Dr Dean Alley, PhD: Alright, Chaplin Dean Alley here. I had a moment. I hope you're doing okay. My day is done. I am just finishing a few things up here. I had some slow start this morning with my outlook. It was was not loading properly. And we got it fixed. Anyways, we finished up 44 and 45 yesterday. We are in 46, and I'm gonna try to do 47 today, and we are ever close to chapter 50 of Genesis, which is the close of Genesis. It's been a tremendous study. I hope it's been a good one so far. Still a little bit of work to go. and I hope it is a Blessing to you. So let's just talk about a couple things. So we we talked last time was all about Jacob and his brothers, and he blessed them and he forgave them and he wept on their necks and everything. Now it's time to go get Jacob and bring Jacob to Egypt. And essentially, this is approximately I wasn't there, but the historians and architect people would say about 1660. BC would be generally accepted amongst the scholars. So we're gonna read. I'm gonna read them right through. I'm gonna shift it a little bit, give you a new King James viewpoint, see if it opens up a little bit more. even though I'm a big King James guy, irregardless. But this is from the the King James, and I'm going to read it. Hopefully it's a blessing. So Israel took his journey with all that he had and he came to Bathsheba and offered a sacrifice to God of his father Isaac. Notice that they're always thanking God, they're giving alms, they're giving, you can see this. Then God spoke to Israel, being Jacob, in the visions of night, and said, Jacob, Jacob, and he said, Here I am. You see that theme? We've seen that in the Old Testament and other spots. He's opened up and willing to listen to the spirit or in terms of hearing from God. Are you open in your prayers and at night in your meditation? Those are things to think about. So he says, so he said, I am your God, the God of your father. Do not fear to go down to Egypt. And he says, I will make of you a great nation. I will go down with you to Egypt, and you will surely bring you up again. And Joseph will put his hand on your eyes. So God's telling him that you're gonna die. But I'm gonna bring you back to the land, it'll be Joseph who put his hands on your eyes. They they they put things like I don't know if it's a coin or whatever, but he's God's telling him he's gonna put his hands over your eyes, which is a sign is signifying that he's gonna he's gonna die. Then Jacob arose from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, their and their wives. In the carts which the Pharaoh had sent to carry them. Remember the car caravan they sent in the previous so they took the livestock and their goods which they had acquired in the land of Canaan and went to Egypt. And Jacob and all of his descendants were with him, his sons and his sons' sons, his daughter and his son's daughters, and all the descendants he brought with him to Egypt. Verse 8, now there were the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went down to Egypt. Reuben was the firstborn, Jacob's firstborn, and the sons of Reuben's were. Now you're gonna get the the breakout here of the families. You're gonna get the lineage in the family. The reason they do that, they didn't have a town hall where you registered a register of deeds or your birthday. None of that was there. So they used the format of listing out all of the descendants of each of the people. And they do that for credibility. And we're gonna we're gonna get into this now. And the sons of Rubens were Hanok, Palu, Hezon, Ka, and Karmai, the sons of Simon were Jemael, Jamon, Ohad, Jacan, Zoar, and Shaw, the son of the Canaanite woman. And the sons of Levi were Goshen, Koath, and Meri. And the sons of Judah were Ur, Onan, Shela, Perez, and Zerah, but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Haron and Hamuel. The sons of Ishkar were Tol, Tola, Huva, Job, and Shimron. The sons of Zebulun were Seard, Elon, and Jehil. These were the sons of Leah, who she bore to Jacob in Panoram and his daughter Dinah. All the persons and his sons and his daughters were thirty-three. The sons of Gad were Zippon, Hegia, Shunai, Ezabon, Eri, Eri, and Erah. Lai and the sons of Asher were Jemena, Isha, Ishu, Baru, Sira, their sister, and the sons of Barra were Hebrew and Mak Makel. And then it says in verse eighteen, the sons there were sons of Zilpa, who whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these son these These she bore to Jacob were sixteen persons. And the sons of Rachel's Jacob's wife were Joseph and Benjamin, and Joseph Excuse me, in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh in Ephraim. Those are two key key names you want to remember. Ashana and the daughter of Potopari, the priest, on bore to him. And then it says the sons of Benjamin were Bella, Belkar, Eshbel, Erah, Nahaman, Erah, Brosh, Mupin, Pupin. And Ard and these sons of Rachel, whom were born to Jacob, fourteen in all. The sons of Dan was Hushman, the sons of Nephali were Jezeel, Gunni, Jezer, and Shilim. And these were the sons of what we see is Bella, who Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these. Jacob seven persons in