| Subject: Gen 47 vss 1-10 Post 211 |
Author:
Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 20:19:50 08/01/12 Wed
Genesis 47:1-10 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.
The narrative needs little in way of explanation. Joseph chooses 5 of his brothers and his father Jacob and goes before Pharaoh to request the land of Goshen for a dwelling place. While the number 5 is given in fact the Hebrews who are before Pharaoh are 7 in number. Five brothers, then Jacob and Joseph brings the number to seven. Seven is the number of completion in the Bible and represented before Pharaoh is all of Israel.
I would assume the idea of Jacob and his sons was to stay until the drought and famine were broken ant then return. The word "sojourn" (vs. 4) carries the idea of a temporary stay. It also carries with it the idea of an indefinite length of stay. I'm sure they had no idea as to the length of their stay unless they were remembering God's word to Abraham that they would be strangers under affliction for 400 years.
Joseph brings in the 5 brothers and they make their request. Pharaoh grants their request to stay in Goshen and offers them employment to take care of his own cattle. After this Joseph ushers his father Israel into the presence of Pharaoh. Pharaoh was probably impressed with his great age and asked "How old art thou?" The meat of the passage is found in Jacob's reply. "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".
That statement of 130 years works out to nearly 47,500 days of his pilgrimage up to that time. His time to him was "few and evil" have the days and years of my life been. In making the statement Jacob calls our attention to standard truths. No matter how old we live when we look back and consider we arrive at the conclusion that our life here has been very short. Methuselah lived to be 969 years old and while we are not given details of his death I would confidently state that as he looked back and surveyed his days on earth they would seem but a short time. The second truth in Jacob's statement is that his days were evil. Jacob had many regrets and as such he remembered them more than the good times. No matter how long we live we are still sinners. There are two verses in the scriptures that come to mind when I think of the statement of Jacob before Pharaoh. Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. This statement was made a few years before God destroyed the earth by the great flood. Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. This second statement was just after the flood when Noah offered sacrifices to God and was in favor with God. Noah's faithfulness and worship of God did not change his nature. Not long after this sacrifice Noah was drunk and his youngest son was committing abomination before Noah and God.
Our nature, as Jacob's, is to "do our own thing". Until we submit to God and deny the flesh we will continue sin. There can be no righteousness outside the will of God. Isaiah understood this very well and wrote. Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
If Isaiah had said "few and evil" it wouldn't have been any plainer than his stating we are unclean and the best we have done in ourselves is as filthy rags. Because or iniquities we are fading as leaves and are being carried away by the winds of time.
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