MORNING MESSAGE: John Cline
Text: Genesis 46:28-47:31; 49:29-50:14
Reader: Shannon Robertson
Today, we will look at life and death. Last week, we heard Joseph telling his guilt-ridden brothers that though they had intended evil in selling him into slavery in Egypt, that actually it had been God who had sent him ahead of his family to Egypt so that they could live. If they stayed in famine-stricken famine Canaan, they would perish but God had made Joseph a ruler in Egypt, second-in-command only to Pharaoh, and only in Egypt was there food, and that was only because God had shown Pharaoh in two dreams which Joseph interpreted that the land’s crops would have 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of drought. God then led Joseph to advise Pharaoh to put aside 20% of the crops grown during those 7 years of bumper crops as storage to use during the next 7 years of no crops. Observing the severe drought in their own land of Canaan, Joseph’s father Jacob commanded his 10 oldest sons to go to Egypt to get food. But going to Egypt reminded them of the terrible sin they had committed against Joseph 20 years before. Little did they know that they would run into Joseph there, or that God had been involved in their sinful act until Joseph, in a wonderous revealing to them of who he was, informed them that God had arranged things to send him ahead of them to Egypt where he was installed as a ruler, all for the purpose of saving his family’s lives by getting them to Egypt. God was giving them life on a physical level. Joseph had given them life on a relational level by forgiving them their sins. Jacob and Joseph both gave them spiritual life by pointing them to God. Thus, Jacob and his Canaanite-based family of 66 people, pulled up stakes and joined Joseph and his family of 4 in Egypt, making a total of 70 of Jacob’s family there. We will skip past the names of all those individuals – they are found in chapter 46 – and now go to Jacob and family’s arrival in Egypt, in the region of Goshen.
Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time. (G. 46:28,29)
Remember, these two individuals, Jacob the father and his favourite son Joseph, had not seen each other for 22 years until this moment.
Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.” Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.” (Genesis 46:30-34)
The settlement of Jacob and his family in Goshen marked the beginning of the Israelites’ 400-year sojourn in Egypt. They had thought they would stay for only a short period of time, but God had other intentions in bringing them to Goshen, a region located in the north-eastern part of the Nile River delta, stuck between the Nile River on the west and the Red Sea on the east. It was fertile land, thus providing an ideal environment for Jacob’s and family’s flocks and herds. As you have heard read, Egyptians didn’t care for either shepherds or Canaanites, so Goshen was the perfect place for Jacob’s family, everyone agreed. There, separated from others, Jacob’s family became distinct, the “Twelve Tribes of Israel”. God had told Jacob, “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there”, a promise that fulfilled God’s earlier covenantal words to Jacob’s grandfather Abraham, “I will make a great nation from you and your descendants” but “know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.” (Genesis 15:13) That “country not their own” would be Goshen but being there allowed the Israelites to maintain their distinct identity and way of life as it separated them from the influence of people groups who worshipped and served other gods, such as the Canaanites to whom Jacob’s sons and grandsons had been sinfully prone to marry. God called His people to be “holy”, and a root meaning of that word is to “separate from”. Just as God is holy and separate from all other supernatural beings, the Israelites – and these still applies to us today – were to be “holy”, separate from those around them. In 400 years in Goshen, the Israelites multiplied in numbers and became so successful that the native Egyptians feared them and convinced a later Pharaoh to hold the Canaanites down by making them their slaves. But, in the events we are reading of today,
Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.” He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?” “Your servants are shepherds,” they replied to Pharaoh, “just as our fathers were.” They also said to him, “We have come to live here for a while, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants’ flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen.” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you, and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock.” Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. (Genesis 47:1-7a)
Life had been given to Jacob and his family. How can we give “life” to others? Physical life? Relational life? Spiritual life? Jesus, many centuries later, said that he had come to give abundant life, a life that can be lived to the full. Can we participate in giving life to others? Jesus says we can, as we are his representatives, his witnesses. Goshen was God’s gift to His people; however, we need to note that the Israelites almost had it too good there for when they escaped from slavery in Egypt but found themselves eating only the manna and quail that God provided, as well as drinking water when needed, they longed to run back to Egypt, to return to Goshen where – as they said in the Book of Numbers – they had plentiful food to eat: fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic, as well as all the water they could ever want to drink. True, they had been slaves back in Goshen, but they also had shelter and plentiful food there, things they didn’t have while they wandered in the Sinai wilderness. Though they had experienced the trauma of slavery in Goshen, they still looked back fondly on the place they knew well, a place in which they didn’t have to rely on YHWH God. Remember that, after 400 years of living in Egypt, the Israelites had adopted the worship of Egyptian gods. They had forgotten about YHWH God and so they had to be taught about Him by Moses, and then experience Him firsthand, before they were convinced that following Him was the right way to live. The obvious question for us arising out of this observance of the Israelites is: are we likewise so comfortable with life that we can largely ignore God in it? The Israelites’ longing for Goshen warns us against spiritual complacency, while emphasizing the importance of staying faithful to God, separate from worldly influences which would lead us astray. Are we living as “holy” people for God, separate from the influence of non-believers around us? As Jesus said, we are to be “in the world, but not of it.” Being in Goshen preserved Jacob/Israel’s family for God’s long-term purpose, that of keeping intact God’s covenant in the family line of Abraham until it could find its fulfillment in Abraham’s seed, Jesus, who would be the Messiah who would bring God’s blessings to the world, but it is also serves as a warning to us to take seriously the importance of being holy, “set apart” from society as God’s people.
