Together At Last - Genesis 46:1-34

[0:00] Genesis 46, the title for today's message is Together at Last, when Joseph is finally going to get to see his father, when Jacob is finally going to be with Joseph.

[0:13] We've been spending a lot of time, I was looking back, I was trying to find something in the previous chapters, there's a lot of chapters with Joseph. And what an arc, what a culmination now, as Joseph has revealed himself to his brothers, he's sent them home to get his father and to get the entire family and to bring them back. And so as he does that, as he takes the provision that Pharaoh has given him, the carts, the wagons, and all of that, they're headed home, they get home and they tell Jacob, they say, hey, Joseph is alive. And if you remember at the end of chapter 45, Israel said, it is enough, Joseph, my son is yet alive, I will go and see him before I die. He had not yet seen him. He's just heard of him by the hearing of the ear, by faith, he speaks forth the reality that he is going to go and see the son. And we said, it's the same for us. I've not seen Jesus face to face. I don't know what he looks like. I've not yet seen him. I've not held him. But I know that by faith, I can speak forth by faith that I'm going to go and I'm going to see the son.

[1:18] And we said how as excited as Jacob was to get that news and he sees all the provisions and he's getting ready for the journey, he could have cared less, you know, about the stuff, about the materialism that was coming from Egypt. He just wanted the person. He just wanted Joseph. And today, they're going to be together at last. The outline for today, verses 1 through 7, is we go together.

[1:41] That's everybody. It's not just Jacob. It's not just Jacob and his sons, but it's the entire clan. We go together from the last to the least, verses 8 through 27. We're going to have a whole list of names to go through today, where it lists not just the main players, but everybody from the last to the least. We're all going to go see the son together forever. Verses 28 through 30, Jacob and Joseph now together forever in this life. They will not be separated again until death and then forever together forever in the life to come. And 31 through 34, home at last. But are they? They're at home.

[2:17] They're in Goshen. They're in Egypt. But is that really their home? We've said how our theme verse, we've got a couple theme verses, right? Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give you a future and a hope or an expected end.

[2:34] John 5, 39, Jesus says, search the scriptures, for in them you think you have life, but these are they which speak of me. Well, today I got a different one. Romans 15, 4. Paul writes and says, for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Why are we reading about Joseph? Why are we reading about what happened thousands and thousands of years ago in Egypt when there was a famine and there was this one family that seemed to be being used by God? Why are we reading about that? Because that God wants to give us comfort and patience through the scriptures. As we read that, God is doing a work in our hearts through his word. So the things we read aforetime, that's why we go through the Old Testament. And I mean, we go through the Old Testament, but we spend half the time cross-referencing to the New Testament. It's just, it's wonderful how God does that. Jumping into verse 1, and Israel took his journey with all that he had, and he came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. Israel took his journey. Took, that word there in the Hebrew means to pull up, to pull out, to pluck up. It was time to go. We just finished the book of Acts, and multiple times it says that they arose and went. They arose and left. Before you go anywhere, what's the first step? You have to leave.

[3:59] You can't go till you leave. You have to arise before you go. So for Israel to take his journey, he had to first pull up. Pull up his roots. Pull up anchor. Pluck up and go. And it's a lot easier to go when the son says go to where he's sending you when you haven't put your roots down too deep into one area or into the things of this world. And Jacob now is doing that. And no one could take this journey for him, could they? His sons had gone and visited Joseph multiple times. They brought back all of the riches, all of the blessing. They got to meet him face to face. What did he look like?

[4:38] Gad, Issachar, what did he look like? Well, he put on a little weight, you know. I mean, he looks very Egyptian. They got to see him. They got to talk to him. But nobody could take this journey for Jacob.

[4:50] He had to go himself to see the son. And he went up from thence. He went up to Beersheba. And he came to Beersheba. And there he offered sacrifices unto the God of his father, Isaac. So where is he in the world? It's kind of visible.

[5:10] So he's been living near Jerusalem, near Bethlehem, because that's where he buried his wife, Rachel. And he stayed there, near Bethlehem. And so now he's traveling to Egypt, more specifically to the northeast side of Egypt, to Goshen. And he'll travel back through Hebron. That's where Abraham had pitched his tent, where he planted that tree, remember? Or not planted it, but beneath the terebinth tree, the large oak tree, Abraham dwelt. And so here's Isaac. I mean, not Isaac, Jacob, traveling. And he passes through Hebron, and he sees that tree. He's like, man, I sat under that tree with my grandpa, Abraham. This man that's over 100 years old now, remembering these things. Then he gets down to Beersheba, where his father, Isaac, dug a well.

[5:58] And as he sees that, he remembers again what that day was like when they came back out of Gerar, out of the company of Abimelech, and they came into Beersheba. Genesis 26, speaking of that, when Isaac comes up to Beersheba, Jacob would have been, could have been late teens, early 20s.

