January 31 Daily Devotional

Genesis 45–47

Joseph gave wagons to his brothers, in which to bring their father and their families, as well as provisions for the journey. Each of them also received a present: a suit of clothes. But Benjamin received five suits and three hundred pieces of silver. He sent a present for his father: twenty donkeys loaded with corn, bread, meat and good things to eat. The sons came home to their father with the joyful message, “Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” At first he could not believe it. But when he heard all the words of Joseph and saw all the presents he had sent, his spirit revived. He said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.”

So Jacob got ready with his sons and their families, about seventy people. Also a number of servants went with them to take care of the herds and flocks. At Beersheba, which had been the home of Abraham. and Isaac, they stopped, and offered sacrifices to the Lord. There God spoke to Jacob in the visions of the night, “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: I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again.” After traveling a number of days through the sandy desert they came to Egypt. When Joseph heard that his father and his brothers were coming, he made ready his chariot to meet them. What a happy meeting it was at Goshen, when the father and his son were clasped in each other’s arms again. Many tears were shed by Joseph, and his father exclaimed, “Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.”

Joseph came and told Pharaoh that his father and his brothers had come. The king was very polite to Jacob. Seeing that he was a very old man, he asked him, “How old art thou?” Jacob answered, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” His sons had caused Jacob a lot of trouble, and he knew he would not get as old as Abraham and Isaac. He held: I am a stranger, a pilgrim on this earth, my real home is above. Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

Pharaoh told Joseph that his fathers and his brothers should have the best part of Egypt to live in. This was the land of Goshen. It was the eastern portion of Egypt, extending to the desert. The soil was very rich and produced large harvests. But at that time, and for five years after that, there were no crops, because of the famine that was in the land. During those years the people of Israel were supplied with food from the storehouses of Joseph.