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GENESIS 46
God’s reaffirmation to Israel that he would stay with him and keep his promises, even if they went down to Egypt -- (DATE: After 1661 before Christ)
DISCOVER Genesis 46: Even as they traveled towards Egypt, Israel had his doubts about proceeding. So he and his company made camp at Beersheba, where he offered sacrifices to his God, the God of his father Isaac, and this night God answered his pleas. God once again assured Israel of His promise to make a great nation of him and that his offspring would ultimately return to live in the land God had promised him and his forebears. So he was not to be afraid to follow his son to Egypt, for He himself would go with him and, when the time came, would bring him and his family back out again. Finally, Jacob’s God also promised him that it would be his beloved son Joseph, who would close his eyes, when his life on earth would end. -- Strengthened by his God’s promise, Jacob and his entire household, all his sons and their wives with their children, all their belongings in both livestock and possessions, all of it they loaded onto the wagons Pharaoh had granted them, and they all travelled to Egypt. -- It was a company of seventy people that settled with Jacob in Egypt: Jacob, plus sixty six of his descendants, who came from Canaan, plus his descendants, who were already in Egypt: Joseph with two sons. -- Judah went before all of them, so that he might reach his brother Joseph early, for him to show them the way to their sanctuary at Goshen in Egypt. Joseph instructed his brother Judah how to lead them all there. Once they had arrived at their destination, Joseph rode there in his chariot, to present himself to his father after all these years. At their meeting he was unable control his feelings anymore, and fell onto his father’s neck to cry and rejoice at their reunion, which lifted the last regret from his father’s soul. After this joyous meeting, Joseph went and told his brothers and their households that it was paramount that they were to introduce and talk about themselves as keepers of livestock in these lands, for those were an abomination to the Egyptians. (This way they would not have to mingle with the idol worshiping Egyptians but could remain faithful to their one and only God.) So they were to say that all of them and their fathers before them were and are keepers of livestock and sheep. Once they had understood the importance of this distinction, Joseph felt it was time to let Pharaoh know of his family’s safe arrival in his lands.
PRAYER: Our faithful God, we thank you for the details about this great event in the history of your dealings with the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. You began to fulfill your promise to Abraham that you would make of him a great nation. And you also fulfilled the prophecy you had given Abraham that his descendants would live in Egypt for many years. We marvel at the mystery of your wisdom and the effectiveness of leading your chosen people through time. Thank you that Jacob, after many years of despair and anguish, and against all expectations, was finally able to embrace his favorite son Joseph. Thank you that you let him rejoice that he was not only alive, but also influential and honored in Egypt. This way you revealed that Jacob prophetically did not err, when he saw in Joseph his favorite son, giving him beautiful garments, anticipating his rise to glory much later. You are the God who fulfills his promises and raises the downtrodden from the dirt, if they trust in you alone. Amen.
QUESTION 46: What did God promise Jacob before he continued his traveling to Egypt?