Jacob Moves To Egypt
Book of Genesis Chapters 46-47
The safest place we can be is in the "Will of God"! This is much more important than our physical location.
During this Covid 19 plague we have forgotten this!
As Christians we must learn how to prosper in these last days. Even during the times of plagues as we see right now.
Many of God's people have given up and lost their faith but the Lord will not ever leave us to battle these things alone!
Jacob the patriarch of Israel would have never left his homeland if not for the providence of God.
What had God told to Abram?
Gen 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Gen 15:14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
There were many reasons that Joseph as a teenager was taken away from his father by his own brothers by evil and wicked means and had made it to Egypt.
We all get caught up in the reason Joseph gives which is true!
Gen 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Though this was a very good reason and very true, there was another reason Joseph was taken away from his father all these years.
His father Jacob would never have left his homeland if not to go see his son Joseph.
Gen 45:28 And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.
If Joseph had remained in Hebron, Israel would not be the nation that it became and as it still exists today!
In chapter 45, it was Jacob's heart that fainted for his lack of belief, but it was Israel that decided to go to Egypt!
*****Gen 46:1 And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.
We should never begin any journey before we spend some time with the Lord!
In fact, in these last days we need to spend more time with the Lord and every time, just before we leave the house, as we step out into this evil and wicked world that is now also full of plagues.
These things may not ever change before the Lord takes us home!
In fact the Holy Ghost states that things are going to get worse.
To remain in the will of God, we cannot just hide from these things and be too afraid to go out as the world will have us to believe.
We keep forgetting that we are not afraid to die! Jesus Christ took the fear of death away from each believer!
This does not mean we can step out in front of a speeding train, but it does mean that continuing in the work God has given us to do, is the safest place to be.
God still says to be obedient to our leaders as best we can without going against the Word of God!
God still says to be at peace as long as we are able to be at peace with the enemy!
To prosper during these times is to manage these things guided by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.
Israel took this journey to see his son Joseph!
We must continue on our Christian journey to see our Lord Jesus Christ!
We must stop and make some sacrifices along the way!
We must commit all we have to the work of the Lord remembering the Lord wants "Living Sacrifices"!
*****Gen 46:2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
Gen 46:3 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:
Gen 46:4 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.
God does not ever ask from us bits and pieces God demands our all!
When we give God our all, then He will go with us.
He is still God our Father in fact He is Abba Father!
Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
We have gotten so used to compromising our faith, that we just give up far too easily in the path of the storm before the storm even arrives!
The Lord says, to fear not, to Israel just as the Lord tells us to fear not!
Joh 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Just why are we so afraid?
Good Christians say, "I am just so afraid I will catch this plague".
Someone offers a vaccine that may stop you from catching this plague and the first thing out of these Christians mouth is, "well I am not taking no shot, not matter what".
This exactly the position our wicked governments want us in, afraid to do anything, afraid to make the right choices so the government can make our choices for us!
I can imagine Joseph with his fears, after all his great grandfather Abram had been run out of Egypt.
God had stopped Isaac from going to Egypt, but now this same God was speaking to Israel in visions in the night.
Israel was listening. We must always be open to hearing what God has to say!
God said listen Israel, "I am going down there with you"!
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
God promised Jacob (Israel) that Joseph would be with him until the day he died, if he would just take all he had and go on down to Egypt.
Israel took all his family and everything he owned and listened to what God had to say.
Jesus is telling us the same exact thing today! To give Him all we have and stay on our journey to Heaven.
It will still be sweeter every mile of the trip and as God said, "and Jesus shall put His hand upon our eyes".
*****Gen 46:5 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.
Remember we truly do not need to go anywhere without knowing God is with us, but there are many places God will not go!
God had promised to make Israel into a great nation. It would not happen unless Jacob went to Egypt.
God had promised to go to Egypt with Israel. This will not happen unless Israel was in the Will of God.
God had promised to bring Israel back to the promised land.
