Dr Dean Alley, PhD: Alright, Chaplain Dean Alley here. I had a moment. I hope you're doing well. Happy Friday. You made it. You got here. It's Friday. Woohoo! You did it. So we left off. It's been a minute since I've been on, but I was I've been working through some of the Some of Rabbi Rashi and some other viewpoints. looking to try to understand the the Hebrew standpoint of Genesis and getting ready to go into Exodus which I'm excited to. I hope you've enjoyed so far. This is the last chapter of Genesis fifty. It's a short chapter, what twenty six yeah twenty six verses, not that bad. So I don't know about you but it's been in the low forties in the morning. Of course it heats up till around the seventies, which is perfect in the afternoon. But I don't know if you had an opportunity to vote. as a veteran, I encourage you to vote because people in other countries don't have this capability. Now, I'm not gonna get into the split hairs of politics, who and all that stuff I'm saying it's a it's your way of contributing to the society or the potential outcome of any election. I I d I really don't care who you vote for. I would hope you look at everything and every candidate from a moral standpoint up. Would God honor be honored if I selected this person? That's all I'm gonna say. And if not, and you are picking somebody that is against some of the things that the Bible tells us, one of the big topics is always gonna be abortion. you know, and I was watching a little video the other day showing how early the heartbeat and everything on the baby is, almost almost immediately. after conception and it's a person. That's my the way I look at it and they deserve a chance. That's the way I look at it. you may look at it different. That's okay. My body and all that stuff, yeah, I agree with you, except when you have a living being inside you that's a little different. That's just my position. it doesn't make I know that a lot of people get excited about it and they it's passionate, it's to them. They think they're losing some kind of right or anything like that. I don't know. I I I'm not here to talk about that, but I just would encourage you to vote. That's all. Okay, so we are gonna get into chapter fifty, the last chapter of Genesis. We have started from the beginning where God created, and now we're at the point where the last patriarch which is we know is Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, right? Those are the three main patriarchs in Genesis. And he's going to die and and Joseph is going to take him back to Back to Israel to bury up with his fathers. So let's read. I'll read through them. I'm going to use the new King James only because it might land a little bit better for you. And but it doesn't take away the the King James James piece from us. So chapter 50, verse 1: the word of God says, now DNA, the word of God says, then Joseph fell on his face. And wept over him and kissed him. Now he had just died, and he was being gathered, his sons they were drawing near to his bed, and then he breathed his last breath, and that was in the previous chapter in verse thirty three. And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, so that the physicians embalmed Israel. Couple things. embalming originated out of Egypt. It preserved the body and it was only given to people of stature or or prominence would get the embalms. It wasn't like everybody got involved. It was embalmed. It was embalmed by the fact that they were a somebody that was thought highly of or whatever. But also I would say this, that embalming, I think in in think they'll talk about the forty days are required for him for such days required for those who are embalmed and Egyptians mourned him for 70 days. So 40 days for the embalming process or or whatever how they do that. And then there was additional mourning time where they would they would they would mourn the loss of somebody. And again, they found a lot of these mummies that they found it pretty well preserved pretty well. So, anyways, it was a practice in Egypt. The other thing too I would throw out, they didn't have electricity or refrigerators or ice or anything like that. So to travel back to Israel to bury his father, if there was not an embalming situation where it's preserved the body, it would it would probably be pretty stinky. It wouldn't be a a good It just wouldn't be preserved well because of the heat and everything that was in and it would deteriorate and start rotting. Once you once you once you die, the soul and spirit leaves the body. The body is just a vessel. And if you are in Christ you transition your place to to be with God and that's what the Bible says. to be absent with the bodies be present with the Lord. And again, so they mourn him. or for him for seventy days. So forty plus thirty more days of mourning. that is of Egypt. So Egyptians had mourners just like Israelites had mourners. If somebody died, there was professional mourners that would mourn along with the family and, you know, kind of be supportive. So there was that going on with the seventy days. So now in the days of his mourning past Joseph spake To his husband spake to the household of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in