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1 So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, "Jacob, Jacob!" And he said, "Here I am." 3 So He said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. 4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes." ~ Genesis 46:1-4
Today, we transition into Genesis 46. The past many stories which were focused on Joseph reveal to us glimpses of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, all the way through the church age and to the point to the end times when Israel will again turn to the God of the Bible. These true stories showed us a woven tapestry which spanned over 2000 years of history, clearly demonstrating that there was a plan for the world during Israel’s time of exile and that there is a plan to preserve Israel through the time of the Tribulation.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac."
In this chapter, the name Israel and the name Jacob are used several times, sometimes even in the same sentence. Jacob is Israel as an unbeliever and Israel is Jacob as a believer. As a believer Israel is the believer being by the Spirit who always acts in concert with the Word of God. Jacob is the pictured as the believer who being defined by the flesh. Like him, when we are led by our flesh we do the dumbest of things which always lead us away from God and His purposes for our lives. In this verse, it was Israel who set out on this journey of obedience. It was in the context of obedience that Jacob worshipped God.
I would imagine that this particular worship service for Jacob was the best he had ever experienced. Jacob's first worship service was in Bethel while he was on his way to Padan Haran. This was at the time when Jacob was fleeing for his life from his brother Esau. While at Bethel, he had a vision in the night of the angels of God descending and ascending into heaven on a ladder. In that place he called it the house of God which is what Bethel means. It was a wonderful moment for Jacob since God met him there but he was yet uncertain about his future. Then Jacob said to the Lord, "If You will bring me back to this place, then You will be my God." Eventually, God brought him back to Bethel which caused his fellowship with God to deepen.
In the larger scheme of things, Jacob's story wasn’t just about one family moving to Egypt to make their life better. It was about how that family’s decision fit into the bigger story that God was writing. When Jacob moved his family to Egypt, God began to unfold the rest of His story with Israel throughout the rest of the Old Testament. All of this, eventually, led to the birth of the Messiah. God almost always blesses us with others in mind.
Jacob's journey from Hebron where he lived at that time to Beersheba was 26.5 miles. It took him about a week to get there. Beersheba is the contraction of two words, Beer which means "well" and Sheba which means both "oath" and "seven." So Beersheba was "the well of the oath." Abraham and later Isaac both took an oath at that very spot. It was there at Beersheba that Jacob offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. As is always the case with those of faith in the God of the Bible, our sacrifices are mere expressions of our allegiance to the One who created us, the One who has called us to be defined by Him.
In v.2 of today's passage we read, "Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, 'Jacob, Jacob!' And he said, 'Here I am.'"
The God of Israel spoke to Jacob who had to that point lived a fairly faithless life. In that context God came to Jacob on his level to comfort him. God called out his name not once, but twice. The first time God did this was in Genesis 22 when Abraham was just about to plunge the knife into his son Isaac. The word "visions" is the plural of the word "glass" indicating that Jacob saw God, not directly, but as in a mirror. It was reflective. The weakness of Jacob's faith explains the up and down nature of his walk with God. The more we see God with our hearts the more we will draw nearer to Him and the more we will walk with Him.
In response to God's communication, Jacob said, "Here I am." This is the second time that Jacob spoke these words to God. The first was in Genesis 31 when God spoke to him and told him to return to Canaan after being away for those many years. And now this time when he was leaving Canaan for what will be many long years in Egypt. Interestingly, Joseph responded with these same words when Jacob asked him to go see how his brothers were doing in the fields with the flocks. That was the last time Jacob ever saw Joseph, but it was the very thing that precipitated the move he was making to Egypt.
In v.3-4 of today's passage we read, "So He said, 'I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.'"
God reiterated the promises that He had given Jacob before. He did this because, like us, Jacob forgot so easily and so quickly. The word "remember" is such an important word in the Bible. It is used 352 times and when its variants are counted, that number jumps to more than 550 times. God must sometimes lead us into the dark room of uncertainty in order to develop great faith in us.
That night in Beersheba God made three promises to Israel. The first was that He was going down with him to Egypt. We can do anything as long as God is with us. Then God promised: "I will also surely bring you up again." That promise was fulfilled when 2.1 million Jews came out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus and they carried Jacob's bones with them. And the third promise was that Joseph would put his hand on Jacob's eyes. This meant that Joseph would be with Jacob at his death. God was telling Jacob that Joseph would be the one to close his eyes at his death.
While it was not the will of God for Abraham and Isaac to go to Egypt, the will of God for Jacob was to go there. The will of God for me may not be the will of God for you and the will of God for you may not be the will of God for me. Certain things will be the same across the board but individually the will of God will vary for us all. Whatever the will of God is for you and me, it will be good, acceptable, and perfect. The key for you and me is that we are being defined by Him.