God promised Israel that he would not be separated from his son Joseph again before his death.
With all these promises from the Lord, how could Israel say no?
Look at all the promises the Lord has made to us, how could we ever say no to the Lord Jesus Christ?
Our faith is based upon the promises of God!
Jacob (Israel) now traveled free of fear of what laid ahead of him.
We seem to forget this from time to time! We already know our future and have no reason to fear the things of this world!
If God is traveling with us, just what should we be afraid of?
This may be the most important thing to remember as we go through these plagues and this new administration!
Israel (Jacob) did not leave anything behind, he took all his possessions with him and he took all his family with him.
*******Gen 46:6 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:
Gen 46:7 His sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.
We should understand that we should be quick to do what God has told us to do!
There is no benefit to being disobedient to God!
We must understand that when God speaks to us, it is for our benefit!
God is able to do all that He says He will do!
God warns us because He loves us, and God will never lead us to do the wrong thing!
When God warns us, then we need to move quickly!
There was no longer a benefit for Israel to remain in Canaan land at this time.
God did not want a godly presence left in this land and God had His reasons!
Gen 15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
God had determined that the Amorites, the inhabitants of Canaan Land, had not reached that degree of iniquity that He would cause their destruction.
You see this is what God is waiting upon today!
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is
longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God removed Jacob and all his possessions so he could not influence Canaan Land in his absence.
God will remove the Church from this world so the world cannot be influenced by the Church! This is called the "Rapture of the Church".
So when God tells the Church to do something, then we had better listen and, then do what God has told us to do without hesitation, for we are not going to Egypt, we are going to Heaven!
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
God moved this family all in one group and they would remain in one group while they lived in Egypt.
It was just 215 years since God made His covenant with Abram.
We know it would be over 400 more years the time they would spend in Egypt.
God's promise would still be true, and His covenants are still real, and they are still true!
*****Gen 46:28 And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.
It was Judah who had the idea to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites and it would be Judah who would lead Israel to the land of Goshen.
Goshen was a district of Egypt where Israel would settle in and remain until it came time for the Exodus.
Before Israel left Goshen, it was called the "Land of Rameses".
Gen 47:11 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.
It was not Rameses when Israel first came to Goshen.
Goshen was a place of some of the best land in Egypt suited to the raising of animals and was not far from the herds of Pharaoh and probably not far from his residence.
Gen 47:5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:
Gen 47:6 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.
After the plagues God placed upon Egypt, the land of Goshen is now no more than a desert.
*****Gen 46:29 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.
Gen 46:30 And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.
It was a wonderful thing to not have to worry about that famine, but Jacob would have never left the land of Canaan because of this famine.
It was a wonderful thing that there was food in Egypt, but Jacob would never have left Canaan because the only food source was in Egypt.
The only reason Jacob left Canaan land was because he could see his son Joseph, and God promised Jacob he would be near his son the remainder of his days, which were 17 more years.
Jacob was not concerned very much about the future because he knew the future lie in the hands of God.
Jacob was only concerned with the time he would spend with his son Joseph!
We should feel these same things about Jesus!
It is not important how much time we have left in this flesh because we know we will live eternally in the presence of the Lord!
The messenger of Jacob was now Judah.
It was Judah's plan to sell Joseph and now it would be Judah who would lead his father Jacob back to Joseph.
Judah would remain in the forefront of all Jacob's children, the tribes of Israel.
It is amazing the irony of all these things that happened.
It seems Judah had seen a dramatic change in his ways.
Jacob was a Godfearing man, so he felt great pride in seeing how God had worked through his son Joseph.
What do we know? God can work anywhere to see His Will progress upon this world!
After 22 years the entire family was in one place at the same time.
The whole land of Egypt was suffering from a famine but Joseph who was in charge of all the food, took the time to welcome his father and his family.
Joseph was now a prince in the land of Egypt, but he was not ashamed of the shepherd, his father.
