JOSEPH #25 | JOSEPH IN EGYPT #7 | JACOB'S FAMILY IN GOSHEN

Pastor Christopher Choo

Lesson 3621

JOSEPH #25 

 

JOSEPH IN EGYPT #7
JACOB'S FAMILY IN GOSHEN

Genesis 47:11-12

"So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed.

Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father's household with food, according to the number of their children."

Jacob’s family arrived in Egypt in the area called Goshen. This was a fertile piece of land for them as shepherds who took care of sheep, goats, and cattle which needed grazing grass.

The Nile flows northward before it ends at the Mediterranean Sea. Toward the end of the Nile, it branches out into many smaller rivers. This happens right at the land of Goshen. Thus it was a well-watered area that could support Jacob's family in the remaining 5 years of the famine.

In fact, God gave them the best land in the only country that had any food!

The Bible tells us that Jacob’s family, the Israelites, gained more property and their numbers grew quickly. 

How can this be? First of all, Joseph provided food for his large family throughout the famine.

Secondly, God was their Provider.

Think back to Jacob’s vision in Beersheba. God promised Jacob that He would make his family into a great nation in Egypt. 

The people of Egypt had not lived according to God’s wisdom. They lived their own way, and now they were self-indentured servants to Pharaoh. On the other hand, Joseph had listened to God in every step of his life. He trusted God’s promises and he was greatly blessed by the Lord. 

When Pharaoh trusted God by listening to the plan God gave to Joseph, he was greatly blessed.

And finally, Jacob himself in old age returned to the Lord. Jacob trusted God’s promises that He spoke at Beersheba, and he and his family were blessed beyond their wildest dreams.

What is the lesson today? 

It would appear that Egypt was their Promised Land. But it would prove otherwise in Moses' time.

There is a lesson here. Why settle for second best when the best is yet to come? 

Although Jacob's family was blessed and the Egyptians were too under God's directions through Joseph, the Egyptians remained self-willed.

Ultimately they turned back to their idols for their blessings. But God's people like a small remnant remembered His promises.

We each have the same opportunities as the people we have talked about today. By God’s loving grace, He gives us many wonderful promises that we do not deserve.

God ALWAYS keeps His promises! If you trust His promises, you will live according to His Word. If you don’t trust His promises, you will live your life according to your own wisdom.

Will you be like the Egyptians - enslaved by worldly things, or like Joseph - blessed and used in God’s plan and purposes?