[6:21] And he went up from thence to Beersheba. And the Lord appeared unto him that same night, unto Isaac, and said, I am the God of Abraham, thy father. Fear not, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake. And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. And there, Isaac's servants digged a well. Beersheba means the well of the seven oath, because he had just made the covenant with Abimelech. He leaves there, and he comes to this place, Beersheba. He digs this well. God appears to him. And here now comes Jacob, most likely sacrificing on that same altar that his father Isaac had sacrificed on.

[6:59] So Jacob's first stop on his journey, headed to the sun, is for worship. Jacob's journey to the sun consisted of worship and sacrifice. You know, remember when the brothers were to go back home and get his dad, and Joseph says to them, he said, look, don't fall out by the way. And it means be single-minded and single-purpose. Don't get distracted. Make it a straight line. Get back home and get my dad here. It's never a waste of time to take time to worship. You can feel like that.

[7:30] You feel like, I don't got time to read my Bible today. I got meetings. I got things to do. You know, a Wednesday night study. I don't mean to keep pushing Wednesday night, but if it comes up, I'm going to talk about it. So, you know, I got things to do. You know, the kids got stuff, and I got this to do. My favorite TV show. Man, it's never a waste of time to take time to worship, to get aside with God's people. And worship is sacrifice. The first time we see the word is when Isaac is going, when Abraham offers a sacrifice. He's going to offer a sacrifice, and it's used in the term of worship. Worship is a sacrifice.

[8:02] And God spake unto Israel, and the visions of the night. I love this. Who did he speak to? Israel, his new name, prince with God, and said, Jacob, Jacob. God speaks to the old man, and he speaks to the new. He said Israel once, but he said Jacob, Jacob twice. Jacob, Jacob. And Jacob responds and said, here I am. Jacob knew God's voice. Jacob was waiting for God's voice, and Jacob answered God's voice. He expected to hear from God. He was in a place where he knew God could speak to him. He was in a place of sacrifice and worship, and he knew God's voice. And the Lord says to him in verse 3, I am God, the God of thy father. Fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation. Why would he be afraid to go into Egypt? Remember what happened when his grandpa went into Egypt? Remember what happened when Abraham went into Egypt? In Genesis chapter 12, a long time ago, we were in Genesis chapter 12. It says that there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into

[9:08] Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was grievous in the land. Egypt is always a picture of the world, always a type of the world in scripture. You always go down into Egypt, and you always come up out of Egypt in the scripture. So Abraham, at a time when he was in the promised land where God had called him to, out of fear because of a famine, he went down to Egypt. Where's Jacob living right now?

[9:31] He's living in the promised land. What's happening in the land? There's a famine, and where is he going? Egypt. Egypt. There was a famine in the land, and he's going to Egypt.

[9:43] Egypt. John 17, 15. Jesus says, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, praying to his father, the high priestly prayer as in the upper room there, but thou shouldest keep them from the evil. He's saying specifically, I'm not praying, father, that you take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil, the disciples. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. So here Jesus is praying, saying, hey, I'm going to send them into Egypt. I'm going to send my people into the world, but father, keep them. How are we kept? Well, look at verse 17 in John 17, verse 17. Sanctify them, keep them, set them apart. That's that same like word for holy. Through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Man, God sends us into the world, but he doesn't send us alone. He keeps us through his word. For Jacob here, it wasn't enough to have family connections. It wasn't enough to be like, man, I'm going to go and see my son. He needed to know that the Lord was leading him and sending him. Man, he needed to hear the Lord's voice. He couldn't just take the voice of his family. Jacob prioritized God's word above family relations. Not always easy to do.

[11:07] Not always easy to do. Romans 8, 14 says, for as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. That is the family relation that we are in now, that we come into being the sons of God. And so we prioritize that relationship. You see, as sons of God, we also worship at the family altar. What's our family altar as the family? Right? This isn't an altar. You know, people say, come to the altar. It's the cross. It's the empty tomb. It's that sacrifice Jesus made. It's where the son offered himself. We, as the family of God, we worship at the family altar. However, we never worship at the altar of family, right? And there are those who would expect that. But what do you mean? You're going to go to church? You're going to go on a Wednesday night. I'm sorry. It just came up. Wednesday night. Come Wednesday night. You know, but that's our bridge night. You know, hey, by the way, we're going to have a family picnic Sunday morning. Be there. Oh, sorry. I do church. Which is more important? Your family or that? It was church people. As many as are led by the spirit, they are the sons of God. Now listen, if the Holy Spirit says to you, you know what? I want you to go and be a light to your family this Sunday. I mean, you go and you do that. You'd be led by the spirit. And so the Lord continues to speak to Jacob here in verse 4.

