In this sermon, Chuck Missler discusses Genesis chapters 46, 47, 48, and 50. He highlights the provision of God for His people, as seen in Pharaoh giving the land of Goshen to the Israelites. Jacob's presence before Pharaoh serves as a witness, emphasizing the importance of being a witness for God. Jacob refers to his life as a pilgrimage, reminding us of the unique relationship between Israel and the land. The sermon also explores the theme of justification, with Jacob's story representing the journey of justification and Joseph's story representing glorification.

Welcome to the 25th study in the book of Genesis conducted by Chuck Missler. The subject of this tape, Genesis chapters 46, 47, 48, and 50. Genesis chapter 49 is the subject of the next study. Let's stand for a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we praise you. We thank you for this fellowship. We thank you for the chance to, the opportunity to, open your word. We ask you, Father, to just open our hearts that we might hear you and understand what you have here for us. We just praise you for the abundance in this book and we just ask you, Father, to show us forth those great and mighty things of which the world knows not. We ask you, Father, to make this a supernatural experience, to enlighten our understanding that we might be pleasing to thy sight, that we might be effective in that particular ministry, that unique opportunity that you have for each and every one of us. But in all these things, Father, we ask it to the glory and in the authority of the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay, we, just by recap, we're in the last part of the book of Genesis, what's, you know, the third, if you wanted to write it in three major divisions, you would certainly set the story of Joseph apart, from Abraham on, part two, and the pre-Abraham stuff is part one, going backwards. And, but certainly the detail of Joseph, and it's really remarkable, we have more detail about Joseph than anyone, and we notice it especially in these emotional portions. There's just detail that I know of it, I know not of it occurring anywhere else in the scripture, as subtly, as completely as we have with Joseph, it's very interesting. We also have, so we're right in the middle of his exaltation, brother sold him into slavery, through the providence of God, he finds himself as prime minister of the world, and has this opportunity to minister to his brethren. Now he does it in several ways, one of correction, he hassles them a bit, which at first you think is mischief perhaps, or getting even or something, but in the scenario, you begin to realize there's something else going on. Somebody asked me a question, you know, you always wonder, some of you that leave early, or slip right out at the end of the hour, wonder what all these characters come up at the end and ask me questions, you know. That's generally what they do, is they save up all week, and get those things that I don't have answers for. And so I talk to them, and pray for them, and you can pray for them too, that they get the answers, because they usually don't get it when they come up here. But they come anyway. But one of the questions that somebody made, reading an observation that was so provocative, it's very, very interesting that Joseph, having been sold into slavery, and having risen to power, never contacted his brothers. I had never thought about that before. I thought a lot about the story of Joseph, but that's a thought that had never occurred to me. During the seven good years, he was in power, he's on top of the heap, right, running the world. Well, not the world, Egypt, you know. And during those seven years, he apparently let no word get back to his family, which is interesting. And it's out of character, as you'll sense, for Joseph to have done that out of neglect or lack of love. It's clear, deeply, emotionally, concern over his family. In fact, one of the lessons we'll glean from Joseph, there's many, one of them is the preeminence he places on family relationships. Really loved his family. And of course, well, gee, then wouldn't you think, gee, now that he's got it made, why would he allow his father to abide in the belief he was dead? He knew that his father thought he was dead. Must have. Interesting, isn't it? I have no evidence of this. I assume he did it by revelation. I somehow assume that he knew that in God's timing he had a role to play. But that's speculation on my part. I don't know. But in any case, we did last time cover this whole episode where he recognizes the petitioning brothers, doesn't reveal himself at first, puts them through quite an interesting series of ordeals, and then, of course, that incredible scene, which has to be the scene of scenes, where he reveals himself to his brothers, and what a reunion that was. But it's also interesting, and I think, as you know, from those of you that have studied the outlines, we've also tried to take a look at the story of Joseph prophetically, and that he has perhaps been typecast, or his role playing, or the Holy Spirit's rendering of the account is engineered so as to highlight his role, both dispensational and evangelically. That is, Joseph is a type of Christ in the sense of his dealing with Israel, and also Joseph is a type of Christ in his dealing with a believer. And you can examine both of those ideas through the outlines that were handed out. The whole story of Joseph. It is also interesting, as we pointed out last time, that the revelation always comes at the second time for Moses and David and Joseph. It was in their second appearance that they recognize who he is. I can think of somebody else that will be recognized by Israel when? The second time. Moses was rejected his first time. You know, who made you to rule over us when he killed the Egyptian? They rejected him the first time. David too. But here Joseph is revealed in his glory, in his exaltation. As I mentioned at the beginning of the story of the patriarchs, that Paul in Romans 8 speaks, those whom he foreknew he predestinated. Whom he predestinated, then he also called. Whom he called, then he also justified. Whom he justified, he also glorified. And in those four steps, election, we have Abraham, the elect of God. God called an idol-worshipping Gentile out of the early Chaldees to found a nation. In his seed, the nations called. Isaac, calling of God. The second example. Whom he called, then he also justified. And the story of Jacob is the story of justification. You and I can take great comfort in... We can't take comfort in Abraham. I mean, he was a man of faith. And I have bungled my faith so often, I can't look at Abraham and say, gee, I get comfort out of that. I'm encouraged by him, I learn a lot from him, but I have a tough time identifying with him because he's faithful, I'm not. I follow it up every chance I get. Jacob. I can relate to Jacob. If that conniving, scheming, Adamic character could get saved, then there's hope for Chuck Missler. And some of you who are chuckling can identify with that, right? Then the fourth step after justification is what? Glorification. And that's what Joseph's all about. So it's interesting that the outline that Paul has in Romans 8 seems to outline the four people we've been looking at. I believe last time we got through the end of chapter 45. Is that correct? Good. And it's interesting, too, that Jacob, verse 26, the last previous chapter, they