all. And all the persons went down with Jacob to Israel or to Egypt, who came from his body, besides Jacob's sons and wives, all all were sixty-six persons in all. And the sons of Joseph were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob went up, went to Egypt, were seventy. So then He sent Judah before him and Joseph to point out were point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came to the land of Goshen, and Joseph made ready for the chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel, and he presented himself to him, fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. So he's there, he's just happy, glad, he's he's crying on his dad. And Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive. Then Jose Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, I will give I will go up and tell Pharaoh and say to him, My brothers and those of my father's house who were here in the land of Canaan have come to me. And the men of the shepherds, for their occupation had been to feed the livestock, and there and they have been brought their flocks and their their herds and all that they have. So it had sh it shall be when Pharaoh calls you, says and says, What is your occupation? That ye shall say your servant occupation by has been with livestock from your youth even till now, both we and also our fathers that go that you may dwell in the lands of Goshen for every shepherd is an abomination to Egypt. So they they looked down on him and they didn't see him as a really high position or anything like that. Forty seven, this is where Jacob's family gets on it then Joseph went up to the Pharaoh and said, My father and my brothers, their flocks, their herds, and all that they had possessed has come to the land of Canaan, and indeed they have in the land of Goshen. And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. And then Pharaoh said to the brothers, What is your occupation? And they said to Pharaoh, Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our father. And they said to Pharaoh, We have come to dwell in thy land because your servants have no pastures for flocks, for the famine famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land in Egypt before you have you have your father and your brothers dwell in the best lands and let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know of any competent competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock. So so he's looking to get some of the professional herdsmans. And then yeah. And Joseph says in verse 7, Joseph brought in his father, Jacob, and he sat him before the Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Jacob, How old are you? And Jacob said to Pharaoh that the days of his years of the pilgrim pilgrimage are 130 years. few and evil have been in been the days of my years of my life. And they have not attained to the days of the the years of the life of my father fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. So Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the Pharaoh and Joseph situated his father and his brothers and gave them possession of the land in Egypt, and the best land in the land of Ramasis as Pharaoh had commanded. Then Joseph provided his fathers and his brothers and all that the fathers household with bull bread and according to the number in their families. Now there was no bread in the land that famine was very severe. So that the land in Egypt and the land in Canaan languished because of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which he they had bought, for the grain which they bought, and Joseph's brought the money into the Pharaoh's house. So when the money failed in the land of Egypt, and In the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed. So when there's no money, what are you gonna do for me? So Joseph, give me your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone, so that your bread your So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for their horses, flocks, and cattle and herds. And the donkeys. Thus he fed them with the bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year. Verse 18. When that year had ended, they had come they came to him the next year and said to him, We will not hide from my Lord, and our money is gone. My Lord also has our furs and livestocks. Therefore, or there is nothing left in the sight of my Lord but our bodies and our lands. And then Why should we die before thee, both we in the land, buy us and our land for our bread, and we will be your serv in the land, and we will be of servants of Pharaoh. Give us seed that we may live and not die, and the land may not be desolate. Then Joseph brought all the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, for Pharaoh bought it all, and every man to of the Egyptians sold their field because of the famine. was severe upon them. And said the land became Pharaoh's. And as the people, he moved them into the cities from one end to of the borders of Egypt to the other, only the land of the priests he did not buy. The priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they did not sell their lands. So then Joseph said to the people, indeed, I have bought I have