February 9, 2018: Day 46 – Genesis 46

Jacob makes the trip to Egypt and brings along with him all of his family and his livestock.  He is carried to Egypt in the chariots and wagons that were provided by the Egyptians.  The Egyptians knew how to make chariots and wagons.  It would be as if someone sent you a car to go to an event and it was the top of the line Mercedes, or Lamborghini, or whatever car that is a luxury car and known for its quality.  So Jacob and his family rode into Egypt in style.

I did find it interesting that Judah was sent ahead to Joseph to lead the way in vs.28.  If you go back to the story you will see in chapter 37:26 that it was the idea of Judah to sell Joseph into slavery so that they could get some money out of it.  It seems like he is consistently the one who is not doing his father’s will.  Maybe Jacob sent him ahead because he didn’t want him around much more.  I am sure that Joseph would have seen him first and remembered that he was the one who had sold him into slavery and it would have tested his resolve to have his family with him again.  We don’t read about that reunion, but we do read about the reunion of Joseph and his father.  

The last tidbit in this chapter is the insistence by Joseph that the brothers tell Pharaoh the truth that they were shepherds because shepherds were abhorrent to Egyptians.  This allowed the Israelites to have their own land, Goshen, and to be set apart from the rest of the population.  This would allow them to worship the God of Abraham in peace without people wondering what they were doing or demanding that they worship the gods of Egypt.  It was smart to live apart in that way.