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¶ Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and
said, My father and my brethren, and 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. 2 And he took some
of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. 3 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. 4 They said
moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants
have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan:
now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.
5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying,
Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: 6 The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best
of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let
them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them
rulers over my cattle. 7 And Joseph
brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed
Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob,
How old art thou? 9 And Jacob said unto
Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty
years: few and evil 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 in the days of
their pilgrimage. 10 And Jacob blessed
Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. 11
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
Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12
And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s
household, with bread, according to their families.
Remember, every
shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians but this Pharaoh was very
welcoming and confirmed Joseph’s grant to his family to dwell in the land of
Goshen. Note in this passage how evil is
defined in the context of a long, wearisome and difficult life. Jacob laments
that not only have his days been full of trouble but that he has not lived as
long as his father and grandfather.
Here, we also see, by way of comparison between verses
6 and 11 with the land of Goshen and the land of Rameses being linked
synonymously. Scholars locate these areas, as well as the Hyksos capital of
Egypt, in the northeastern part of Egypt and the new capital of the Egyptian so-named
19th dynasty (by us, not them), what is called Lower Egypt in the area
of the eastern Nile delta. Again, whether this is correct or not we will never
know in this life most likely. But it is an educated guess based on what
evidence has been found. This will become more important in our study of Exodus
and the actual location of the crossing of the Red Sea. If scholars are correct
then the branch of the Red Sea that the Hebrews are near to would be what we
call today the Gulf of Suez.
Joseph supplied his family with the means they would
need to survive and the Pharaoh made whomever Joseph thought competent, made
them herdsmen over his own cattle.
In verse 9 I like the use of the word pilgrimage to describe our sojourn on
the earth in a physical body. Physical life since the fall of man is relatively
short and contains an inordinate amount of pain especially, for people who
don’t die suddenly, when we die. Although that is not always the case it
certainly is in many cases. Our life here is a pilgrimage and we must not
forget that. It is a journey with a beginning and an end, then, if the person
believes the testimony of Jesus Christ, there is a spiritual life with God that
goes on for eternity.
The Greek poet Homer used Aeon to refer to a life or a
lifespan. This is unlike Plato who used it to refer to the spiritual world behind
the one we see. In some cases, like in Matthew 12:32 aeon is used to refer to
the world as it is set up today, the world or period of time or age between the
fall of man and eternity. But, here, in this passage the Hebrew word mawgur is used for pilgrimage whereas
elsewhere it is used for a dwelling place or to sojourn or to be a
stranger.
We are strangers here, passing through. Our lifetimes
are an age, a period of time, and a journey. It is something to think about.
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