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BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY
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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday May 26, 2019
JACOB
BLESSES PHAROAH
Genesis
47:1-12
In Genesis 47 Joseph went to see
Pharaoh Sesostris III, and told him that his father and brothers had arrived
there from Canaan. He told him that they had brought with them, all of their
possessions, including their flocks and livestock, and they were prepared to
settle in the district of Goshen, which the Egyptians called “Rameses”, that
was located at the eastern edge of the fertile Nile delta.
Joseph had brought five of his brothers
with him and he introduced them to the Pharaoh. Telling the Pharaoh that they
were generational shepherds and livestock breeders, as Joseph had suggested,
the brothers requested formal permission to reside in the land of Goshen. The
Pharaoh granted them permission, and also put them in charge of his own
livestock as well.
Later Joseph brought his father, Jacob and
presented him to the Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed the Pharaoh upon coming into
his presence. After a brief conversation Jacob blessed the Pharaoh once more
before departing the room. And Joseph formally assigned to them the land of Goshen,
and he furnished his family (his father and brothers) with an ample food
supply, according to the number of each of their dependents.
JOSEPH’S
LEADERSHIP IN THE FAMINE
Genesis
47:13-31
Meanwhile the famine worsened and no
crops could be produced in Egypt or Canaan. And when the people had exhausted
all of their funds buying grain from Egypt, they came again to Joseph for help,
asking him to give them food “so that they can live, and not die of starvation”.
Joseph offered to give them food in exchange for their livestock, since they
could no longer feed them anyway, and that way, both the people and the
livestock would live.
So the people traded Joseph their livestock
in exchange for food, and before long, all of the horses, flocks, herds, and
donkeys in Egypt belonged to the Pharaoh, but the people, and all of the
animals and livestock, were saved from starvation due to the famine, for yet
another year, because of the wisdom shown by Joseph in his dealings with them.
However, the following year the famine
persisted, and the people were in need of food once again. They had no more
money and no more livestock to trade. Then they came to Joseph and offered
themselves (their bodies) up as indentured servants to Egypt, and/or their
land, in exchange for food. Joseph agreed to their proposition and the people
were again saved from starvation, and the land itself, was saved from
desolation.
Eventually, Joseph bought all the land of
Egypt, and it all became the possession of the Pharaoh. And all of the people
eventually became indentured servants to Pharaoh. The only land Joseph didn’t
buy was the land that belonged to “the priests of Ra the sun god”, who resided in
the worship center of Heliopolis, just north of Cairo. They had always received
their food directly from the Pharaoh, and thus, they were never impoverished by
the famine (Vs.20-22). In fact, none of the people on the Pharaoh’s personal
staff were affected by the famine because of Joseph’s wisdom and superior
planning and management.
In the final year of the famine Joseph gave
the people seeds to plant the following year’s crops. However, he stipulated to
them that they must give one fifth of their harvest to the Pharaoh, and keep
four fifths for themselves, so that they can plant again the following year, and
also have plenty of food for themselves and their families, ongoing. He also
made it a permanent law throughout all the land of Egypt that all the people,
excluding the priests of course, must give one fifth of all their crops to the
Pharaoh of Egypt.
And
as for the Israelites, they settled in the land of Goshen and began to prosper
greatly in just a short period of time. Jacob lived his final seventeen years
in Egypt and died at the ripe old age of 147. And before he died he made Joseph
swear to take his body back to Canaan and bury him with his fathers, in the
cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, which was purchased by Abraham from
Ephron the Hittite.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
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