. So at first he cannot believe it. Then he hears everything Joseph said. He sees the wagons Joseph sent. And Jacob's spirit comes back to life. “It is enough!” he says. “Joseph my son is alive. I will go and see him.” The best news makes a sad heart glad.

The brothers told Jacob, “Joseph is alive!” At first Jacob could not believe it. Then he saw the wagons, and he was so happy.

Jacob sets out with everything he has, and on the way he stops at Beersheba (46:1). It was a place full of family memories: Abraham had lived there, and Isaac had built an altar there (26:23-25). Jacob “offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.” Why stop? Leaving Canaan was a serious step. God had promised this land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Isaac had once been told, “Do not go down to Egypt” (26:2). Jacob worships before he goes any further. God speaks. “God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, ‘Jacob, Jacob!’ And he said, ‘Here I am’” (46:2). God called Jacob by name, just as He knows each of His children by name. Four promises. “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes” (46:3-4). God will make them a great nation, go with them, bring them back, and give Jacob Joseph at his side when he dies. The whole family goes. Jacob and “all his descendants” travel in Pharaoh's carts (46:5-7). There were seventy persons in all (46:27). Wherever God's people go, He goes with them. Jesus promised the same: “lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

In 46:1-7 God speaks to Jacob one more time and shows him that the move to Egypt is part of His covenant plan. Beersheba (46:1). This town sat at the southern edge of the promised land. Abraham had worshiped there (21:33), and so had Isaac (26:23-25). Jacob offered sacrifices “to the God of his father Isaac,” and that matters, because Isaac had been told not to go down to Egypt (26:2). Jacob sought God before he crossed the same border. The call (46:2). “Jacob, Jacob!” God called his name twice, just as He called “Abraham, Abraham!” at Moriah (22:11). Jacob answered hinneni (say: hin-NEH-nee), “Here I am,” which means I am ready to listen and obey. The promises (46:3-4). Al-tira (say: al-tee-RAH), “do not fear,” came first, and then four promises. “I will make of you a great nation there” goes back to 12:2 and 15:13-14, where God told Abram his descendants would be “strangers in a land that is not theirs” and would “come out with great possessions.” Anochi ered immecha (say: ah-noh-KHEE eh-RED im-meh-KHAH), “I will go down with you,” puts the word I first: I Myself. Gam-aloh (say: gam-ah-LOH), “surely bring you up,” doubles the verb to make the promise certain. The exodus ahead. God used the same words, down and up, at the burning bush: “I have come down to deliver them… and to bring them up from that land” (Exodus 3:8). Even as Jacob went down into Egypt, God had already promised to bring His people out. Seventy (46:27). Seventy people from Jacob's house came to Egypt. Exodus 1:7 tells what happened next: they “were fruitful and increased abundantly.” The number is simply a count of the family, and God kept His promise to make them many.

Jacob packs up his whole family. But going to Egypt is a big change. God had promised Canaan to Jacob's family. Was it right to leave? Jacob stops at Beersheba and worships God. That night, God speaks to him. “Jacob, Jacob!” “Here I am,” Jacob says. “Do not be afraid to go to Egypt,” says God. “I will make your family a great nation there.” “I will go with you.” “And I will bring your family back again.” Jacob does not have to go alone. God goes with His people wherever they go.

God spoke to Jacob at night. “Do not be afraid. I will go with you.” God was with Jacob all the way.

Jacob sends Judah ahead to Joseph “to point out before him the way to Goshen” (46:28). Judah, who once led the plan to sell Joseph, now leads the family to him. Father and son. “Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; and he presented himself to him, and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while” (46:29). More than twenty years of separation end in one long embrace. “Now let me die.” Jacob says, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive” (46:30). He is not asking to die. He is saying his life is complete: the thing he thought he had lost forever has been given back. Long ago he had said he would go down to the grave mourning (37:35). Now he can face death in peace. Joseph's plan. Joseph prepares his family to meet Pharaoh (46:31-34). They are to say honestly what they are: shepherds, “both we and also our fathers.” The reason is surprising: “every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians” (46:34). An abomination is something people find disgusting. The Egyptians looked down on shepherds. Why say it, then? Because it would keep the family together in Goshen, a little apart from the Egyptians. There they could stay one family and keep worshiping the Lord.

