FAMILY REUNION

 

  So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.  2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!”  “Here I am,” he replied.  3 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”

 

Lesson One:  So Israel the Prince with God, sets out, he is finally going to see his beloved son.  This moment is over 20 years in the making.  He sets out with everything he has.  It would quite the procession.  Now Jacob is probably heading out as fast as he can.  I can see him saying come on everyone let’s get moving.  I have an appointment to meet.  Now this is not a small group.  This is like moving a village.  Then he gets to Beersheba.  He offers sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.  Remember Isaac is the child of promise and Jacob is following his line.  The godly heritage is flowing through Jacob.  Jacob is grateful here for two things.  First, that Joseph is alive and secondly, he is now on His way to be reunited with his son.  His family is now complete.  He offers sacrifice to thank the Lord and to get His blessing before the majority of the journey is under taken.  We need God’s blessing wherever we go. 

     God responds by giving Jacob a vision at night.  Jacob was awake.  He talks to Jacob. Jacob says here I am.  He addresses him as Jacob because he still has a way to grow into his name.  Remember we are to grow into the grace and knowledge of the Lord.  Jacob says I am ready to hear and obey.  That is what we must be ready to do as well.  God always gives assurance of His leading if we are open to them.  God confirms His leading here.  He tells Jacob five things all in themselves great promises.   Do not be afraid, this phrase is found in one form or another in the Bible 365 times, to go down to Egypt.  This is part of God’s plan.  Next, God will make him a great nation.  What you are right now Jacob is not how things are going to be.  God always look at us and our situation from the eternal future.  He sees us not as we are but what we shall be.  A great promise.  Your story is still being written.  I will go down with you.  You are not alone in this.  You have divine, direction, guidance, help, protection and protection.  God promises us the same things wherever we go and whatever situation we find ourselves in. I will bring you back again.  This is a temporary thing for you.  I have a work to do while here.  Listen, learn, obey and grow but this is not the end.  There is always a reason for what we face but it is not the end of our story Amen.  Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.  This was a promise that His whole family would be together at his death.  This was something Jacob wanted more than anything else.  This is a preview of what would happen near the end of the book.

 

  5 Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. 6 So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. 7 Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring

 

      After His encounter with the Lord with all the promises and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob.  I want you to notice how Jacob and Israel are intertwined here.  Jacob is the leader but Israel is the family group.  They are now the nation of Israel.  The nation of Israel is going down to Egypt.  They are a family now but one day they will be a nation.  Jacob’s sons, children and all his offspring and their wives with them.  They get to ride in carts provided by the king.   They take their livestock, possessions and all they acquired in Canaan.  I asked the question?  Why did they bring everything with them?  I mean the king told them they did not need anything.  They brought it because it was part of their identity.  We all have stuff that we think is important.  It has become part of us.  Family heirlooms, pictures, furniture etc.  These were also blessings given to them in the promise land and now they would remind them of where they had been in a place they were going.  They invoke memories, give us a sense of belonging, invoke feelings of sentimentality.  Talk about the 20 boxes of family heirlooms I take with me.  His sons, grandsons, daughters and granddaughters.  All of his offspring are here..  No one is left behind.  They were leaving the land of starvation, lack, poverty and privation for a better place.  Never stay where you will starve and die always head towards the blessing and place of abundance.

 

 

These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt:  Reuben the firstborn of Jacob.  9 The sons of Reuben:  Hanok, Pallu, Hezron and Karmi.  10 The sons of Simeon:

Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.  11 The sons of Levi:

Gershon, Kohath and Merari.  12 The sons of Judah:  Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan).  The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.  13 The sons of Issachar:

Tola, Puah,[a] Jashub[b] and Shimron.  14 The sons of Zebulun:  Sered, Elon and Jahleel. 15 These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, besides his daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all.  16 The sons of Gad:  Zephon,[d] Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi and Areli.  17 The sons of Asher:  Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah.  Their sister was Serah.  The sons of Beriah:  Heber and Malkiel.18 These were the children born to Jacob by Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all.  19 The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel:  Joseph and Benjamin. 20 In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.[e]

21 The sons of Benjamin:  Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard.

22 These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob—fourteen in all.  23 The son of Dan:

Hushim.  24 The sons of Naphtali:  Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem.  25 These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.  26 All those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons’ wives—numbered sixty-six persons. 27 With the two sons[f] who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all.

