Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends as we begin a new month of November together.
As you consider your family heritage, where would you say your ancestors are from? Where is your ancestral homeland? Very few people in our world live today where they can trace their heritage back up to 10 generations in that place! I currently live in a region to which millions of people have moved when they retire. It’s very rare to find someone here who is born and raised anywhere near here.
These past several days we’ve been considering the life and legacy of Abraham and his family; Abraham’s son Isaac and his family; and Abraham’s grandson Jacob and his family. They moved around quite a bit, primarily because they were what we today would call Bedouins. Their flocks and herds required grazing land and fresh water. But for them, their ‘family homeland’ was God defined! That Covenant Land is the modern-day land of Israel and some of the lands of the surrounding nations.
However, as you I’m sure know, history shows us this Middle East region of the world has been the ‘homeland’ for millions of people who are not in any way related to Abraham or any of his descendants, along with millions of other people who are descendants of Abraham through his son Ishmael and family and his grandson Esau and family.
The dying words of a person are treasured, whether spoken or written, aren’t they? I left you yesterday at the dying bedside of one of the most famous men in history, Joseph, great grandson of Abraham. To the Israelites, Joseph was the second to the youngest son of Jacob, the firstborn of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel. To the Egyptians he was Prince Joseph, perhaps the title ‘Prime Minister’ might be an even more accurate title. Pharaoh had declared Joseph would be second in authority only to the Pharaoh and evidently Joseph remained in a very significant role in Pharaoh’s government even into his old age.
The last recorded words of Joseph, spoken to his family, are these: “I am going to die, but God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land into the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And then you must carry my bones up from this place.” (Gen. 50:24,25)
Oh my, that’s a powerful statement, isn’t it? Just like his father Jacob, do you hear Joseph saying DO NOT BURY ME IN EGYPT! Just like his father Jacob, Joseph was reminding his extended family that EGYPT was not their family home. But I notice something that disturbs me. For all the years Jacob’s extended family had been living in Egypt, they were free to leave at any time and return to the God given land Canaan, but they didn’t. Jacob and all 12 of his sons refused to take responsibility to lead their family back home.
Now Joseph seems to be saying it would be God’s responsibility to fix the problem they have created. What problem? The problem of comfort clouding their clear thinking and breeding procrastination! Year after year Jacob and his sons procrastinated, they refused to do what they knew they should do, lead their family home. It was simply too enjoyable in Egypt, so years turned to decades and the older generation, those had come to Egypt from Canaan, all died off. By then, procrastination was a well established family heritage, and no one, absolutely no one had any thought of leaving Egypt for Canaan!
It seems clear to me Joseph was a worshiper of the God of his ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God who had helped him all of his life. It’s also clear Joseph understood and held in high regard the Covenant of both Land and People which God had made with Abraham, and repeated with Isaac, and repeated again with Jacob. Joseph understood he and his brothers were direct recipients of this Covenant and in fact were guardians of the Covenant in their generation, responsible to pass along to their descendants BOTH an understanding of the Covenant and the actual fulfillment of the Covenant by raising their families in the Covenant Land and having children who would understand and live God’s Covenant as God’s chosen people.
The problem, of course, is that first Jacob, and then each of Jacob’s 12 sons, including Joseph, FAILED the Covenant and FAILED their families by NOT leading them back to Canaan but instead they put down very, very deep roots in Egypt as their home.
By my calculation Joseph was 17 years old when sold by his brothers into slavery, and Joseph died at the age of 110, thus Joseph lived 93 years in Egypt. He went back to Canaan only one brief time, and that was for the funeral of his father Jacob. If Joseph became Egyptian Prince Joseph, when he was 30 years of age, we presume that was just before the 7 years of great harvest bounty in Egypt. And if Jacob’s family came to live in Egypt in the 2nd year of the famine, then Joseph would have been about 40 years old when Jacob and family moved to Egypt. That means Joseph’s brothers and their families lived 70 years in Egypt before Joseph died! 70 years of putting down deep roots in the lush region that was ‘the best of the land’ of Egypt. (Gen. 47:6)
Both Jacob and Joseph died with regret. The regret that their family loved Egypt and had no desire or thought of returning to the God given homeland Canaan. And with each additional child born in Egypt, each additional marriage in Egypt, God’s Covenant of Land and People drifted further and further into the forgotten past.
One simple statement gives us an overview of the next several generations of Jacob’s family in Egypt. “Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly and became so numerous that the land of Egypt was filled with them.” (Exodus 1:6,7) The term “Israelites” refers to the descendants of Jacob, to whom God gave the name Israel. (Gen. 35:10-12) Now consider your own family. Look back at your ancestors and see how rapidly a family tree can grow!
But with time everything changes, doesn’t it? A few generations later a new Pharaoh came to the throne in Egypt who knew nothing of Joseph. All he could see was a huge population of Israelites living in Egypt and he was concerned about their potential for disrupting Egyptian life. We don’t know all the options this Pharaoh considered, but the one he chose was ENSLAVEMENT of ALL the Israelites living in Egypt! The Israelites became the slave labor force for the major construction projects of the Pharaohs for the next two hundred years! Think about that!
Slavery no matter the reason or location is terrible. This summarizes the situation in Egypt for the nearly one million descendants of Jacob and his family: “During that long period…the Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So, God looked upon the Israelites and was concerned about them.“ (Exodus 2:23-25) As we ponder that statement today, how many groans and cries for help are going up to God from all around the world today? How many of those are from people living in a desperate situation caused by their own bad choices, or the procrastination of their ancestors who refused to do the right thing they knew they should do, and now their descendants live in bondage to alcohol or adultery or drug abuse or crime or gambling or debt or any number of other heart breaking, hope crushing things destroying lives.
Is God watching and concerned? Oh YES! If God brought deliverance what would change for you and so many others? Honestly now, if God brought deliverance, how long before those delivered would be back in some type of bondage again?
Today’s Scriptures are Gen. 50, Ex. 1,2.
Choose below to read or listen.
Genesis 50
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Exodus 1
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Exodus 2
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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