What I Noticed Today (Genesis 46-48)
Genesis 46
Chapter 46 describes Jacob’s journey to Egypt.
In verses 1-7, God reassures Jacob that he should go to Egypt where He would make him into a great nation:
- God appeared to Jacob in a dream and reassured Jacob that he should not be afraid to go to Egypt, that God would be with him and bring him back from there, and that Joseph himself would be with him when he died.
- Jacob left Beer-sheba along with his entire family and all his flocks and possessions in the wagons provided by Pharaoh and journeyed to Egypt.
In verses 8-27, is a record of all 70 of the family members of Jacob who made the journey to Egypt:
- Verses 9-15. Leah’s children and grandchildren, a total of 33 people.
- Verses 16-18. Zilpah’s children and grandchildren, a total of 16 people.
- Verses 19-22. Rachel’s children and grandchildren, a total of 14 people.
- Verses 23-25. Bilhah’s children and grandchildren, a total of 7 people.
Note: Dinah was not included in the list, perhaps because she had no children. Er and Onan died before the journey to Egypt. Manasseh and Ephraim were born in Egypt.
In verses 28-34, Jacob and the family arrive in the land of Goshen in Egypt:
- Jacob sent Judah ahead to Joseph to prepare for their arrival at Goshen.
- Joseph went to Goshen to meet his father, Israel (Jacob). When they met, they hugged and wept for a long time.
Note: Joseph was 17 years old when he was sold into slavery by his brothers, and 22 years had passed. This meeting between father and son was not only a reunion but a confirmation of God’s promise to build Israel into a great nation.
- Joseph told his father and brothers that he was going to tell Pharaoh they had arrived from Canaan and settled in the land of Goshen. They were shepherds but also raise cattle, and they have brought everything they have with them.
- If asked, they were to tell Pharaoh they raised cattle, not that they were shepherds, because shepherds were abhorrent to the Egyptians.
Genesis 47
In Chapter 47, Pharaoh welcomes Jacob to Egypt, the famine continues, and Israel settles in Goshen.
In verses 1-12, Joseph introduces five of his brothers to Pharaoh:
- As promised, Joseph introduces the family to Pharaoh by taking five of his brothers with him.
- Pharaoh asked their occupation, and the brothers said they were shepherds.
Note: The brothers did not do as Joseph had suggested telling Pharaoh they raised cattle. Instead, they said they and their fathers were shepherds.
- Pharaoh granted them permission to settle in Goshen and suggested the most capable of them should care for Pharaoh’s own livestock.
- Then Joseph presented his father Jacob to Pharaoh. Jacob told Pharaoh he had lived 130 difficult years. Jacob then blessed Pharaoh and left him.
- Joseph settled his father and the family in the land of Goshen, just as Pharaoh commanded, and Joseph provided food for his father’s household and all their dependents.
In verses 13-26, the famine continues, and all the land becomes Pharaoh’s:
- The severe famine continued, and the land produced no crops. Joseph sold grain to the people and gave the money to Pharaoh until the people had no more money.
- As the famine continued the next year, the people gave Pharaoh all their livestock in exchange for food because they had no money.
- The next year with their money and livestock gone, the people sold their land to Pharaoh in exchange for food, and the people became the slaves of Pharaoh.
- Joseph then moved all the people from the fields to the cities because the land belonged to Pharaoh.
- The only land he did not acquire was that belonging to the priests because Pharaoh had given them this land and provided for them.
- Then Joseph gave the people seed to work their land. At harvest, they owed 20% to Pharaoh and could keep the remainder for themselves.
In verses 27-31, Israel settled in the land of Goshen:
- Israel settled in the land of Goshen and acquired property there.
- They were fruitful and multiplied.
- Jacob lived 17 years there and was now 147 years old and near death.
- He called to his son Joseph and made him swear an oath not to bury him in Egypt, but to take back to the land of Canaan and bury him in Hebron with his fathers.
Note: The family burial place in Canaan was the Cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23:19).
Genesis 48
Genesis 48 describes Jacob’s blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh.
In verses 1-12, Jacob prepares to bless Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh:
- Joseph was told that his father was getting weaker, so he set out with his sons Ephraim and Manasseh to visit his father.
- Jacob sat up in bed and recounted to Joseph how God had appeared to him in Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed him. God promised to make him fruitful and to multiply his offspring so that many nations would come from him.
- Jacob then “adopted” Ephraim and Manasseh making them primary heirs along with his own children. Children born to Joseph after them would be counted in Joseph’s line.
Note: This action elevated Joseph’s sons to being attributed to Jacob. In this way, Joseph’s family received a double portion of the inheritance which was normally due to the first-born son. They replaced the first-born sons, Reuben and Simeon, from Leah because they had dishonored their father (Genesis 34:25-30).
- When Jacob saw Joseph’s sons, he had them brought forward to bless them. His eyesight was poor, but he kissed and embraced them. Then Joseph took them from his father’s knees and bowed down before him.
In verses 13-22, Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh:
- When it came time to bless the boys, Joseph placed Jacob’s right hand on Manasseh’s head and his left hand on Ephraim’s head. But Jacob crossed his hands, putting his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh.
Note: Joseph was expecting Jacob to bless his older son, Manasseh, with his right hand (the greater blessing is conferred with the right hand). This is the fourth generation in which God chose to bless the younger over the older: Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over Reuben, and Ephraim over Manasseh.
- Then Jacob blessed Joseph praising God for having been his shepherd all his life, for having protected from harm. He called on the God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac to bless the boys.
- When Joseph saw that Jacob had his right hand on Ephraim, he tried to reverse them, but Jacob refused saying the older will be a great tribe, but the younger will become a great nation.
- Then Jacob told Joseph even though he was about to die, God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. Over and above his inheritance, Jacob also gave Joseph the mountain slope that he won from the Amorites in battle.
Note: There is no other scriptural reference to this battle with the Amorites in which Jacob won the mountain slope that he then gave to Joseph.
Some thoughts for additional consideration:
- Abraham got in trouble by going to Egypt, and God had stopped Isaac from going there, but Jacob could go there in confidence because it was God’s plan, and he had come to believe God’s promises.
- Even though they were sojourners in Egypt, God watched over them, fulfilling every promise to care and protect them.
- God is with us always wherever we are. He cares for His children, and His promises are true.
What did you notice in your study today? Feel free to visit the website and leave a question or a comment.
