Torah Portion: Genesis 47:28-50:26.

Jacob spent the last part of his life in Egypt, a total of 17 years, but did not forget the promise of God that the land of Canaan would be given to his descendants, who would become a community of peoples. He asked for Joseph’s assurance that he would be buried with his forebears in the little bit of the land that they did own: the cave near Hebron.

As a young man, Jacob had tricked his blind father into blessing him above his older brother, Esau. Now his own sight was poor and Joseph brought his two sons to him for blessing. Joseph had a prominent position in Egypt but bowed down before his father, Israel, who deliberately crossed his arms to raise the younger Ephraim to the position of firstborn, above Manasseh. This was God’s intention. Again and again we see that the Lord changes the expected order of precedence: Abraham, Isaac, Moses and David were not eldest sons. Sometimes we need to stop and realise that what the Lord is doing may not match our expectations.

Looking Ahead

Israel knew he was about to die but looked ahead to when the Lord would take his family back to the land of their fathers. Later, when it was time for Joseph to die, he also asked his family to see that he was buried in the Promised Land. They would take his bones with them when God led them out of Egypt. Joseph believed God’s promises and knew that God would one day come to their aid and lead them home to Canaan.

For now, Joseph and his brothers had settled in Egypt and were thriving. They were comfortable and experienced the favour of the Egyptians because of Joseph’s high position. This was seen in the large number of officials and servants who accompanied Jacob’s sons to his burial and mourned with them (Gen 50:1-14). But as foreigners in another land, their 400-year stay would eventually deteriorate from a position of favour into one of bondage, as God foretold to Abraham (Gen 15:13).

Learning to Trust

As shepherds and slaves, the Israelites were kept apart from the Egyptian population as they grew from a family into a people. They were not allowed to integrate but remained ‘set apart’. But why did the Israelites submit to mass slavery? As their treatment went from bad to worse, why did they not leave for their homeland?

Was it because they had become too accustomed to the comforts of Egypt? Indeed, though God surely came to their aid and delivered them, they continued to hanker after Egypt while they wandered in the wilderness. It takes time to break the habits of Egypt. We, too, are called to live as aliens and strangers in the land, ‘in the world but not of it’. That requires constant vigilance and dependence on our Lord so that we are not drawn into the compromise and bondage that can creep in so subtly.

It also requires us to trust completely in God’s purposes. This is something Joseph knew how to do. After Jacob died, Joseph was grieved that his brothers were still thinking that he might want to punish them now their father was gone. Joseph knew that while they had tried to kill him and intended harm, “God intended it for good” to accomplish what was later done in the saving of many lives. The brothers still struggled with guilty consciences but Joseph had learnt the secret of being content whatever the circumstances, walking faithfully with his God. Like his father, Jacob who became Israel, Joseph remembered the Lord’s promises and looked ahead to their fulfilment.

Author: Catharine Pakington