Genesis 47 Devotional Bible Study

Genesis 47 Chapter Summary

Jacob was 130 when he arrived in Egypt and met Pharaoh.

Over the next few years, Joseph sold food to everyone in Egypt and Canaan. When the people's money was gone, Joseph allowed them to pay in livestock. After that, he accepted land and the servitude of the people in exchange for food. Only the priests were able to keep their lands as an allowance from Pharaoh.

 

Joseph then gave the people seed to plant but ordered them to bring a fifth of what they grew back to Pharaoh in payment.

 

Jacob lived in Egypt for 17 years and died at age 147. He made Joseph promise not to bury him in Egypt but to take his body back to Canaan and bury him with his ancestors.

 

It’s Good to Be in Bondage

My first reaction to this chapter was, “Really? The people had to sell everything they had and enslave themselves to Pharaoh just to get food enough to survive? That doesn’t sound like a very gracious plan Joseph came up with.”

But then I thought, “What’s the spiritual truth here? What is this passage teaching us as believers?”

Let’s look at the facts of the case:

• A famine was coming
• God had a plan to provide through Joseph
• All that the people had to do was submit to the plan
• The people were grateful for the salvation Joseph brought

Do we see the parallel to our own situation? We can’t save ourselves. We can’t control what happens in the future. But God can, and He already has a plan. All we have to do is submit to Him and thank Him for the salvation He provides.

It’s good to be in bondage to our God because He is the good and wise ruler who prepares and provides for us. Amen? Submit to Him now and be happy.

 

Don’t Stop Believing – Even if You Die

Genesis 47:29-30

When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.”

Neither Abraham, Isaac, nor Jacob saw the Lord’s promise to them fulfilled. God had made a covenant with Abraham, then renewed it with Isaac and Jacob, promising to give them and their descendants the land of Canaan. But here Jacob, the third in their line, dies in Egypt.

God has made you promises too. He’s promised that one day, He will make all of creation new. He’s promised to raise you from the dead and reunite your soul and body and cause you to live with Him forever in the New Jerusalem, on a New Earth, under a New Heavens. There will be no sin or death or sorrow. Everything will be as it should be.

Do you believe it? Do you believe it even if you have to die before you see the Lord Jesus coming back?

Jacob still believed God’s promise to his family. He wanted to be buried in the Canaan, in the Promised Land, instead of in Egypt.

Think of this life and this world as your Egypt. God has given you this world to live in for a time, and He provides for you here, but it’s not the Promised Land we’re looking forward to.