Genesis 46

Joseph was alive. That was amazingly good news, though difficult for Jacob, his father, to believe. As he travels to Egypt, along the way he pauses to offer sacrifices to God, Jacob's God, the God of his father Isaac. A connection is made to the past as he journeys into the future of a blessed new life. At such a time as this, praising the God of eternity is a great privilege that we must not miss.

God calls out to Jacob. He calls him by name in visions in the night: “Jacob, Jacob.” Jacob responds, “Here am I.” The Lord passes on a word of courage from heaven to Isaac's son. God knows where Jacob is going as he makes his way to Egypt. God has plans for Israel, spoken long beforehand to Isaac's father, Abraham. “Your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs.” There was more to the prophesy that we will return to in Exodus. For now, Jacob travels to Egypt, and he will see Joseph, not only alive, but in his glory. He will settle there, for God informs him that Joseph will close his eyes.

Jacob need not give in to fear. God will go with Jacob down to Egypt. He also promises that at some future time, He will be with the people of Israel when they finally leave Egypt.

When Israel left Canaan, they took everything with them. Was anything left behind? Only the bones of their beloved dead. A burial ground would be all Jacob owned in that strategic place. One day his own bones would be brought back there. His sons would mourn for him. After that, everyone else would die in Egypt and stay there, though descendants would carry Joseph's bones back to the family plot in Canaan one day.

All that is alive of Israel goes down to Egypt and stays there until the Lord is ready to move on to the conquest of Canaan. Jacob will soon be gone, but all the rest will make a life for themselves where Joseph has been for years. They will be strangers in a strange land, seeking a better city that God would one day provide. Leah's sons and grandchildren who would make up the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun would all come to Egypt. They would number thirty-three. Their relatives from Leah's servant Zilpah, sixteen in all, would begin the tribes of Gad and Asher. They too would live in Egypt. Rachel's descendants would also be there, fourteen persons who formed the tribes of Joseph (soon split into two, Manasseh and Ephraim) and Benjamin, the youngest. Finally the people of Dan and Naphtali, the children of Rachel's servant Bilhah, would add the final seven, bringing the total people of Israel to only seventy people. Over the next four hundred years or so, they would grow to a fighting force numbered at over six hundred thousand.

The nation of Israel had to start with someone. God began it with Jacob, his two wives, and their two servants. Not everyone that was born lived on to have other children. For instance, Judah's first two sons died. This small group of seventy had already faced hardship and loss. Now they were going down to Egypt, and before they would make their way home to Canaan, they would feel intense suffering. But God would bring them to this foreign land and He would bring them up again to the land that He promised to give them. All of this would take place according to the Lord's sure word to Abraham.

If we consider the events that would happen beyond Exodus, there would be much more tribulation. Instead of doubling in size over their forty years in the wilderness, an entire generation would be lost, replaced by their children, leaving them with about the same number of fighting men at the end of their wanderings as they had at the beginning. Once they made it back into the Promised Land, their problems would continue through the period of Judges, Kings, into the exile, and even in their restoration back to the Land and beyond. None of these periods happened without serious trouble. Yet through it all, as one generation left the scene and another took its place, God accomplished all of His holy will.

During the many centuries after the coming of the Messiah, as the good news has proceeded forward from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth, many more have died for the faith, and millions have faced countless profound disappointments. But God still gives grace, and His people are still treated to glimpses of heaven on earth in blessings that come to us beyond anything that we ask for or even imagine.

In the midst of all the trials, there are days when fathers are reunited in person with sons that they presumed to be gone. That is what happens when Jacob comes to Egypt and sees the face of Joseph. It is as if he sees the face of God. That may seem like the exception now, but in heaven it is the rule.

We are able to anticipate that coming glory when we gaze into the face of our Redeemer. We sing to Him. We listen to His voice. We care for His beloved. We remember His death at His sacramental table. We know Him in prayer. He is with us in all our travels. And we know that He is leading us home.

With that joy that can be ours in worship and service, let us savor the blessed moments of life that God does give us when great things do take place. Is someone healed? Has a child been born to a happy man and woman? Was evil stopped in its tracks? Did joy come in the morning? The Lord is at hand. The Descendant of Judah has gone ahead of us. We are reunited with our God. He is our Father. We are His sons. Even if we are an abomination to throngs who may seem to hate us, the love that the Father has for the Son is in us, and Jesus Himself is in us. Enjoy the good moment. It is a slice of the greatest Promised Land.