[12:25] And he says, I will go down with you into Egypt. And I will also surely bring you up again. God confirms the path he calls us to. He always confirms that path without exception. I will also surely bring you up again. And Joseph shall put his hand upon your eyes. Remember when Jacob had covered himself in goat hair, put Esau's clothes on him and went into his blind father to trick him into giving him the birthright. And then Esau finds out and says, I'm going to kill you. When dad dies, I'm going to kill you. And so he runs and he's going to Haran. He's got nothing. He's just by himself. And he falls asleep, sleeping on a rock in Bethel. And it says this in Genesis 28, the Lord comes to him and says, behold, I am with you. And I will keep you in all places whither thou goest and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

[13:22] Jacob needs to know, God, does that promise still stand as I go down into Egypt? Is that still true? God's word never lacks surety, does it? He doesn't leave us guessing when he brings his word. And if God leads us down, he will also lead us up. He'll bring us up. Jacob, he says to Jacob, surely I'll bring you again. You will go down into Egypt and I will go with you and I will bring you up again. We have the same promise. Romans 6, 4 tells us that we've gone down with Christ. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. If God brings us down, if he leads us down, he will bring us up in a moment. In the twinkling of an eye, the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. We shall be changed. We shall be raised.

[14:20] And here for Jacob, in the midst of this journey, in this place of worship, God speaks to his greatest fear. What's his greatest fear? God, are you going to be with me? Are you going to be with me when you send me into the world? Are you going to be with me when you send me to the family reunion?

[14:35] God, are you going to be with me? His greatest fear was losing God's presence. And Jacob rose up in verse 5 from Beersheba in confidence of God's word, in assurance of the direction and the path he's been put on. He rose up from Beersheba and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, and their little ones, and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. And they took their cattle and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and they came into Egypt. Jacob and all his seed with him, his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters. So he's got the next generation going, the grandkids.

[15:15] And all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. Where did he get all that? In the promised land, wherever he goes. The fruit of the promised land goes with him, doesn't it? You see, Jacob did not choose to go into Egypt at his own initiative, did he? But at whose direction?

[15:31] The son. The direction of the son. And just like Jacob, we don't go into the world at our own initiative. We're in the world but not of it. We're not going out into the world because we want to have a good time, or we go at the behest of the son because he sends us. But we go with the same assurance of God's word, and we go for what purpose? Deliverance. We go for the purpose of deliverance. Why was Israel, why was Jacob taking his whole family? Why were they going into Egypt?

[15:59] Because the son had directed them. The son had called them, and the son was bringing deliverance. All right, now we're going to get into a big, long list of names of everybody who went down with him. Was this everybody who went with Jacob? No, but this is everybody listed that went with Jacob.

[16:17] So everybody listed did go with him. Were there more people? Yes, but this is specifically what the Bible's listing. And if you notice, it's a very interesting list because it's going to be listed according to the matriarchs, according to his wives. And you think it would go Leah, maybe, as the oldest, and then Rachel. Rachel is the best, the one he loved the best, but it doesn't. It's Leah, then her concubine, Zilpah, and then Rachel, and her concubine, Bilhah. And it gives the kids and the grandkids. And we're going to come out with this number 70, a very specific number. God has a very specific reason for this. These are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. So Jacob's decision to go into Egypt, it did not just affect him, it affected his entire family, and not just his family did it, but all of eternity and all of history. You see, in this one family was contained the hope of mankind, not just Jacob and his family.

[17:12] This wasn't just to preserve Jacob and his family, and this was to preserve you and me. Within Jacob's family was the Messiah. He wasn't just taking his family into Egypt, he was in essence taking the Messiah. And so it lists Reuben, and then the sons of Reuben, Hanak, and Palu, and Hezron, and Carmi, and the sons of Simeon, Jamuel, and Jamin, and Nohad, and Jahin, and Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanitish woman. And there we see Simeon also married a Canaanite. And the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. These are some pretty bad dudes that are listed off, right, to begin with. Reuben, Reuben wanted to, he offered to kill, have Jacob kill his own sons if he didn't bring Benjamin back. Good job, Reuben. You have Simeon and Levi, who murdered the entire population of Shechem. These aren't the best of guys. And yet they're going with Jacob as well. They get to go to the son too. The whole family's brought under this. Yes, because redemption is not about past failure, but future hope. Our redemption is not in any way dependent or hinged upon what our past is or what we've done, but upon what Christ has done to give us a future hope. In Ephesians chapter 5,

[18:35] Paul is listing children, obey your parents, wives submit to your own husbands, masters be good to your servants, and it says husbands love your wives. This isn't specifically to point that out, but husbands love your wives. And look how it says you're to love them, as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, sacrificially. How did Christ love us, his bride? He entered into our world and he died there so that we might live. Husbands, that's how you start to love your wives. That's not what I want to point out. I want to point out this is Christ's love. This is his redemption. How does he love us? He gave himself for us, that he might sanctify and cleanse us with the washing of the water by the word, that he might present us to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it should be holy and without blemish. That is our future. That's redemption. None of that has anything to do with your past, except you needed to be washed, except you needed to be purified so that he could present you without blemish. Redemption is not about past failure, but future hope.