bought you and your land This day for Pharaoh. Look here is the seed for you, and you shall sow in the land. And it came to pass in the harvest that you shall go, you shall give one fifth to Pharaoh, four fifths shall be your own, and the seed for the field and your food, and f those of your household and your food for the little ones. So they said, You have saved our lives, let us Find favour in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day that Pharaoh should have one fifth of except the land of the priests only which did be not become Pharaohs. So here's the promise that Joseph will make. So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt in the country of Goshen, and he had possessions there, and grew and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land and in of Egypt seventeen years, so that the length of Jacob's life was one hundred and forty-seven years. When the time drew near, Israel must die. He called his son Joseph, and he said to him, Now I have found favor in your sight. Please put your hand under my thigh. Just a custom. And under my Yeah. Yeah, put In your side, I put it under my thigh. I deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt. So he doesn't want to be buried there. But let me lie with my fathers. You carry me out of Egypt and bury me in that burial place. And he said, I will do as you have said. Then he said, Swear to me. And he swore to him. So Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed. And that's the end of 47. So tremendous. Tremendous. So let's walk through it a little bit and I will talk on the highlights here. So Jacob, let's start in 46. Jacob committed all that he had and he began the journey and he took what he had. Jacob stopped to worship and to seek assurance from God. That is a message. We need to stop sometimes and ask God, is this what you want me to do? Let me do your will. And Jacob was very poignant about that, and we see that. Quickly obeyed God, and then Jacob obeyed God with his entire family. And he led them out to follow God to move to Egypt. So we get the sense that they're all moving. And then we went through the full lineage of each of the sons. And when we think about it, let's just look at a couple points on that, on these first twenty-seven verses. so the greatest thing in the world is always what? To do God's will, folks. And why? Because the greatest possession in all the world are given to those who really do God's will. Yeah, think about that. Think of the things love, joy, peace, faith, hope. I want you to think about supply and provision, the protection, the security, the purpose, the guidance, the fulfillment and satisfaction of life. Where does that come from? That comes from our Lord. So we see the commitment. Jacob committed everything and he began his journey. And we think about this. God demanded total commitment to his will. Total commitment involved two acts for him. One, we are told that the commitment to God to do his will, we actually begin the journey. And then when he makes the total commitment to God's will, we take all with us. So you start going forward in God's will and you take everything with you. So there was two acts of there. So we see the assurance of the covenant. Jacob stopped to seek the assurance of God. He stopped in Beersheba, there where he lived for many years prior to that when he was a child. I just, it just gives us pause to see this great patriarch just stop and give give alms. Give the thankfulness, right? So when we think about the essential to seek God's will in any major decision in life, I think that's important. One of the major ways to seek the will is to get alone and to worship him, meditate on him, spend time and pray with him, and show and and and to him exactly what we should do. That's what we should be aspiring to do. I know I did that a few last year. We did that. Gene and I, we had some big decisions to make. And we asked God's will and he showed it to us. And the obedience we see in 46 or the obedience of Jacob, he obeyed God. When God tells us to do something, folks, we must do it and do it when? Immediately. Shouldn't drag our feet on this. Well, let me think about this. We must be quick to obey God. That's what we should be doing. That's the message. Genealogy, obedience of Israel. Jacob obeyed God and his whole family. He took them all with him down to Egypt. And you think about this. With within your family, who's responsible to see that everybody does God's will? Who is the leader and the head of your family? Is it the husband? Is it the wife? Is it the father, mother, single parent, dorm? The who's leading the family? Who's the patriarch of your family? So let's look at Some more. So picking it up in verse 28, then the family was reunited, brought together. Family received the help and guidance with direction. The family had their needs met. We see Jacob was given a chance to bear a strong testimony, and Joseph was given the opportunity to minister and to serve both the physical as well as the Spiritual need for his family. And when we look at his family in the unity, Jacob and his family were reunited because what basically reunited reunited because they had