Dr. Michael D. Halsey
"The Family"
Genesis 46:31-47:27
INTRODUCTION
The family is in. Now Joseph moves to solidify their position. He presents the family to Pharaoh to insure that they received a good land and that they might prosper under God’s blessing. He told the family to be sure and mention to Pharaoh that they were shepherds because he knows that the Egyptians hated herdsmen. This would accomplish two things—he wants the Pharaoh to know that his family isn’t a bunch of rag-tag nomads without a home and he wants to make sure that the family will live away from the Egyptians. Since he knows that the Egyptians don’t like shepherds, this insures their separation from the people. There will be no assimilation while they’re in Egypt for the next 400 years. (43:31-34).
Moses documents the fact that Pharaoh gave the best land to the family in spite of any feelings he may have had about shepherds. Jacob meets with and blesses Pharaoh. He spoke for God in blessing him. To heart the words, “My days have been few and evil” must have been a very serious moment for the family. But it’s an apt description. However, many of his adversities have been of his own doing.
There is an ironic thing that’s going on here—as the inheritor of the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1-3) he who was to have been a blessing to the world says his own days were filled with trouble. (47:1-12)
Joseph’s planning has saved his family and Egypt. Joseph sold food to the people. He accepted their money, then their cattle, and then their land. Then he told the people to plant seed on the land and give a fifth of it to the Pharaoh. The people survived, but this put them in bondage to Pharaoh. In times of national emergency, a great deal of power usually accrues to the central government. For example, during our Civil War, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, something most unconstitutional. Also, when a tax is first levied, it’s rarely repealed later on, no matter what the politicians promise about how temporary it is. During this emergency, more power comes into the hands of the Pharaoh. People are willing to give up power if it means survival.
The people of Egypt declared Joseph to be their savior, which is exactly what God had prepared him to do. (47:13-26).
In 47:27, we have the conclusion: the family begins to grow into a great nation (see Gen. 1:28).
What Joseph has done has taken a supernatural wisdom. By this wisdom, he’s saved his family; he’s saved Egypt; he’s saved other nations. Both Joseph and Solomon are examples of those rulers to whom God gave wisdom.
In the church today, there is a need for wisdom among its leaders. In Acts 6:3, that’s one of the qualifications for the group that most think later grew into the office of deacon. When a church gets leadership that isn’t wise, it’s like a bull in a china shop. It’s a mess.
In the Bible, wisdom has to do with skill in advising and administrating. Wisdom involves making correct decisions, being skillful and successful in life. To us, success means something financial, but not so in the God’s viewpoint. The wise person in the Bible is the one who directs his life in accord with God’s divine design and His plans for the world. He knows what God desires from the Word, He knows what God has planned from the Word and he conducts his life on those principles. He is building his life on the rock. By bringing his life into conformity with God’s viewpoint, he is able to cope with the realities of life and to enjoy an inner harmony and order. To neglect God’s order leads to a life of chaos.
We are told to pursue wisdom, to listen for it, to get it, to love it, to value it.
Where do we find it? With God. We listen to God’s word and build life on it. This shoots down the idea that there’s a secular life and then there’s a separate “religious” life. Wisdom has to do with the integration of God’s word all across the board of one’s life.
Let me give you an example of what we mean by this “integration.” On page 4 of the Luther Rice catalogue is this statement in a series of goals for its graduates: “A graduate of LRS will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the skills of communication. Good communication includes perceptivity and sensitivity in grammar, adaptability to audiences, and flexibility in style.” Now does that mean that LRS has a class in English grammar, then a class in adaptability and a class in flexibility, and that when you’re in that class, you are graded on your grammar, etc.? I don’t think so. If things are integrated, when the student takes OT Survey or the book of Genesis, he’s held accountable for his grammar and he’s taught how to communicate the truths in the book of Genesis and in the OT. That’s integration. So, wisdom is to integrates into every area and controls every area of the believer’s life. The love chapter of I Cor. 13 isn’t for marriage ceremonies—it’s a statement of “this is what love does whether you find it in a marriage or a church congregational meeting. This is what love does wherever it is.
So we can’t ignore the Word and be wise. Like Joseph, we listen to the word, and in wisdom, we bring blessing to the church and to the world.