[19:36] And redemption is also not contingent upon that which is being purchased, right? If you go and purchase a car, what are the conditions of that purchase? Who does the whole entire purchase, the weight of it fall on? You. Would you be the purchasee or the purchaser? Purchaser. The car has nothing to do with it. Can you meet the payment? Do you have sufficient to redeem that? 1 Timothy 1.15, Paul writes, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 John 2.2, he is the propitiation for our sins. He is the redemption price. It's either for all or for none. Was it sufficient? But not for us only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

[20:26] The purchase relies upon the sufficiency of the purchaser, not the object being purchased. Redemption is not in any way dependent upon the redeemed. My redemption is not dependent upon me. It's not dependent upon how good I was or what I've done. It's dependent upon the one doing the purchasing.

[20:44] Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. And here, as you have all of Jacob's family, the good and the bad, they're all going to the sun. They all fall under that. And the sons of Judah, in verse 12, Ur and Onan, and Shelah and Faraz and Zerah, but Ur and Onan died in the land of Canaan.

[21:05] If you remember, they were put to death by the Lord for their wickedness. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul, and the sons of Issachar, Tola and Puva and Job and Shimron, and the sons of Zebulun, Sarid and Elon and Jahlil. These be the sons of Leah. So we've just listed from Reuben all the way down to Zebulun. Leah's sons, which she barred to Jacob and Paddan Ram with his daughter Dinah.

[21:32] All the souls of his sons and his daughters were 30 and 3. So Leah's offspring, 30 and 3, between sons, grandsons, and daughter listed. I love that Dinah's listed. Remember going through Dinah?

[21:44] That wasn't very fun. Dinah never speaks once in all of scripture. Yet everybody's making decisions for her. She has this tragic, tragic life. Loss, tragedy, defilement, and yet who's she still with?

[21:55] She's still with the father. Nothing could separate her from the father. Neither her loss, her defilement, or her tragedy. Nothing could separate her from the father or keep her from the son. She got to go as well. And the sons of Gad, Ziphion, this would be Zilpah's offspring we're going to go through now. Ziphion and Haggai, Shuni and Esbon, Ari and Orodi, and Areli. I think I just said that, Orodi, as if he was like Hispanic. And the sons of Asher, Jimnah and Eshua, and Isui, and Berai, and Sarah, their sister. And the sons of Berai, Heber, and Malachal. These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter. And she bare unto Jacob even 16 souls. Leah's offspring 33, Zilpah's 16. The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife, Joseph and Benjamin, and now their children.

[22:48] And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, priest of On, bare unto him. And the sons of Benjamin, excuse me, were of Bila, and Beker, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naman, Ehai, and Rosh, and Muppum and Huppum. You know they were twins.

[23:14] It's Muppum. And here comes Huppum. And Ard. I think he just got tired of naming them. And he's like, ah, Muppum, what do you want to name the next one? I don't know. Huppum. These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob, and all the souls were 14.

[23:29] And the sons of Dan, Husham, and the sons of Naphtali, Jaziel, and Guni, and Jazir, and Shalem. These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel, his daughter.

[23:41] And she bared these unto Jacob. And all the souls were seven. And I think Bilhah was much younger. Because you see at an earlier time when names are listed, it's just kind of her firstborn without the offspring. I think she was much younger. So she has seven.

[23:56] And all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons, or, sorry, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were 66.

[24:08] Three score and six. Jacob's total descendants coming into Egypt were 66. That doesn't count himself or Joseph, Manasseh, or Ephraim. Because here we see, and the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls, Ephraim and Manasseh.

[24:21] And all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were three score and seven. Or 70. So you have the 66 that came, plus Jacob. 68, I mean 67, plus the three that are already there.

[24:35] Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim. So Jacob's total descendants are 70 that came into Egypt. 430 years later, they would leave 600,000 strong.

[24:46] 600,000 men, not counting women and children. So truly, when God says, I will make of you a great nation, he meant it. So we saw that number 70. So seven in scripture, it represents perfection.

[24:59] God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and on the seventh day he rested. Seven days. And ten, seven times ten is 70. Ten represents completeness in God's law, the Ten Commandments, right?

[25:13] You say, Jared, you just read through all those names. You didn't tell us one definition. And we went through Esau's names. We went through the offspring of Adam. And we had to go through every single definition.

[25:26] You're just going to blow through that? No, I'm not. Don't worry. But there's a lot there. Seven is perfect. And ten, the completeness of the law. Who, if you could think of someone, would represent completeness, perfection?

