Morning Light – Genesis 47: The Children of God in the Land of Goshen

[Today: Genesis 47] The Children of God in the Land of Goshen. In chapter 47 of Genesis, we see the sons of Jacob installed and thriving in the land of Goshen while the famine rages all around them. For us, this is a type of the blessing of God that will rest upon us as we stay in a place of intimacy with Him. Instability and turmoil may typify the existence of all others, but we are safe and nourished by the hand of God.

[Gen 47:1-31 KJV] 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. 5 And Pharaoh spake 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. 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] 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. 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 ought 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. 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 an hundred forty and seven years. 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: 30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. 31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.

In this chapter, we find the account of Joseph presenting five of his brothers to Pharaoh and consequently bringing his father Jacob before the king as well. The brothers are instructed to emphasize their vocation as shepherds, and therefore, Pharaoh is willing for them to settle in Goshen, one of the wealthiest and most verdant pasture lands in the entire empire. The closing verses of the chapter describe the increase of the people of God in Egypt and the closing years of Jacob’s life during which he will extract an oath from Joseph that his bones will not be buried in Egypt but returned to the land of promise in Canaan.

In verse 1, Joseph notifies the king that his father and his brethren have arrived in Egypt out of the land of Canaan. Their disposition was still not settled or determined until the king makes an official proclamation as to where these famine refugees will live. Joseph temporarily settles the family in Goshen and hopes to make this their permanent place of residence.

Pharaoh has previously expressed a desire to meet Jacob and Joseph’s brothers, and now arrangements are made for this to happen. Verse 2 fills in some details for us in that Joseph didn’t bring the entire family to see Pharaoh but rather only chose five brothers leaving the others behind. Why would Joseph not bring all 11 of his brothers before the king? There are two theories that have been offered in answer to this. One viewpoint is that Joseph brought the weakest and least accomplished of his brothers so that Pharaoh would not be too impressed and consequently take all the brothers into service in the king’s army. If this had happened, the family would have found themselves dispersed and possibly to have bred themselves out of existence in a foreign land and never returning to Canaan. Another theory is that Joseph brought the brightest and most accomplished of his brothers in order to show Pharaoh the quality of his tribe and motivate him to grant their requests regarding the land of Goshen where they wished to live during their time away from their home in the promised land. Jewish theologians go so far as to name (without biblical authority) the brothers that stood before the king as being Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

Other than an interesting bit of trivia, what could possibly be the message for us reading this account thousands of years later? There are two things to consider. First of all, the mention of five brothers and that of their vocation as shepherds. Those who lead God’s people are called shepherds throughout the Bible, and even Jesus speaks of Himself as the Great Shepherd. When Jesus imparted leadership anointings to the earth in Eph. 4:11-12 he gave only five, and that refers directly back to this chapter.

Egypt is a type of the world, and Joseph is a type of Christ. Joseph presenting his five brethren to Pharaoh answers to Jesus, presenting five ministries into the earth at the time of His resurrection. These ministries are that of the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, and the teacher. Unfortunately, the world does not acknowledge the leadership that Christ gave, and in fact, even in the modern church, we only truly recognize the ministry of pastor and evangelist. This isn’t enough and needs to be corrected.

What is the occupation of the brothers of Joseph? In verse 5, the brothers declare succinctly that they are shepherds. What is to be the declaration of those who are called to five-fold ministry? We are shepherds. We are all shepherds of God’s people, not just the pastor. With this in mind, our expectation and thinking should be that the imprint and influence of the five-fold ministry should be felt and demonstrated in every aspect of church culture and activity.

In verse 5, Pharaoh welcomes Joseph and declares that the entire land of Egypt will be put at their disposal for a choice for them to dwell in. He gives them their choice but agrees with Joseph that the land of Goshen is the best place for them to feed their flocks in and goes so far as to ask Joseph to appoint the best and brightest of his brothers to train and supervise his own shepherds (v. 6).

Joseph now (v. 8) brings his father Jacob before Pharaoh, and the king asks him just how old he is. Jacob replies that he is 130 years of age, but his father and grandfather (Abraham and Isaac) lived much longer than he has thus far. This is pretty amazing when you consider the fact that in ancient times, the average life expectancy was little more than 38 years of age. Pharaoh is deeply impressed and allows Jacob to bless him (which means that Pharaoh would have bowed before Jacob and Jacob would have put his hands upon him in benediction.)

In verse 11, Joseph places his father and brothers in Goshen, just as Jesus places us in the world around us. Joseph didn’t put his family in a position to suffer but gave them the best that the nation had to offer. Jesus is our Joseph. As v. 11 says that Joseph gave them a possession in Egypt, so Jesus gives us possession in the world around us. For Joseph to do this does mean that his brothers will become permanent residents in Egypt, and we as well are to remember that we are sojourners in the world around us – this is not our permanent residence.

In v. 13, the continuation of the famine is addressed with the knowledge that no matter how bad things are getting, the people of God are thriving and wanting for nothing. This is God’s plan for you. During this time, there was no need for Joseph’s family to read the crop reports. Things were bad, and they were getting worse, but it would be unnecessary for them to worry because they were under Joseph’s care, and Jesus is our Joseph. It doesn’t matter what upheaval we see in things around us; we are in the land of Goshen. We are protected under the care of our Great Shepherd. We will want for nothing. If that is not your experience, then go back and refresh your mind regarding what the word “Goshen” means. Goshen was the land of “Drawing Near.” It was referred to this way because when you came near to Goshen, you were coming near to the Nile, which was the source of life for the entire region. For Joseph’s family, however, it didn’t just refer to the nearby water source. Joseph wanted them in Goshen so that they would be close to him and his family. For us, the land of Goshen is not a geographical location, but it is a state of living in nearness to God and abiding fellowship with Jesus through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If that is not your experience, then trouble may find you and become a fixture in your life. If, however, you live in the land of drawing near to Jesus as a lifestyle of intimacy with Him, troubles may come, but you will be delivered every time.

In the concluding verses of the chapter, we see that Jacob (Israel) dwells in Goshen with his sons for 17 years and the increase and multiply exceedingly. Finally, at the age of 147, Jacob begins to think of the time of his passing and makes it clear to Joseph that he desires to be buried in his native land. His ultimate burial place is in the environs of Jerusalem – where the ancient dead came to life and walked the streets of the city during Jesus’ crucifixion.

 

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