hearing of Pharaoh, saying, My father made me swear, saying, Behold, I am dying in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan. There You shall bury me now. Therefore, please let me go and bury my father, and I will come back. So he's asking for permission by the Pharaoh. Pharaoh responds, and the Pharaoh said, Go up and bury your father as he has made you to swear. And Joseph went up and buried his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of the house, his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's house, only their little ones, their flocks, and the herds left they left in the land of Goshen. So they didn't take everybody, probably the ones that could travel well. And There was and there went up with him both the chariots and the horsemen, and it was very great gathering. So it was a big gathering, probably had lots and lots of people. then they came to the threshing floor of Eta, which is being the Jordan, and I'm gonna show you that in a minute, of George. And they mourned with a great and very solemn lamentation. Which is to mourn, he observed seven days of mourning for his father. And then the inhabit inhabits inhabitants of the land of Canaan saw mourning at the threshing floor of Adad, and they said, This is a deep mourning of Egyptians, therefore it is called Abel Mitzram. That's what they labeled it as that, which is beyond the Jordan. Reason. So sons so his sons did for him just as he had commanded them, for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of it's called Mecca Mekpela is the name of it, before Mamre, and Abram brought bought the field of Ephron, the Hittite as property for the burial place. After the and after He buried his father, Joseph, returned to Egypt, and he and his brothers all went up with him to bury his father. So everybody was going. So verse 15. So we see Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead. They said, Perhaps Joseph will hate us and may actually repay us for the evil which we did him. So they're already they're afraid. They're turning into scary cats. They're thinking, okay, now my our dad's gone. Joseph, he's going to be vindictive. He's going to bring the heat. Thus, so they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, Before your father died, he commanded, saying, Thus you shall say to Joseph, I beg you, please forgive the trespasses of your brothers in their sins, for they did evil to you. Now please forgive the trespass of the servants of God of your father. And then he goes on to say, Then his brothers also went down and fell before his face, and they said, Behold, we are your servants. Joseph said unto them, Do not be afraid, for I am in a I am I in the place of God? He asked the question, Am I where I am because of God? But as for you, you meant evil for me, but God meant it for good. It in order to bring it about into it. Is the day to so many people alive. So basically, you men evil, God made it for good. I think of when I hear that, I think of this verse. And we know that all things work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are called accord accord according to his purpose. Romans 8 28. That's what I think there. so They were afraid, and he says, Hey, don't be afraid. Now therefore twenty one says therefore, do not be afraid, I will provide for you and your little ones, and he comforted them and spoke kindly. Literally he spoke to their hearts. Joseph's last days in his dream. So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's household, and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years, and Joseph saw Ephraim's children. His son's children to the third generation. The children of Makar, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up to Joseph's knees. And Joseph said to his brethren, I am dying, but God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land to the land of which he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then Joseph took an oath from The children of Eze of Israel or Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here. So don't let don't bury me here. So J Joseph died one hundred and ten and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin to Egypt. So that's the f that is a quick twenty-six verses. Let's dissect them a little bit. Jacob's burial wishes we see right out of the right out of the gate, Joseph, he was understanding. He was an understanding son, is what he was. He understood what his dad was asking. And he was grieving over his father. And Joseph had an understanding and saw his father was buried according to the custom, which essentially is the father was burnt, was a bomb, the father will was mourned over seventy days. So they they mourned him for seventy days. And then some of the officials from Pharaoh's house, they were seeking Pharaoh's permission to take and bury his fathers. So Joseph was part of Pharaoh's house, so he was asking, Can I take my father and bury him? obviously back in Canaan. So So he got after he gets the permission from the Pharaoh, he's unashamedly or organized in a large funeral procession to demonstrate his father's faith. completed the faith with wishes and buried him. So the demonstration of