1
¶ Now when Jacob saw that there was corn
in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another? 2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that there
is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may
live, and not die. 3 And Joseph’s ten
brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. 4
But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he
said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him. 5
And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the
famine was in the land of Canaan. 6 And
Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the
people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves
before him with their faces to the earth.
Here is an interesting idiomatic expression. “What are
you looking at each other for? Get down to Egypt and get some grain!” I
remember someone down in Georgia saying to me when they wanted me to do
something right away, “Don’t look at me like a cow looks at a new gate! Get
moving.” Or, if you’re more uppity and want to quote Shakespeare you might
respond to a blank stare with, “There is a tide,” from Julius Caesar, to stop someone from spinning their wheels, to take
action.
Jacob wants his sons to take action so they don’t just
sit there and starve to death. All of them except for Jacob’s favorite, his
baby boy Benjamin, go down to Egypt to buy grain. Just in case something bad
happens Benjamin will be safe. This doesn’t say much for Jacob’s concern for
the rest, does it.
Bowing oneself to the earth is one of the postures of
reverence and worship.
Sometimes people bow their head to worship God.
Genesis
24:26 And the man bowed down his head,
and worshipped the LORD.
Sometimes to the earth.
Genesis
24:52 And it came to pass, that, when
Abraham’s servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to
the earth.
Even falling down and grabbing the feet of the person
worshipped.
Matthew
28:9 And as they went to tell his
disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him
by the feet, and worshipped him.
Sometimes they kneeled.
Psalm
95:6 O come, let us worship and bow
down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
So, it is that there are different postures of
acknowledging someone as superior. We Americans are taught to bow to no one as
superior so we have a hard time acknowledging God’s power over our lives in a
real, tangible way. Americans lack the awe for anything other than something
like a fireworks display or a huge bomb going off. Our shallowness of culture
does get in the way of our understanding of who God is and of His power over
our lives. The weakness of other cultures was that for centuries they
acknowledged a king, tsar, or emperor as being God’s agent on earth and were in
fear and awe of him but still not seeing, because of the propaganda their
government controlled them with, that it was God who controlled every heartbeat
and breath and God, not their king, who could save or destroy in an instant.
Only God is worthy of our awe and reverence, our worship.
Psalm
33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD:
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
Hebrews
12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom
which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably
with reverence and godly fear:
The brothers come to this Egyptian official, mightiest
in the land under the Pharaoh himself, to plead for food to buy. They are
showing their inferior position and his power over their lives. This is a
beautiful image of how we should come to Christ. Let Him lift us up.
James
4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of
the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
1Peter
5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth
for you.
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