Blessing Pharoah - Genesis 46:28-47:13

46:28-47:6 - It seems like for all his boys, Jacob has come to rely on Judah the most to run the show. On the way down to Egypt from Canaan, Jacob sends Judah to Joseph so that they could know exactly where he wanted them to go. When Judah gets to Joseph, he is directed to the land of Goshen, for the reasons that we’ve discussed previously, such as keeping Joseph’s family away from the corruptive influence of the unbelieving Egyptians and also allowing them to pursue shepherding in a community that hates shepherds. Upon Joseph instructing Judah to go to Goshen, Judah returns to his father Jacob, and Joseph “made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father… and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.” I can’t imagine how this feels for Jospeh and Jacob both, truly never thinking that they’d see each other again. I wonder if this is how I would feel if one of my children was taken away for 20 years, I’m sure it is.

While settling in Goshen, Joseph wants to take his father and brothers to Pharoah to introduce them, so he chooses 5 men to take with him to meet Pharoah. It might just be the fact that Pharoah is important to Joseph and he wants to introduce the other important members of his family. It’s possible because Pharoah had given Joseph’s family such great land, they wanted to say thank you. But now that I think about it, if Joseph’s whole clan had just showed up and gone right to settle in the best land without greeting Pharoah, it would definitely be seen as a sign on disrespect, and that’s pretty consistent today, I would think.

The important thing here though, is that Joseph warns his family that when Pharoah asks their occupation, answer that they are cattle herders instead of sheep herders, “for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.” After being introduced to Pharoah, it seems like they tell Pharoah that they are shepherd but I don’t see where it says cattle vs sheep, and maybe it didn’t matter because the Pharoah would have been one of those “shepherd kings” that the Egyptians hated so much. But either way, Pharoah not only gives them the land of Goshen, but also decides to “make them rulers over my cattle.”

47:7-13– Here Joseph introduces his father Jacob to Pharoah and Jacob blesses him, I’m not exactly sure what that means but during the conversation, Pharoah asks Jacob how old he is, and Jacob answers, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” Jacob sounds pretty beaten down by life, and even though I think he’s done some pretty crappy things during his life time, I can understand why he feels this way.

The IM notes, “In comparison with Abraham, who lived 175 years, and Isaac, who lived to be 180, Jacob’s 130 years to this point could be described as smaller or ‘few.’ The word which is translated as ‘evil’ actually means ‘sorrowful’ or ‘full of toil and trouble.’ Remembering Jacob’s flight to Haran to escape Esau’s wrath, his years of labor for Laban, his wives and their contentions, his pilgrimage in the land of Canaan, the death of Rachel, and his years of sorrowing for the loss of Joseph contributes to a better understanding of why he would say his days were full of trouble and toil.” I could understand this point of view.

After Jacob blesses Pharoah, they all leave and go back to the land of Goshen and get settled, “and Jospeh nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.” I can’t help but marvel at Joseph’s actions here because I’m kind of facing a similar conundrum myself. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, he suffered immensely because of what they did. And it’s not like Joseph’s suffering was some unexpected outcome, they knew that by selling him into slavery, they were condemning him to a short, horrific life, they knew this when they did it! It would be one thing if Joseph forgave them and helped them survive because of his God given position, but he went above and beyond that.

He was happy to see them, he wanted them all to be in his life, he’s acting like they were long lost school friends who were separated by time and random circumstances only to be reunited again through a happy accident. That’s not what happened at all. They hurt him, they facilitated his torture, and we know that Judah seems to have improved his attitude, but we don’t know that all of the brothers did, it’s possible, and even likely, that many of the brothers were still insufferable little turds. But none of that mattered, he wanted them back.

It’s also telling that we never hear an apology or any kind of penance for their misdeeds. It might be implied but we don’t ever see any of that. I am a firm believer in boundaries, and while I feel like I’ve forgiven, I am not super interested in moving them into my “Goshen” and taking care of everyone. I don’t know it’s kind of a tough spot to be in and I don’t know what the right or best thing to do is, so take care of myself.

The rest of chapter 47 deals with how Pharoah used the grain that had been taxed from the Egyptian citizens during the years of surplus to extract all the wealth of Egypt from the populace to himself and we’ve already discussed that in a previous post.