46:1-4
Israel and Jacob seem to be used interchangeably, with no apparent pattern (at least to me). Abraham and Isaac had both lived in Beersheba for a time. Jacob offered sacrifices to the Lord there. God also appeared to Jacob in a dream, assuring him that He was with him. God knew that Jacob was wary of going to Egypt. Isaac had been told not to go to Egypt, now Jacob was told by God to go there, and that He would make them into a great nation there. Jesus was also taken off to Egypt (Matt 2:13). There is a need for us to recognise which commands are forever, and which are only for a time. But the time in Egypt was only temporary, there would come a time when God would lead them out of Egypt.
46:5-27
Jacob left Beersheba with all his possessions to head to Egypt, and all his family. He was now fully committed to going to Egypt. This is then followed by a long list of all the children. If you have been reading my stuff for a while you will know that I am not great on these genealogies! That hasn’t changed. However, there is a lady in our church who is fascinated by these lists, and at a recent Bible Study showed how Zerubbabel was descended from Hezekiah and other kings of Judah (1 Chron 3:10-19), something that had never struck me before. So as I have said before, my lack of appreciation of these lists is a failing on my part, definitely not on Gods! He put them there for a reason.
46:28-34
Eventually Jacob and everyone else arrives in Goshen, Egypt. Jacob meets Joseph and is now happy to die. This reminds me of Simeon, who once he had seen Jesus was happy to die in peace (Lk 2:29).
A by-product of Joseph’s time in Egypt is that he had come to understand the ways of the Egyptians, so he was able to prepare things for his family. One of these was to get them to say they were shepherds. For some reason, which is unknown to us, the Egyptians detested shepherds!
No comments:
Post a Comment