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7 Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How old are you?" 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." 10 So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. 11 And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families. ~ Genesis 47:7-12
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 47 where we are allowed to peak into a conversation between Jacob and the Pharaoh. This exchange between these two men, though brought about by Joseph, was actually planned by God. Every detail that happens in our lives is orchestrated by God to demonstrate His providential power over everything. There is not even one rogue atom in all of the universe known to man. And even the unwanted moments that come into our lives all have a profound impact on our lives and the lives of those whom we love.
The lies of evolution and global warming present for all to see a world where God seems to lack control and unable to keep His promises. The fact is our God is great in all ways, perfect in His very being, and He holds absolute sway over the smallest details of our lives. We can trust Him with every concern that we have because He truly is sovereign over all. Nothing takes Him by surprise. The key is that we learn to walk with Him on a daily basis because when we are walking with Him, we are granted an insiders view of Him at work.
In v.7 of today's passage we read, "Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh."
When Jacob was brought by Joseph before the Pharaoh, Jacob blessed him. The word "blessed" here provides a picture of one man showing honor to another. Jacob was living out of the covenant of God which means his value was being found in God and not in anyone else. In doing this, Jacob taught us a very powerful lesson: If we are being defined by God, we will not seek definition in anything or anyone else. Pharaoh was not a man of God, yet Jacob honored him as more important than he. When we honor others, it is really not about them but us. People who are defined by sin treat others poorly. People who are defined by the truth are defined by the truth and deal with people in truth.
In v.8 of today's passage we read, "Pharaoh said to Jacob, 'How old are you?'"
Standing before the most powerful man in the world, Jacob was asked his age. Jacob was a gray, long haired man with a long gray beard. He would have been calloused in hand and foot, wrinkled in his face and bent over at the back. Pharaoh's question was asked with an air of astonishment. The years had worn on Jacob. This is what feeding the flesh does to us, it brings with it death and all of its forms.
In v.9 of today's passage we read, "And Jacob said to Pharaoh, 'The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.'"
In his response to Pharaoh, Jacob began with words of faith. This word translated "pilgrimage" literally means "not at home." Pilgrimage was one of the markers of Jacob's granddad. Most places Abraham went there were two obvious things in his life: a tent and an altar. The tent was a reminder that he was to not settle down in a particular place for he was only passing through this world. This world isn’t our ultimate destination. This is why we must walk by faith in the God who has called us into a personal relationship with Himself.
Jacob was born in the year 2169 BC and it was now the year 2299 BC. Jacob was 130 years old at this point in his life. God provided Jacob's age so that we could navigate through the dating of the Bible and determine where we are in human history. At that point Joseph was 39 and so he was born when Jacob was 91. No wonder Pharaoh was astonished by Jacob's appearance. And, Joseph was fully grown with his own family and Jacob was 91 years older than his son!
In v.10 of today's passage we read, "So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh."
As Jacob did when he entered the Pharaoh's presence, he showed him great honor by blessing him before departing his presence. As Jacob aged he embraced humility in a greater way. At the root of all of our problems is pride. It was William Wadsworth who likened pride to a rocket that emulates the stars. The key word here is emulates. It is our pride that causes us to be superficial. It is our pride that causes us to not seek God. It is our pride that leads us down the road of the enemy. It is our pride that causes us to give ourselves the credit for something that God has accomplished. It is our pride that takes the glory that belongs to God alone. Pride is essentially self-worship.
Jacob had come to the pace in his life where he was regularly hosting humility as evidenced by the deference that he showed the Pharaoh. Humility is the ability to accurately view ourselves. As a result, we do not get inflated when we succeed and we do not get daunted when we fail. Being humble means that we acknowledge that we are rightfully defined by God. Being humble means we are learning to be wholly dependent on God and that without Him, we would be nothing. Jacob had learned the freedom of self-forgetfulness and he had been trained by God to see that humility is not weakness, it is a sure sign of strength.
In v.11-12 of today's passage we read, "11 And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families."
Had it not been that Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son, the brothers would have never been jealous of Joseph. Without their pride, his dreams wouldn’t have enraged them. Without their pride they would never have thrown him into a pit nor sold him into slavery. Without being sold off, Joseph would never have ended up in Potiphar’s house. If Joseph had never been placed in Potiphar's house, he never would have been shackled in the royal prison. If never in the royal prison, Joseph never would have heard the dreams of Pharaoh’s officials. If he had never heard those dreams, he couldn’t have given their interpretation. Without their interpretation, he never would have been brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams. Without Joseph's interpretations, he never would have been exalted to ruler of Egypt. And if this were the case, then Egypt would have suffered and perished in the famine. Without the famine, there would have been no need for Israel to get grain from Egypt. Without coming to Egypt, Israel would never have been reconciled to Joseph.
As God weaves the truth into our yielded lives, at some point we begin to see the tapestry He is creating. God miraculous uses the good and the bad to bring about His will in, to and through our lives. The front of this tapestry is art while the back is simply a mess. A tapestry is made by weaving together different-colored threads, and the images and designs are created by the interplay between the different colors and textures. Without the wisdom of God operative in our yielded lives, we miss the value of the front and the back, the wanted and the unwanted. Both work together for our good as God is allowed to bring about His will in, to and through our humble lives.
