Genesis 47:27-31 comments: cultural practices in the Bible

27 ¶  And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly. 28  And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years. 29  And the time drew nigh 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, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: 30  But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. 31  And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.

We find another reference to the cultural practice of putting a hand under someone’s thigh to declare an oath. Abraham made his servant swear an oath that he would get Isaac a voluntary bride from his own people.

Ge 24:2  And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh…9  And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

Now, I daresay that none of you who are of a sound mind regard this as a requirement for you to be holy that you place your hand under someone’s thigh to make a promise. If it is not in your cultural frame of reference you pass over this like you would a verse number or a word you don’t know and are too lazy to cross-reference or look up elsewhere. So, for cultural practices that we know have an historical reason, we are not required, as a matter of holiness, to practice. For instance, in 1Corinthians 11 Paul tells them to follow the instructions he has given them and adds a but to include a practice of their own. He agrees with them that their women should have long hair while at the end of the brief argument he admits that it is not required practice in churches elsewhere.

1Corinthians 11:1 ¶  Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. 2  Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. 3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. 4  Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. 5  But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. 6  For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. 7  For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. 8  For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. 9  Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. 10  For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. 11  Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. 12  For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. 13  Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? 14  Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? 15  But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. 16  But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. (Neither means roughly ‘not even’ in Paul’s letters.)

From history we know that at Acrocorinth, the acropolis of ancient Corinth, called Upper Corinth, stood the Temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of sexual love, among other related things. There were a thousand short-haired prostitutes working there that men would enjoy sexually being the devoutly religious people they were. That was sarcasm, by the way. It would not do, obviously, for a woman of Corinth’s church to be mistaken for a prostitute, a priestess of Aphrodite. So, you have a conviction that you should have long hair as I have a conviction that I should wear a suit when I teach Sunday School. Don’t impose it on others. Remember that the time you are honoring with your long hair, when you feel Christians were just and right, the late 1800s, they believed that not wearing it up, letting your hair hang down around your shoulders was sexually suggestive and scandalous just as my business suit bought off the rack at a department store would have had a whole different meaning in the early church. They were laborers and slaves and would have worn their shabby work clothes to a meeting of the church and then gone off to work. We must be careful about cultural practices becoming dogma.

In the same regard the letters of Paul call for the members of the church to give each other a holy kiss. That is not something we do in our culture in America typically. Nor do we feel less close to God because we don’t. It is not our cultural practice and Paul commanding it of the Roman church, the Corinthian church, and the Thessalonian church and we not doing it doesn’t bother us one bit.

Be careful about standards that other people set for you or as a Christian recently lamented on Facebook, “Don’t judge me for not believing something the Bible did not say.” Cultural practices in the Bible are not moral requirements, funnymentalist insistence aside.

Genesis 47:13-26 comments: Joseph purchases the people and their land for the Pharaoh

13 ¶  And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 14  And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 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 faileth. 16  And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. 17  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 fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. 18  When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: 19  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 be not desolate. 20  And 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. 21  And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. 22  Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands. 23  Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. 24  And it shall come to pass in the increase, 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. 25  And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants. 26  And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.

Egypt and Canaan were both severely stricken by this famine. The people of Egypt, and foreigners we have seen, put a lot of money in the government of Egypt’s coffers to buy the grain they needed so badly to survive. Finally, the money ran out so Joseph took property in the form of cattle and horses and asses for a year after that. Then, when the government owned the livestock he took the land removed the former residents to cities around Egypt. Only the powerful priests were exempt from this acquisition. The people still farmed the land and Joseph gave them seed to plant but it belonged to the government now. As tenants they had to pay 20% of their crop output as a tax to the Egyptian government. The people were happy with this for they and their families could survive even though this goes beyond the famine they are enduring now and carries with it great consequences for their future.

The issue of government and government’s place in the scheme of things comes into play here. We are forced to consider it. This passage states a rather negative truth about taxation. The ability to demand a portion of the people’s living is like ownership. Taxation can be considered in one respect a type of slavery. You are forced to spend part of your working life working for the government. Joseph says in verse 23 that he has bought them for Pharaoh.

