Are You Sure? - Genesis 46:1-27

46:1-27 - The joy felt by learning of Jospeh’s wellbeing in Egypt must have been countered equally with dread when Jacob realizes that his sons are planning, to take the whole family from their lands in Canaan to Egypt, permanently. Why the trepidation about leaving Canaan where there was a years long famine and going to Egypt, where they would have the best lands and plenty of food because of the political position held by his long lost favorite son? First, Jacob was born in the land of Canaan and his brother Esau lived in that area, so he would be leaving his childhood home and family. This is a double edged sword though because it seems he had a tenuous relationship with Esau.

But familiarity wouldn’t have been enough to discourage Jacob from going to Egypt. Second, we have to remember that even though Jacob was born in this land, he had to flee it for his safety in his formative years, and on his journey away there was a spiritual awakening with visions where God promised “the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.” Jacob is promised the land of Canaan as a blessed and promised land, but his vision was more than that. It wasn’t just “oh I’ll give you this nice place,” Jacob realized “surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.. How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” and he creates an alter there. God gave Jacob this land as a blessing and in fact, than 20 years previously, Jacob was commanded by God to get his family out of the land of Haran to the land of Canaan and all the effort that came with that. It would have been easy for Jacob to assume that this most recent trip back to Canaan would have been the place where he was to spend the rest of his life and that the matter had been settled.

There was more to the decision than just weighing leaving God’s promised land, it wasn’t all just promises and prosperity that came to Jacob’s mind when his sons started talking about moving to Egypt. TB notes, “Let’s examine for a moment what Jacob’s mindset must have been about their leaving Canaan, and going down to Egypt to join his most beloved son, Joseph. Of course, he was grateful beyond measure that his long lost son was alive, and soon, he would be back together with him. And, he was now certain that his clan, the 12 tribes of Israel, would survive the famine that had gripped the world, due to Joseph’s ability to care for them. But Jacob wondered what would be the more long-term result of their migration to Egypt.”

It wasn’t just leaving the promised land, but there was also the prophecy given to Abraham in a vision, saying in Genesis 15:13, “Abram, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.” TB wonders is this move to Egypt was setting in motion more than just surviving the famine, saying, “Was his about to become the fulfillment of the prophecy about the Hebrews’ fate, given I a dream to his grandfather Abraham, so many years earlier? Jacob would have known all about this prophecy, and would have heard it from his grandfather’s own mouth, and again from his father Isaac’s; and it disturbed him… It made him anxious and afraid… Jacob well knew that if his taking his family to Egypt to survive the famine was the time and fulfillment of what God spoken to Abraham… that he would die down in Egypt, and that Jacob was in essence removing his family from the promised land for the purpose of their becoming enslaved in Egypt… for an extended period of time. He knew that 4 centuries would pass before his family would once again be free and move back to the land promised by God to the Hebrews.”

It would have been an appalling proposition to move his family to a place where he knew that they would become slaves and 400 years. Think about how it would be to move your own family to a place, knowing that it was going to be a disaster for them. That’s how I feel about moving to where I am now. If I had known how rough of an experience it was going to be to leave home and move here, I probably wouldn’t have come, despite having a direct personal confirmation that I was supposed to move. But I did was Jacob did when faced with this conflicting but seemingly divine decision and prayed about it. My prayers weren’t as dramatic as Jacob’s because he went “to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.” I got an answer too, but Jacob’s, again, was more dramatic with “visions of the night,” where God told Jacob “fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation.” Jacob gets his answer that he should take his family to Egypt to live with Joseph, regardless of what he might be afraid that the future holds.

There is another reason why Jacob might have been hesitant to leave Canaan and we’re reminded of that when he journeys all the way up to Beer-sheba to ask the Lord for guidance instead of just praying in his tent. We have to remember that the predominant belief at this time, and even one that apparently even Jacob held, was that gods were only powerful in their specific, physical land. This means that if Jacob left the land of Canaan, he truly believed that the God of his fathers and the God that had been speaking with him this whole time, would have been forced to remain in the land of Canaan and Jacob would have had to go to Egypt without this divine Guider. Leaving behind your home and possibly sending your family into a generations long trap would have been daunting enough, but imagine that you’d have to leave your God behind as well, that might be the deal breaker.

Fortunately for Jacob, God continues, “I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.” God assures Jacob that he will not have to leave his God behind in Canaan and that his God is so powerful that he can cross boundaries and supersede all other gods that they will encounter. Plus, he was promised that he would see Joseph again. Surely it occurred to Jacob that at his age, this journey to Egypt might have been too strenuous and that he might die in route. It might have also occurred to him that he might need to stay behind because of his old age and health, but here God has promised that not only will Jacob go on the journey, but that he will survive it and physically see Joseph again.

This is enough convincing for Jacob and he has his family load up the wagons sent by Pharaoh and all their possessions and animals “and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him.” The next several verses and a recounting of all of Jacob’s decedents up to this point sorted by who their mother is, but I’m not going to go over all that, but in total there are 70 people descended from Jacob and they all leave Canaan and go into Egypt with him.