Monday Reading Notes –– Genesis 45:1 – 46:34 (January 29)
Genesis 45 – In last week’s notes, I discussed the series of tests Joseph put his brothers through to see if they had changed since selling him into slavery 20 years before. When Judah offered his life in exchange for Benjamin’s, Joseph was thoroughly convinced. He now revealed his true identity to his brothers.
Though Joseph did not yet know Paul’s words in Romans 8:28 (God works all things together for good for those who love Him), that’s the sentiment he shared with his brothers. He didn’t want them to dwell on the past, or to quarrel on the way back home in accusations toward each other, rehashing the past about who was most responsible for what they did to Joseph. That was in the past. He could now see that God had “sent Him ahead” (v. 7) to Egypt so their lives could all be saved, because there would be no more “plowing or reaping” for the next five years while the famine persisted. (One of our more astute members of Prince of Peace noticed that Jacob (aka, Israel) suggested that his sons take gifts to Joseph to appease him when they went back for more grain. These gifts included honey, pistachio nuts, and almonds, which we would think of as luxuries rather than staples. How could Jacob and his family be starving if they still had these “goodies?” These “luxuries” which grow on trees (or come from bees, in the case of honey) would have continued to be available during the famine, especially along rivers and streams. But the staples like grain and meat from the cattle that would eat the grain were gone because there was no “plowing or reaping.”
At this point, its good to have a few reflections as to the purpose of all of this. Why didn’t God simply give the Promised Land to Jacob and family right away, rather than have this lengthy sojourn in Egypt, and go through the pain of slavery? God had both an immediate purpose and a spiritual purpose to be fulfilled in His Son. The immediate purpose was the total occupation of the land. God didn’t want the Israelites to occupy part of Canaan. He wanted them to occupy all of it so that the idol worship of the land would be completely eradicated and He could have a people totally devoted to Yahweh, the covenant God. At this point, Jacob’s family was not big enough to do that. In the land of Goshen in Egypt, a prime and well-watered grazing land, they would have the opportunity to multiply and become a powerful group of people, both in numbers and possessions of sheep and cattle. Then they would be numerous enough to completely occupy the land.
The spiritual purpose was to foreshadow the work of Jesus, who would one day call all people out of the slavery of sin into the promised land of salvation. As I get into the book of Exodus and discuss the Passover (chapter 12), I’ll have a more thorough discussion of these spiritual themes.
Chapter 46 – Jacob’s whole family is chronicled here, at least the sons. My daughter is always annoyed that not many of the women were mentioned in the Old Testament. It stands to reason that daughters were born to Jacob’s family as well as sons. The ancient world was very much male dominated, as is the world to a certain extent today. It’s important to remember that this was not what God had in mind when the world was created, but was part of the curse of sin (see Genesis 3:16). Yet, good can be seen in this arrangement as well, as man’s need for respect is met in this way, and a woman’s need for tenderness and love, as a husband would occupy the place of protector in a sinful world that was often prone to exploiting women.
To strengthen the case made in the notes for the previous chapter, we can see that though Jacob had a large family – 70 men in all – but still a very small nation; certainly not ready or able to occupy the entire land of Canaan. About 400 years later, that number had ballooned to about 600,000 men. Including women and children, the people of Israel numbered probably 1.5 million or more, certainly able to take possession of the entire land.
We don’t know why shepherds were detestable to the Egyptians, but Joseph used it to their advantage to give them lots of prime grazing land to settle on in the land of Goshen, on the eastern side of the Nile river delta, where they would be far away from the more populated areas of Egypt. It was a good arrangement for Israel and family too. They would be separated from the polytheistic Egyptians and able to continue worship of Yahweh alone.
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Tuesday Reading Notes –– Genesis 47:1 – 48:22 (January 30)
Genesis 47 – As was discussed previously, Joseph’s family were given the best grazing land in Egypt – an area that was well watered by the Nile delta even during the famine. There, the people of Israel grew and prospered for 4 centuries.
When Jacob came before Pharaoh, it’s safe to assume we have only a portion of a longer conversation. Jacob at the time was 130 years old, and knew he would not live to the same ages as Abraham (175) and Isaac (180). (Jacob passed away at 147.) He said his years had been difficult – “evil” is the exact translation of the Hebrew word, probably referring to the stress he had undergone due to Esau and Laban, the trouble his sons had occasionally caused (see chapter 34) and especially living for 22 years believing that his beloved son had been killed by a wild animal.