We can see typology all through these passages of Joseph in the Book of Genesis.
Jacob was now at peace with his life and assured of Joseph's happiness, he had nothing else to live for, he considered his life fulfilled.
When we know the promises of God and the salvation brought to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be at peace with this world and God would have taken us home to Heaven except for the fact that He has things for each of us to do.
We must be witnesses to this lost and dying world!
When we meet Jesus, we will then get the best of God's creations!
*****Gen 47:11 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.
We should see that Israel was not just allowed to live in Goshen, but they were allowed to own the land, and this was a command of this Pharaoh.
This land would not be known as Rameses for probably at least 300 years.
Exo 1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
What we see is that while most all Egyptians were perishing in their own land, God supplied Israel and his family with the food of the Egyptians.
God will make the His enemies supply the needs of His children!
Isa 65:13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
Isa 65:14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
Isa 65:15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
God proves over and over that He knows how to take care of His children!
*****Gen 47:12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families.
Gen 47:13 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.
As we read through this passage, we will see that these children of Israel were given the best land to settle in and Joseph provided all their needs.
Doing this, while the people of Egypt were getting poorer, in the end having to sell themselves to the government to buy food for their families.
We will see that by the time this famine ended, Pharaoh had control of all the money in Egypt and all the land except for the land of the false priest and the land of the children of Israel.
Hunger will cause many things to happen and many of those things are not good and hunger will drive the people of the Seven Year Tribulation after the Rapture of the Church.
To the Egyptians, Pharaoh was more like a god for what he had accomplished.
Gen 47:25 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.
This is the way Governments operate today. This is the way the Antichrist will operate!
Saying this, no doubt tight controls were needed for Egypt to survive at this time in history, but the people should never have to give up their land.
Pharaoh could have fed his people without taking all they had from them!
What were the children of Israel doing all this time, multiplying! All their needs were met!
Joseph was operating under divine guidance!
We should remember it was God who interpreted Pharaoh's dream!
It was God who saw that Joseph was exalted!
Pharaoh the pagan ruler was used of God to care for God's children even better than he did his own!
Pro 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
God does make use of unbelieving leaders like this Pharaoh and He still does this thing today for His own purpose.
We should remember how God used Cyrus.
We should remember how God used Nebuchadnezzar.
How God used Pilate even with him knowing Jesus was innocent of all charges!
God still uses unbelieving leaders today to get His will done!
If we need to know more, all we need do is study the Scriptures!
*****Gen 47:27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.
Even during a long famine we see where God will take care of His people if we just do as He says.
We may have to move as did Jacob to a foreign land, but the results were that a nation was formed according to the will of God.
God was fulfilling his promise to Jacob and as He had promised Abram and Isaac.
Gen 46:3 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:
Gen 46:4 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.
We might ask ourselves, why did the children of Israel not leave after the famine was over, but we must see that it was not in the will of God at this time to do so.
We know that the children of Israel continued to grow until they may have outnumbered the Egyptians.
The problems came to Israel when they began to spread themselves throughout Egypt, where they began to learn the ways of the Egyptians who worshipped many pagan false gods. They all should have remained in Goshen until God called them home!
Again they forgot the promises of God.
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Jacob the old man now Israel as a nation grew at his feet died in peace!
*****Gen 47:28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.
Jacob may be the last of men to live for such and age as 147 years.
As he raised Joseph, he felt he was in his last years.
For 17 years Joseph had cared for his ailing father until he was sold into slavery, but the Lord was with him.
Twenty-two years passed and Joseph reappeared as Governor of Egypt and Jacob got to spend the last 17 years of his life with Joseph still taking care of his dad.
Jacob died in peace after 22 years of mourning for his son and 17 more years learning the truth!
A couple more things we see is, how a government operates with a 20 percent flat tax on its subjects.
One more thing we see that the government owns all the land, and the people are only tenants on that land.
Our own government is leaning this way today.
Egypt still operates with a system close to this today.
Amen
