Today’s passage: Genesis 47:1-31
Helpful thoughts:
- The Lord blessed Jacob and the family not only with land within which to thrive, but they also got a royal job!
- The land of Rameses (Verse 11) is most likely a later name for the land of Goshen. This would have helped the Jewish people to have a better understanding of where their forefathers had dwelt in Egypt.
- The remaining details of how Joseph led Egypt through the duration of the famine is given. By the end of the famine, the people of Egypt revere Joseph for saving their lives and the Pharaoh has become exceedingly wealthy.
- Jacob lived another 12 years after the completion of the famine (17 years after he met Pharaoh).
- In these years, the people of Israel were fruitful and multiplied “greatly.”
Questions to consider:
- At the conclusion of the famine, who all in Egypt were slaves to Pharaoh? Who wasn’t? Why were the people thankful to Joseph for this outcome?
- How does knowing the Israelites were free people and prospering and multiplying “greatly” foreshadow what would occur in the future? How would the tables turn against Israel?
- What did Jacob’s desire to be buried in the Promised Land convey concerning his faith in God? What did Jacob believe God would do? What promises should we remember and cling to as we sojourn through this life?