had done God's will. Every one of them had done God's will and it worked out good for them and had a good reunion. So what happens family guidance is when we do God's will, we receive help, we receive guidance and And you will receive direction in your life. And it's so important that we do this and not hesitate. And we do that sometimes, right? What do we do? We hem, we haw, we don't like it, we turn around and we want to do things our way. That's just the human nature. So, what happens when God's will, we receive help, guidance, and direction in our life? God's will use someone, some minister, some believer, and help us through the trial. He'll send somebody to help you with the problem you're facing. So when we think about the needs and the provisions of this family, what happens when we do God's will? Our needs are met. Note that it happened to Jacob and his family. And I would think, I just think when I I see this, what happens when we do God's will? Our needs are met, but God will always meet the needs if we will obey him. but obedience. Doing exactly what God says is essential. So just think there's provision to meet and every need that we have, but we have to submit and we have to you'll you hear you hear it all the time talk about you gotta give it to God. So when we look at the testimony of witnessing ever, what happens when we do his will? Well, we have a chance to tell people about your strong testimony. Did you have a great week at church this week? Was the pastor a blessing? Is that something you can share in your testimony? These are just thoughts. And then I think about what happens when we do God's will. We have the opportunity to bear that witness, and we could do it in front of in in in in terms of in front of God and give him the glory, right? So, what happens when we do God's will? Well, the opportunity to minister to serve others as Joseph did, and he had given his heart to the Lord, he had committed himself to follow the Lord. Folks, are you committed? Follow the Lord today. Right, so Jacob, the thought. What happens? We do God's will. we have the opportunity that's given to serve others, to minister to him. If we follow him, he will use us to help others. I know and he'll use you mightily. And we must note that he will he will use a dirty vessel. I always often think, I mean, I can't believe God uses me, but he uses me in a great way to minister to different people that need help and it can be in a dynamic way. And he sets this up for us as long as we're following God and we're giving him the glory. So Jacob's preparing to die. So we're at the end of the 47. So we see the introduction, he prepares his death. We all died, right? We if we exist, we shall die. It's appointed once to die, as it says. And death is an edible, and scripture has three simple words. Israel must die. Simply put, Israel must die. He will. We all will. So we think about that. Jake, Jacob, he'll die. And let me give you a couple visuals here because it's always important to see the visual. So let me pull this visual up and bring it in here. So 46, let me share. All right. I hope you can see that. That is Genesis 46. So the era of the patriarchs will be over. Why do I say that? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That era of patriarchs are now going to be over as soon as Jacob leaves. Abraham and Isaac are dead. Jake and Jacob's about to run he's he's he's about to join them. And Israel is now given a nation status and assume their name as Israelites. So this is where it becomes you had the patriarchs. Patriarchs have now gone or getting ready to go in Jacob's case. And they're now gonna be a great nation, and they're going to be Israelites. So Jacob suspected the time of the subjugation had arrived. Jacob was well aware of the prophetic words of God to Abraham. And we go back to Genesis fifteen, twelve. Your descendants will be strangers in the land, not yours. They will be enslaved for four hundred years. That's coming, folks. They're gonna be enslaved because it's gonna be a different regime. So Jacob knew he was gonna die in Egypt. Jacob had a vision at Beersheba. And God tells Jacob not to be afraid about going down or going to Egypt. But God says Egypt, Israel will become a great nation. Jacob offers, offered sacrifices at Beersheba and Zephem, a specific kind of sacrist. That's just the name of a sacrifice that they use. And Jacob. Use an altar to sacrifice, probably the same one that Isaac did in prior chapters. So God's God's word thought to be territorial. So an in an un an an unquestionable belief in God's observing national boundaries. Jacob feared by going to Egypt he'd leave Jehovah. He thought he'd lose lose God behind. He'd leave him behind. But Jehovah says. I will I myself will go with you. So he gets reassurance. Statements like this are not idle comments, folks, when we read them in the Bible. Those are pretty important. While it is incorrect, the people believed it. So we look at the g genealogy from verse eight to twenty five, were neither either added at later dates or were heavily modified. We don't know. The numbers don't add up and it's different than First Chronicles and Numbers twenty-six. Is