Family Reunion - Genesis 46:1-34
INTRODUCTION:
Some families make a point of having reunions, my family on my Mom’s side is one of those. Every other year the family gets together for a long weekend to reminisce and eat and play games and spend time together. The funny thing is most of my Mom’s brothers and sisters live in the same town or at least very close. My Mom and some of my grandma’s relatives live the greatest distance. Every other year those of us who can get together gather at my cousin’s place which is where my grandparents lived when I was growing up. Some families are just that way.
Jacob’s family all lived together as well, they shared the area around Hebron except for Joseph whom they had all given up for dead, but had just found out that he was very much alive and the second highest ruler in all the land of Egypt. What the brothers of Joseph had meant for evil when they sold him as a slave; God had meant for good to get Joseph to Egypt ahead of them so that he might interpret the Pharaoh’s dream and be made ruler of Egypt with only Pharaoh being greater than him so that he might store up grain during the seven years of plenty to save people during the seven years of famine. Last week Joseph made himself know to his brothers and had told them to go get their father and their households and to all move to Egypt where he would care for them during the remaining five years of famine. After 22 years they would have a family reunion. The news was almost more than old Jacob could handle, but in the end his spirit was revived as his faith in God’s goodness and faithfulness was renewed. They immediately began to get ready to move to Egypt with all that they had. That is where we pick up this morning, the family is on the move. Let’s pray and then get into our passage of Scripture this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 46, again we are going to take on a whole chapter, verses 1-34. Please if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Genesis 46:1-34,
“So Israel set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make 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 close your eyes.’ Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob and their little ones and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They took their livestock and their property, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him: his sons and his grandsons with him, his daughters and his granddaughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt. Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. The sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi. The sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. The sons of Issachar: Tola and Puvvah and Iob and Shimron. The sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel. These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, with his daughter Dinah; all his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three. The sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli. The sons of Asher: Imnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah and their sister Serah. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah; and she bore to Jacob these sixteen persons. The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. Now to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. The sons of Benjamin: Bela and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard. These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob; there were fourteen persons in all. The sons of Dan: Hushim. The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem. These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and she bore these to Jacob; there were seven persons in all. All the persons belonging to Jacob, who came to Egypt, his direct descendants, not including the wives of Jacob’s sons, were sixty-six persons in all, and the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt were two; all the persons of the house of Jacob, who came to Egypt, were seventy. Now he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out the way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; as soon as he appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time. Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.’ Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, ‘I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, “My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me; and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.” When Pharaoh calls you and says, “What is your occupation?” you shall say, “Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,” that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is loathsome to the Egyptians.’” (Genesis 46:1–34, NASB95)[1]
THE LORD’S ASSURANCE (Genesis 46:1-7)
Jacob in anticipation of seeing Joseph sets out with all that he has and the family travels south down into the Negev and they come to the town of Beersheba. How long it took them to travel from Hebron to Beersheba with all their flocks and herds and households we don’t know, it certainly would have been a few days, possibly even a week. Beersheba was a place that Jacob knew, his grandfather Abraham had established it and had dug a well here and Abraham lived here for some time. Jacob’s father Isaac had lived in Beersheba, and it was from his home in Beersheba that Jacob had fled from his brother to go to Haran to Laban’s house so many years before. Here at Beersheba there was an altar built by Abraham to the Lord, and Jacob since he is about to leave the land of Canaan, the promised land, stops to offer sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac and worship Him. God had appeared to Isaac here many years before, and God now appears to Jacob in a vision of the night. God appears to Israel to reassure him that this journey he is on to Egypt is the right one, God had prophesied that the people of Israel would leave the promised land and go to a land not their own. God makes four promises to Israel to assure him that he has nothing to fear in going down to Egypt, this is God’s plan for him. First, God promises Jacob that while he and his family are in Egypt that God is going to make them a great nation, away from the corrupting influences of the people living in Canaan. They will remain pure because the Egyptians will not mix with them. They would be a nation of Israelites. Second, God promises to go down to Egypt with Jacob, He was reminding Jacob that He as God was not just limited to the land of Canaan, He is the God of all the earth and just as He had gone with him so many years ago to Paddan-Aram, just as He had been with Him in the land of Canaan, so God would go with Him and be with Him in Egypt. Third, God promises Jacob that He will bring him up again out of Egypt. This promise is twofold, first when he died his sons would bring him back to the land of Canaan to bury him; second, God would bring his family up out of Egypt once they had suffered and they would come out of Egypt a mighty nation. Finally, God promised Jacob that his son Joseph would close his eyes in death, this promise made clear to Jacob, if he had any doubts, that Joseph truly was alive and he would see him again.
With this reassurance from the Lord Jacob was ready to leave the land of Canaan and go down into Egypt. He was loaded into the wagons with his sons’ wives and their little ones, the wagons that Pharaoh had provided for them. They left Beersheba and Canaan behind taking with them all their flocks and herds, all that they had acquired in Canaan and we read that Jacob and all his descendants or all his seed went down to Egypt with him, his sons and grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters and all his descendants he brought down to Egypt. Without looking back, but looking forward to seeing his son Joseph again, resting in the promises that God had given him.
