Jacob Before Pharaoh - Staying Focused on God

Genesis 47:13-31 (Part 2 of)

Ok, lets pick up the story at verse 13.

There was no food, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace.

(Genesis 47: 13-14)

Now we’re going back to the whole issue of the famine the fact that there was no food. Now, if you’ll recall, Joseph is second in command, and he’s the one that was in charge of arranging for the storing up of all this food during the good years. So, he’s selling the food to the people and he’s putting the money in the royal treasury. He’s focused on his job and that’s what he was supposed to do, and that’s what he did

When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”

(Genesis 47: 15)

What the Egyptians are saying is we used up all of our money to buy food. Now we don’t have food and we don’t have money. We gave it all to you, so give us food.

“Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” So, they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.

(Genesis 47: 17-18)

Alright, they gave all their money and then they gave all their livestock the whole issue in this chapter is we’ve got to provide for people’s physical needs.

When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.” 20So, Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, 21 and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,[c] from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.

(Genesis 47: 18-22)

Now what’s going on here is very simple. This is a severe famine, so they use all of their money to buy food, when that’s all gone, they sell their cattle, when that’s all gone, they sell themselves in bonded labour. Now slavery has a very, very negative connotation to us because of what we’ve seen in more modern times. But in the ancient world, this was a common practice when time where hard. People sold themselves to pay off a debt, or in this case to buy food. As a matter of fact, somebody commenting on this passage says that’s not a whole lot different than us selling yourself to the company when you go to work for a single employer, in a sense they own you for 40 hours a week. Now days we have more freedom about how these sort of things are arranged, but the point is that was a very normal thing in the ancient world. So, they’ve given everything they have to remain alive and notice Joseph stayed focused on doing the job right and he puts all the money into Pharaohs coffers. Oh, by the way, I didn’t mention the priests didn’t have to go through this, they are not required to sell their land. They were a privileged class. 

Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.”  “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favour in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”

(Genesis 47: 23-25)

Joseph gives them seed, enabling them to grow food and he charged them a tax based on what they grow. Some might say this is the first occasion of using a tax system to move people from a state of dependance into independence and such thing are legitimate when the tax rate is fair. What is a fair tax? The tax here is 20%. That’s interesting still today most western countries operate with an income tax rate that starts at around 20%. I thought it was rather fascinating, that business tax (corporation tax in most countries is also set at around 20%, so here the tax is 20% of the crops grown from the seeds, interesting stuff. 

So, Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—still in force today—that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s. Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.

(Genesis 47: 26-27)

So, this is simply telling us shows of instituted a 20% tax right and it stayed that way for several hundred years after that. 20%.Also we have an early example of the separation of the religious life from the civil state. At any rate, that’s what happened, is that Joseph has stayed focused on his job, which was to save the people from starvation, and he did not put any of the money in his own pocket. He put it all in the treasury of Barrow. Verse 27 says.

In the meantime, the Israelites [the descendants of Jacob/Israel] lived in the land of Goshen and grew and multiplied numerically. Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favour in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh [which is an ancient way of taking an oath] and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.” [Which was Hebron, by the way] “I will do as you say,” he said “Swear to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

(Genesis 47: 28-31)

Jacob even as he approaches the end of his life focused on spiritual things. God gave the land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they are currently in Egypt, but this indicates that Jacob believed that they would still, one day, get the land. He says to his son Joseph, and says, do not bury me in Egypt, but when I die, take me back to Canaan and bury me there, and he specifically says, bury me with my forefathers. If you go to Hebron today, there is a tomb that is said to be the tomb of Abraham. Isaac and Jacob and several wives of theirs also. He’s still focused on spiritual things, believing the promise of God that God would give them the land of Palestine, later to be named Israel. That a story which will pick up later. In the meantime, let me simply point out that both Jacob and Joseph in the story were focused. Joseph, by necessity, was focused on what he had to do, it was his job, it was his responsibility to deal with the immediate situation of the famine, which was a national crisis. 

Throughout the story his father is constantly pictured as being focused on the spiritual side of what is happening, so he blesses Pharaoh, and he keeps in mind the promise God gave to Abraham and Isaac his forefathers and wants to be buried with them back in the promised land of what will be Israel, and that is what is this passage telling us?

So, what is the point of the passage? Well, throughout the whole passage one of the things you have to conclude, if you understand this passage in the context of the whole book of Genesis, is that the Lords provided for children. In this case he uses Joseph to provide not only for the Israelites, but also for the Egyptians. And, Joseph being the son of Jacob, is following the pattern of God has blessed you, so you go and bless others. God on the one hand has provided for his children, and on the other hand he has used them to bless other people. I think you could stamp that across this whole chapter and the whole book of Genesis as well.

So, what’s the lesson for us? Well, the lesson for us is that no matter what is going on in our lives, whether it’s an emergency, a crisis or hardship of any kind try we are to try and continue to bless others. We can also see in the life of Joseph and Jacob when looked at together that there should be no conflict between our need focus on our current responsibilities whilst at the same time staying focused on our spiritual responsibilities. It’s so easy to focus on the current crisis and forget the eternal things of God. It’s so easy to focus on the material and forget the spiritual.

This passage illustrates that these men, Jacob that Joseph focused on both. They had to focus on the present and the material and yet they were a channel of blessing to other people, which is a spiritual command to them. They didn’t lose sight of the eternals in the midst of their present circumstances. There are many examples of this in scripture, but it seems to me that Hebrews Chapter 11 is the illustration of others who did the same thing, and I want to close by just looking at one verse in Hebrews Chapter 11. There’s an old gospel song that says this world is not my home, I’m just a passing through.

What I’m trying to say today, is that we’re just passing through, but we still need to pay attention to what’s going on in the spiritual realm. We need to stay focused on is what’s coming and yet not lose sight of the God opportunities all around us. This world is not our home, we’re just passing through, but they are many God given opportunities to be a blessing to someone else who is struggling. 

The famous New Testament of Hebrews chapter 11 has been referred to by many as the great roll call of faith. It keeps going on and on talking about all the great heroes of faith we find in the Bible, one after the other. People like Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Sarah, and then it says in verse 13, that all these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them far off.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.

(Hebrews 11: 13-16)

Now it seems to me that this verse captures and capitalizes on this very point I’m trying to make. They didn’t receive the promises the spiritual promises of the land in this life, but they didn’t lose their focus. That’s my point today, even after all Jacob has gone through, all he’s been through, he didn’t lose his focus. He didn’t lose his focus on being a blessing to other people. All these people who died in faith, did not always see the promises of God fulfilled this side of eternity, but having glimpsed them far off in the future, they were assured of them, and they embraced them. They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth and that they were waiting for something better. 

Translated, in short, they stayed focused, and I submit to you, that’s the challenge we face, we need to focus on what we need to do here without losing our focus of the internal spiritual truth. If we are honest, we confess that we get distracted or caught up in material things in the here and now or overwhelmed by a crisis in the present. This passage tells us with God’s help we can keep our focus on spiritual things, internal things, and whilst we travel as pilgrims through this life, we can still be a blessing to others.