The Story

Did you learn last Sunday how Joseph, who was now a great man in Egypt, told his brothers who he was and spoke to them so kindly, and told them to go home and bring their old father Jacob and all the family and their sheep and cattle to live in the land of Goshen? Pharaoh heard about Joseph's brothers and he, too, told Joseph to send for his father and the family and to give them a home in the best of the land. He told Joseph, also, to send wagons in which Jacob and others who were feeble could ride. So Joseph gave them wagons and much food for the journey and presents, and said, "See that ye fall not out by the way."

They came to Jacob and told him about Joseph. At first his heart fainted, for he could not believe it. When he saw the wagons, that helped him to believe, and he said, "It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive. I will go and see him before I die."

We must follow Jacob and the family in their journey from Hebron, stopping at Beersheba to offer sacrifices, and then by the way which we know along the shore of Egypt. Their home was to be in the land of Goshen, a land of good pastures, where a canal from the Nile carried water and greenness farthest to the east. It was the first part of Egypt which they came to. Joseph made ready his chariot and went to meet them there. He took five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh. They told Pharaoh that they were shepherds, and just as Joseph hoped, he told them to make their home in the good pastures of Goshen. And Joseph brought his old father to Pharaoh. If you have the picture of Jacob before Pharaoh, it will help you. And read Gen. 47:7-10. So the family lived in Goshen and Joseph took care of them there.

Judah had been speaking to Joseph, telling him why they could not go back to their father without Benjamin. As Joseph saw the faithfulness of the brethren to Benjamin and their love for their father, he knew that he could trust them, and that he could tell them who he was, and he forgave them.

Read the first verses of our new chapter. (Gen. 45:1-15) Weeping is not always from sadness. We weep sometimes for joy. Remember how Jacob and Esau wept at their meeting, when Jacob came back to the Holy Land. (Gen. 33:4) The brethren were troubled, or terrified, when they first knew that the great man of Egypt was Joseph, and that they were in his power. But Joseph comforted them, and told them that the Lord's providence was over his coming into Egypt, and had made it the means of saving many people, and even themselves, alive. The title "A father to Pharaoh" shows how important Joseph's position was as adviser to the king. See Judges 17:10.

There had now been famine for two years; how much longer would it last? "Earing" means ploughing. Joseph could care better for his father, and his brethren, and all their families, and their flocks and herds, if they would come and be near him in Egypt. Goshen was the eastern part of the delta land of Egypt, where a canal from the Nile reaches out into the desert and carries greenness with it. It was land that was especially good for pasture, and Jacob and all his family were shepherds. Read also of Pharaoh's kindness in verses 16-20. Notice the charge which Joseph gave his brethren as they started: "See that ye fall not out by the way." How their old father received them, you learn in the last verses of chapter 45. So Jacob and his family came into Egypt.

It is a very touching scene, the old man Jacob before the king, no doubt in his palace at Zoan, near to the land of Goshen. "How old art thou?" was Pharaoh's question. Jacob was a hundred and thirty years old, not as old as Isaac and Abraham had lived to be. Abraham was a hundred and seventy-five years old, and Isaac was a hundred and eighty. (Gen. 25:7; 35:28) Then the old man blessed Pharaoh.

It came about as Joseph had wished: Jacob and his family should live in Goshen and have the good pastures for their flocks; some of them should also be keepers of Pharaoh's cattle. In verse 11 it is called the land of Rameses. This was another name for the same part of Egypt, perhaps including Goshen and somewhat more. You recognize Rameses as being the name of some of the great kings of Egypt.

1. Why were Joseph's brothers troubled when he made himself known to them? How did he comfort them?

2. What did Joseph tell his brethren to do? What did Pharaoh say?

3. What did Jacob think when his sons brought word of Joseph? What gave him courage to believe them?

4. Where were Jacob and his family given a home? What made Pharaoh the more willing to have them have that land?

5. What question did Pharaoh ask Jacob?

Spiritual Study

The selling of Joseph into Egypt represents in us and in the church the loss of a living sense of the Lord's nearness and Divineness, such as existed with the early Christians, giving place to an interest largely historical and scientific. Even so, the knowledge of the Lord is the most precious of knowledges, and there is need for the laying of an historical and scientific basis which will make a spiritual faith when it is regained more enduring. The coming of the brothers and family to Joseph in Egypt means that all the particulars of religious life and worship are dependent on the central element of faith in the Lord; they live from it and share its vicissitudes. The Egyptian experience interests us vitally because it has so much in common with the state of Christianity today. A return to the living faith in the Lord of early days (and now with a stronger basis) is pictured and promised in the burial of Joseph in the field of Shechem in the land of Canaan, for burial means resurrection. An application to the Jewish Church is shown in the Arcana. (A. 5915, 6591-6596)

Joseph's words of comfort to his brethren, that it was not they who sent him to Egypt but God, that he might preserve life, remind us that the Lord's providence is over all things, even over the trials of life and the wrong that people do, to make all things contribute as far as possible to spiritual life. (A. 6570-6575)

The kindness of Pharaoh to Jacob and his family suggests the help which all natural knowledge and power should give to the heavenly life. Wagons, which make the strength of the work animals more effective, represent forms of truth and doctrine that help the mind in its reasonings and conclusions. Many such helps spiritual thought finds in nature and in the letter of the Word. See a somewhat similar lesson in the help given to Solomon by Hiram and his ships. (A. 5945, 5971)

Jacob’s family was made more sure of the land which Joseph desired for them because they were shepherds. A spiritual shepherd protects and cherishes affections of innocence and charity. Remember the Lord's charge to Peter: "Feed my lambs; feed my sheep." (John 21:15-17) If one is a shepherd and remains a shepherd and insists on being a shepherd, that person is safe in the Egypt of natural development and natural knowledge. This spirit separates and protects people from the natural pride in knowledge for its own sake and the natural desire to use knowledge for selfish and evil ends, the Egyptian who abominates the shepherd. (A. 6052)

What deeper thought is contained in Pharaoh's question to Jacob, "How old art thou?" A special meaning in Jacob's answer is noted in A. 6098. In connection with Pharaoh's question, consider also the words of the Psalm: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." (Ps. 90)

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