Genesis | Chapter 46

Genesis 46:1-34

 “A crises of faith”

  1. Intro
  2. Vs. 1-7 The promise of rest
  3. III Vs. 8-27 The promise of 70
  4. Vs. 28-34 Family reunion

Intro

On the 15th anniversary of the day in which we first started Calvary Chapel Merced I’m going to share from the 46th chapter of Genesis. Although from the 37th chapter to the end of the book the focus is mainly upon Joseph & the glorious fruit of the presence of God in his life the 46th chapter focuses upon his father Jacob. Joseph was a guy that always seemed to interpret life through the lens of what he knew was true about God. It is for this reason that, though I’m thoroughly instructed by God’s work in his life, I don’t relate much to it. In my quest to find encouragement wherever it may lay I have uncovered an interesting truth, while looking at the patriarchs of our faith.

  • The life & times of Abraham covers only 14 chapters (11-24)
  • The life & times of Isaac covers only 15 chapters (21-35)
  • The life & times of Joseph covers 20 chapters (30-50)
  • But by far & away the bible character that has the most chapters written about his life in Genesis is Jacob, 25 chapters (25-50), that’s right a whopping 25 chapters. You could make the argument that the reason there are so many chapters devoted to him is because it took so long for him to mature. Still I’m thinking that God did so for our benefit because if we are honest with ourselves we look for more like Jacob then we do Joseph.

Through out those 25 chapters we have seen the constant struggle of a man who wrestled with his spiritual life & quite frankly appears to have failed much more then he ever succeeded. The truth of the matter is that for the most part God chooses to use failures like Jacob, so that the world can see the greatness of God & not the talents & ingenuity of man.

The spiritual development in Jacob’s life can be followed by looking at his name, that’s right his name. You see his given name would be translated in today’s English as “con-man”. While the name given him by the Lord after he wrestled with him by the river Jabbok was Israel or in today’s English “ruled by God”. From the 32nd chapter where he is first given the name “ruled by God” to the 45th chapter he is called “con-man” 54 times & “ruled by God” only 18 times. But from the 46th chapter to the end of Genesis he is called “con-man” 27 times & “ruled by God” 23 times. In other words the end of his life was far better in terms of his spiritual growth then was his earlier years. Jacob became more like how God knew him nearing the end of his 130 years & the key to that was not trying to gain victory through his own strength.

Vs. 1-7 The promise of rest

Vs. 1-4 Notice that the name used here is the one given him by God & it is this name that is used as he steps out & takes this venture of faith. You can only take a step of faith if you are “ruled by God”.  Jacob is around 115 years old as he starts this journey to see his son. Three things would have made this venture of faith very difficult for Jacob:

  1. Practical history: We all know that the older we become the more we like the same surroundings because of familiarity. And Jacob is leaving all that is familiar for that which radically different then everything he knew.
  2. Personal history: Once Jacob left Beersheba he was no longer in the land promised to him, perhaps he knew of the word of the Lord given to his father during a time of famine not to go down Egypt but rather to stay in the land as God would be with him.
  3. Prophetic history: Even further back his grandfather Abraham had gone down to Egypt during a time of famine & had exhibited his greatest unbelief in his spiritual life. No doubt he knew of the prophecy given to Abraham that his descendants would become stranger in Egypt & afflicted for 400 years.

Notice as well that this journey that Jacob takes is “with all that he had”, this was no half hearted attempt it was rather a “Egypt or bust” leaving. So what did Jacob do to counter all this “history”? Well we are told that “when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.” Beersheba was a place of a clear personal revelation of God’s word. With all that “history” Jacob went to the one place where he knew he would get a clear word from the Lord & Beersheba was just that place:

  1. Forty years earlier as he was leaving the Promised Land God spoke to him in a dream as he rested his head upon the rock.
  2. His father Isaac had renewed his covenant with the Lord in this same place.
  3. Abraham had offered to the Lord on this spot right after offering Isaac.

And so here God gives Jacob a threefold revelation of his hand upon Jacob in the move to Egypt in spite of all the history he was facing. Before we see those three things notice how God addresses him, “Jacob, Jacob”. Why does God call him by his old name & not his new name? Because Jacob did not see himself as God saw him thus he would not of responded.