[25:41] Who completed the law? Who was whole? Jesus. As we've looked at these names and the interesting order they put them, he even listed the two names of Judah, these two sons that had died.

[25:53] They didn't come into the promised land. Well, if you look at the order, and we're only going to go through a few of them, and I didn't compile this. Someone else did. I'm going to read off the definitions.

[26:03] Behold, a son. Dedicated. Distinguished. A walled courtyard. My vineyard. He heard. In the daytime of Elohim, at my right hand, united, he will establish whiteness as wool.

[26:20] He was desired. Desired to be joined to one, exiled and driven out in assembly. Bitter. Praised. Awake. Strong. A petition.

[26:31] A breach. And then arising. Who's that sound like? Sounds like Jesus. Now, there's a whole lot more names. We're not going to go through them all. If you want, you can scan that, and you'll get the PDF with all of the names if you want to do that.

[26:47] And this was put together by somebody else, Richard Agge, I think. And I was so glad when I Googled name meanings for Genesis 46. I didn't have to go through them. Because just seeing the structure, you knew God put that there's a reason for this.

[27:00] And so as this is taught to, as Israel teaches it to his sons and his sons' sons and through the generations, and they read this, and they know what the names mean. We don't in the Hebrew. We just read these names.

[27:11] We just read, mump them and huff them and laugh. You know, but that means something. What it means is that God has a plan, and that he wanted his people to know that I have a plan. If I send you into Egypt, man, Jesus goes with you.

[27:22] If I bring you out of Egypt, Jesus goes with you. And it didn't matter if it was Simeon and Levi and Reuben. They were all a part of this. So one more thing before we continue on.

[27:36] Jacob goes down into Egypt. Israel goes into Egypt with all of these people. And they're going to be there, like I said, 430 years. Is there evidence for Israel being in Egypt?

[27:49] Should be some archaeological evidence, shouldn't there? So there's a dynasty called the Hyksos dynasty. And they were a group of immigrant Semitic rulers from the region of Canaan.

[28:01] So Semitic, they were like of the same origin as the Jews. It's like the Hebrews. They were from Canaan. And they rose to prominence in the northern delta. Remember, we looked at our map.

[28:11] So we have the Nile River. And it creates the delta, where all of the sediment is deposited. And then it creates this very fertile area. Goshen was there. And this is where Israel is taking his family to live.

[28:23] They rose to prominence in the northern delta region of Egypt for roughly a hundred-year period. Yeah, maybe somewhere around 1500 BC. The problem is we don't know much about them. Because there's a new kingdom of pharaohs that arose.

[28:36] And they hated the Hyksos. And they wiped them out. And they wiped out every remembrance of them as much as they possibly could. People also say, well, there's not a lot of evidence for Israel being in Egypt.

[28:48] Well, look at where they lived. They were in a very wet area. They also built their houses out of clay and mud. That doesn't last well. You want stone. Papyra, clay, mud in a wet region.

[29:02] There's not a lot in that area that is left. But an especially prominent Hyksos individual was a man known from nearly 30 royal scarab seals.

[29:16] And a scarab would just be a clay tile. He was known throughout Canaan. But also, these were found. These scribes were found. I'm sorry, scarabs were found throughout Canaan and also in Egypt.

[29:29] And these scarabs believed to date to the 1700s BC. 1700 years before Christ. And they bear the name of Yachab Har. And Yachab is the exact transliteration of the somatic name Jacob.

[29:44] Look at the bottom there. Those little clay tiles have been found throughout Egypt and throughout Canaan. They think they date from the 1700s BC. And they say on them, Yachab Har, which is the transliteration for Jacob.

[29:57] I also included that, the Ipska relief. And that just shows a drawing that the Egyptians made hieroglyphics there where it shows Semites coming into Egypt.

[30:08] And you can see by the lighter skin and the bright colored clothes. So, yes, there is evidence. There is. You know, we looked at the internal evidence, the way when we went through Joseph with the dreams in Egypt and the way the culture was.

[30:20] And there's also external evidence. One other thing, there's an Egyptian historian who lived in 300 BC, 300 years before Christ. So, obviously, he's not a contemporary with Joseph or with Israel.

[30:32] But he's a lot closer to the date than we are. And he wrote, his name was Manetho. And he wrote about the Hyksus. And he directly linked them to Israel.

[30:43] He said that their name meant shepherd kings. If you ever hear that that's what it means, he's the one who says that. And he says that there are six rulers specifically. And the first one is Saletus. And Saletus is a derivative of the name Salit or governor for Egypt.

[31:01] In Genesis 42, 6, it says Joseph was the governor of the land. But that's not the usual word used in the Hebrew for governor. The word is Joseph the Salit. And here, this guy says that the Hyksus, their ruler, their first ruler was Saletus.