it a typo? Is it a misprint? Is I don't know. I wasn't there. But we've got a sense of what it is, and he gives us those numbers. But Benjamin in his twenties at this time is now with what ten sons. It's clearly impossible. Genealogy have been inserted and amended for several reasons. Clans have died out, additional information was added. available and added. So we see the changes that happen over time with different Examples. So 70 is a symbolic number. Biblically, 70 indicates the completion of a cycle. More than 70 individu individuals went down to Egypt. Any censor counted only the males. So remember, we didn't count the children or the women. At least as many females and males would have been part of Israel. Probably something like 150 to 200 people went to Egypt. Some of the people had been taken from Shechem. As the son of Israel raided the city and also would have acquired some foreign slaves. So they'd have had some more people that were under their responsibility. All the genealogies had a method and purpose, never done at random, or for any reason for being approximate. The Genesis 46 listed was Leah's children, second was Zilpah, and then Leah's servant, and then third was Rachel's children. And the last was Billah, which was Rachel's servant. Notice Manasseh and Ephraim. Remember, I said, remember that. Were included, obviously born in Egypt, didn't come out of Canaan. The original verse in 28 probably was immediately after verse 7. You're going to learn a little bit about that. So the happy reunion. So apparently, Judah was now firmly entrenched as an as an heir, apparently, basically. and Israel immediately go to Goshen. Joseph goes to tell Pharaoh of the arrival of his family. The upper Egypt was the south. Lower Egypt was considered the north. So the land of Goshen becomes the Israelites' official home in Egypt. So they are you can see where you see Goshen's up here by the lower part. So verse forty seven we see Jacob meets Pharaoh. And the meeting in the agenda was pre-planned and because he knows he tells his family what to say about their occupation. So Pharaoh asked their occupation, which you know, Joseph knew that was gonna happen. And then Jacob probably the oldest man the Pharaoh had ever met, because he was 130 years old. Pharaoh gains the ownership of all of Ezra Israel Egypt because of what Joseph sets up. So the famine obviously got worse. People ran out of money to buy grain, so they sold their livestock. When that livestock was gone, they sold their land to Pharaoh. When the land was gone, they sold themselves to Pharaoh as slaves. But it was Joseph's face that they saw and dealt with. It wasn't Pharaoh himself. The land leased back to the former owners, so they became serfs. So that's how they got the name serfs. And beginning of the hatred. It was Joseph's plan and administration. Joseph was seen seen as taking the people's land as in liberty. Israel prospered up in Goshen. The current Semite Pharaoh, remember he was an Egyptian, didn't care about what Egypt Egyptian people thought because he wasn't Egyptian. So after Joseph died, Egypt took retribution by enslaving the now prosperous Hebrews. This is where we find that that four hundred years he starts to take there's a You're gonna see that there'll be a new Pharaoh that'll come on. So Jacob only's remaining tasked and blessed. And Jacob is survived for 17 years in Egypt. He dies at 147 years of age, made Joseph a promise that he his remains would be taken back to Canaan, back to the promised land. Being buried in Canaan was not about nationalism, wasn't about the identity. being buried in Canaan was not about nationalism, but the primary was about an and s ancestral or the ancestor worship and how could he be gathered to his kin in his body and spirit if he was in Egypt. That was kind of the thinking in that time frame. So again, so where do we finish? essentially we finish up with chapter forty seven and Jacob has now died, right? And And he made him swear to him. and then we're gonna pick up verse we're gonna pick up chapter forty eight and forty-nine. I don't know if I can squeeze fifty if it's a short one. I don't know. But Jacob's dying blessing is prophetic to the tribes. He's gonna tell his kids. And it's a great I love how he he especially when he talks to Reuben about being unstable. Anyways, so that is 46, 47. I hope it's a blessing. I hope you got something out of that. Again, we are progressing line by line, precept by precept, talking about from a Bible study and a standpoint of what the Bible says in Genesis. You gotta have that basis of knowing what the foundation is for you to understand a lot of the the other parts of the Bible, especially the New Testament. And once you have that basis, like Genesis, and we're gonna go to Exodus. So basically. We're gonna learn, we've talked about it from the beginning, all the way to where the patriarchs are now going, are are are gone. Now they'll be Israelites, and we've got three chapters left to talk about it, but they become enslaved when there's a new Pharaoh that takes over. So, anyways, Chaplain Dean Alley, I had a moment. I hope it was a blessing. You take care. God bless.