In any case, as we continue through Genesis 47, a sidebar story is then told of the famine being so severe in the land of Egypt that Joseph had to come up with another plan to save the people, but returning now to our focus on of Jacob/Israel’s family, we read this:
Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number. Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. 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.” “I will do as you say,” he said. “Swear to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. (Genesis 47:27-31)
Chapters 48 and 49 expound on how the family of Jacob gathered around him as he gave his last words of instruction and blessing. We will read through them next Sunday, but Carol Friesen, in her Lenten Devotional way back in March, gave an excellent presentation on this passage with a focus on living and dying. We have read how God and Joseph gave Jacob’s family life, but let’s now finish by reviewing how Jacob’s life influenced the events of his dying and death.
Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.” When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. (Genesis 49:29-33)
That is such a touching picture. Having said all that needed to be said, Jacob simply drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last, and died.
Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him. Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So, the physicians embalmed him, taking a full 40 days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days. (50:1-3)
Jacob (or, as God had renamed him, “Israel”) was given the equivalent of a state funeral on the par of the normal 70 days of mourning that Egyptians observed when a Pharaoh died. The Egyptians mourned for Jacob because he was the father of Joseph, the ruler who had saved them from starving. The Egyptians mourned for him because of the blessing they had received through Joseph, who had come to life through his father Jacob. Modern-day “Ceremonies of Life”, instead of funerals, bother me because they seem too neat and tidy. “Ok, let’s do this thing because good ol’ Harry deserves to have a few memories shared about him!” But, in doing so, mourning a person’s death is often ignored. One’s life should be honoured but so should one’s death!
When the days of mourning had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, ‘My father made me swear an oath and said, “I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’” Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.” So, Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Egypt— besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen. Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company. When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Joseph observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father. When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.” That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim. (50:4-11)
After 17 years – Joseph for 39! – of being away from their homeland the family of Jacob had become so integrated into Egyptian ways that they were unrecognizable to their former Canaanite neighbours. It was quite a scene for the Canaanites to observe, what with Egyptian dignitaries, horsemen, and charioteers. At that spot, nearby where Jacob would be buried, his family finally let loose, with loud lamenting and bitter wailing. After a journey of at least 14 days, Jacob’s family mourned loudly for 7 days, a length of time that was probably chosen in observance of the 7 days of Creation that YHWH established as a timeframe for life, and thus of death. This event would’ve been unlike anything that had ever happened before in Canaan, that’s for certain.
So, Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them: They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father. (Genesis 50:12-14)
By the way, Jacob’s first wife, Leah, finally got her due by being buried in the family tomb in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. We all rejoice for that wife who hadn’t been fully loved in her earlier years. But, in the end, Jacob was laid to rest beside Leah, in the same family tomb as his parents Isaac and Rebekah, and his grandparents Abraham and Sarah. You can still go to that tomb complex today.
So, how should we conclude this sermon? I will do so by talking about two longtime members of our congregation who have passed away. The name of the first person I won’t mention but I will say how disappointing it was to learn much later of that person’s passing. The family couldn’t be bothered to let us know even though they knew how much we cared for their deceased relative. I was so disappointed and said so in an email I sent to John Renfree and Setri Dzivenu! Setri responded thus, “This news again reveals something we have been talking about: how communities used to gather more openly around life’s milestones – births, marriages, and also deaths. But in many places now, grief and life milestones in general have become private, sometimes even hidden, which can leave people feeling disconnected, especially when someone like this person who belonged to a church or a community. When the passing of such a person isn’t shared, we are all denied the chance to honour their memory, give thanks for their impact and comfort the family. The lack of interest of families to stay connected with the network of their aged relatives either in life or death really robs us all of our shared humanity- we carry one another’s joys and sorrows.” By contrast, the second person I will share about is Mr. Steve Kutash, whose funeral we will be holding this coming Saturday. Living life well is crucial to our human psyche, to our relationship with God, and amongst our family members, as well as in our society. As we honour Steve Kutash’s life at next Saturday’s funeral, you will see that his family and friends treasured him. Steve was a man of deep faith who trusted in the Lord for all things, lived his life well, and consistently witnessed to his children and grandchildren about God and His goodness, and the life of salvation and abundant living they could have by placing their faith in Jesus Christ. Now, in the time following Steve’s death, his family is in deep mourning over their loss of him and that is how it should be. They are saddened for their own loss but rejoicing in Steve’s passing, for the family knows that Steve’s welcoming committee to the true “Promised Land”, that place we call “heaven”, would have heard Steve’s Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, say something like this to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Welcome home!” Like Jacob/Israel, as well as Steve Kutash and all those other saints who have entered the Promised Land ahead of us, let’s live and die well and let’s do it all in community. Being holy and living in but not of this world, separate for the purpose of serving God and others, let’s do so for the sake of God’s truth and His kingdom. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