Verses 13 through 26 detail arrangements Joseph made in the distribution of food to the Egyptians. At first glance, it looks as if he is cold-hearted. Shouldn’t he just give away the food rather than charge for it? Henry Morris feels that such an arrangement would have “destroyed personal and national morale, would have bankrupted the government, and probably would have culminated in social anarchy.” (The Genesis Record, p. 640)
For a discussion of the oath in verse 29, see notes on Genesis 24.
Genesis 48 – A pattern that can be seen with the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) is their Holy Spirit guidance in many things. Isaac, for example, was guided by the Holy Spirit when Esau begged him for a blessing (Chapter 27), knowing that Esau’s descendants would eventually be subject to Jacob’s. With Jacob, God’s Spirit enabled him to understand things he could not have naturally known on two counts.
First, he was moved to claim Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh as his own. In this way Joseph would be doubly honored, having a double share in the inheritance of the people of Israel through his two sons. Indeed, when Israel settled in the promised land, Ephraim and Manasseh were two of the 12 tribes given allotments of property. (Levi was not, as the Levites, who served as religious leaders, were scattered throughout the promised land.)
Second, Jacob was divinely aware that Ephraim would be greater. This also became true in later years. When the nation of Israel split and became two nations after the time of Solomon – Israel (the northern kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom) - the name Ephraim was used interchangeably with Israel, as Ephraim had become the largest and most influential tribe of the northern kingdom.
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Wednesday Reading Notes –– Genesis 49:1 – 50:26 (January 31)
Genesis 49 – Just before Jacob died, he gathered his sons to him and blessed them. The prophetic power of God can be seen in many of the statements he made to his sons, foretelling what the lives of their descendants would be like in the Promised Land many generations later. Those of you who have a Concordia Self Study Bible (or other study Bible) can read these things more thoroughly. Here is a summary.
- Reuben – v. 3 and 4 – Reuben was full of promise as the first born, but fell from grace when he slept with his father’s concubine (Genesis 35:22), a grievous act of disrespect. Reuben’s future descendents were very average in the land of Israel, not prominent as you might expect the firstborn to be.
- Simeon and Levi – v. 6 and 7 – Their slaughter of the Shechemites (see Genesis 34) revealed their vengeful character. These are the only two sons of Joseph who did not have lasting tribal allotments. The Levites were scattered throughout the land to perform their religious duties, and the tribe of Simeon was swallowed up within the territory of Judah.
- Judah – Though he had his moral failings (see chapter 38), Judah eventually showed a noble heart (chapter 44). His would be the tribe of kings, with the prophecy that “the scepter will not depart from Judah,” (v. 10), ultimately fulfilled in the eternal kingdom of the ultimate king – Jesus Christ.
- Zebulun – How this was fulfilled is unkown. Zebulun’s eventual territory was landlocked, but relatively short distances from both the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps a portion of the Zebulunites became seafaring folk.
- Dan – “will provide justice for his people…” Perhaps referring to Samson, a Danite, who provided justice for Israel against the Philistines during his time.
- Gad – His descendents settled east of the Jordan River, making them vulnerable to attack by “bands of raiders” from the Moabites.
- Asher – While the southern land of Canaan was good for grazing livestock, the north, especially along the shore of the Mediterranean (where the tribe of Asher later settled), was fertile, and good for growing “delicacies fit for a king.”
- Naphtali – “A doe set free” could refer to Naphtali’s remote location, to the far north.
- Joseph – Fulfillment of this prophecy can be seen on many levels. Joseph was resilient when “archers” (his brothers) attacked him. His descendents would remain resilient in the future too. The tribe of Joseph’s son Ephraim in particular was known for prowess in battle.
- Benjamin – Though the smallest tribe, the Benjamites were known for their savagery.
Genesis 50 – The modern world has always marveled over the embalming process of the Egyptians that can preserve human remains better than modern technology. This is just one of many examples from the Bible and other literature of the ancient world that reveal the tremendous intelligence of past civilizations. Evolutionary indoctrination causes people to assume that the human race is improving in intelligence and ability, yet we need to separate intelligence (which it is clear the early civilizations had in abundance) from the accumulation of technology, which we have today. This 40 day embalming process must have been very advanced and technical.
After Jacob’s death, Joseph’s brothers feared that he would finally take revenge on them. He reassured them once again that he was comfortable in God’s will that he had meant it for good. It is interesting that Joseph, the second youngest, apparently was outlived by many of his brothers, if not all of them. His lifespan was only 110 years, much shorter than his ancestors. Perhaps the difficult 13 years he spent as a slave and the administrative responsibilities of his position took their toll on him.