greatness of his father's faith is public. What's what's what's the takeaway? How is your faith in public? He's he's mourned and revered for his Faith to God. And then we see he led his family in acknowledging the fulfilling of his father's faith. So faith. So that's what he was asking. as Jacob was facing his final death, he asked for certain things to be number one brought back to Canaan, and Joseph will ask the same thing. but eternal life, Jacob faced death believing in the promise of eternal life. And you say, I've had this conversation. I forget where it was, might have maybe might have been TikTok or someplace, but there was a lot of conversation about eternal life, being with being in heaven, being faithful, and then one that is an unbeliever, is sinful, doesn't repent, doesn't think he needs God. There's a big dichotomy between the two. But even in Old Testament they believed in heaven and eternal life. outside Olam, the world, they see something as far as where they'll go. They'll go with their fathers, they'll gather with them in those places. So there was a belief in the afterlife, and there was a belief that they were there. Now as far as if I'm bad or good and all that stuff, that's a judgment thing that's done by Jesus and Jesus alone. but He he believed and he gat he was gathered with his people, which means more than a grave. And Jokob Jacob made that statement, gathered with his people. What does that mean? That means there's he's not going in the dirt and that's it. He's obviously anticipating something more after death to be with his family. So that's a a good point to point that out. And far more than journeying one's ancestor to some burial ground. So Life after death, I think you get this in verse twenty nine and I'll reread that for you. What That's in and he charged them and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people, bury me with my fathers, a cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite. So that's in the previous 49th chapter. So he basically wants to be buried. he wants to go to the promised land. The promised land. Even today we we systematically synergize that with heaven. the promised land to heaven. Well to the Egyptians, Canaan was the promised land that God promised to them. As we're promised eternal life, we gotta we have to think of that. We have to we have to again remember what we talked about. We started and gone we have read every single verse and every single chapter. And it's so important important to have this ground secured and foundation because we're pointing to revelations which will be the new her new earth and new heavens. in the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God is going to be the out the the outcome of this world and people that are in him or in his faith and and God brings with him to new heavens new earth so it's a great example of seeing this and he faced it and he believed in the promised land he believed in heaven he remembered The promised land. It's a picture and it's a symbol, even for us today, right? And think about this. a very important fact is when we look at Jacob and we and other great fathers of faith b believed in the land of Canaan that was given unto them. So there's a lot of great with great faith they believed that they were to inherit what? The promised land. They were to inherit the promised land, the land of Canaan. Right, that's the land that God gave them. There was great hope in that. Behind the earthly hope was a heavenly hope, right? And when we look at that, which is far greater, which one's more important? It's that heavenly one that's forever and ever, amen. And you could go back to Genesis twelve, it started in verse one and kind of pick that up a little bit. But they had great hope for a better land and a heavenly land. And They had great hope for the heavenly city, we see that. that had great hope for the entire world. The New Testament tells us what? For the promise he, this is in Romans 4:13, that he should be the heir of this world, was not to Abraham or to the seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. What is righteousness? It's it's it's be ye holy, for I am holy. You're to be is. holy and righteous, you will fail every single day, Paul says, the things I want to do, I don't do, and the things that I shouldn't do, I do. So you're a sinner, you're like me. I sin. Not that it's okay to keep sinning. The key is to stop sinning, turn from that sin. What's the wage? It's death. You continue to sin, the wage will be death. So for the wage, Romans chapter 6, verse 23 says, For the wage, what's a wage? Something you earn of sin, right? Is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through who? Jesus Christ our Lord. There's the gate, there's the magic ticket. There's the answer. All right. So when we think about heaven, Jacob had died and his faith was rewarded. His people gathered, they all gathered and joined and other and joined the other believers that were already in heaven. So we see that. Jacob had just declared now what had happened. As soon as he finished the instructions to his son, he slid back on his bed and he died. That was like instantaneous, right? I'm sure there was a time. There