This is the fourth and final encounter between Jacob and Yahweh. Let’s recap the times that Jacob has met with the Lord:
- Dream at Bethel
- Wrestling match at Peniel
- In-person chat at Bethel
- Dream at Beersheba
The first and last are dreams with 2 face-to-face meetings in the middle.
It’s touching that Jacob stops at Beersheba. I know a lot of water has gone under the bridge since we read those parts so here’s a review on what happened there:
- Abraham names the place for a covenant with Abimelech involving 7 lambs. He plants a grove of trees there, digs a well and builds an altar. It’s where he’s living when he goes to offer Isaac.
- Isaac moves to Beersheba after a series of land disputes over wells. Abraham has died. Isaac built an altar there too. God appeared to him and restated the covenant. Jacob & Esau were raised here and Jacob left from here to go to Padan Aram.
Jacob hasn’t been back to the old home place in almost a century. Try to get your head around that! He is 130 years old at this point. He was early 40-ish when he left Beersheba. I wonder if his father Isaac’s altar was still there, or maybe at least a few stones. I wonder if there was anything left of Grandpa Abraham’s altar. Perhaps he rebuilt one of them. We do know that he offered sacrifices. Then…
“During the night God spoke to him in a vision. “Jacob! Jacob!” he called. “Here I am,” Jacob replied. “I am God, the God of your father,” the voice said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make your family into a great nation. I will go with you down to Egypt, and I will bring you back again. You will die in Egypt, but Joseph will be with you to close your eyes.”
Genesis 46:2-4 NLT
This will be the final journey for Jacob. But God gives him assurance that He will be faithful to his family and will bring them back to Canaan. That HAS to happen because God promised that land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants. As a refresher, here’s what God had said to Abraham WAY back when. I wonder if Jacob connected the dots. I bet he did.
“Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth. (As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.) After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”
Genesis 15:13-16 NLT
Going down to Egypt seems to be the wrong direction to go if God is going to fulfill His promises. We have the benefit of knowing what’s going to happen in Exodus. But they didn’t have Exodus yet.
“All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.”
Hebrews 11:13 NLT
So if it feels like you’re moving further away from something God promised you, let me encourage you to kick the barrier called “death” down and look further than the grave. Let’s not assume that it all has to happen here and now in our lifetimes. There’s a whole eternity ahead for the saints of God. This is the shadow. Eternity is the substance.
It must’ve looked like a John Wayne wagon train when the family of Jacob set out:
“So Jacob left Beersheba, and his sons took him to Egypt. They carried him and their little ones and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had provided for them. They also took all their livestock and all the personal belongings they had acquired in the land of Canaan. So Jacob and his entire family went to Egypt— sons and grandsons, daughters and granddaughters—all his descendants.”
Genesis 46:5-7 NLT
Ooo. I just had an idea. There needs to be video game of this- just like the Oregon Trail but you can play as one of the sons of Jacob. And hopefully no one dies of dysentery.
😆
Ooo ooo ooo! And there could be an Exodus version!! Journey to the Promised Land! Can you imagine how FUN that would be?!? Instead of Fort Laramie you’d stop at Elim and Sinai… 🤩 Ok. If I figure out how to do this, I am posting links here on the blog. Y’all can test it out.
🤠 Wagons…Ho!!!
Judah rides scout and gets directions from Joseph on how to get to Oregon I mean Goshen.
“Joseph prepared his chariot and traveled to Goshen to meet his father, Jacob. When Joseph arrived, he embraced his father and wept, holding him for a long time.” Genesis 46:29 NLT
🥹🥲
I wonder if that’s what the reunion in heaven was like for Jesus when He ascended back to the Father.
☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️
So they settle in Goshen preparing to wait out the next 5 years of famine. Joseph will see to it that they are well-provided for. Reminds me a bit of what’s coming in Exodus- where the Egyptians are hit with plagues that ravage the food supply, but in Goshen, Jacob’s family is protected.
Isn’t that neat?
But I’m serious about the video game, y’all. It needs to happen.
To The Reader 