[31:17] He also says their succeeding ruler on his list of kings is Benon. Benon or Benon. And this matches closely with the name of Benjamin.

[31:28] In fact, more closely than at first meets the eye because Benjamin had two names. The first given by his mother, Rachel, shortly before she died in childbirth. Benoni, son of my sorrow.

[31:39] Benon. And Benjamin, son of my right hand. Jacob's youngest son and Joseph's only full brother would have been a logical successor to Joseph's authority. Joseph passes off the scene.

[31:50] Egyptians are like, hey, we'll take his brother. So there is evidence of Israel at this time going into Egypt and dwelling there. And of Joseph ruling. We looked before at that tell, which was the big stone.

[32:03] And it had the inscription of the famine that took place in Egypt as well. And it also fits when we eventually get into Exodus chapter 1 verse 8. It says, now there arose a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

[32:17] That there was a new kingdom of Pharaohs that came in and wiped out the Hyksus and did not want the shepherd kings. So Joseph is in Egypt and his father has now just come down with all 70 of his sons and grandsons and granddaughters.

[32:33] And in verse 28, And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph to direct his face unto Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen. Joseph is waiting for them and Judah is now sent before Jacob.

[32:46] Judah has proved with his life that he could be trusted. When he said, Dad, I will be surety for Benjamin. And then he went and proved that. And he's now taken a prominent place in Jacob's family.

[32:59] John 15, 13 says, And Judah has proven that, that his love was of the greatest type.

[33:12] Through Judah's willingness to die to himself, remember? He said, I'm going to stay here and die and Benjamin's going to get to go home. He had the privilege of bringing his family near to the son. He was the one who had the privilege of introducing his family to the son.

[33:24] But he first had to die. He had to die to himself. And so he brings him to Goshen. You remember what Goshen meant? Drawing near. Goshen, the land of drawing near. Goshen was not a place to pass through.

[33:37] And it wasn't a place to visit. They were there to dwell. Hebrews chapter 10, beginning verse 22 says, Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

[33:54] Let us hold fast to the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

[34:13] Man, it's not some place to visit. Church isn't an experiment. Us gathering together, it's not just something we pick and choose. It's a place to dwell. The place where we draw near to God isn't a place to pass through.

[34:27] It's some place we dwell. I didn't say anything about Wednesday night. And Joseph made ready his chariot, and he went up to meet Israel his father.

[34:38] The son does not hesitate. When it's time to go, he's gone. And he went up to meet Israel his father to Goshen and presented himself unto him. And he fell on his neck, and he wept on his neck a good while.

[34:49] Revelation 22, Jesus speaking at the end of this entire book says, Behold, I come quickly. That doesn't mean, like, soon, as much as it means when it's time, he comes fast.

[35:01] He doesn't hesitate. Blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book, and behold, I come quickly. And my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be.

[35:11] The son does not hesitate when it's time to go. And the son now presents himself to the father. In Hebrews 9.12, it tells us about when Jesus presented himself to the father. It says, Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

[35:31] We don't have that account, but man, you know it must have been one loud, wild, trumpet-blowing celebration when Jesus, with the blood of his own blood, the blood of the covenant, entered into heaven.

[35:43] It is finished. And here we see this emotion. We've talked about emotion for the last couple weeks, with Joseph displaying his emotion. And here we see the son and the father weeping a long while on each other's necks.

[35:57] You know, emotion is not a bad thing, because emotion originates with God. God created it. And God is the one who originates that. So it's not something to be avoided or despised.

[36:09] You know, you hear like, especially like at men's conferences, you know, Christian F word, feeling. No, we don't have feelings. We don't live by feelings. Well, we do have feelings. We all have feelings.

[36:19] We all want to know, like Jacob. God, are you going to be with me? Will you accept me? Do you love me? In spite of whatever? Man, I want to know that. The manliest man out there wants to know that. Hebrews 4.15 says, that we do not have a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

[36:37] Feelings in the Bible. But was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. We have a high priest who knows that he's felt that. When you're tempted, when you're struggling, he also understands.

[36:50] An emotion, it finds its ultimate fulfillment though in God. You know, we talked about the heart. The heart is meant to be led, not followed. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

[37:01] You decide where you place your treasure, the heart follows. The heart just wants what it wants. You got to tell it what it's going to want. If you follow your heart, man, you just follow your feelings. You just follow whatever that heart is thinking at that moment.

[37:15] Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. But emotion finds its fulfillment in God. In Psalm 62.8, we read, trust in him at all times, you people.

[37:26] Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Man, where do I take this? Where do I go with this? It's so, I don't know what to do with that. But we pour out your heart before God.

[37:37] Our emotion finds its fulfillment in God. And here we see that emotion of the father, the heart of the father towards the son. In Luke 15, Jesus is giving the parable of the prodigal son.

[37:51] And it talks about when the father sees him. And he arose, the prodigal son rose, and he came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

[38:03] That's the heart of the father. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. They began to be merry. The father loves the son.