Under the New Testament after Christ’s resurrection the Christian is told to yield to the heathen governments of the time, none of them based on any Christian principle, in their function of punishing evil and protecting the innocent.

Romans 13:3  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5  Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6  For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

Jesus Himself said we are to pay taxes to keep from offering offense and performed it supernaturally.

Matthew 17:27  Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

Once a people starts using government issued currency rather than, as in much of the Old Testament, simply a valuable metal by weight as a medium of exchange, you become ensnared in the scheme of government to own its population and control its economic activity.

Matthew 22:15 ¶  Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. 16  And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. 17  Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? 18  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 19  Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. 20  And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 21  They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. 22  When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

It is a truth that humans will generally prefer security to liberty, however. The Hebrews will eventually want a king and, therefore, a government like the heathen around them. God will tell Samuel, who objects to their cry;

1Samuel 8:4 ¶  Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5  And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6  But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. 7  And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

Then, gave them this prophetic warning of the evils and expectations of human government.

8  According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. 9  Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. 10  And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. 11  And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. 12  And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13  And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14  And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. 15  And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. 16  And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. 17  He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. 18  And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. 19  Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20  That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. 21  And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. 22  And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

The Bible gives us a detailed treatise on human government if we regard the entire book and not just Romans 13 as an excuse for tyranny. Pray for your leaders. They are typically not good men. There is a famous quote in recent history that pertains to the men who have led people in government and war by the Englishman John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, known as Lord Acton.

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.”

The Holy Spirit reports through the Bible writers that God has placed over humans as rulers the worst sort of men…

Daniel 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

…and the governments of the world are under Satan’s authority.

Luke 4:5  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

The lacking of men to rule generally in the right way is based on one major lacking even if they call themselves Christians.

2Samuel 23:3  The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

Now, it must be said that even though a chief executive other than God Himself was not His direct will for Israel it fell under His permissive will, His permission, and He did bless kings and Israel when they were obedient or repentant, seeking forgiveness, for their lack of obedience. Do not make the mistake, though, that brought Western Civilization to World War One where most of the warring countries thought they were God’s chosen people and God’s chosen government each fighting evil personified in their opponents. Do not make the mistake of believing that what God allows mankind to do is what His good, and acceptable, and perfect will is rather than the lusts of our own hearts. In the end all the machinations of mankind cannot thwart God’s eventual plan for humanity nor do they help mankind escape the judgment that is being brought down.

Your government, whether it be the United States, China, Russia, England, or even Namibia, is the enemy of your liberty in the Lord because you have rejected His leadership. This fact is part of His judgment.

Genesis 47:1-12 comments: our pilgrimage on this earth

1 ¶  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 19^th 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.

Genesis 46:28-34 comments: Joseph's reunion with Jacob

    28 ¶  And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. 29  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. 30  And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive. 31  And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me; 32  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. 33  And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation? 34  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.

Chapter 45, verse 10 told us that Goshen was close to where Joseph ruled from. It is commonly understood that the New Kingdom period of ancient Egypt, the period of the Egyptian Empire was from around the 16^th century BC to the 11^th century BC. This marked the peak of Egypt’s power. It includes the time that Egypt had hegemony over the land of Canaan which is important to understanding Numbers 14:9 and various extra-Biblical documents from Canaan pleading for help from the Egyptians. It was preceded by the Hyksos invasion and rule. I believe that Joseph’s Pharaoh was from this time, that he was a Hyksos, and that is why he was favorable to Joseph and his family. This is called Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period. Of course, much of this is educated guesswork as the Egyptians did not refer to any of their eras the way we refer to them and no one ever called themselves, “the Hyksos.” These are all made-up terms by scholars.

