We got through the exciting parts of Genesis when Joseph reconciled with his brothers. I wrote three blogs, starting here. Chapters 46 – 50 are mostly denouement, but let’s pick up some highlights.
- Jacob takes the whole family to Egypt and God confirms the promise:
And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I Myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I Myself will also bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes with his hand.” (Genesis 46.2 – 4, LSB)
It’s an important promise and the reason they went to Egypt: 70+ nomadic people going in; a couple million (600,000 men) coming out. (See Exodus 12.37.) And it echoes what God told Abram:
Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. (Genesis 15.13, 14, ESV)
- They settle in Goshen, and Jacob blesses Pharaoh even while poor-mouthing his life:
Then Joseph brought in his father, Jacob, and presented him to Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. “How old are you?” Pharaoh asked him. Jacob replied, “I have traveled this earth for 130 hard years. But my life has been short compared to the lives of my ancestors.” Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again before leaving his court. (Genesis 47.7 – 10, NLT)
- Jacob lives 17 years in Egypt. (Genesis 47.28) Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons, putting Ephraim before Manasseh (Genesis 48). (In listings of the tribes of Israel, there is no “tribe of Joseph,” but there “half-tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.” For example, Numbers 32.33)
- Jacob blesses and prophesies over his sons, Genesis 49.
- Firstborn Reuben doesn’t come out well. See Genesis 35.22. Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch. (Genesis 49.4, LSB)
- Simeon and Levi don’t do well either. See the end of Genesis 34 for the reason why. Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are implements of violence. Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they killed men, And in their self-will they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is strong; And their wrath, for it is cruel. I will divide them amongst Jacob, And scatter them in Israel. (Genesis 49.5 – 7, LSB)
- Then Judah, who failed miserably in chapters 37 and 38 but recovers in chapter 44, is the top dog, the one through whom Messiah comes: The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Genesis 49.10, LSB)
- There are eight more brothers, including a long blessing for Joseph, and the passage ends: All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. So he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him. (Genesis 49.28, LSB) That’s a lesson: “…with the blessing appropriate to [each one]”
- Jacob dies and is buried in the family burial plot. (Genesis 50.1 – 14)
- Joseph reassures his brothers as he did in Genesis 45.6.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50.20, ESV)
- Joseph makes his brothers promise that he, too, shall be buried in the promised land.
And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” (Genesis 50.24 – 25, ESV)
This request was explicitly mentioned at the Exodus:
Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” (Exodus 13.19, ESV)
Then Joseph dies:
So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. (Genesis 50.26, ESV)
There’s a lot of sin in Genesis, beginning in chapter 3, and it is pointed out often that Genesis begins and ends this way:
In the beginning God…in a coffin in Egypt
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2.16, 17, ESV)
For the wages of sin is death… (Romans 6.23)