Connecting Scriptures:  Genesis 15:13, 1 Chronicles 29:15, Psalm 39:12, Psalm 119:54, Hebrews 11:9-13, Exodus 1:11

Remember when God assured Israel that he could go to Egypt, and that he wouldn’t go alone?  God ushered them into their new home.  With Him, came all the blessings of Israel.  God gave them familiar positions over not only their own flocks, but Pharaohs as well.  God “gave them a possession” in Egypt, and so every place their feet stepped would be blessed—for a time.  They would multiply greatly in the land of Goshen.  Jacob himself would “bless” Pharaoh and through this gesture, it would continue to be blessed through the leadership and heritage of Joseph.

Israel would weather the famine that would only grow worse and cause the people of Egypt and the surrounding lands to become desperate.  So desperate in fact, that the landscape of Egypt and the kingdom would change drastically.  The independent farmers and land owners would end up selling their livestock and land, even themselves to Pharaoh in exchange for food to survive.  This was not land they would receive back either.  After the famine, when the crops would need to be harvested, it would need a workforce.  Former land holders became share croppers, and now it seemed that Pharaoh had more enslaved people than ever before.  I believe this set the stage for what would come in Exodus, when Israel’s descendants would be swept up in a culture of slave labor.  One that would need to exist to support the building of grand cities and structures.  The mighty nation we will see in Exodus begins its assent here.  And the man leading this dramatic change is Joseph. 

“Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life…”. Can you hear the weariness in Israels words?  After 130 years of wrestling and mourning and waiting for a reason to hope, God will give the last days of his life to rest.  Even in the midst of a famine and foreign land, it all comes down to that eternal promise.  “I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again.”  So, when he asks for Joseph to bring his body back to the land of promise, he knew this request was God sized.  It’s one that Joseph felt the weight of.

Questions for Reflection:

1.  Egypt was blessed by Israels presence.  If you are in Christ, you bring the Spirit of God with you where ever you go.  How are you blessing the places and situations God has brought you to?  

2.  When detours come into your life (like Jacob did in taking his family to Egypt) what helps you to keep your eyes on God’s promises instead of becoming comfortable and complacent?