told him, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not. How interesting it is is that he believed the lie and disbelieved the truth. He believed the lie that he was dead, but he didn't believe the truth that he was alive. What an interesting model of the world today. Interesting model. They believe the lie that Christ is dead. Wrong. They don't believe the truth that he's alive today. Interesting. Then, of course, they told him all the words of Joseph when he'd said them, and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent them to carry him in the spirit of Jacob, their father revived in Israel. Notice the change in word. See? The spirit of Jacob, their father revived, and Israel said. Interesting story. It's an interesting project. You might make an outline. Interesting study of the words Jacob. He's the only one, to the best of my knowledge, where this happens. When Abraham's name is changed to Abraham, from that point on, you never see the name Abraham. When Sarai was changed to Sarah, the new name's always used. Saul of Tarsus becomes Paul. And you don't find God dealing with the old name, except with Jacob. And you see it all through the Chronicle. It's Jacob when the Adamic nature, the old man, is dominant, visible, what have you. It's Israel, the new name, when he's in fellowship, when he's walking by faith, or there's a point to be made of that kind. Study it, and you'll discover those. The use of those names is not accidental. Now, if you want to really conform to higher scholarship, you can write a master's thesis sometime that the different names mean there are two different authors, you know, the J hypothesis, E, V, Q, P, R, S, whatever. But that's nonsense. Okay, Israel said, it's enough, Joseph, my son is yet alive. I will go to see him before I die. That brings us to chapter 46, verse 1. And Israel took his journey with all that he had. By the way, that must have been a bunch. It's a real caravan thing. And he came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices unto God his father, unto the God of his father, Isaac. And God spoke unto Israel in the visions of the night. Interesting. And said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, here am I. How does God address you? Does he address you by the Adamic nature? Probably. He does me, because I summon the flesh all the time. People who have seen me drive are convinced of that. Jacob, Jacob. He said, here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father. You know, that must have been awesome for Jacob. You really have to realize that he was raised with stories of how God appeared to Abraham and Isaac. And here's the, at the twilight of his years, a reconfirmation. I am God, the God of thy father. Fear not to go down into Egypt. Fear not to go down into Egypt. How interesting. First guy to go down to Egypt was Abraham. And he got into a lot of trouble down there. Not only acquitted himself poorly, but trying to pass off his half-sister as something other than his wife, even though both are true. But he also picked up a handmaid that led to all kinds of problems. Think about that. Every time you pay a dollar seventy for a gallon or whatever. I am, okay. He also said, but, this case, God says, fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation. Who's going to make a nation? God will. He creates a crucible to create the nation. Not a greenhouse, a neat place, rather a trying experience. Where does God build, where will he make the nation? In Egypt, not Canaan. He takes them out of Canaan into Egypt, and there makes a nation. You'll find all through the Scripture, especially in prophetic passages, references made to the nation Israel being born in Egypt. You say, well, that's strange. I thought it was born in a sense in the year of the Chaldees. We called Abraham. Yes, it was, in a sense. It actually didn't start there. Where did the nation Israel, in the sense of being the vehicle by which the Messiah was to come on the planet Earth, where does it start? Genesis 3, right, Eve. Revelation chapter 12, the woman that gives birth to the man-child is Israel in the sense that she starts with Eve, the seed of the woman. In any case, God is doing the work. He is doing it in Egypt. Very important to get this perspective because if you really understand this, the book of Exodus will make a lot more sense. It's obviously a very fascinating account of God freeing an abused and enslaved people. And even when we see a movie made, it is as dramatic and as thorough as the Ten Commandments. The theme was sort of the freedom from slavery kind of idea. And that's fine in the secular entertainment sense, but it misses the point. What was being done there was foreordained, described to Abraham and here to Jacob. It's a sequence of events that God had foreordained specifically to give birth to the nation. The whole concept of Passover is that that month of Passover was the whole calendar was restructured that this is the beginning of months because that event was the beginning of the nation as a nation, something other than tribal family of 12 guys with their offspring. Verse 4, I will go down, I will go down with thee into Egypt. What a marvelous thing. What a marvelous thing. Can you imagine what it would be like to know that wherever you're going, South Coast Plaza, wherever, that God is saying, I will go down with you. Can you imagine the comfort of having that assurance? And yet, I could argue to you, you shouldn't make a move without that assurance. The biggest problem we all have, and I'm included by the way, this is, you know, is knowing what is the leading of the Lord. And one of the ground rules you can set for yourself is not to make a major move until you have that assurance. If you make a move without that assurance, you run a lot of risks. If you fail to make a move without that assurance, you're pretty secure. All you'll do is fail to make a move in which you weren't sure the Lord was with you. Hey, what harm is there in that? The Lord will confirm Himself to you. And I say that because that's been one of my biggest hangups, I think yours too. Hey, yes, I love the Lord and I'm born again and all those neat things and I've gone through my checklist and I'm down step 18 of 20 or whatever and that's great. One problem I got, I don't know what He wants me to do. The answer is right here in this book, 66 books, you'll find it. It's here. But the assurance you should have is the assurance that was given to Jacob. Verse 4, I will go down with thee into Egypt and I will also surely bring thee up again. You worship a God of the round trip. You realize that? You realize that? I sometimes kid my salesman, you know, that I send them to Florida and if they close a deal, I'll pay their way back. You know. And God doesn't do that with us. God doesn't do that with us. He's the God of the round trip. There are times we forget that. There are times we forget that. I will surely, I will also surely bring thee up again and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. He says, I'm going to bring thee up again out of Egypt. That's expressly prophesied in Hosea 11.1. We talked about that last time. Out of Egypt I have called my son, right? Which speaks, of course, of Israel and if it wasn't for Matthew, you'd never believe that that was Messianic. But Matthew highlights that for us. That's also Messianic. Verse 5, 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 them. 