THE BOOK OF THE GENERATIONS OF ISRAEL (Genesis 46:8-27)
Way back in Genesis 37 where we started the life of Joseph in verse 2 of that chapter it says, “These are the records [or the book] of the generations of Jacob.” (Genesis 37:2a, NASB95)[2] Then Joseph is the only child mentioned, instead of listing all the children of Jacob. I believe the reason for that was Jacob was so wrapped up in Joseph, his favorite, and Jacob based all his hopes for the future on Joseph and then Joseph was taken from him and he grieved for him for 22 years, within those 22 years he placed all his hope on Benjamin and then came that crucial turning point where it was either Benjamin and starve or put God first, trust God, base all your hope for the future on God and Jacob chose God and to trust God and let Benjamin go. Jacob was now resting on the promises of God and so here beginning in verse 8 we have the records or the book of the generations of Israel. Verse eight says, “These are the names of the sons of Israel…” Why Israel instead of Jacob? For two reasons, first, Jacob was no longer basing his hope on one son, but on God and so God uses his covenant name. Second these sons would form the nation that would be called Israel. The sons are listed according to their mothers. Leah’s sons and grandsons and some great grandsons are listed first plus her daughter Dinah making 33 descendants. Then the sons, grandsons, and some great grandsons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid who bore 16 descendants to Jacob are listed. Then the sons and grandsons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife are listed, 14 descendants of Jacob. Last the sons and grandsons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid who bore 7 descendants to Jacob. If you add up those numbers you get 70, which is all the house of Israel. But you must subtract Er and Onan, two sons of Judah that died in Canaan. That brings the number down to 68. Then you must subtract Joseph and his two sons because they were already in Egypt which brings the number down to 65. But then you must add Dinah which bring the number to 66. Including Joseph, his two sons and Israel the number returns to 70 souls that ended up in Egypt. The book of the generations of Israel. That group of 70 would become as numberless as the sand on the seashore and the stars of the heaven and all the peoples of the world would be blessed through them because God is faithful to keep his promises.
REUNION WITH JOSEPH (Genesis 46:28-34)
The eleven brothers of Joseph had already been reunited with him, but now it was about the time for Jacob to be reunited with his son whom he had given up years ago for dead. Jacob sends Judah ahead to get directions to the land of Goshen. Judah had proven himself to Jacob by bringing Benjamin back from Egypt, by choosing Judah to be their guide Jacob shows that he trusts him and it also suggests that the brothers had told their father everything and he had forgiven them. Now as he looks back on what took place and looks forward to seeing Joseph he can see the hand of God in all that has happened. In spite of his past failures, Judah now proved himself faithful.
The land of Goshen was located in the northeast part of the Nile delta, an area of roughly 900 square miles, very fertile and an excellent area for grazing flocks and herds. When Joseph met his father in Goshen, he came in his royal chariot. Joseph presented himself to his father and embraced him and wept for a long time my Bible says. Even though Joseph was dressed like an Egyptian and groomed like an Egyptian, unlike the brothers who did not recognize him, Jacob knew who this man was before Joseph embraced him, he knew that it was Joseph. “Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.’” (Genesis 46:30, NASB95)[3] Warren Wiersbe writes, “Jacob often mentioned his bereavement and spoke of his death and burial. Perhaps he inherited this disposition from Isaac, who announced his ‘imminent’ death many years before it occurred. Yet Isaac lived to be 180 years old, longer that either Abraham or Jacob.”[4] Jacob seemed to be more preoccupied with sorrow and death instead of focusing on the joy of spending his last years with all of his family around him. All twelve of his sons and their families would be with him to the end of his days. Jacob was 130 years old when he came to Egypt and he lived another 17 years enjoying his family.
After Joseph’s reunion with his father, he prepares his family for what is going to happen next. As highest ruler in Egypt next to Pharaoh, and because Pharaoh had invited Joseph’s family to come down to Egypt there was protocol that needed to follow by Joseph. He would introduce them to Pharaoh and the king would ask them some questions and Joseph told them how they were to answer. They were to let the Pharaoh know that they were shepherds and keepers of livestock and that they had been so since their youth just as their ancestors had been. Joseph wanted them to answer this way so that Pharaoh would allow them to live in the land of Goshen. Joseph was protecting his family and keeping them separate from the mainstream pagan society of the Egyptians because he knew the covenant that God had made with Abraham, Isaac, and his father Israel. If they announced to the court of Pharaoh that they were shepherds then he would settle them away from the major population areas because shepherds were loathsome to Egyptians.
CONCLUSION:
As we close this morning I want to draw out one truth from this message and it is the importance of seeking the will of God in the decision we make in our lives. I believe that this is what Jacob was doing when he offered sacrifices at Beersheba, he was asking God if this move to Egypt was God’s will for him. It does not come right out and say that in the passage, but it is implied because God appeared to him in a vision in the night. The first thing that God said to Jacob was that he was not to be afraid to go down to Egypt. That tells me that Jacob was anxious and fearful of leaving the promised land, he must have been questioning if it was the right thing to do, to leave the land that God had promised would be theirs. We look at this history and we know the prophecy that God made to Abraham, we know about the exodus, but Jacob needed that reassurance because he did not know the future. God had to remove them from Canaan or they may have become completely integrated into Canaanite culture and society; God moved them to a place where they would be somewhat isolated from the culture and society because they were looked down upon by the citizens of that country. God placed them there so they could grow into a nation from within their own family and not be corrupted by the pagan society around them.
Now I understand that when we ask God to reveal His will to us today that He is not going to appear to us in visions in the night as He had to Jacob, but we can learn His will through His Word written to us and by the Holy Spirit living in us can give us assurance and peace about a decision that we must make as much as God reassured Jacob. It is when we fail to ask God for direction and do what we think best that we end up out of His will. If Jacob would have decided to stay in Canaan without asking God, but simply because it was the promised land, then he would have been miserable because he would have been out of God’s will. God’s will was for Him to be in Egypt and that is where Jacob would find joy and peace. What is God’s will for you?
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995 Brackets mine.
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]Wiersbe, Warren W., Be Authentic, Colorado Springs, CO : David C. Cook, 1997