Genesis Chapter 46-47 – John Karmelich

1. My opening question of this lesson is, “What happens after “happily ever after”?

a) When you read a children’s story, it usually ends with “happily ever after”.

b) Children don’t stop to think that the characters in the story still have to get up the next day, go to work, pay the mortgage, take out the garbage, even after they live happily ever after”. J This is an issue we’re going to deal with over these two chapters.

c) The truth is that life goes on. There is no finish line in this life other than death itself.

i) I take the view that as a Christian, one never “retires”. You may retire from a job, but one should always be willing to serve no matter what the age.

ii) On a side topic, the bible does not spend a lot of time talking about what we do in the next life. There are a few chapters here and there dealing with eternity, but the vast bulk of the bible focuses on what God expects of us here and now. It is as if God is saying to us, “Let me worry about what will happen in heaven. Here are some instructions for you while you’re alive on earth”.

iii) With that said, there is no “finish line on earth” for the Christian life. We get saved, we mature, we deal with life, and we keep going and keep growing.

d) This leads to the next section of Genesis:

i) In this section of the story, Joseph gets to see his long lost brothers again. The whole family gets to moves to Egypt during the famine. Everyone is taken care of. Genesis should now say, “and they all lived happily ever after”. But it doesn’t.

ii) That’s my point. Even when all is taken care of, life still goes on.

iii) It is as if God is saying to us, “Congratulations, you past the test. You walked by faith and you are now where I want you. Take a five minute break, J because now I want you to move on to the next step.”

a) With God, there is always a “next step” in our lives on earth.

iv) Genesis can be read as a series of events that have cause-and-effect upon the next series of events that you read later in Genesis.

a) That is the way life works for us as well.

b) What we do has a cause-and-effect for whatever happens next in our life. If we seek God’s will through prayer, study, etc., the cause-and-effect works out for God’s glory in the long run, although we may not always see it on a day-by-day basis. Even when we mess up, like Jacob, God is still there encouraging us to move on to the next step.

c) If we ignore God, the cause-and-effect also works to our detriment.

2. The main idea to see of this section of Genesis is not just the happy reunion of the Jacob’s family.

a) It is to see that once God has accomplished that one goal, there is another one “around the corner”. It is as if God is saying to us at that point, “Well done. Here is what is next.”

b) You can read this story as it applies to our daily Christian life. You can read this and think, “OK, God has some plan for me. My job is to keep moving and walk by faith that God is working it out. Even if I figure out what is God’s plan for the next day, week or year, there is still more to the picture than I can comprehend. Even when that goal is accomplished, there is another task waiting.

c) A related idea is in Matthew 25, Verses 14-30. Jesus discusses rewards for believers.

i) One guy is given two talents (a type of money) and he doubles it.

ii) Another guy is given five talents and he doubles it.

iii) The interesting thing to read is they both get the exact same reward.

iv) Jesus point is our rewards in heaven is not based on accomplishing grand-scale achievements, but on being faithful of the “talents” given to you.

v) An interesting part to that “talent” story is another guy who wastes the one “talent” he has is sent to hell. (That is about a person who hears the Gospel message and ignores it.) Jesus then says to take away his one talent and give it to the guy who has ten. Jesus point is even if you’ve earned ten talents for God, he wants us to shoot for more.

a) It is as if he is saying, “Congratulations, you have doubled the talents I have trusted you with. Now here is one more, lets see what you can do with it.” Jesus point is He always wants us to grow and move on to the next step. That is what we’ll read about here in Genesis.

vi) Speaking of Genesis, I better get started. J

3. Chapter 46, Verse 1: So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

a) So here is Jacob, taking off to Egypt with everything he owns. This includes all of his descendants.

b) He stops at a “border-town”, which is Beersheba and offers sacrifices. Ok, why?

i) You would think of Jacob is excited to see his long lost son, he would be running there as fast as possible with no distractions nor deviations.

ii) You would think that if Jacob was grateful to God for having Joseph alive, why didn’t he offer sacrifices in his hometown, as opposed to here in Beersheba?

iii) Part of the answer is to understand Jacob’s history, and the history of Beersheba as it relates to Jacob’s father and grandfather.

a) In Beersheba, Abraham had a “border dispute” with the Egyptians over a well he dug. Abraham named the place Beersheba, meaning “place of an oath” because he made an oath there with these men. (Genesis 21:31).

b) In Beersheba, God appeared to Isaac after his own problems in Egypt. Isaac built an altar in that spot after God had spoken to him (Genesis 26).

c) Many years ago, when Jacob left Beersheba, is when he had the vision of the ladder ascending to heaven with angels going down and up on that ladder. (Genesis 28).