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. And his sons and his sons' sons with him and his daughters and his sons' daughters and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. You're going to see that some 70, 75, depending on what you're counting, go into Egypt and some years later between one and two million leave, come back with their cattle and much goods and so forth. It's the saga of what happens between the two is essentially the story of the Book of Exodus. Now we have a register here, a manifest of the people on the trip. And I can't pronounce some of these any better than you can, so I'm not going to expose you to much of that, but we will skim through this to make a few points. These are the names of the children of Israel who came, verse 8, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons, Reuben, Jacob's firstborn. Now they're going to be in a very specific order here. We're going to study next time that there's some significant number of places in the Scripture where the 12 tribes are listed. And each time, almost each time, they are in a different order. And the order they're in is very significant. In this case, it's a genealogy for certain purposes and it's not surprising to find them in their natural order. There's times you find them in the order they were born. There's times you find them in the order of the actual wives first, Leah and Rachel, and then the midwives. Okay? That's another order. And the order is different each place. And we'll talk more about that next time. But remember the basic premise that I operate under, that you should test, not accept. But the premise I have is that that's not accidental. There's a reason the Holy Spirit puts it in a specific order. And we'll explore that a little next time. We'll make a specific study of the 12 tribes. And the sons of... Now notice, after Reuben, it says, now the sons of Reuben, Hanak and Pahlah and Hazaron and Carmi. And then the sons of Simeon, after Reuben came Simeon, right? They were the first two born, Reuben and Simeon. Remember that. And the sons of Simeon, Jemuel and Jaman and Ohad and so forth, and a bunch of others. And the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath and Merari. And these three sons constitute three subgroups of the Levites in terms of how they handle the tabernacle, and they're on the north, south and west of the tabernacle, specifically in managing the tabernacle and the camp. And that becomes a big thing later. So the sons of Levi turn out to be very significant as we unfold later on in the ecclesiastical interest. Moving on. The sons of Judah, Aaron, Onan and Shilon, Perez and Zeron, and Aaron, Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Herzl and Hamul, and on it goes. And the sons of Ishgar and Amishmezos, sons of Zebulun and so forth. And the sons of Leah, whom she bore unto Jacob and Badan-ur-Am and his daughter Dinah and all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three. And then the sons of Gad, and it lists some more. The sons of Asher, and it lists so much more. And the sons of Zilpah, which these are the sons of Zilpah, which Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore unto Jacob, even sixteen souls. And the sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife, Joseph and Benjamin, right? So far everything's quite comfortable. We have each tribe and at least one tier of sons, right? Of the sons of the sons of Jacob, in other words, his grandsons. Okay. And we get to Joseph in the land of Egypt, verse 20, were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphar, the priest of Onbornahim. We're going to later discover, in fact this evening, that these two are adopted by Jacob to become not just grandsons, but his sons. Strange idea. But very important to us because it allows us to realize that there are thirteen tribes, not twelve. We usually pick twelve at a time for some purpose, and we'll come to that too. But that'll be a mystery to you, is how you can have twelve, counting Levi or not counting Levi, et cetera, when the occasion calls for it. The way you do it is you have thirteen to pick from. And then you can cluster two of those. If you want to have twelve and count them all, you speak of the tribe of Joseph, which is really a double tribe, Ephraim and Manasseh. But if you need twelve, not counting Levi, because they don't go to war, you need to have, you have to have twelve minus one and still get twelve. And the way you do that is take Joseph and split him into Ephraim and Manasseh. So you recognize you've got a list of thirteen to choose from. Then some of the mystery starts to evaporate, is how you can have twelve tribes of Israel whether or not you're counting one. Cute trick. It confuses the Bible student until it's pointed out because you keep hearing people talk about the twelve tribes of Israel. And you find these lists, you know, and there's always twelve, and yet there's one missing. And that can be confusing. Verse 21, and the sons of Benjamin were Bala and Becker and a bunch of other guys. And these were, in verse 22, and these were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob and all the souls were fourteen. Now we get to verse 23, a very interesting verse. And we have the sons of Dan, Hushim. Hushim is not the name of a son. Although you'll see it that way in genealogies. It's like saying, and the sons of Dan, those guys. And we move on. You know. And you're going to say, what's with Dan? Well, that's going to be, here I want you to notice, this is chapter 46. This is not chapter 49. This is not the chapter after they move in the land and Dan becomes the tribe through which idolatry enters the land. Okay? This is not the chapter in which in Revelation chapter 7 where the twelve tribes are sealed to protect the 12,000 of each tribe in which Dan is noticeable in its omission. And as we study that and we ponder Revelation chapter 7 and wonder how, and that's the first thing you wonder, gee, you've got twelve tribes there but Dan ain't there. Well, that's because you have Joseph and Ephraim and it mentions Manasseh and Ephraim in effect. And you wonder why. And you go back to study as a diligent student the tribe of Dan and you discover Dan was not only the means by which idolatry entered the land later when they entered the land after Joshua and all that. You also discover as you search the scripture carefully that the tribe of Dan gets the back of the hand from the Holy Spirit from day one. Even back here in Genesis 46 you can sense, if you're watching for it, Dan is singled out to be sort of a second rate, get second rate treatment. Every other one of the twelve has his sons enumerated in the genealogy. Dan doesn't. Dan and those guys and it moves on as if, you know, what significance is that? We're going to get on to some other things. Even here you can detect just a hint, just an impression, something's up with the tribe of Dan. In chapter 49, Jacob is going to prophesy over each of the twelve tribes of what occurs in the last day. And from that prophecy comes the tradition that the Antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan. That's a rabbinical tradition, incidentally. You can chew on that one a while. We'll come to that. I'm getting ahead of myself, but I want you to notice verse 23. It's an interesting verse. Verse 24. And the sons of Naphtali, there's Jezreel, and a bunch of other guys, and the