Last 5 Days
Israel went to Settle in Goshen
1 So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.” 2 And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. 3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.” 4 They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”
5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”
7 Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 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 sojourning.” 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.
11 Then Joseph settled 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 And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with food, according to the number of their dependents.
13 Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. 14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.
15 And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.”
16 And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.
18 And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh's. 21 As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.
23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” 25 And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” 26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's.
27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years.
29 And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place.” He answered, “I will do as you have said.” 31 And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.
As the saying goes, “No man is an island.” So family is very important to each one of us. In the beginning when God created Adam he also gave him Eve for family, companionship and procreation. And during a crisis such as a flood or famine, the first thing we think of is, where are the rest of our family members, are they safe?
From verses 1-12, we see that the severe famine caused Jacob to unwillingly move his family from the land of Canaan to the land of Goshen in the territory of Egypt. So the brothers pleaded with Pharaoh to let them live there. (v. 4)
Pharaoh’s reply indicates his magnanimity and kindness towards Joseph and what he had done for the land of Egypt. His permission for them to stay in Egypt was clearly shown in the specific instructions for them to stay in the best of the land, in the land of Goshen. Furthermore, he was keen to have some of Joseph’s capable brothers or people to be put in charge of his livestock.
At the time, Egyptians raised only small numbers of cattle for two commodities: milk and wool. But the Jews raised large herds of cattle for meat, and consuming meat was abhorrent to the Egyptians. So in verse 1 we read that Jacob and his sons needed much pasture to feed the large herd of animals and had to go to Goshen.
It is interesting that twice, Scripture mentioned, “Jacob blessed Pharaoh.” (vv. 7, 10) Perhaps it is a sign of the older man blessing a younger person more because of age and regardless of position. This is a good lesson of respect for the senior citizens among us. It seems Pharaoh did not reject Jacob’s act of blessing him. Very likely, Jacob’s blessing would contain words that are linked to the Almighty God Yahweh, who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, to grant Pharaoh a heart of wisdom to rule the nation.
Besides family, another very important thing of concern for every one of us is food. Granted our Lord Jesus Christ said in response during his temptation by the devil, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) We know that for our physical survival, we will need regular intake of food, without which we might not survive for too long.
From verses 13-26, we see that the famine hit the land of Canaan and Egypt severely as told to Pharaoh in his dreams. This caused a crisis of food supply in the whole land, which also affected the people of Egypt. At first, they used money to exchange for food. And when they ran out of money, they used their livestock to exchange for food. Finally, when they had no more animals, they were prepared to sell themselves as slave and also their land in exchange for food. The phrase or idea, “in exchange for food” appears several times in these verses (vv. 16-19) This was such an unprecedented crisis.
Verses 20-26 form an interesting intermission in which was mentioned that the Egyptian priests were spared from selling their land to Pharaoh because of the fixed (or regular) allowance that they received in serving Pharaoh’s court. In times of a natural crisis, sometimes it is safest to be serving in the government or being a salaried person rather than a businessperson or an entrepreneur.
The last 6 verses (vv. 27-31) and the first 6 verses of this chapter forms a chiastic structure. It concluded with Israel, as a people went to settle in the land of Goshen in Egypt. This pairs with the first 6 verses (vv. 1-6) where we see they were seeking a place to settle, Goshen. Settling down to a place of abode reminds us that in life, there is always a reason why and how God has led us to a place. The last passage tells us that Jacob lived in Egypt for 17 years. However, he still looked forward to having his son Joseph carry his bones back to the land of Canaan to bury them in his parents’ burial place.
I am a first-generation Singaporean Chinese. Even before World War II, my dad came all the way from Kinmen Island in Taiwan/China as a young man to seek work opportunities in Southeast Asia and landed in Singapore. You also have a story to share about how your parents and forefathers came to Singapore; many of us may be second or third generation Singaporeans.
Some of us have chosen to immigrate to Singapore like my dad, others have married someone who lives here. Whatever it is, it is not fate, but God’s sovereign and gracious hand leading each one of us in our journey of life. In this story, God used His servant Joseph to preserve the lives of his family, the people of Israel and the people of Egypt. Today, He continues to raise up a generation of His servants to champion His cause, to save people from crises and from their sins, to lead them to know and acknowledge that He is the Lord God. All glory to Him!
Dear Almighty God, you are the God of everywhere and you assign each one of us to our habitat. There might be times when, because of study, work, business, or ministry opportunities you send us to different places in the world or lead us to Singapore. We are confident that wherever you lead us, you will also provide for all our needs as you have led Jacob and his family to the land of Goshen. Thank you in Christ’s name. Amen!