An Atheistic Bible Study Of Genesis Chapters 46 And 47.

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Chapter 46 Israel is aging badly and fears that he might not survive the arduous journey to Egypt to see his son one last time. As he travels to see Joseph, Israel makes a temple to God who visits him and calls him Jacob again (forgetting the new identity he himself offered him). He tells Israel / Jacob that the sons of Israel will make a great nation. This is the same promise he made to Abraham and Isaac, neither of who lived to see it happen. He also tells him that Joseph will be with him when he dies, personally closing his father’s eyes. He assures Israel that he will die in Beersheba, Canaan, not in Egypt. A long roll call list of the sons and descendants of the 12 sons of Israel follows. Jacob is accompanied by seventy people, his sons, daughter, grandchildren and slaves. The family reunite at last in full. Joseph advises his brother’s o tell the Pharaoh that they are shepherds and cattlemen by profession. The Egyptians dislike dealing with cattle themselves so they will welcome Canaanites willing to tend the beasts for them. Joseph uses the Pharaoh’s chariot to meet his father at Goshen. Their meeting is quite emotional, understandably as they haven’t met for over twenty years. Joseph advises his brothers and their families and slaves to pretend to be shepherds, and cattle farmers by trade and willing to sell the herds they brought with them to the Egyptians. This will mean they can settle in the Egyptian outer region of Goshen, as the Pharaoh despises farmer, shepherds and cattle-men. Chapter 47 The brothers do as Joseph said and admit to being shepherds and cattlemen. The Pharaoh welcomes them, and notifies Joseph of their arrival in the lands. Joseph proudly introduces Jacob to the Pharaoh, as Jacob, not as Israel. The Pharaoh and Jacob chat freely, liking one another. Jacob moans Verse 9 “few and evil have been the days of the years of my life,” Few? He’s 130. Jacob and Pharaoh seem to respect one another. The famine intensifies and even the food stored in preparation for it in Egypt is running low. The money has gone, and Joseph starts trading in cattle for the remaining supplies, in effect giving his sheep and cattle controlling brothers great power and responsibility over the Egyptians. With their cattle now his, Joseph starts buying their land and once he has all their lands he enslaves all the Egyptians. Only the Pharaoh and his priests are exempt from Joseph’s benevolent mastery. They have enough money to buy their freedom and keep their land. Joseph has the slave-class Egyptians turn to farming, and sewing seeds, a trade they despised, but now essential to their survival. Israel, now one hundred and forty-seven, is dying. Joseph goes to him, and in an oath made with a hand on his father’s genitalia, Joseph assures Israel that he won’t let the old man be buried in Egypt, but in the same place as Isaac and Abraham and their wives. Despite being a slave, Joseph has been treated kindly and respect by the Egyptians, so his enlavement of them is rather nasty, and a foreshadowing of the Egyptian enslavement of the Jews to come in Exodus. Arthur Chappell