Genesis 47, we're getting towards the end of this book. And this chapter, 31 verses, you'll see that Joseph has three specific and sensitive issues to handle in this place. And as you look at the character of Joseph, you can't help but be impressed at how well-rounded he is. One commentator described him as like a sparkling diamond. Whatever way he turns, he sparkles. Whether he's in the home, whether he's in the palace, whether he's handling the Egyptian people with their needs, he's always shining for the Lord and always coming out of it with a glowing testimony. In verse 1 to 12, you'll see him handle his family and Pharaoh. That's going to be a very sensitive situation. And then verse 13, all the way to verse 26, he has to handle his relationship with Pharaoh as his sovereign and his master, but also the Egyptian people that he's been tasked to ensure that they don't starve. and that they're handled properly in this terrible crisis of seven years of famine. And that's going to be a test, a balancing act, where Joseph has to show fairness and decency and not take advantage of the people, not exploit the people. but also handle Pharaoh's interests, so that Pharaoh's not taken advantage of, and that the people just don't act in a way where they just tick, tick, tick, and there's no accountability. So Joseph has to handle that in a very sensitive way. And then finally, at the end of the chapter, from verse 27 to verse 31, you'll see Joseph being tasked to handle the dying requests of his father, Jacob. And that's going to be a difficult challenge for him. But let's read it. Verse one, it says, then Joseph came and told Pharaoh and said, my father and my brethren and their flocks and their herds and all that they have are come out of the land of Canaan and behold, they are in the land of Goshen. And he took some of his brethren, even five men and presented them unto Pharaoh. Pharaoh said unto his brethren, what is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers. They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come, for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan. Now therefore we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee, The land of Egypt is before thee, and the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell in the land of Gush, and let them dwell. And if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.' And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, the days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 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. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from before Pharaoh. And Joseph placed his father and his brethren and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ramesses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And Joseph nourished his father and his brethren and all his father's household with bread according to their families. And there was no bread in all the land, for the famine was very sore, in that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Pharaoh and said, unto Joseph, sorry, and said, give us bread, for why should we die in thy presence? For the money faileth. And Joseph said, give your cattle, and I will give you for your cattle if money fail. And they brought their cattle unto Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses and for the flocks and for the cattle of the herds and for the asses. And he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. And when that year was ended, they came unto him the second year and said unto him, we will not hide it from my Lord, how that our money is spent My Lord also hath our herds of cattle, there is not aught left in the sight of my Lord but our bodies and our lands. Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh. Give us seed that we may live and not die, let the land be not desolate. And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them, so the land became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. Only the land of the priests bought he not, for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them, wherefore they sold not their lands. Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh. Lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. And it shall come to pass in the increase that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. And they said, Thou hast saved our lives. Let us find grace in the sight of my Lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's. And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt in the country of Goshen. They had possessions therein and grew and multiplied exceedingly. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the whole age of Jacob was a hundred forty and seven years. And the time drew nigh that Israel must die. And he called his son Joseph and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place.' And he said, I will do as thou hast said. But he said, swear unto me, and they swear unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head. Amen. God will bless the reading of his word. Now I've said there's three sections, three issues that Joseph has to handle in this chapter. And the first one is bringing his family to meet Pharaoh. We saw previously in the chapter before that Joseph had already thought through being concerned about his brothers and their children and grandchildren growing up in the idolatry and immorality of Egypt. Joseph had already thought through that the best solution would be to leave