sons of Bilhah. These are the sons of Bilhah which Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and bore these to Jacob. And all the souls were seven. And the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, who came out of his loins besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were threescore and six. And the sons of Joseph, who were born into him in Egypt, were two souls. And all the sons of the house of Jacob who came unto Egypt were threescore and ten. I've got 66 plus the four. Okay. Joseph and his two, and Jacob, who's, you know, make the threescore and ten. I should also point out to you there's another passage in Acts which speaks of 75 in terms of total entourage. The five additional probably being either the sons' sons, Jacob's sons' sons, or their wives. So there's a slightly different counting. Some people imagine a discrepancy, but that's not really required. That's in Acts chapter 7, 14 for those of you that want to chase that one down. And various authorities feel that they're either uncounted wives here or the sons of these sons. In other words, nothing says that Ephraim and Manasseh couldn't have had sons, etc. But in any case, there's two different enumerations. Okay, verse 28. And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph to direct his face unto Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen. 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. That's touching, isn't it? A little extra phrase there. Yes, he fell on his neck and wept. Terrific. Period. No. Another phrase. And he goes on to say he wept on his neck a good while. You can't help but in this ancient text get a glimpse of a feeling, a feeling of Joseph for his parent. This was, you know, what, 430 years before the... Or rather, it's a... No, it's a substantial portion of time before the father and mother commandment. Joseph is teaching something here. Verse 30. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, and because thou art yet alive. And Joseph said unto his brethren and unto his father's house, I will go up and show Pharaoh and say unto him, My brethren and my father's house who are in the land of Canaan are now come to me. And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle. And they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have. And shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you and shall say, What is your occupation? That ye shall say, Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we and also our fathers, that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. Interesting. It's interesting. Scholars are at a loss to explain where that all started, but it clearly is in their literature. The shepherds are always depicted in a derogatory manner. And that's an ancient Egyptian issue. And it's very, very interesting how life is like that. In Genesis, we are taught that man is to have dominion over the cattle. And yet, both in Egypt but also in other parts of the world, the cattle have dominion over man. And I was thinking about that. I couldn't resist that. Here in our modern technological culture, man is to have dominion over the animals. And yet, we're going to be short of energy and other things because of the dominion over certain animals over the needs of man, which I think is something else. That's a whole other issue we could argue about politically some other time. Verse chapter 47. Yeah, it's interesting. If we get into Exodus, we'll be studying all the different gods of Egypt, the frogs and the flies and the lice and so forth. And I'm reminded of some of the controversies, ecological controversies about the back bay and things. Anyway, onward. Chapter 47, verse 1. Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh and said, My father and my brethren, all their flocks and their herds and all that they have are come out of the land of Canaan. And behold, they are in the land of Goshen. He took some of his brethren, about even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers. And they said moreover unto Pharaoh, To sojourn in the land are we come, for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh spoke unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee. The land of Egypt is before thee. In the best of the land, make thy father and brethren to dwell. Notice. And we speak of the land of Goshen as a cliché today. But in the scheme of things, Pharaoh gave them the best. Gave them the best. I think that's interesting to see how God provides for His own. In the land of Goshen, let them dwell. And if thou knowest any able man among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. And Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Not the other way around. Interesting. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? Why is Jacob there? What's Jacob's mission? Make a guess. Be a witness. Isn't that interesting? To be a witness. You're set before Pharaoh. Be a witness. Remember Jacob. Notice what Jacob does. Twice he makes a very interesting point that we all ought to remember. He speaks of life as a pilgrimage. Verse 9, Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage... Strange way of speaking of life, isn't it? How permanent we like to feel things are. The homes we live in or the careers we're enjoying or whatever. We sort of strive for them and when they get to a point we sort of nestle inside them and without thinking about it, treat them as permanent. And that isn't scriptural. Not only in terms of the fact they are ephemeral, but also in terms of our attitude towards them. That we pass this way but once. The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my... have the days of the years of my life been and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers and the days of their pilgrimage. Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from before Pharaoh. Notice that. He said far more than just his age. He made a couple of other points. Twice, in fact. Because twice, twice is a thing established, right? Two is the number of witnesses. For the miles of two or three witnesses things shall be established. Verse 10, And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from before Pharaoh 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 Ramesses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished his father and his brethren on all his father's household with bread, according to their families. And there was no bread at all in the land, for the famine was very severe. So that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, not given, bought. Remember what Romans 12 teaches us? To be diligent in business. Joseph was a very professional executive. He altered the entire social structure of the culture of Egypt. Established, totally abolished the aristocracy on behalf of Pharaoh. By not only providing what you read, but also, both from what is said and what's been researched, is that what he ended up doing, he used the power, the availability of that grain, and selling it, the good grain that he put aside. He sold it in the bad years to establish Pharaoh's power in Egypt. He set up the whole economic structure. And you can find books, you're going to see here, you find books written about how wrong that was. I mean, gee, they were paying a 20% tax. Wouldn't we love to pay a 20% tax? Do you realize the serfs in the ancient feudal systems would work as many as maybe between two and three months of the year for their masters? The rest was theirs. By that kind of reckoning, we figure somewhere between May and June we can start earning for ourselves. Interesting. I didn't mean to get into those side things, I should probably apologize to you. Anyway. Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Canaan, in Egypt, I mean, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. Bear in mind, we think of Pharaoh, gee, he's king, he runs everything. These things are often a consensus, a coalition, what have you. The increase in power that this gives Pharaoh is very, very significant in understanding the whole scene. Verse 15. And when money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph and said, Give us bread, for why should we die in thy presence? For the money failed. And Joseph said, Give me your cattle, and I will give you for cattle if the money fail. He's perfectly willing to barter, value for value. And they brought their cattle unto Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses and for the flocks and for the cattle of the herds and for the asses, and he left, and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. And when the year was ended, they came to him a second year and said to him, We will not hide it from my Lord how our money is spent. My Lord also hath our herds and our cattle. There is not anything left in the sight of my Lord but our bodies and souls. Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh and give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate. Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field because the famine prevailed over them. So the land became Pharaoh's, and he established in effect, establishes them all as crown tenants that endures for, I think, thousands of years. Went on for quite a while. And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. But there's one thing he doesn't touch. He uses this economic power to establish the feudal system for Pharaoh. But verse 22 makes an interest, gives you an interesting hint. Only the land of the priests bought he not. And I personally believe that this was of the Lord. He wasn't doing this by some kind of executive insight. There is an invisible war going on that God declared in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15. God took the initiative. God declared the war. That's what Genesis 3, verse 15 is all about. Declaration of war. And that invisible war continues from then on. We talked about that when we talked about the attack of the serpent on the women and her offspring to bring the man child. We talked about that in Revelation chapter 12. We talked about that when we developed that thought earlier. Keep that in mind. Cover to cover. Even at Christ's second coming it isn't over. Satan is not put into the fire furnace. He is bound by a chain for a season. How long? A thousand years. And then he's loose for a while. Very provocative. The first and second beasts of Revelation 13, they get it first. A thousand years later they're still there waiting for their buddy. And that war goes on. The invisible war. And the whole scenario of the book of Exodus is not simply the nation Israel being redeemed out of slavery. Far more complex than that as you look at the ten plagues. It's a prelude. It's a prelude to another series of judgments. Of seals being broken and trumpets being blown and bowls being poured out. On what? On the throne of the prince that Pharaoh was a poor type of. And God is staging it already here. Already right here. This is the priesthood that was able to turn rods into serpents. We dismiss that so casually as little parlor tricks. As if somehow the Pharaoh and his characters were easily duped by parlor tricks. And as you get into the book of Exodus and you discover yes Moses had his staff turned into a serpent. You discover their magicians did likewise. That's awesome if you realize what that means. And of course Moses' serpent ate the others so that shook him up. If it was a parlor trick it wouldn't have shook him up. And you also discover that the plagues up until a certain point the plagues that he that God called upon the Egyptians they simulated up until a particular point. And what God was attacking in those plagues wasn't the lice the flock. Those were the sequence of the gods they worshipped. And he got them where they lived. And in fact it was the priests that pleaded with Pharaoh to let them go because God they recognized the supernatural power that he commanded through that. So as you read the book of Exodus develop the spiritual insight as to what real war is going on there. Anyway. Only the land of the priests bought he not for the priests had a portion assigned them by Pharaoh and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them wherefore they sold not their lands. And Joseph said unto the people behold I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh lo here is seed for you and you shall sow the land. It shall come to pass in the harvest that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh and four parts shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for them of your households and for food for your little ones. Twenty percent. Twenty percent. Not graduated I notice. But more importantly it's a well anyway. On with that. Verse 25 And he said Thou hast saved our lives let us find grace in the sight of my Lord and we will be Pharaoh's servants. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day that Pharaoh should have a fifth part except the land of the priests only which became not Pharaoh's. The priests are off the hook. They are tax exempt. Interesting. Very, very interesting. Verse 27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt in the country of Goshen and they had possessions therein and grew and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years so the whole age of Jacob was a hundred and forty-seven years the time drew near that Israel must die. How interesting it was. It wasn't sudden. He knew it was coming. And he is in command of his death. And what you should be sensitive to if you turn to I won't bother now but you can turn to Hebrews chapter 11 well maybe we should Hebrews chapter 11 verse 21 Hebrews 11 verse 21 Hebrews 11 of course is this chronicle of the great of the faithful sometimes called the hall of faith and we have referred to it many times in our studies Abraham, Isaac, Jacob so forth. We get to verse 21 By faith Jacob when he was dying notice the point the mention of Jacob isn't all the struggles and all the failures and all the the effort God put into breaking him down even to wrestling him to the ground but his act of faith was when he was dying he blessed both the sons of Joseph we're going to come to that episode in a minute where he blesses Ephraim and Manasseh the sons of Joseph and there's a peculiar thing that happens there and we'll talk about that and he did two things he blessed the sons of Joseph and he worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff he worshipped he worshipped when did he worship? you'll see during his dying hours he's going to do some interesting things here he's going to bless Joseph's two sons and he's also going to prophesy over the 12 tribes while leaning on his staff probably still in his deathbed but leaning on his staff as an act of strength be sensitive to the fact that here the Holy Spirit points us to this period of his death as an act of faith and watch this guy who is