was some times. It wasn't immediate or ASAP, but I think it was i very very much shortly thereafter. And I think of this too. The when I think of our faith and it shall also be reward rewarded when we die. If we believe in the promised seed, who's the promised seed? That'd be Jesus. So if we believe in our Savior of the world, Jesus, truly believe in The Lord Jesus Christ. You have to truly, what does that mean? Well, you gotta have faith, you gotta have belief, and you can't put a toe in the water and say, I believe today and I don't believe tomorrow. Truly, truly believe is what I'm saying. We shall be gathered with Jacob and all the other believers in eternity and hell and in God in eternity, right? And he that believeth on his son has everlasting life, that he believeth not on his son. Shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. John 3 36. So we see the death and the burial. Jacob's buried wishes. Is one of the most detailed accounts of a burial in all of Scripture. We get a lot of details from the death and burial of Jacob. And this is what you know, this detailed burial. This is note how careful Joseph. saw that his father's burial instructions were carried out. He was so precise and he followed. He he he used his own physicians. They embalmed him, right? Just so he would last that t that time frame to be buried in Canaan. Joseph also used Egyptian customs of mourning for the dead ever for for 70 days. So it it wasn't just the seven-day mourn. It was 70 days for this man. So this patriarch So the thought here is we should love those of our family, love them and honor their wishes for burial. Joseph, a dynamic example for us. He gives us a great example of honoring the wishes of his parent and whatever that may be as far as that. So Joseph was about went about his duties. So he conquered the sorrows of life. And he basically returns back to Egypt and goes back into his life. Joseph kept forgiving the spirit. He had that spirit of forgiving. We see the brothers, they realize their father was dead and they feared, gee, Joseph is gonna kill us now. He might take a vengeance. And we find Joseph says, No, no, that's not the case. You don't you don't have to worry about it. That's not what I'm Joseph was a changed man with Christ leading him. And he wasn't going to be vindictive and go after his brothers. And I think his brothers, they even offered to be servants. That's how guilty they felt. But make no mistake about it. So Joseph stayed faithful to who? God. He stayed faithful to God and he lived a fruitful life. And Joseph hung on hung on the great promise of what? God even as he faced death so he's hanging on too so we must be examples of joseph okay we must follow god to the very end of our own lives we have to face the tribal trials and we'll face them in in work in family in finances in business in school in relationships and so forth you will face these trials in your life You this you there's no way around it. So I like the the the forgiving of others. Joseph kept forgiving spirit, he kept that forgiving. Are you forgiving today? Do you forgive somebody? Have you let that go? Have you released that? Have you laid that to Jesus' feet? I would encourage you to think about that. All right. So as I scoot on through. I want to show you some pictures. The pictures are worth a thousand words sometimes. But let me just finish this is when a dynamic example of forgiving, if Joseph could forgive his brothers, we can forgive any a person for anything, no matter how terrible the wrong or evil is done against us, we can forgive that person. In fact, we must. And God demands that. We see that he says, and forgive us of our debts and Or as we forgive our debtors. That's in Matthew 6, 12. So faithfulness is what? Faithfulness lifelong. You can't just, as I said earlier, you can't believe one day and not believe the next day. and go and Joseph lived that fruitful life. And all the way to the end of his life he was faithful. the saving of the world from the total economic fla collapse and the starvation. of that seven year famine. That's what he did. His primary purpose was to save everybody. to bring Israel down to Egypt in order to save them from their godly identity of intermarriage and worldly influence of their neighbor. So they were removed from that situation or that that situation position where they were around with the Canaanites. Two strong lessons that we take from this is both the faithfulness and fruitfulness. Those are the two things we take from Joseph. And we must be faithful to God, folks. All the way to the end. Well done, faithful servant. So what Paul Paul says he he he he pushes towards the mark. So we see the promises of God, the promised land, and that is a again, symbol of th those So the whole house of Israel, so we see the house of Ephraim, which is going to be Israel, the northern kingdom. That's going to be the ten tribes, then the house of Judah, the southern kingdom, has only two. And they have excuse me, Judah and Benjamin will be the two. So Ephraim, his son, is going to be kind of the the the leader of the ten nations. And then you have Judah and then you have Benjamin, which will be Jerusalem, and that'll be