iv) OK, so Beersheba is a historical monument to Jacob. J Why stop and do another sacrifice here? Why not stop, look around and keep going?

a) Another part of the answer is to look at Verse 3:

(1) In Verse 3, God told him “not to be afraid to go to Egypt”.

b) Beersheeba is the “last stop” before entering Egypt.

c) I think what we are seeing here is Jacob making sure God is part of the plan to go to Egypt.

d) I’ve mentioned that God gave Abraham a prophecy that his decedents would be in Egypt for four hundred years and be afflicted there (Genesis 15:13). I suspect that prediction was past on to Isaac and then to Jacob.

e) Maybe Jacob understood “this is it” and was afraid to get going.

f) Here is the important part (pay attention! J):

(1) Jacob stopped to ask for God’s guidance. (Ok, offer a sacrifice.)

(2) It seemed like the obvious for Jacob to go to Egypt, after all his long lost son was the leader and he invited them there for safety.

(3) This is the “spiritually mature” Jacob. Even if everything appears to be God’s plan, it never hurts to ask God himself. That is what Jacob is doing here. He stops to make a sacrifice. He is once again reminding himself of his 100% commitment to God.

(4) He stops to pray in a sense that it is “God’s will” to move forward.

4. Verse 2: And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, "Jacob! Jacob!" "Here I am," he replied.

a) One thing I’ve stressed over and over again in these lessons is to pay attention of when Jacob is called by his nickname “Israel” and when is called “Jacob”.

i) The word “Israel” means, “struggle with God”. It has positive overtones as if it is saying he is struggling to do what is God’s will despite his fears.

a) In Verse 1, when Jacob stopped to offer a sacrifice before going into Egypt, he is called “Israel”. It implies that action was a good thing to do.

ii) The word “Jacob” implies “conniver”. It has a negative overtone in that it means he is trying to survive using his own wits as opposed to trusting God.

b) Here in one sentence, we have both names in view:

i) It is “Israel” that God spoke to in this night vision.

ii) Yet God calls him “Jacob Jacob”.

iii) To understand this, you have to remember the last time God spoke to Jacob.

a) This was the night he “wrestled” with God. The wrestling match ended when the “wrestler” asked Jacob his name. When Jacob said “Jacob”, he was admitting his “old-Jacob-nature” of trying to do things his way as opposed to God’s name. (Genesis 32:25-27). That wrestling match was Jacob “turning over” his old nature to God.

b) Now here we are many years and many chapters later.

c) God’s first words to Jacob are “Jacob Jacob”.

(1) I’m sure Jacob did an immediate flashback to the wrestling match.

d) What’s the point? We see in this verse the “old Jacob” pondering what to do with his fear of going into Egypt and at the same time, seeing the name “Israel” pop up as it is God’s will for them to go.

c) OK John, that’s neat. What does it have to do with me? How does that help me discern God’s will for my life? Does God want me to stop at the border towns of my life, offer up some sheep and wait for an answer? J

i) Well, the sheep part isn’t necessary, but prayer is a good idea.

ii) The most important part of discerning God’s will for your life is to be grounded strongly in God’s word. God says to us, “Look, I gave you a bible full of commands to obey, instructions to follow and stories to look for patterns to follow. You’ve got a brain, read and follow!” J In other words, if we go through life doing our best to follow the bible’s commands, we are doing God’s will.

a) The other step is to regularly pray for God’s will to be done in our life. The prayer part is to keep us “God-focused” as opposed to “me-focused”.

b) It is the big decisions in life that often provoke fear, as it does for Jacob in this situation. In such cases, it is ok to ask for a sign, but remember God is under no obligation to give you some sort of sign, even if it is His will for you to keep moving. Remember God wants you to trust him, even if a visible “sign” is not present.

c) My favorite prayer during times of tough decisions is “Lord, bless it or block it”. Then I move forward. I usually find out pretty quickly if God is part of that decision or not just by the evidence around me.

d) The secret of the Christian life is to sometimes just “keep moving”. God promises us He will guide us, but only if we keep moving. God will not drag you out of bed to do his will. He wants us to move forward in order to do His will.

d) Meanwhile back in Beersheba, Verse 3: J

5. Verse 3: "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. ⁴ I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes."

a) Let me paraphrase God here: “Jacob, don’t be afraid to go to Egypt. I know they are a bunch of idol worshipping pagans. I know that is a great temptation to your family. Remember that 400-year prophecy I told your grandfather? Well this is it. Yes, your family is going to suffer, but the good news is I will bring them out in a great way. As a “bonus”, you will be with your long lost son again.”

b) In Verse 4 it says, “Joseph's own hand will close your eyes.” This is a reference to Jacob’s death. It means that Joseph will physically close his eyes upon his death.

c) OK, time to step back and ask why: Why was it necessary for the nation of Israel to be “born in Egypt”? Why couldn’t the “nation” be born in the Promised Land? After all the Promised Land was promised to Abraham. God could have easily had his descendants form a nation there on the spot and conquer the people around them.

i) First of all, Egyptians had a “caste” system where people are born in “ranks” based on their status or occupation. To an Egyptian, a sheepherder is the lowest of lows, and for the most part are isolated like lepers. That system would isolate the Israelites to grow over the next 400 years.

ii) More importantly, this is a word-picture of us being “born again”.

a) Since Adam and Eve, we are born with a sin-nature. It is the negative sin nature that we inherited. In order to leave our old sinful nature behind, we have to choose to walk away from doing our will to choose God’s will.

iii) Egypt is a word-picture of “world”, in the sense it represents “everything available to us but God”. Whatever “little god” you choose to worship, is available to you in this world. God wants us to come to Him out of our own free will. In order to make that choice valid, the world has to be enticing enough so that choosing God is a legitimate choice. Choosing to follow God is the best choice, but the world has enough appeal that the majority of people choose to follow other things other than God himself.

iv) God set up the word-picture of “Israel being born in Egypt” to show that when we are born again, we are born “out of the world” into a new life following Jesus. Therefore, the whole 400-year experience is a necessary word-picture for us. We are in the world long enough to know that it is enticing, but that the best choice is to follow God and to willfully walk out of “Egypt” to follow God.

6. Verse 5: Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel's sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. ⁶ They also took with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt. ⁷ He took with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters--all his offspring.

a) I’m sure Jacob’s family traveling to Egypt must have been a sight to see.

i) In the last chapter, Joseph gave his brothers a change of clothing and “Egyptian top quality” carts for transportation.

ii) Remember the world was going through a famine. I picture this caravan of well-dressed people driving past starving people. They were entering Egypt “in style”.

iii) During the next 400 years, when the Jewish people became slaves in Egypt, the main motivation to keep them going was “Our family came here “in style”, and we’re going to leave “in style””. God promised us this would not go on forever.

a) That is something to remember during the difficult times of our life. It will not go on forever. Our home is in heaven. God choose us to spend eternity with him. One day, we will also leave this world “in style” to be with the Lord forever!

b) The key word of these verses is the word “everything”.

i) The emphasis is that everything Jacob owned went to Egypt.

ii) The old name “Jacob” is used as I suspect he was still dealing with fears of the unknown. He didn’t know what would happen to him.

iii) The great part is that Jacob fully trusted God. He didn’t leave anything behind in his home “just in case”.

iv) What God wants from is total commitment. God is saying, “I want you to 100% trust me. Take all you have and follow me.”

7. Verse 8: These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob. ⁹ The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. ¹⁰ The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹ The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. ¹² The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan). The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. ¹³ The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub and Shimron. ¹⁴ The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon and Jahleel. ¹⁵ These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, besides his daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all. ¹⁶ The sons of Gad: Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi and Areli. ¹⁷ The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah. Their sister was Serah. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malkiel. ¹⁸ These were the children born to Jacob by Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah--sixteen in all. ¹⁹ The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰ In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. ²¹ The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard. ²² These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob--fourteen in all. ²³ The son of Dan: Hushim. ²⁴ The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem. ²⁵ These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel--seven in all. ²⁶ All those who went to Egypt with Jacob--those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons' wives--numbered sixty-six persons. ²⁷ With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob's family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all.

a) From Verse 8 all the way to Verse 25 is a list of all of Jacob’s sons. The last two verses emphasize the fact there were 70 male descendants going to Egypt.

b) I can give you a lot of trivia details about this list. The problem is a week from today, you’re going to forget all of these details and none of them will have a major affect upon your daily walk with God. J The important thing God wants you to know is that there are 70 men going to Egypt.

c) The names are listed in “marriage order” of the wives.

i) Remember Jacob married Rachel first. Rachel’s children are listed first.

ii) As a wedding gift, Rachael was given a servant girl who also bore Jacob children and they are listed second.

iii) Seven years later Jacob marred Leah, and they are listed next. The fourth list is of her servant girl of Leah.

iv) Why that order? It is to say, “Here is the women in my life in the order I knew them, and here are the results”.

d) So onto the big question: Why list all the individuals? Why the emphasis on “70 men”?

i) Yes you can say, “God loves everyone” and cares about all going to Egypt. I don’t believe that is the point.