dim his eyes are dim he can't see he's on his deathbed he's dying he knows he is he takes charge and he has one of his sons is the ruler of the world when he shows up I'm sure he shows up in all the regalia that would accompany Pharaoh and there's a caravan outside and he's a big gun Jacob or Israel takes charge and they start and he says no way I'm in charge watch what happens verse 29 chapter 47 and the time drew near that Israel must die and he called his son Joseph and said unto him if now I have found grace in thy sight put I pray thee thy hand under my thigh remember that was this peculiar gesture of commitment remember we had this before in terms of when they swore an oath and deal kindly and truly with me bury me not I pray thee in Egypt in other words he wants a promise not to be buried in Egypt what does Egypt represent don't leave me here verse 30 but I will lie with my fathers and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place and he said I will do as thou hast said and he said swear unto me and he swore unto him and Israel bowed himself upon his bed's head he's in bed he may be leaning on his staff in a little bit but he's apparently in bed very very interesting interesting issue here several as a matter of fact bury me not in the world I will lie with my fathers I shall carry me out of Egypt bury me in their burying place you can make a whole study of this if you like what happens what happens what do we always say at a funeral what happens when you die you go back to what dust whose food is the dust that's strange isn't it I wonder I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that Satan disputed with Michael over the body of Moses isn't that weird Jude drops that on us you know in verse 9 just a little gesture Jude's full of those things he sort of assumes we have a background that we have difficulty tracking but he was making another point but he makes reference as if the reader is familiar with this account how that even Michael when he disputed with Satan over the body of Moses did not bring railing accusation but said the Lord rebuked him now the first point that bothers us is we don't know what Jude's talking about when when did Michael deal with Satan over the body of Moses and who cares about the body of Moses right and so we have a problem there because it's a piece of background we don't have there's another issue that you might bear the point that Jude's making is that in his theme is that you don't bring you don't speak evil of dignitaries you should have respect for rank that's what he's saying and of all the bizarre examples to use he uses Satan as an example he says even Michael the archangel when disputing with him over the body of Moses didn't bring railing accusation but appealed to the Lord to resolve it and boy does that give me creeps how often especially in charismatic circles do we get awfully casual about speaking of Satan I don't want to go over that too far the other way either but I suggest we tiptoe on that one but anyway getting back to this body those of you that it's very very interesting how Jacob is if on the other hand there's nothing to it if it doesn't matter dust to dust and so forth why would Jacob care where he's buried maybe there's just a tone here of what Job talks about in chapter 19 I know that my the redeemer lives and that he shall stand upon the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God and mine eyes shall behold and not another even though my reins be consumed within me interesting now I don't want to make it a whole side thing about the body but it's interesting how it's important enough to Jacob that he extracts a promise from the prime minister of Egypt his son Joseph to make sure he gets buried in Canaan and that's exactly what happens now in chapter 48 we have a very peculiar little event that occurs that's important as we go forward in the rest of the scripture and that's where Joseph brings his two sons to be blessed by the old man it came to pass after these things that one told Joseph behold thy father is sick and he took with him his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim Manasseh and Ephraim which is the oldest Manasseh Ephraim is the younger there's two and one told Jacob and he said behold thy son Joseph cometh unto thee and Israel strengthened himself and sat upon his bed Jacob said unto Joseph God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz sometimes called Bethel in the land of Canaan and blessed me he's facing he's facing Jacob and he places the two sons so the first one the oldest Manasseh is going to be positioned to receive the right hand of Jacob and Ephraim will obviously get the left hand he's but you notice not only is that significant or wouldn't be mentioned the right hand is the firstborn in the more favored position but Joseph in anticipation of that positions the sons recognizing that the old man can't see and also recognizing the need to have things in the right order places them there so that Manasseh will get the right hand and Ephraim the left you get the picture subtle little thing but recognize they're face to face so there's a reversal verse 14 Israel he's doing is crossing his hands you see what he's doing so his right hand is going the opposite way he's reversing his hands and he blessed Joseph he blessed Joseph and said God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God who fed me all my life long into this day the messenger of the angel who redeemed me from all evil bless the lads and let my name be named on them and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth and when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim it displeased him this shook Joseph up because he realized oh there's a mistake see it's backwards and he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head in other words Joseph assuming the old man was wrong started to correct it Joseph said it's done by revelation so it's not just a little gesture how important it is it's up to you to study and decide but recognize it's dignified by an additional reference in the short very terse summary kind of little one liners in the book of Hebrews of all the things here this is picked out to be key worthy of mention and an act of worship his father refused and said I know it my son I know it he also shall become a people and he shall also be great but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he and his seed shall become a multitude of nations oh he's speaking by what the Holy Spirit how does he know this how does Joseph know this how does Jacob know this by the Holy Spirit charismatic gift do you have a gift of crossing hands that's what Jacob did no seriously he sees a vision here he knows that he gives Joseph a glimpse of a destiny of those two sons Manasseh and Ephraim that comes by the power of the Holy Spirit in fact we will have the name of Ephraim become a synonym for the nation there are passages in Isaiah and elsewhere where the name of Ephraim is used as a rhetorical device to speak of the whole nation you know in Ephraim there was suffering or whatever meaning the nation Israel on one occasion on other occasions meaning the northern kingdom later after the civil war the southern kingdom is Judah the northern kingdom the house of Judah the house of Israel the house of Israel is sometimes called Ephraim the area of the north part of it they were called the house of Manasseh generically meaning