Asking for help is a humbling thing. We live in a world where we value independence and a “I can do it myself” attitude. But sometimes we find ourselves at the end of ourselves and we realise we have to ask for help. Even that realisation itself can humble us. Well that is where Joseph and his family find themselves. The famine in the land is so severe that they have to give up Canaan, the promised land, and move to Egypt. They need Pharoah, the king’s mercy. But God provides. Let’s have a look.
Genesis 47:1–12 (ESV)
So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.” And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.”
Now remember in the passage just before this one, we read that the Egyptians despised shepherds. They saw them as an abomination. For in Egypt power and might was valued. And so when Joseph brings his brothers before Pharoah, he leverages that occupation and he presents them to Pharaoh honestly but also strategically. Part of what it means to be human is that we have this trait called “impression management”. This is the amount of energy and effort we put into presenting ourselves before other people. We want to manage their impression of who we are, so that we can feel safe and secure, knowing that they think well of us. But that’s not what happens in this text. The brothers don’t try to puff themselves up, they don’t try to pretend they are more than they are. “We are shepherds,” they say. And that’s risky. In Egypt, shepherds were despised and so they did not manage their impressions well. But God honours their honesty and they come before the king just as they are. Sometimes (often) just telling the truth as it is, really is the best thing.
They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”
Now to sojourn is to travel through and stay temporarily in the land. The brothers ask for a place to sojourn, a temporary place to let their flocks eat because the famine is so bad. But Pharaoh gives them much more than that. He opens the best of the land to them. And not only that, he gives them the responsibility to look after Pharaoh’s own livestock. We can’t help but see God’s hand in this. Yes Egypt may despise shepherds, but shepherds are still needed to feed the people. It is not for nothing that scripture calls Jesus “the Great Shepherd of the sheep” in Hebrews 13:20. These shepherds would one day produce the shepherd.
Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.” And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.
What a scene. Pharaoh is the most powerful man in the world. But here comes Jacob, Israel, frail and weary and stands before him and blesses him. We should not miss what is going on here. Remember the covenant promises that God had made to Abraham? That he would make him into a great nation, that he would give him a land to call his own, and that all nations would be blessed through him. This is what is playing out in this scene. Even though Jacob’s words are painfully honest: “Few and evil have been the days of my life.” He doesn’t pretend otherwise. His life has been full of sin, loss, and sorrow. Yet here he is, alive, preserved, carried into safety by God’s mercy. His years may have been hard, but God’s covenant has not failed him.
Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents.
We finish this passage with the beautiful picture of God’s provision for his people. The covenant people were under threat. The famine endangered them. But for all the evil the brothers tried to do to Joseph, God was still working behind the scenes. He used the evil to make it turn out for good. And now the stage is set for the nation of Israel to truly grow.
This should encourage us, because all the sorrow and suffering of our own lives are often the soil in which God grows good things.
Prayer
Father, our days too are often marked by sin, sorrow, and weakness. Like Jacob, we confess that life feels short and full of struggle. Yet You have been faithful. Thank You that in Christ, You provide for us far more than we deserve. Keep us humble, keep us trusting, and help us rest in the bread of life that never fails. In Jesus’ name, Amen.