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Thursday Reading Notes –– Exodus 1:1–22 (February 1)
Exodus 1 – We don’t know exactly when the attitude of the Pharaoh changed toward the Israelites. There was a time when a mysterious ancient people called the Hyksos had conquered and ruled Egypt. Some suggest that it was the Hyksos dynasty that favored Joseph and his family, and that when they were once again driven from the land and an Egyptian dynasty took control, the Israelites were seen as a menace. This would also explain why, in verse 10, there is the fear that the Israelites would join their enemies. If the Hyksos should ever return, the Israelites, who had been befriended by them, would be understandably sympathetic to the Hyksos cause. These are only theories, but interesting to consider.
The Pharaoh’s strategy was to oppress the Israelites with forced labor. It is hard to imagine how such a numerous group of people could have allowed that to happen, but since the Israelites were not warlike and probably possessed few weapons, horses or chariots, the more numerous and better armed Egyptians prevailed. It was, after all, the most powerful army of the day.
Still, the Israelites flourished. So every Israelite baby boy was to be killed. However, the Hebrew midwives in charge of the genocide feared God more than Pharaoh, and didn’t cooperate. But such was the difficult life of Israelites during this time of forced labor.
Egyptian records agree with the Biblical record (in verse 11), stating that slaves were used in the rebuilding of Rameses.
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Friday Reading Notes –– Exodus 2:1–25 (February 2)
Exodus 2 – When Moses was born, his mother hid him. We can assume that the Egyptians would occasionally come on unannounced patrol to make sure no baby boys were surviving. Archeological excavations reveal slave huts in parts of the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, with small boxes beneath the floors. Remains of infants have been found in some of the boxes. It is likely that baby boys were hidden in the boxes and also buried there if they were discovered and killed by Pharaoh’s troops. That might be where Moses’ mother chose to hid him.
Many people have speculated why Pharaoh’s daughter would take a Hebrew baby into her care. Some think she saw this baby as a gift from the Nile river god. But it’s obvious from the Biblical text that she knew it was a Hebrew baby. The clearest reason is that God caused her to want to take this baby into her home for His purposes, just as He caused the earlier Pharaoh to be favorable towards Joseph and make him second in command. Did Moses’ mother know about Pharaoh’s daughter’s bathing habits? Did she also know that she was sympathetic toward the Hebrew cause? Moses’ sister Miriam certainly appeared to be ready with a plan when Moses was discovered. Rather than a last act of desperation, it seems as if Moses’ mother’s plan was very strategically conceived.
We’re told in Acts 7:23 that Moses was 40 years old when he killed the Egyptian (Exodus 2:12). By that time, though living and educated in Pharaoh’s household, he identified himself as a Hebrew and was clearly sympathetic to his people’s cause, although we can assume he was probably not a slave himself.
Pharaoh, likely suspicious of Moses from the time he was a baby, tried to kill him, and Moses ran away, finding a place to stay and a home among some people in the land of Midian, which was either in the Sinai peninsula or to East of the Red Sea’s northernmost point.
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Saturday Reading Notes –– Exodus 3:1 – 4:31 (February 3)
Exodus 3 – Wherever Moses may have lived, it was in close enough proximity to Mt. Sinai (also known as Horeb, which is that it is called here) to tend his flocks there. God always has unique ways to call his people into his service, and this is no exception. This burning bush is the only time such a sign was used. God’s presence and revelation of himself is often accompanied by fire (the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, for example).
Again, the messenger within the bush is the angel of the Lord; in Hebrew, the title is Malak Yahweh. Malak can mean angel or messenger, and since every time the Malak Yahweh makes an appearance in the Old Testament He is called “God” or “Lord” (see v. 4 – “God called to him from within the bush…”), we understand that messenger to be none other than the Son of God himself.
The way God refers to himself is “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (v. 14) God’s name Yahweh, translated The Lord in most English translations, means roughly “He is.” God is the one who is, who was, and who is to come. There was never a time or place when or where He was not, nor will there ever be. When God’s people refer to Him, they say Yahweh, or “He is.” When God refers to himself, He says Ehyeh, or “I am.” That’s why Christ’s words in John 8:58 were considered blasphemous. “Before Abraham was born, I am!” By saying “I am,” he identified himself with Yahweh, the highest of crimes (by anyone other than the Son of God, of course.)
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