[38:13] And here you think of Jacob as he gets off of his wagon and Joseph leaps off his chariot. You know, his Egyptian wig probably goes flying and his mascara, Egyptian mascara is running.

[38:24] And he's just crying. The father loves the son. John 3.35, The father loves the son and has given all things into his hand. John 5.20, For the father loves the son and shows him all things that himself does.

[38:38] John 10.17, Therefore does my father love me. Jesus says, Because I lay down my life that I may take it again. The father loves the son. You say, Of course the father loves Jesus.

[38:50] Who doesn't love Jesus? Of course he loves Jesus. And then Jesus prays this for you and me in John 17. I in them and thou father in me that they may be perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and has loved them as thou hast loved me.

[39:11] The father weeps upon the neck of the son. As the father loves the son, Jesus says, That's how, Father, you love my disciples. And I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them.

[39:28] You think, Well, of course the father loves Jesus, but does the father love me? Yes. He loves you with the same love he loves Jesus. You and me, the Simeon and Levi's, the Reuben's, the Rubes, he loves us the same.

[39:42] And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die since I have seen your face because thou art yet alive. Israel is no longer afraid of death as he is in the presence of the living son, realizing the son has risen.

[39:57] The son is alive. He said, Man, I don't fear death now. I've seen your face. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

[40:26] As Israel, as Jacob comes and he's there with Joseph, man, that fear of death, he's like, I am in the presence of the son. I've seen you face to face. And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father's house, All right, here's the plan now.

[40:40] I will go up and show Pharaoh and say unto him, My brethren and my father's house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me. And the men are shepherds, for their trade has been to feed cattle.

[40:52] And they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have. Remember the hyksos where he's saying maybe, the interpretation, maybe shepherd kings? And Jacob saying, Joseph saying, Hey, here they come as shepherds.

[41:05] And they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have. And so Joseph goes and he advocates for his brethren, doesn't he? 1 John 2, 1 says, My little children, these things write unto you that you sin not.

[41:16] And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, the son, Jesus Christ the righteous. Here is the son advocating on behalf of his brothers. And it shall come to pass when Pharaoh shall call you, in verse 33, and he shall say unto you, What is your occupation?

[41:34] That you shall say, Thy servant's trade has been about cattle from our youth even until now. Tell him that you're shepherds, both we and also our fathers. This is the reason, that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

[41:50] Interesting. Every shepherd's an abomination. Kind of makes sense then if eventually the shepherd kings were kind of ruling Egypt and then the Egyptians pushed them out because of that.

[42:01] I read another interpretation that said it wasn't so much that the shepherds were an abomination because in the next chapter we're going to see where Pharaoh's going to say, Hey, if you have anyone who's like really industrious of your brothers, put him over my shepherds.

[42:13] So he's got his own shepherds. It could also mean that they despise Hebrews, specifically, those from Canaan. Hebrew means one from beyond. That's what it means. And so here you have this group of people who will never fit in.

[42:26] They despise them for that. The whole time Israel's in Egypt, they're just not going to fit in. That's a possibility. But it's interesting because he says, Pharaoh's going to ask you what's your occupation? Especially guys, when we meet each other.

[42:39] What do you usually say? Hey, hi, my name's so-and-so. What do you do? What do you do? How can I identify you? You know, there's a big difference between like, I collect garbage and I run a Fortune 500 company.

[42:53] You know, there's a difference between then how I may view you. But God doesn't see us that way. God sees who we are, not what we do. The world says, what do you do? That's how I define you.

[43:04] But God sees us as who we are. Joseph, he had a plan, didn't he? He had a plan to bring his family into Goshen.

[43:15] Goshen, the land of dwelling near. He had a plan, he had a place for them, and he had a process by which he would bring them there. Jesus has the same plan for us, the same process to bring us to a place where we can draw near.

[43:29] In John 14, he says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. But guys, I have a plan and I have a place.

[43:41] I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. Jesus has a plan, a place, and a process to bring us there.

[43:56] And you better not get tired of John 14, one through three, because it's going to come up a lot. I love that passage. And it applies so much. 1 Thessalonians 4, 17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

[44:10] And so shall we ever be near the Lord. We shall be in that place of drawing near. God has a plan to get us there and a process too. None of us are going to miss it. The dead in Christ shall rise first and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet him in the clouds.

[44:24] That's the resurrection. We're not going to miss it. So Israel takes his family into Egypt and they're home, right? They're in Goshen.

[44:34] They're with Joseph. But it's not their final home, is it? And this world is never our final home. Egypt was not the final destination for God's people, but it was their current destination. This is not our final destination, but it is our current destination.

[44:49] And the Son ensured that God's people would have everything they needed for sojourning in Egypt. He gave them a place there. He gave them his presence. He gave them provision. And Jesus again in John 17, praying for us.