 

Lesson Three – We now have the listing of all the sons of the boys and by Leah, Rachel, Zilpah and Billah.  Now the wives were not included in the number.  We also know that there were other people in the party.  The genealogy here would be important later especially for Levi as the priestly tribe.  These names would be important in the forming of the Tribes and the clans within the tribes later.  This family group would 430 years later become a nation.  They are a nation who would change the course of human history and even today a nation at the center of all world events.  Remember God sees them not as they were but what they would become.  Israel, is a nation of promise, salvation, Messiahship and earthly redemption.  Remember God has a plan for your life and your family.  Household salvation is his promise.  You job is to love, guide, nurture, protect, mentor be a role model, prayer warrior and high priest for your family. 

 

28 Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 29 Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.  30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”

 

Lesson Four:  Jacob does a rare thing for men.  He sends Judah ahead to get directions to Goshen.  Now remember this was part of the promise given to them that they would have a place of their own.  God has a place prepared for you.  Where you can dream, live and be all God intended you to be.  So they arrive, alive and well and ready for the next step.  Once they get there Joseph hops in his chariot.  He drives the some 50 miles to Goshen to meet his Father Israel.  When Joseph was made a slave 22 years before His dad was Jacob but now he is Israel full realized.  As soon as Joseph saw his dad, he runs to him, throw his arms around him and they wept for a long time.  Now we already know Joseph is an emotional guy.  All the years of separation, pain, sorrow, unknowing, slavery, betrayal and lies is over.  They are together finally.  Healing, restoration, forgiveness, love joy, grace and reconciliation that has happened.  This is a divine moment.  No words have to be said, the weeping and hugging is enough.  This is a small look at the day when we come into heaven when we meet Jesus.  The love, compassion, the healing, the anticipation and joy of that moment are incredible.  In a moment I will give you a small glimpse of this of what I saw in my vision in heaven.  Then Jacob says, “Now I am ready to die, since I now see for myself you are alive.”  Up to this moment it was someone else telling me, but now I see plainly for myself.  There is nothing like first hand experience.  Talk about me seeing the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley.  You can never fully experience something until you are there first hand.   I love this moment.  Everything is right in the world again.  This is one of the happiest moments of Jacob and Joseph’s life. 

 

  31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ 33 When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”

 

Lesson Five:  So Joseph then prepares his family for a meeting with Pharaoh.  My family have from Canaan have come.  They are shepherds, tend livestock, they have come with all their animals and everything own.  In ancient times you needed an introduction to meet someone of a rank such as the king.  It would be rude and even death to come unannounced.  Remember Esther. 

     Now Pharaoh gave the invitation and so he expected to meet them.  He based it upon Joseph.  They were also expected to say thanks for his generosity.  So when the king asks they were to tell him their occupation because like today many people are defined by what they do more than who they are.  It also gives a snapshot of their lifestyle.  What is important in their lives?  So they were to give them a family history.  Also in Joseph’s time it was expected the sons would follow in the family business which these boys did.  This would also allow them to live in Goshen because Goshen was an agricultural area.  Also shepherds were detestable to the Egyptians.  Here are some reasons.  It reflects a common distrust of nomadic peoples by urban dwellers.  Joseph’s advice to his father is both a warning about Egyptian attitudes toward strangers and a piece of diplomacy in that they would claim independent status (they had their own herds to support them) and show they were not an ambitious group who wished to rise above their occupation as shepherds.  Settlement in Goshen would separate them from the Egyptian cattlemen of the Nile Valley and thus reduce friction with Egyptians and preserve their distinctiveness as a people.  My last piece of info today is about the Pharaoh Joseph served under.  The historical period known as the “Middle Kingdom” or Hyskos, which lasted from 2000 to 1786 BCE.  This is one of Egypt’s greatest times.  Joseph might have come to Egypt during the reign of Sesostris II (1894-1878 BCE).

He most likely begins his career under Sesostris III (1878-1841 BCE). He lives in Egypt for 71 years, so Joseph dies in approximately 1805 BCE, under the reign of Amenemhet III (1841-1797 BCE).

Sesostris III is a most influential Pharaoh; he conquers Nubia (Ethopia) and greatly expands Egypt’s territory.  He also institutes many administrative reforms which lead to the demise of the local nobility.  He built a great canal and several cities.  This is such an amazing story.