the whole nation Ephraim it is used that way we'll talk more about this when we get to chapter 49 verse 20 and he blessed them that day saying in thee shall Israel bless saying God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh and he said Ephraim before Manasseh it's interesting how God in his sovereignty always well first of all he sets up a natural order for us to respond to all the way through the scripture we see there is a natural order there is the rights of the firstborn and they are to be honored there is the concept of the parents over the children and it is to be honored in fact one of the measures of confusion in Israel in the time of the judges as an example of how confusing it was is that the children were running things and the children ruled that was an idiom meaning it was confusion so God on the one hand sets up a natural order on the other hand it is also interesting how he asserts his sovereignty to violate when he chooses ok he said all the way through with Esau with Ishmael all the way through in fact Jacob of all people got a lesson in the rights of the firstborn having to in a sense had all this chicanery with Esau on the rights of the firstborn it was Laban who teaches him a lesson on the rights of the firstborn with his two daughters that Leah comes before Rachel and so forth it is interesting that here Ephraim is set before Manasseh again the sovereignty of God verse 21 Israel said unto Joseph behold I die but God shall be with you and bring you again into the land of your fathers moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren which I took out of the land of the out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow now in chapter 49 which I'm going to propose that tonight we skip because it deserves a whole period to go through but so that you get a continuity of the tale chapter 49 Jacob called unto his sons and said gather yourselves together that I may tell you which shall befall you in the last days that's a phrase that always catches the attention of prophecy buffs like ourselves and he gathers them all together and he goes through tribe by tribe by tribe by tribe and says some of the most peculiar things the strangest things that I think are almost the strangest prophecies you'll find in scripture are here cryptic peculiar odd little in some cases almost just a little one liner that's almost like a riddle and we'll try to unravel that it takes some time we'll try to develop that a little bit next time it'll be a better study to talk a little bit about the twelve tribes so let's sort of pause and just recognize that he mentions some things and it may well have been that they didn't understand a word he was saying I mean they made no sense they were just little riddles and stuff or they may have understood perfectly I wouldn't probably fully judge that but recognize that they're very enigmatic little things he says let's skip down to chapter 49 to verse 28 all these are the twelve tribes of Israel and this it is that their father spake unto them and blessed them everyone according to his blessing he blessed them he charged them and said unto them I am to be gathered unto my people bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for possession of a burying place and they buried Abraham and Sarah there they buried Abraham and Sarah's wife there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife and there I buried Leah the purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth and when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons he gathered up his feet into the bed and died and was gathered unto his people and was gathered unto his people isn't that interesting I think that's fascinating it's very interesting how the Lord in Luke 16 speaking of the grave or speaks of it as Abraham's bosom interesting isn't it so let's finish off chapter 50 and that will tie off the narrative portion of Genesis and we can zero in on this particular prophetic part of Genesis 49 next time chapter 50 verse 1 and Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept upon him and kissed him and Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father and the physicians to embalmed Israel the 40 days were fulfilled for him so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed and incidentally I believe it was a total of 70 days yeah very good 40 days were fulfilled for him and the Egyptians mourned for him three score and 10 days the maximum length they mourned was 72 so it's interesting here scholars now know a lot about this relatively recent discoveries but 72 days were 70 days mourning is a evidence of two things of a contemporary writing writer at the time but secondly of extremely high rank that they were regarding Jacob by that account in terms of the Egyptian scheme of things verse 4 and when the days of his mourning were passed Joseph spoke into the house of Pharaoh saying if now I have found grace in your eyes speak I pray you in the ears of Pharaoh saying my father made me swear saying lo I die in my heart and my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan there shall thou bury me now therefore let me go up and I pray thee and bury my father and I will come again and Pharaoh said go up and bury thy father according as he has made thee swear and Joseph went up to bury his father and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh the elders of his house and all the elders of the land of Egypt man that was a group that was not just a little casual you know group that was a think about what that would include and all the house of Joseph and his brethren and his father's house only their little ones and their flocks and their herds they left the land of the ocean and there went up with him both chariots and horsemen and it was a very great company and they came to the threshing floor of Etad which is beyond Jordan and there they mourned with a great and very strong lamentation and he made a mourning for his father seven days and when the inhabitants of the land the Canaanites saw the mourning in the threshing floor of Etad they said this is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians where for the name of it is called Abel Mithraim which is beyond the Jordan the word Mithraim is the name for Egypt okay when you look in Genesis chapter 10 the table of nations Mithraim is the son of you know grandson great grandson of Noah and that from which it's a synonym biblically for Egypt which is beyond the Jordan and his sons did unto him according as he commanded them for his sons and his sons carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah which Abraham brought with the field excuse me brought with the field for possession of the burying place of Ephron the Hittite before Mamre and Joseph returned unto Egypt he and his brethren and all that went up with him to bury his father after he had buried his father and when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead they said Joseph will perhaps hate us see they're nervous now the old man's gone they sort of figure gee maybe the deference that he had shown this band of cutthroats and murderers and what have you his brothers this peculiar band of characters that this was all in deference to the old man now the old man's gone we're probably in trouble this guy's a heavy and he may his mood may change he may have a change of heart so they worry about it they said perhaps Joseph will hate us