[45:01] Remember, we just read one of these scriptures, I pray not that thou wouldest take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth.

[45:14] Thy word is truth. This isn't our final destination, but it's our current one. And God has supplied everything we need to thrive in this current destination. And lastly, that last phrase at the end of verse 34, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.

[45:30] I don't know exactly what that means. Did they hate shepherds? Did they hate Hebrews? But here's what I do know. The world hates anything that reminds them of the shepherd. And Egypt is a type of the world. The world hates anything that reminds them of the shepherd.

[45:44] John 10, 11, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Why would the world hate the good shepherd? If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.

[45:57] If you are of the world, the world would love his own. That's why the world hates the shepherd. That's why the world hates us. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

[46:10] There's a movement today to try and force Christians back into the world. There are people today that say, if you think Jesus is going to come and rescue you in the rapture, if you're looking to resurrection, if you're looking for a new world and a new hope, then you are useless for this world because you should be focused on this world.

[46:28] Man, this world hates us because it is not our home. And nothing they say, no matter how much they twist my arm, is ever going to make this world my home. It is my current destination and there is a purpose for us being here.

[46:39] Remember, we saw that. For deliverance. We're here, sent into the world, provisioned and given purpose by the Son for deliverance. To call others out of this world.

[46:49] You are not of this world, but I have chosen you out of this world, therefore the world hates you. Verse 20, nothing you do is going to convince them otherwise. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord.

[47:01] If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they've kept my saying, they will keep yours also. And those who keep his sayings are those who are not part of this world.

[47:14] You know, as we close, we've looked at this family going down into Egypt and just a beautiful picture of the Son and the Father, the provision that the Son makes, the picture of Jesus. We looked from the least into the greatest to the least.

[47:26] They all got to go. What was the one thing that qualified Jacob's family and Jacob's descendants to enter the promised land? I'm not the promised land, to enter the land of Goshen, the land prepared by the Son.

[47:38] What was the one thing that qualified them? Birth. John 1.12, Jesus says, but as many as received me, or many as, I'm sorry, this is John the Baptist speaking about Jesus, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe on his name, which were born out of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

[48:07] Only those related to the Father and the Son through birth will be together with him at the last. Together at last. The land of Goshen, the land of drawing near. The ones who got to go, didn't matter if they were good, bad, or ugly.

[48:21] I'm sure some of them are ugly. Didn't matter if they had great names or hup-a-mup-a-mup-a, right? Didn't matter. All that mattered was their relation to the Father and the Son, and that was through birth. Jesus answered and said unto him to Nicodemus, Truly, truly, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

[48:43] That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Truly, truly, I say unto you, except a man be born again.

[48:54] What relates us to our Father and to our Son is our genetics, our spiritual genetics. It's not on me. How many of you are in your families because of your efforts in your birth?

[49:08] Probably not too many. You might have tried to stay out of your family through your efforts at the time of birth, you know, hard birth. We don't have any part in that, and there's nothing you could do no matter how difficult your family life may be, as much as you wish you could distance yourself maybe from a relative.

[49:22] There's absolutely nothing you can do to ever undo that. That will always be there because that's what your genetics are. When we are born again of the Spirit, we then are related to the Father and the Son by an inseparable, undoable act of birth.

[49:39] We've been born into this family. Because of that, we've got provision for the journey, we've got purpose, we've got a destination, and we don't have to fear to go into Egypt.

[49:50] When we leave here and we go out into Egypt, man, we don't got to fear. We have the same promise where God says, I'm going to be with you, I'm going to make you fruitful. You'll be a great people. But man, we have each other.

[50:03] It was the whole family that went. It wasn't just one person. We've got each other. Father, thank you so much for your word, Lord. Thank you for this beautiful picture, Lord, of our birth, of our family, and here we sit with our family, Lord.

[50:16] Here we sit with those who love you, to those who are called according to your purpose, Lord. And Lord, whether we come Sunday morning, Wednesday night, men's studies, ladies' studies, whether we get together in each other's homes, Lord, the point is we need to get together with one another.

[50:33] Lord, we're all going to the same place. And Lord, you have prayed for us. When we read those high priestly prayers of Jesus, he wasn't saying, I pray for you alone, Peter.

[50:46] He was praying for all of them, that they may be one, that they may experience the love of the Father. And Lord, I've had some sweet times in my life alone with you and your word with a lot of emotion.

[51:01] And Lord, I've also had some amazing times with your people. And from week to week, I have to be honest, I think the times that when we gather together are the sweetest. Lord, I thank you for this family.

[51:15] Lord, I pray that you would fulfill your word to us this day and this week. That you'd be with us, and that you would keep us. And that you would come and get us, Lord, so that we can draw near to you and be together at last, forever.

[51:29] Amen.