Ye shall give the fifth part

Genesis 47: 13-26: “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. 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. 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. And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. 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. 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 ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: 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. 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. And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.”

Even though Joseph seemed to be working for Pharaoh, he was still doing the Lord’s work and preserving Israel through this experience. There is no doubt that Pharaoh was happy because he ended up owning all the land, except that belonging to the priests. As he believed that he was a God then that didn’t matter too much because they were working for him anyway. Up till that time kings would collect taxes when they felt they needed money but after this Pharaoh was assured of a regular income because all the people had to give him twenty percent of their annual income. However, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” (Prov 21:1) Even though Pharaoh thought he was in control he was just doing the Lord’s will and ensuring the survival of the Messianic line. There are many gods on the earth but there is only one Go of the whole earth. (Is 54: 5, “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.”)

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Jacob blessed Pharaoh

Genesis 47: 7-12: “And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an 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. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. 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. And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.”

Jacob though that he had a long life without much joy. He called his life a pilgrimage and said that his hundred and thirty years had been few and evil. However, our lives are good or bad as a result of our attitude rather than the things that happen to us. When Jeremiah looked forward, inspired by God, to a future day he said that the Lord’s people in that future day would be satisfied. (“And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the LORD.” Jer 31: 14) Jeremiah was talking about a day when the Lord’s people would understand that He loved them with an everlasting love and had bound them to Himself with the cords of lovingkindness (Jer 31: 3 “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”) The major issue in our lives is what we think about rather than where we are or what is happening to us. However, even in the middle of his pity party, Jacob still blessed Pharaoh because he had inherited God’s blessings and the only thing to do when we have God’s blessings is to pass them on to others. After that Pharaoh officially allocated him some land.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Then Joseph came to Pharaoh

Genesis 47: 1-6: “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. And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. 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. 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. And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: 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.”

This is the final episode in the reunification of the family. Abraham’s descendants were few and far between for quite some time but when they began to multiply there was a lot of jealousy and the family was divided. This can often happen in churches and other Christian works. There are problems between different people and the work suffers because the family of God in a local area is divided. However, we can all come together again, by God’s grace. In this case, when the family was united they all came with Joseph and went to Pharaoh. When there is a problem in the church we should remember that people on both sides of the divide are hurt and if we wait for the one who hurt us to apologise we will die before anything happens. In Joseph’s case, God brought the family together but Joseph had to forgive his brothers and they had to acknowledge they had done wrong. However, they all worked as a united group and chose five representatives to speak for them and went to Pharaoh. Remember, this was a small divided group but they believed in the true God of heaven, the God of all the earth ( Is 54: 5 “... The God of the whole earth shall he be called.”) He moved everyone in the earth so that this family could be united and they were united under the authority of the most powerful man on the earth at that time. Pharaoh gave them good land so that they wouldn’t lose their wealth during the severe drought but this was really God at work as well.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Joseph made ready his chariot

Genesis 46: 28-33: “And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive. And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and 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. And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation? That ye shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.”

After Jacob down to Egypt he had to complete all the formalities before he could settle down to enjoy his last days with Joseph. Even though Joseph was the senior executive man in the government of Egypt it was still essential that he see Pharaoh and so that every courtesy was complete. Joseph, however, went to see his father rather than expecting hid father to come and meet him. Jacob was in Goshen, which was the area to the east of the Nile delta. They had just come down from Canaan and were waiting at the entrance to Egypt. He told his father that they had to see Pharaoh and what to tell him. History reminds us that a group of people called the Hsykos had come from the Canaan area and invaded Egypt prior to this. These people were known to have been shepherds as well so they didn’t like shepherds in Egypt. Joseph wanted Jacob to tell Pharaoh this so that Pharaoh would offer them open land to keep their sheep and cattle rather that putting them in a more densely settled area where they would not be able to keep all their stock. It is interesting to note that they still had their stock after all their time in slavery because they were able to take them away from Egypt when they finally fled that country (compare Ex 3: 18, “And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God”, for example.)

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Threescore and ten

Genesis 46: 6-27: “And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: His sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman. And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zerah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul. And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron. And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three. And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli. And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel. These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls. The sons of Rachel Jacob’s wife; Joseph, and Benjamin. And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard. These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen. And the sons of Dan; Hushim. And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem. These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven. All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six; And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.”

It is good to compare this list with the list that is given in Numbers 1: 20-46. In this case there were 70 men listed but in the other case there were 603550 men listed. When God confirmed His promise to Abraham in Gen 15, He told Abraham that that his descendants would be greater than the stars that Abraham could see in the sky. The fact that the number of people had increased by 8,500 times gives us an idea of the way God works. We pray and hope but always deals with us abundantly (See Eph 3: 20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”). Of course there are times when we pray and God says “No!” as we see in 2 Cor 12: 7-10). In that case Paul prayed three times but God said, “No!” However, we can imagine Paul thinking that if the thorn in my flesh is taken away then everything will be okay but God taught him that everything was okay anyway. Even the thorn in his flesh was given to him to help him understand that God is sufficient in everysituation.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Israel took his journey

Genesis 4: 1-5: “And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.”

When Jacob first left his father’s house after he had stolen his brother’s blessing he saw a vision of a ladder reaching up to heaven. He vowed that if God brought him back to his father’s house then the Lord would be his God (Gen 28: 20, 21). When he came back to Bethel he built an altar to the Lord and God appeared to him again, blessed him and changed his name to Israel (Gen 35: 7-10). Since that time Jacob experienced the devastation of having a missing son whom he thought was dead. Now that Jacob was moving down to Egypt he paused at Beersheba, which was really the border of the Promised Land on the way down to Egypt, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac again. There was some symbolism in this action; he was showing that he intended to come back to the Promised Land again and that the Lord was still his God. God honoured this action by appearing to Jacob in a vision again and promising him that he would see Joseph before he died. The Lord also promised Jacob that he He would make Jacob’s descendants into a great nation and they would come back from Egypt to the Promised Land. This was a reaffirmation of the promise the Lord made to Abraham as recorded in Gen 15. Even though Joseph’s brothers had acted with malice, the Lord was at work behind the scenes and all His promises were being worked through so that everything that He promised would come to pass (compare this with Josh 21: 45 “There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.”) Sometimes we find it hard to understand what God is doing but He is always faithful.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Joseph is yet alive

Genesis 45: 21-28: “And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way. So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way. And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.”

After many years Jacob was going to come to his son. Joseph showed his brothers that he had forgiven them by offering them precious gifts. He also sent gifts to his father and extra food because he may be short of food. This is like the Lord Jesus Christ; He supplies us with everything that we need and even more (see Rom 8: 32 “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”). Joseph also knew his brothers and the fact that they had come from a dysfunctional family. He told them not to argue while they were travelling and then told them to go. When the brothers reached their home their father could hardly believe his eyes. He nearly fainted when he heard that Joseph was alive. Anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ has everlasting life, the Lord Jesus Christ confirmed this when He spoke to Martha after he brother Lazarus died (John 11: 25 “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:”). As soon as Jacob saw everything that Joseph had sent he realised that his sons were telling him the truth and he would be able to see Joseph again before he died.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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