Genesis 42:1 ¶
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 a boss at a job 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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