46:28-34 is the reunion the whole Joseph story has been moving toward. Judah leads (46:28). Jacob sent Judah “before him… to point out the way to Goshen.” The brother who suggested the sale (37:26-27), and later offered himself for Benjamin (44:33), now went ahead of the family. God was making Judah a leader. The embrace (46:29). “He presented himself to him (vayyera elav, say: vai-yay-RAH eh-LAV).” This verb is usually used when God “appears” to the patriarchs. Here a son appears to his father. Joseph “wept on his neck a good while.” Jacob's words (46:30). “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive.” Compare 37:35, “I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” The grief that had filled Jacob's life for two decades was turned into joy. And he lived seventeen more years (47:28). The shepherds (46:31-34). Joseph told his brothers to say plainly what work they did, “that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination (to'evah, say: toh-ay-VAH) to the Egyptians.” The same word was used when the Egyptians would not eat with Hebrews (43:32). Joseph used Egypt's prejudice to protect his family. They would live apart in Goshen, where they could grow as God's own people. Honest answers. Joseph did not ask his family to pretend to be anything they were not. They stayed apart in Goshen because they told the truth about who they were.

Jacob's family reaches the land of Goshen. Joseph gets in his chariot and rides out to meet them. Then he sees his father! Joseph throws his arms around Jacob's neck. He cries and cries for a long time. Jacob had thought he would never see Joseph again. “Now I am ready to die,” Jacob says. “I have seen your face. You are alive!” Then Joseph makes a plan. The Egyptians did not like shepherds. So Joseph tells his family to say they are shepherds. Then the king will let them live in Goshen. There they can stay together.

Joseph rode out to meet his father. He hugged Jacob and cried for a long time. Jacob was so glad to see him!

Joseph tells Pharaoh his family has arrived and brings five of his brothers before him (47:1-2). Shepherds before the king. “What is your occupation?” Pharaoh asks. “Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers” (47:3). They ask to live in Goshen, and Pharaoh agrees: “Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen” (47:6). He even offers capable men among them a job looking after his own livestock. Jacob blesses Pharaoh. Then Joseph brings in his father, “and Jacob blessed Pharaoh” (47:7). It happens again when he leaves (47:10). Pharaoh is the most powerful king in the world, and Jacob is an old shepherd who has come to him for food. Yet Jacob is the one who blesses. God had promised Abraham that through his family “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (12:3). “How old are you?” Jacob answers, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life” (47:9). A pilgrimage is a journey of someone who does not have a settled home. Jacob is honest: his life has been hard, much of it because of his own choices and his family's quarrels. A home and bread. Joseph gives his family “a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land” and provides them with bread (47:11-12). God has kept them alive, just as He promised.

47:1-12 settles the family in Egypt and tells of the meeting between Jacob and the king. Before Pharaoh (47:1-6). The five brothers answered just as Joseph had told them (46:33-34; 47:3). Their request, “please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen” (47:4), was granted, and Pharaoh even offered to make some of them “chief herdsmen over my livestock” (47:6). The work Egypt looked down on became an honored job. The blessing (47:7, 10). “Jacob blessed (vayvarech, say: vai-vah-REKH) Pharaoh.” He blessed him when he came in and again when he left. Hebrews 7:7 says that “the lesser is blessed by the better.” Jacob depended on Pharaoh for bread, yet he was the one who blessed. God's promise in 12:3 was reaching all the way into the court of Egypt. “My pilgrimage” (47:9). Megurai (say: meh-goo-RAI) means my sojournings. Jacob described his life, and his fathers' lives, as living in a land without owning it. Hebrews 11:13 says the same: they “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” His words “few and evil” were honest. Jacob's life had included lies, running away, grief and family fights, and much of that trouble came from his own choices. Rameses (47:11). “The land of Rameses” is another name for the Goshen area, probably the name people knew it by later on. Provision (47:12). Joseph “provided (vaychalkel, say: vai-khal-KEL) his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with bread.” It is the same verb he used in his promise in 45:11, and now he kept that promise.

Joseph takes five of his brothers to meet Pharaoh. “What work do you do?” Pharaoh asks. “We are shepherds,” they say. “Please let us live in Goshen.” Pharaoh is very kind. He gives them the best land. Then Joseph brings in his old father. Old Jacob stands before the great king. Jacob blesses Pharaoh! The shepherd blesses the king. “How old are you?” asks Pharaoh. “One hundred thirty years,” Jacob says. “My life has had a lot of trouble.” Then Jacob blesses Pharaoh again. God had promised to bless the world through Jacob's family.

Old Jacob met the great king of Egypt. Jacob blessed the king! Joseph gave his whole family food and a home.