Keepers of Livestock Genesis 46:1-34

Today we continue our study of the life of Joseph in Genesis chapter 46. Last time we heard the story of how Joseph and his brothers finally reunited as brothers. Joseph could not restrain himself any longer and revealed to his brothers that he was indeed Joseph. After some convincing, their eyes were open and they rejoiced together, the twelve brothers being reunited once again. The brothers were fitted with wagons and provisions to travel to Canaan, retrieve their families, and then to journey back into Egypt. We heard the words of Jacob as he learned of the news that his son, his favorite son, was still alive, well, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. “I will go and see him before I die.” Since we started this study of Genesis, we have been tracing several themes that have been woven into the fabric of this book. We began with the contrast between good and evil. We have followed that thread into this story of Joseph. We have also followed the thread of promise. In Genesis 3 we had the promise of the offspring of the woman that would crush the head of the serpent. That thread has also made its way into this story. It had grabbed Abraham as we passed through his time and now has brought him into this story of Joseph. In Genesis 12 God promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation. In Genesis 15, God promised that Abraham’s offspring would be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and would be servants there, and they would be afflicted for four hundred years. In later books of the Bible, Egypt would come to represent the evil of the world, but it would be there, in Egypt, in the land of oppression that God would make Abraham’s offspring into a mighty nation. The reunion we read about last time was only the first stage in a greater reunion. God planned to have not just a temporary reuniting of the sons of Israel, but the whole family, all of the descendants of Jacob, to move permanently to Egypt. Jacob would see his son again because the sun, moon, and stars needed to bow before Joseph just as God had said. We find three main sections in the chapter before us today. First, we have the journey of Israel into Egypt in verses 1-5. The next and largest section is the family record in verses 6-27. At the end of the chapter in verses 28-34, we find father and son together again and Joseph’s plan concerning his family.