  1. Vs. 3 Practical blessing: Jacob is told that it will be in Egypt that God will make him a great nation. Egypt would be a mother’s womb to the nation of Israel. Wow, a place that had a history of personal, practical & prophetic failure associated with it would be the place where God would work a great blessing towards the nation. The numbers are startling it took 25 years for God to add a son to Abraham, 60 more years to add another son, over 50 years for Jacob to add another 12 sons. Why 215 years passed by to grow to 70! You talk about a slow growth. Yet in a little over 400 years these 70 will grow to over 600,000 men. It is always in the most unlikely of places that God will chose to bless us with growth.
  2. Vs. 4a Prophetic blessing: Jacob is assured of God’s presence with him in Egypt & further more the promise that He will bring the nation back to the land of promise. So not only will Jacob & the family receive an immediate blessing they also will be fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham. In other words going to Egypt was far from a bad thing it was actually fulfilling God word.
  3. Vs. 4b Personal blessing: Finally Jacob is assured of being comforted for the remainder of his life. Four times in 22 years Jacob thought he was going to die & the reason for this seems to be how he viewed God after his encounter in 28:10. In the 47th chapter verse 9 Jacob describes his life to Pharaoh by saying, “My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” In other words Jacob recognized that although he knew the Lord he did not always enjoy a walk with the Lord. In fact he revealed as much in chapter 42:36 when he said, “Everything is against me!”

Vs. 5-7 So Jacob left & went with the assurance of the Lord & they all went to the place where God would cause them to grow. I can only imagine that Jacob was realizing that as he left the land of promise he was seeing it for the last time. Yet he took everything & everyone with him assured of personal blessings, practice blessings & prophetic blessings. It is important that we hear from the Lord but it is equally important to follow through on what you have heard from the Lord.

III Vs. 8-27 The promise of 70

Vs. 8-15 Here we are given the 33 descendents of Jacob by way of Leah.

Vs. 16-18 Next we are given the 16 descendents of Jacob by way of Leah’s handmaiden Zilpah.

Vs. 19-22 Then we are given the 14 descendents of Jacob by way of his beloved Rachel.

Vs. 23-25 Finally we are given Jacob’s 7 descendents by way of Rachel’s hand maiden.

Within this list of names is the son’s of Judah in verse 12  & his son Perez by way of Tamar will be seen again in Luke 33:3 in the earthly line of Jesus. Personally I’m thankful that it is Perez that is in the earthly ancestry of Jesus as his birth through Judah sleeping with whom he thought was a prostitute reveals that God can & does redeem even my failures! Also the only girls name mentioned as coming with them is found in verse 15 “Dinah” although verse 7 we are told that daughters as well as sons accompanied him into Egypt. What is the purpose of all these names?

There are three reasons for this genealogy listed here:

  1. Moses, who was the general editor, no doubt wanted the nation to know to whom they came from some 400 years earlier. Administratively the 600,000 men would be divided upon the basis of their ancestry dating from when they entered Egypt. Think of what an encouragement this would have been to read this list of ancestors & find the person that you came from & then look at what God had done in 400 years. Since God had kept his word then He will keep His word now!
  2. Then of coarse you have the prophetic importance, as the Messiah would be traced to Hezron the son of Perez the son of Judah.
  3. Finally this list of names reminds us of another list of names & this one will be found in Rev. 20:15. There we are told that “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” The names in that list may not be the most popular of the day; they will not be made up of those who were in “People’s” top 100 most important people. They won’t be the wealthiest either but you want to make sure your name is on that list. Interestingly enough God desires that your name is on that list, in fact He is not willing that anyone would be left off that list. So how do you get your name on the list of the book of life? Well you repent from your sins & ask Jesus into your heart.

In Acts 7:14 Steven quoting from the Septuagint tells us that there were 75 people that left for Egypt, yet here we are told plainly that the number was 70. So is this a contradiction? Well no the number was arrived by counting the 5 grandsons of Joseph born while they were in Egypt. Even though they did not leave with Jacob he none the less wanted them included as being his grandchildren.

Vs. 28-34 Family reunion

Vs. 28-30 Judah is given the responsibility of going ahead to meet Joseph 7 the others would follow. Is God’s grace not transforming? Twenty two years earlier it was this Judah that suggest his brothers slavery to Egypt. God is a miracle working God & the greatest miracles are not done in the physical realm they are the miracles that He does within the human heart.

Jacob had not looked upon the eyes of Joseph for those same 22 years & had in fact believed that he was dead, wow what an embrace. Words were not needed & they just hugged each other for a good long time making u for 22 years of separation. This kind of gives you a picture of what it will be like when we see Jesus face to face for the first time doesn’t it? Interesting to see Jacob’s perspective on death change upon seeing his son whom he thought was dead but is now alive. Death is something that he is looking forward to not just to escape the pain of living life on this planet. Seeing his son was the high light of his life & it could get no better then this. The same is true for those of us who have seen the “Son” of God whom we presumed was dead but is alive. Yet just like Jacob we too will have to wait for a season. Jacob had 17 years with his son Joseph; 22 years apart from him but God will grant him another 17 with him. God is so God to us!

Vs. 31-34 Joseph’s plan was the same as Pharaoh’s that they should go to the land of Goshen & there they will prosper having all the benefits of Egypt without contracting it worldly ways as the Egyptians hated shepherds. +Here too we see God’s plan for us as we are in the world but not of the world, we are blessed through life that we might be a blessing to others.