and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto them unto him would he have been justified? would he have been you'd have no trouble at all you'd have no trouble at all if Joseph was pretty tough on these guys but he wasn't they sent a messenger unto Joseph saying thy father did command before he died saying now they're just sending him a message did the father make this commandment? or did they just cook this up? they hatched this one right? my father did command before he died saying so shall we so shall ye say unto Joseph forgive us forgive I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin for they did unto thee evil and now we pray thee forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father and Joseph wept when they spoke unto him why did he weep? I don't know but I suspect it was a sad performance and his brethren also went and fell down before his face and they said behold we are thy servants Joseph said unto them fear not for am I in the place of God? notice verse 20 and you might mark it because the key to Joseph's whole perspective on everything that went on but as for you you thought evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save many people alive that tells you where Joseph's coming from yeah you guys had mischief in your hearts you're sort of saying what's that to me? God intended it for good who's a servant of God here? Joseph and I also suspect this is just Chuck Missler's prejudice that Jacob knew that Israel was walking by faith especially in these final years magnificently enough so for the book of Hebrews to recount it to us you think he had a harmony with Joseph? of course did he give this edict to make sure that Joseph wouldn't harm these treacherous murderers and incestuous liars and what have you? I doubt it that's just their scheme to try and gain some protection and it's a sad state of affairs verse 21 now therefore fear ye not I will nourish you and your little ones and he comforted them and spoke kindly unto them and Joseph dwelt in Egypt he and his father's house and Joseph lived 110 years and Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation the children also of Mekhiar the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees and Joseph said unto his brethren I die and God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land unto the land which he swore to give to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel saying God will surely visit you and ye shall carry up my bones from here so Joseph died being 110 years old and they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt now it's very interesting there's several things here turn again to Hebrews chapter 11 to pick up the next another little verse in that interesting chapter Hebrews chapter 11 verse 22 we looked at 21 last time by faith 21 was by faith Jacob when he was dying blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshipped leaning upon a staff exactly how he worshipped we'll cover more next time because we'll cover the prophecies he gave when he was doing that but verse 22 is interesting here is the chronicler of the book of Hebrews taking this particular chapter the burden of trying to summarize the great faithful men of old starting with Abel Enoch Noah Abraham and Sarah Isaac Jacob and now Joseph of all the things that the writer the book of Hebrews picks out of the life of Joseph it wasn't that he was faithful in the prison it wasn't that he refrained from sin with Potiphar's wife it wasn't any of probably 20 or 30 things we could probably try to list verse 22 by faith Joseph when he died made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones you may think for heaven sakes why pick that peculiar thing a little last will and testament hey guys when I'm buried I'd like my bones buried up yonder up in Canaan it took him quite a while to get those bones there but they do why is that so important because the promises of Israel are all wedded to the land all the promises of Israel are wedded to the land all of them to Israel to Israel I'm not talking about the promises to the church or a lot of other things I'm talking promises to Israel they're all tied into their ownership of the land and the prophets Ezekiel and Zechariah and others mention the ridiculous idea that the entire world all of the nations will go to war over Jerusalem's claim to be the capital and Israel's possession of the land how ridiculous how absurd that that text which has been there some two or three thousand years seems so timely to us today because all the world is worried about precipitating a worldwide thermonuclear holocaust because of this peculiar little band of people claiming the land as theirs how interesting that is and how interesting it is of all the things mentioned by Joseph, prime minister of Egypt that the one thing that's mentioned in his hall of faith is his commandment to be buried in the land why is that so important you as students we all as students of the word need to satisfy ourselves to that as understand the peculiar relationship between Israel and the land it's a very unique thing the land could not be sold what they call a sale is a lease reverted back to the tribe the title deed to the land was tied up to the genealogies our title deeds are tied up to the genealogies too the three of them that are in the four gospels one other thing that's kind of interesting observation it's a classical observation of the book of genesis but it's probably appropriate to make what a fascinating story it is read the first seven words again that we started with way way back what was it two years ago or whatever when we started this book the book of genesis starts from the beginning at a high plane in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth in the beginning Elohim in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth how does the book end incidentally what does God do he puts Adam in a garden and says if you eat of this particular tree you shall surely die how fascinating it is that the book of genesis closes with the words in a coffin in Egypt it starts with the creator of the universe creating the heaven and the earth and it closes in a coffin where in the world interesting that is the path from genesis one one to genesis fifty verse twenty six what I would like you to do for next time what I would like you to do for next time is this time I think you will get a lot more out of it do a little homework next time we will take this part that I sort of lifted out of context this genesis chapter forty nine and we will attempt to jump into it but what I would like you to do during the week is take genesis chapter forty nine and study it take each tribe and try to figure out what you think Jacob is talking about and since we have a little time I thought I might pick one that might be fun it's a very famous one so I will always like to take the easy ones first some of these are really tough the ones that are really tough I will assign you next time to do on your own and there are some of those I don't pretend to have a grasp of all of these but there themes and threads and follow on studies that will lead to those particular things you would call to our attention father we would just ask as we go forth that you would put in our hearts and in our minds those particular lessons from Abraham from Isaac from Jacob and from Joseph that you would have us partake of to the glory of Jesus Christ in whose name we pray amen