In any event, Judah went first to meet Joseph and Jacob and the rest followed. Christ is the first to rise from the dead never to physically die again, to be resurrected. Judah is Christ’s physical ancestor. Here is more typology that is great subject material for sermons. Joseph prepared himself to greet his father in Goshen.

Joseph promised to introduce them to Pharaoh. Here is more evidence for my view that the Pharaoh of Joseph’s time was a Hyksos, of the so-called Shepherd-kings. To the leadership Joseph’s family of herders would be welcome but to the Egyptians they were an abomination. The land of Goshen separates their living from the rest of Egypt.

The word cattle includes all herd animals not just beef cows as we use the word today.

Genesis 13:7  And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.

Genesis 30:32  I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.

Genesis 46:5-27 comments: Jacob and family prepare to go down to Egypt

5 ¶  And 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 him. 6  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: 7  His sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. 8  And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. 9  And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. 10  And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman. 11  And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12  And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zerah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul. 13  And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron. 14  And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. 15  These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three. 16  And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli. 17  And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel. 18  These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls. 19  The sons of Rachel Jacob’s wife; Joseph, and Benjamin. 20  And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. 21  And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard. 22  These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen. 23  And the sons of Dan; Hushim. 24  And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem. 25  These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven. 26  All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six; 27  And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.

Verse 15 tells us for that either Dinah wasn’t Jacob’s only daughter or, as said earlier, the daughters could logically include daughters-in-law. Arguing about the count becomes nonsensical when we know everyone wasn’t included in the count of those that mattered to God’s ministry of reconciliation. There are obviously servants to consider, as well, which are not mentioned.

We also come to differences in the count given for different reasons at different times.

Exodus 1:5  And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

Deuteronomy 10:22  Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

Acts 7:14  Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

Some argue about these differences with fundamentalists trying to gloss over what they fear naggingly in the back of their minds is an error in the text. However, the problem is with the modern reader who is infected with a mental problem I call modernism. You read the Bible like you would read the owner’s manual for your car rather than as you would read a letter sent to you from afar, in this case a distant time, a personal account of something dear to the writer. The Holy Ghost, through the wisdom and understanding, the meaning of Biblical inspiration which is not word-for-word dictation, given to Moses refers to events from the perspective of their importance to the point He is trying to get across (see Job 32:8; 2Peter 3:15). In one reference He may include wives who are not included in another or He may be referring to an event from another angle and only include specific others. The modern fundamentalist who claims to believe the Bible literally, which they don’t really, in their attempts to explain by juggling numbers what the Bible says, is really expressing their own disbelief and lack of faith by trying to explain a contradiction that isn’t there.

I went over this kind of thinking when I was discussing years back in my comments on 15:12-16 regarding the length of years that the Hebrews were to be persecuted. The point is all of the number references are correct and any differences can be explained by the Holy Ghost counting people in one who are not counted in another. We will find this again in the numbers who will die in a plague later in another book. Verses 26 and 27 warn us that our calculations may not be based on God’s calculations which will keep the doubter or the skeptic spinning his or her wheels trying to find an equation that will make him or her feel better.

Genesis 46:1-4 comments: God speaks to Jacob

1 ¶  And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. 2  And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. 3  And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: 4  I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.

There, at Beersheba, the scene of encounters between these patriarchs and God in the past, Jacob, Israel, honored God as did Abraham and Isaac.

Genesis 21:33  And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.

Genesis 26:25  And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.

These were animal sacrifices. We have a different sacrifice in this dispensation. If you want to honor God, as a Christian, this is the prescription from Paul.

Romans 12:1 ¶  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

No amount of ritual or animal sacrifice today does the worship of God justice nor is it what He requires. Even under the Law God made it ever so clear what He really wants from man.

Micah 6:7  Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

God calms Jacob’s heart about going down into Egypt comforting him with the promise that God will be with him. He then promises to bring Jacob back from Egypt although there are two clear meanings there as we know today. One, Jacob will be returned for burial as God, in stating that Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes as a euphemism for death where someone covers the eyes of the dead person, tells him he will die there, and, two, his descendants will be brought back into the land that is promised.

Jacob’s response to God, Here am I, is used several times by people answering that they are ready to hear and obey God, most notably in 1Samuel 3 for the child, Samuel.

God reminds Jacob that it is promised that he will make of him a great nation. The word nation in the Bible is a reference to a people, not a modern nation-state, the likes of which did not really exist like we know it today beyond 500 years ago.

Genesis 45:16-24 comments; Joseph sends his brothers to bring back their families

16 ¶  And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. 17  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, [Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan; 18  And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. 19  Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20  Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. 21  And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 22  To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. 23  And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way. 24  So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.

Word of Joseph’s reunion with his brothers has now gotten around Pharaoh’s court. This Pharaoh, a type of God the Father, is pleased and so are his servants, probably his ministers, that this Saviour of the Egyptian people has been blessed with this reunion. Pharaoh opens up his arms to offer a place of abode for Joseph’s family. He orders Joseph to gather up his family in Canaan and bring them back to Egypt. Everything that the Egyptians have his family will have. It is a bold promise and one reason why I think this Pharaoh and his top officials ethnically represent the Hyksos dynasty rather than native Egyptian, being more sympathetic to foreigners from Canaan. So, now, a caravan heads back to Canaan to get Jacob and the rest.

Remember how when Rebekah watered Abraham’s servant’s ten camels and I talked about typology in 24:10-28. Let me review for a moment.

“For one example of prophetic interpretation, the phrase And God said is repeated ten times in the first chapter of Genesis. Perhaps, in symbolic, typology these ten camels, brought by a type of the Holy Ghost to a type of God’s church represent God’s word in Abraham, a type of God the Father, sending the Holy Ghost to gather His church for Christ, who in type is Isaac, already sacrificed in type and resurrected in type, based on how the church responds to the words of God. What is happening here is then telling us in shadow what has happened in the spiritual world since before creation.

Ephesians 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

The part played by the bride-to-be for Isaac, the church for Christ, is laid out by the servant of Abraham, or the Holy Ghost, as one who when approached by the Holy Ghost, responds. The Holy Ghost makes the truth of the gospel brought by the Holy Ghost on ten camels, in a manner of speaking, representing what God has said, apparent and the bride-to-be responds. The bride for Isaac waters the camels as the church glorifies the gospel of Christ by its response to that gospel, confirming that the church is indeed chosen, but chosen by her response. Below, Paul expresses his wish to present the church as pure to Christ as His bride.

2Corinthians 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

And this marriage will be complete at the end of human history.

Revelation 19:9  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”

Back to this passage of Scripture, Ten represents many things, particularly God’s order and what He said, His words. Here, a type of Christ, Joseph, is sending by order of a type of God the Father, Pharaoh, provisions in numbers of ten to take back to nourish God’s people with the intent purpose of drawing them, bringing them to Egypt, which is here a type of Heaven. Heaven clearly is the end habitation of God’s people but He does not leave them without spiritual nourishment in the meantime in the period before their return. Of course, there are many much better sermons that can be taken from this one passage as with all.

Numbers like three hundred and five have great significance in the rest of the Bible and there are many opinions as to what they signify. But numerology is always a risky business and almost always a matter of opinion. You see a number and then start looking for its application in all sorts of ways, some clear from the text and others a total stretch. Be careful how you represent God and remember that Job’s three friends were criticized, not for lying in every particular as many of the things they said were true, but for misrepresenting God’s reasons and intentions, which they had no way of knowing.

Corn and bread and meat also might have a significance as three types of nourishment; one natural and raw, one prepared by human hands, and one as the general reference for food in the Bible. Could these refer to corn as God’s word in its raw form from the pages of the Bible, bread as God’s word interpreted by a human with the help of the Holy Spirit, and meat as the deepest and true doctrine that God’s word provides for us. I am sure there are other possibilities as well regarding the spiritual nourishment God’s food provides.

Job 34:3  For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.