them in the land of Goshen, being shepherds and being an industry that the Egyptians looked down upon, despised. And Joseph says, well, you stay in Goshen and you'll be kept separate from them. You'll not be tempted to be part of Egyptian society. And clear from verse one that they were already in the land of Goshen before he brought them before Pharaoh. So Joseph had been thinking this through, planning this through, no doubt praying about it. And then in verse two, he took five of his brothers and no doubt as a very discerning person of human nature, Joseph identified the five sensible ones, the five more spiritual ones, the five more prudent ones to bring in to Pharaoh. And he brought them in before Pharaoh, and he does this out of courtesy. Even though Pharaoh had said, bring them here and we'll take care of them and they'll live of the finest, Joseph is careful to always handle things with meekness and courtesy and respect. And he brings his five brothers to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh speaks to them and he asks them, what is your occupation? Now, Joseph had already primed them. What to say? You almost see in this chapter, Joseph's just doing everything, isn't he? He's running Egypt. He's running his family's house. He's running his brother's lives. He's taking care of his father's needs, even at the end of his life. Joseph's just a man of so many talents. And he's someone who thinks for other people. And sometimes that happens in families. Sometimes it happens in churches. There are certain individuals that just happen to have that quality that other people trust and confide in. And almost even in a family situation, maybe one brother or sister that everybody just looks up to, and they're almost like a father to the father of the home, as well as to the brothers and sisters of the home. And that's Joseph, even though he's one of the youngest in his home in terms of the genetics of the home, or the makeup of the home. He's one of the younger ones, and yet he's the most trusted. And Joseph, he brings the five. Pharaoh says, who, what are you? And he says straight away, thy servants. He's taught them. You talk, you make sure you point this out. You're not here to just demand. He says, thy servants. Our shepherds, so brings up this point, we're not like the Egyptians. We have a different occupation. We have a different culture. And thy shepherds, both we and also our fathers, this is a longstanding tradition for us. We've grown up this way. And then they said onto Pharaoh, verse four, for to sojourn in the land. Now the word sojourn just means a temporary stay. They understood that even at this point, that they were not there forever. They were only there for a period of time because their promised land was their land, not Egypt. And they make this clear to Pharaoh, we're not here to stay forever. We're only here to get through this period of our lives and this crisis. And they say to Pharaoh, therefore we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Cush. They didn't assume, or they didn't presume, they may have inwardly, but they didn't outwardly. They said to Pharaoh, would you give us permission to stay in the land of Goshen? And Pharaoh responds well to it. He says, verse five, thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee. The land of Egypt is before thee. In the best of the land, make thy father and brethren to dwell in the land of Goshen. And then he adds this, and if thou knowest any men of activity, notice he doesn't say this to the brothers. Not even the old Jacob. Pharaoh knows Joseph's the one, the leader. He knows Joseph's the one who has wisdom, even in the family situation. And notice who he asks for, if they knowest any men of activity, not ones who lie in bed till lunchtime. These are men that are trustworthy, men like you, Joseph. If you know someone like that amongst your brethren, then make them rulers over my cattle. He says, I'm going to promote them. But he says to Joseph, is that your discretion? Don't just choose because of your family members. Don't just choose because you feel obliged. In any way, you do it. If you observe, Joseph, that any of them have the potential to be leaders, And right away, we're seeing how God is honoring the faith of old Jacob. Remember, Jacob had to leave the promised land at 130 years of age, and he had to obey the call of God. God said to him, you go down to Egypt, and you're going to die in Egypt, but you'll be safe in Egypt. And old Jacob went there by faith over the border of Beersheba into the land of Egypt. And straight away, God's starting to bless, not just Jacob, but the whole family. And give them the bit of land that they needed to be in. And not only were they given the best of Goshen, Pharaoh said, but he said, if any of them work hard, let them be promoted to work over my cattle. Let them be rewarded. Let them be blessed. God doesn't make empty promises, sure he doesn't. But then Jacob is brought to see Pharaoh, verse seven. And Jacob's 130 years of age. Now, I don't know how old people lived. We know that the believers in the Bible at that time lived long lives, but we really don't know how long the average Egyptian lived. And this old man comes in to Pharaoh. And the first question Pharaoh asks, I think it's quite interesting, isn't it? Shows human nature hasn't changed. He looks at old Jacob and he says, how old are you? How old are you? And notice what Jacob says. And as you, sorry, I've jumped ahead of myself. