Open your bibles to Genesis 46. We will spend most of our time in chapter 47, but we want pick up where we left off last week at 46:31. You will remember how Jacob and Joseph are now reunited. They have been reconciled after being separated from one another for 22 years.
Last week, we saw how we are prone to wander away from God, but he is always faithful to bring us back to himself. We saw him do that over and over again in the life of Jacob. This week we consider three different requests that are met with approval and followed by gratitude.
Heavenly Father, As we now give attention to Your word, open our eyes, that we might behold wonderful things from Your law through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen (Ps 119:18).
Genesis 46:31-47:12
28 He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. 29 Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. 30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.” 31 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. 32 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.’ 33 When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”
47 So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.” 2 And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. 3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.” 4 They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.” 5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”
7 Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.” 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 11 Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers 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 provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents.
13 Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished 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, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15 And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” 16 And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. 18 And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s. 21 As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.
23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” 25 And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” 26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.
27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years.
29 And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place.” He answered, “I will do as you have said.” 31 And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.
This is the Word of the LORD.
Each of the main characters make a request that is granted. And each of them express gratitude for the favor they have been shown.
We see this from three perspectives. Joseph’s family is dependent upon Pharaoh to provide them with a place to live and continue in their occupation. Jacob expresses his gratitude by way of blessing Pharaoh. The Egyptians are dependent upon Joseph to live and they express their gratitude by referring to him as their savior. Jacob, in his old age, is dependent upon Joseph to provide him with a proper burial in Canaan, and Jacob expresses his gratitude in bowing his head.
We are going to look at each one of these episodes together breaking them down by their parallel parts. Each of them makes a request, each of them receives approval, and each of them responds in gratitude. I think you’ll see as we go through this that we have a picture of one of the central components of the gospel and of our growth in grace.
First, we will look at Three Significant Requests. Second, we’ll see Three Gracious Approvals. And third, we will note Three Grateful Responses.
I. Three Significant Requests
1. Request for an Appropriate Land (46:31-47:12)
Joseph knew Goshen fertile land, but it was also a separated location where their detestable practice of shepherding could continue undisturbed.
Fertile: By calling themselves shepherds they are informing Pharaoh that they are not looking for work or food. However, their animals will need land to graze. With appropriate land they would be able to take care of themselves and have space to grow.
Separated: Living in Goshen would preserve the Israelites from envy of the world, and corruption by the world.
2. Request for Food to Survive (47:13-26)
Joseph collected all the money (13-15). Then he collected all the livestock (16-18a). And eventually, the Egyptians offered themselves and their land (18b-26).
Joseph’s enslavement of the Egyptians is one of the most difficult aspects of this passage to understand. Does Joseph have a moment of utter moral failure? Or is the bible condoning slavery? Are these the only options?
It is important to remember Joseph is Pharaoh’s vizier. He was fulfilling the duties of his office. He never extorted anyone, but simply approved their own requests.
3. Request for a Proper Burial (47:27-31)
Joseph spent the first 17 years of his life in the care of Jacob. Jacob will spend the last 17 years of his life in the care of Joseph. Jacob’s request would serve to keep their minds and hearts in Canaan even when their bodies were in Egypt.
Can you imagine the state of mind of the people after two difficult years of famine? The Israelites were seeking to recover, while the Egyptians are seeking to survive. There were still five years left of the famine.
Read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck if you want to comprehend something of the devastating circumstances these characters were in. It provides a good account of the turmoil of the 1930’s. The Dust Bowl caused such havoc that families were forced to give up everything. Few of them knew what to do. They had no one to turn to. Many sought work here in California, only to find too much competition. Those with work could barely feed their family for the day.
It’s easy to recognize your dependence upon others when you are in desperate circumstances. In times like those we can readily admit that we are not made to be independent. We need help! Just like each of these main characters, we are dependent people. We are not made for isolation.
This implies several things about us:
- We are vulnerable around others: We are susceptible to mistreatment. If we need others, then they can hurt us when they don’t provide for us. When we are taken advantage of, our ability to trust is drastically diminished.
- We are capable of helping others: Consider the weight of your responsibility as parents to protect your children. But beyond that, all of us are responsible to one another. We must care for each other. Do you? Are you?
- We are incapable of helping ourselves: Recognize, no matter how old you are, you are dependent upon others. Husbands depend upon their wives. Wives depend upon their husbands. Each of us need the body of Christ. We need our neighbors and they need us.
All of this begs the ultimate question: Are we seeking the Lord’s provision? He is “able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Eph. 3:20). Dependent people learn to ask for help.
The requests of these dependent people found…
II. Three Gracious Approvals
1. Israelites Receive Approval for Land
Pharaoh said he would give Joseph’s family “the best of all the land of Egypt” (45:20). He responds here, just as he said he would, giving them the land of Goshen to settle in. On top of that he grants the best of the them the privilege of caring for his own livestock.
2. Egyptians Receive Food for Survival
Some critics rip Joseph or the bible (and sometimes both) on this point. To them it appears that Joseph is taking advantage of a weak people group. Even some conservative scholars consider this an illustration of the corrupting influence of power.
I don’t understand how anyone who believes in the authority and inherency of Scripture, can condemn Joseph’s actions when the text doesn’t. We do not know what Moses thought as he wrote this. There are no obvious hints. But, he could have made it more clear if he intended for us to read it negatively.
On the contrary, he indicates that Joseph is acting in accordance with the people and even being gracious to them. The people are not bitter toward Joseph as the Israelites are toward Pharaoh in Exodus 1. Moses could have written similar statements here, but he doesn’t.
We should be leery of casting any judgment upon Joseph’s actions here because of our own preconceived notions of slavery. “Debtor’s slavery” was a common Ancient Near East practice. We have no reason to assume this voluntary slavery was a permanent arrangement. In fact, by the time we get to Exodus 1, it would seem the tables have been reversed. Buying the land is an act of charity (Lev. 25:14-43), not cruelty. This slavery was unlike the cruel Atlantic slave trade. In fact, it was not uncommon for a slave to refuse to take their freedom when it was granted (Exod. 21:5-6; Dt. 15:16-17). Their slavery is exactly what a tenant farmer did for a living. They live and work on another person’s property. The Egyptians are grateful that they get to keep 80% of the profits. If you were one of the families migrating to California in the early 30s you would understand how great this deal was.
3. Jacob Receives Approval for a Proper Burial
Not only does Joseph agree to bury his father in Canaan, he goes so far as to take an oath to assuage any doubt in Jacob’s mind.
Each of the main characters could have been critical of what they had received. The Israelites might have complained that they wanted provisions as well as the freedom to live in another part of Egypt, or even back in Canaan. The Egyptians could have argued that they should be the ones with property rather than the foreigners. Jacob could have told Joseph he wanted to die in Canaan rather than simply buried there. Would any of that have been too much to ask?
It is not necessarily wrong to ask for such provision, but it is presumptuous to expect them. It would have been wrong for them to covet what they did not have.
The lesson to be learned here is to appreciate what we have received. We can be so overly critical of people and circumstances that we fail to appreciate the mercy and grace we have already been shown. And our critical spirit can cloud our vision so much that we cannot hope in the future grace we will be shown.
Rather than complain about our circumstances we should know that the Lord might be allowing these difficult times so that we might learn to rely upon others more readily. The hardship we experience now is preparing us for an eternal glory. The church will become a safe haven when the world despises and rejects us.
John Calvin writes,
“This passage also teaches us, how much better it is to possess a remote corner in the courts of the Lord, than to dwell in the midst of palaces, beyond the precincts of the Church…Wherefore let us willingly be without honor, for a time, that, hereafter, angels may receive us to a participation of their eternal glory.”
Once we recognize our dependence we are able to appreciate what we have received, which leads us to our final section…
III. Three Grateful Responses
1. The Israelites Thank Pharaoh for the Land
Jacob’s blessing of Pharaoh could simply be read as a greeting, but even greetings typically had religious connotations. Jacob’s age is very apparent at this point as Joseph must carry him before Pharaoh and help him stand (47:7). The ideal Egyptian age was 110, so Pharaoh was likely impressed by Jacob’s age (47:8). Jacob is honest about his difficult life (47:9). Jacob’s suffering has been difficult. We were a little harsh on him last week talking about how he was prone to be pessimistic, doubtful, and self-pitying. At least he is being honest with Pharaoh here.
2. The Egyptians Thank Joseph for Food
If anything, Joseph’s actions are taken to be gracious and life-saving by the Egyptians. By ANE standards 20% was quite low. The average tax was 33.5%. The Egyptians view Joseph as a savior, not a tyrant (25).
3. Jacob Thanks God for Joseph’s Promise of a Proper Burial
In his feeble state, Jacob could not bow to the ground in worship so he bowed upon the head of his bed (31). Jacob could be bowing to God, Joseph, or simply steadying himself on the bedpost. Most translations wisely remain neutral. My guess is that Jacob is expressing gratitude to Joseph for his agreement to bury him in Canaan. That seems to fit the immediate context best. He’s speaking with his son, almost pleading to be buried in Canaan. With Joseph’s approval and oath, Jacob is relieved and grateful. The bowing of his head is a gesture of gratitude.
In each case, there was an expression of gratitude. It is one thing to appreciate something inwardly, but if that inward sense is never matched by outward expression it can be just as offensive. We can illustrate this with the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus (Luke 17:11-19). All of them recognized their dependence upon him. All of them certainly would have appreciated the healing they had received. But only one of them, the Samaritan, actually returned to give thanks to Jesus.
Just as we can be more critical of the gifts we have received than appreciative, we often return criticism rather than thanks to the giver. Are you a grateful person? Do you have a habit of complementing and encouraging others as an expression of your gratitude? John Piper writes, “When our mouths are empty of praise for others, it is probably because our hearts are full of love for self.”1 Gratitude, or the lack of it, reveals something of our own hearts. Obviously, it also informs others how much we appreciate them. Affirmation is an act of kindness.
Wherever the expression of gratitude is absent, you can be sure that division and discord are boiling. It is only a matter of time before we stop acting with any consideration for others. We should learn to express gratitude before criticism. Criticism that is never accompanied with genuine gratitude, over an extended period of time, will only serve to foster bitterness and selfishness.
God is our Great Provider. Our lack of appreciation for others is ultimately a reflection of our lack of appreciation for God. So how do we become grateful people? First, we recognize our dependence. Second, we appreciate what we have received. Third, we express our gratitude.
Dependence, appreciation, and gratitude.
Conclusion
If I could summarize all of this in one statement it would be this: Gratitude is the expression of a dependent person who has received what he cannot earn.
It’s not like gratitude is an unrelated step. It is the natural outpouring of one who really sees his need and really appreciates God’s provision. These are the aspects of gratitude we must remind ourselves of often.
This simple change can revolutionize the way you view worship, family, friends, work, politics, (technology?), etc. I honestly think gratitude is at the core of everything we do because it is at the core of worship.
We shouldn’t expect everyone to appreciate the same things. There is such a thing as appreciating diversity. We should be quick to express our gratitude whenever we can. We should not prize being stingy with complements. It is by giving thanks that we fight the sins of our tongue (Eph. 5:4). We should give thanks always for everything (Eph. 5:18-21). It is in our thanksgiving that we magnify God (Ps. 69:30).
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! (2 Cor. 9:15)
- We were not merely dependent upon God for life, but we were rebellious against Him, acting as His enemies (Rom. 5:8-10).
- We have received a garment of righteousness purchased by the blood of Christ. And in exchange He has dressed Himself in our filthy rags and bore the Father’s wrath on the cross in our place (Rom. 3:22; Isa. 64:6).
How can we not give thanks?
1 From the introduction of Practicing Affirmation by Sam Crabtree.