ii) I believe the “big picture” is to compare this to Genesis Chapter 10.

a) In Chapter 10, the bible lists 70 nations that formed the early world.

b) Here in Chapter 46 we have 70 descendants forming the “new nation” that follows God. That can’t be a coincidence!

c) The number 70 in the bible is associated with the perfection of mankind in numbers. The number 7 is associated with perfection (God rested on the 7^th day.) The number 10 is associated with man and “human perfection. For example, we are made with ten fingers and ten toes. Therefore 10 times 7 is associated with the “perfection of man”. It is about man growing to his “perfect number”. There were 70 nations to form the world. There were 70 people there to form the new nation that would follow God.

d) This is a pattern to show that out of the “world”, God again formed a new nation. Out of the 70 nations, God choose 70 people to form a new nation to follow him.

iii) There is a New Testament reference to this event in Acts Chapter 7 by Stephen. He mentions 75 people. This is because the common (Greek) translation of Stephen’s time emphasizes 75 people. By the time the “70” showed up, Joseph also had grandchildren in Egypt who are not listed among the 70.

a) By either account, the list is accurate.

e) One last point: Why waste all the ink to list everyone? If the important part is that “70” men go, why not just state that there were 70 men?

i) Part of the answer is that God wanted the Israelites organized by tribes. Genealogical records are going to be important because all the Israelites will be organized based on which of the 12 tribes they are from.

ii) There are also some subtle clues and word-pictures we get in this list that are prophetic of events to come.

a) For example, Judah has the most details, including some sons who died in Egypt. Judah is the only son where a grandson is listed. Judah is the one through whom the Messiah comes and thus the emphasis upon him.

b) Also, Dan only has one son. In fact, most commentators believe that is not the actually son’s name, but it is a pronoun that means son. It is like listing everybody’s name, except when it comes to Dan, it says, “he had sons too”.

(1) All through the bible, Dan gets a “slap in the face” every now and then as idolatry first came into the land through the tribe of Dan.

(2) In chapter 49, Jacob places a blessing on each son. We’ll discuss more about Dan’s problems in that chapter.

iii) My point is not to get you to memorize all the details of this genealogy.

a) If you are interested in further details of this section of scripture, there are some wonderful details that are fun to learn.

b) The main points is that God wants to emphasize the “70” and at the same time have enough of a genealogical record so that everyone can keep track of who were there ancestors.

8. Verse 28a: Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen.

a) After giving you that huge chunk of Scripture, I thought it might be good to slow down here so we don’t get indigestion. J Let’s discuss the first sentence of Verse 28.

b) It emphasizes that Jacob sent “Judah ahead of him”.

i) As opposed to 70 people wandering around Egypt trying to find Joseph, Jacob sends Judah out to go find him and have Joseph meet them.

ii) Judah is not the oldest, but he did emerge as the leader in the last few chapters.

iii) The word-picture ties to Judah as part of the Messianic line. Here is Judah leading the way for the Israelites! It is prophetic of Jesus leading the way to salvation.

9. Verse 28b: When they arrived in the region of Goshen, ²⁹ Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.

a) OK, here is the big reunion scene. Stop and let this one sink in for a moment:

i) Jacob had not seen his son for roughly 20 years.

ii) As soon as Joseph learned the location of Jacob and the clan he got in the chariot and got there as fast as he could.

b) The great word-picture is to see this from Jacob’s perspective:

i) He gave up “all he had” to go to Egypt, not knowing the results.

ii) Joseph is now “resurrected” and Jacob gets to spend the rest of his life with him!

iii) That is the way God likes to work in our life. God is waiting for us to “give it all up” to spend the rest of our lives with him. God then “gets on his chariot as fast as he can to meet us and throw his arm around us”.

a) If you remember the story of the prodigal son from Luke 15, the father was so excited when the lost son came home, he ran down the road to go kiss him. (Luke 15:20). It’s the same idea.

iv) For the Christian, it is not just the moment of salvation, but also a continual process of “letting go of what we have” to God the Father.

v) The first time of, “I give my life to Jesus” is essential and that is part of this word-picture. What is also important is our continual maturity as believers. We occasionally must examine ourselves and see if there is anything else “we need to present at God’s feet” for him to take over from us.

10. Verse 30: Israel said to Joseph, "Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive."

a) My opening question of this lesson is “What happens after “happily ever after?”

i) Here is Jacob (Israel) saying to his son, “I’m ready to die now.”

ii) We’re going to read near the end of the next chapter that Jacob lives for 17 more years. On one hand, Jacob may have just been colorful in expressing his joy over seeing Joseph again. On the other hand, he may be literal in thinking he has nothing left