the lower part. So we see Benjamin, the tribe of Benjamin. you can see right here with the example. Let me see if I can put it right here. So you can see it right here is tribe of Benjamin. And Jerusalem. See that? Jerusalem's in Benjamin. Okay. So let's see. These are the, you know, the the brothers, Manasseh, Ephraim, Gad, Reuben, Judah, Moab, all those examples, Simon down here. So the merchant caravans. So Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin, what did they do? They plundered trade and caravans. So they attacked it's the the the The fittest, the strongest survive, right? it's it's an innate thing. you know, they overtake people and they think they still do that today. I can give you some personal examples of that. 12 trials, they battled one another. Every man did what? What was righteous in their own eyes? That's it, is a segue into where we are today. Every man is doing what they think is right or woman in the sight of their own eyes. And that is not a good place to be. We should be doing everything in the sight of God's eyes. So Benjamin, uncontrollable, he his concubine killed and cut up, cut up into pieces by Benjamin, a Benjamite man, and he basically sends them to the all all the parts of Israel. Benjamin attacks or tribes attack Benjamin, experts An expert with a stone sling and they were left handed. I I knew that that they are Benjamin. Most of their they were excellent soldiers, they were excellent fighters. I also knew that they were left handed. They were experts with s stones and slings. So the coalition of the army of Israel practically brought the extension or ex extend or extend Benjamin, the tribe of Benjamin. And it never recovered after that. So Israel attacks them and they continue to fight. And they really never recovered from that. So King Saul was what? A Benjamite. So Saul was more a central judge than a king. Queen Esther and Mordecai comes through that lineage. And Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin. So we see that there. Jacob dies, he's buried at the same in the same cave. of Abraham, you can see the cave, g gather to my kin and Jacob believed is in his ancestors and worship. The normal it was normal for that era, by the way, and not to conflict for Jok Jacob, that other gods for other nations. There's a lot of paganism going on in that in that time frame in that world. If Jacob had not been buried in Canaan, He didn't think he'd be able to commune with his father. So if he didn't go back to where his family was, he didn't think he'd have that ability to commune. So Jose Joseph orders Jacob to be embalmed. And not a typical custom for Israelites. And again, I talked about how the distance of his preserving the body was key to afterlife. So so the Egyptians believed if you were embalmed and you were an important person. that you are going to be preserved in the afterlife. And Osares, the god of the underworld, that's the Egyptian god, Osares, right here. Yeah, right there. Osiris. They believe that. A lot of belief factors in paganism. A lot of peg and you know, it's just like our our our our holidays in America today, Christmas, Easter, those are all after gods, pagan gods and time frames and You can do your research on that. And it was started by the Catholic Church. And they're the ones that set the names. I think the reason they were using those time frames and those pagan is they were trying to get more people to the Catholic Church. That's what I think. Anyways, bombing was a religious practice, and Joseph did not want the priest doing the job. Forty days to embalm. It took a while. He had to drain all that out. Following the standard 30-day mourn, which was 70 days. And Joseph and his family took Jacob's body to Canaan. And then we see Egypt was not in calm. Joseph had to promise that he would return. And Joseph was anxious. I mean, Pharaoh was anxious that Joseph would not come back. He was kind of concerned. But the current Pharaoh was still, what, a Seminite, still not an Egyptian. So the seven-year famine at this point is over, right? And the brothers now they get to a point where my dad's gone. I'm a little concerned. So they confront Joseph and they say basically he would not take revenge on them. So they were concerned that he would not. And Jo Joseph reassures them and says to them, He will care for them. And then Joseph dies fifty four years after Jacob. What I find interesting is your Jacob is the first son that is that dies and of all the the the sons. And so when we think about let me see. fifty-four years after Jacob, then 110 years he's considered ideal for an Egyptian lifespan. A honey 120 was a Hebrew lifespan. That's kind of their their their their their area of life and they consider it a long life. but anyways, we learn quite a bit through the book of Geno Genesis from the beginning where God created the world to now we've got the third patriarch has now died. Joseph has died, he's brought back, and we're getting ready to go into Exodus because the people still are going to be in Exodus and there's gonna be a change of leadership and that's going to affect how The exodus story goes. So with that, Chaplain Dean Alley, I had a moment. Take care. Love you.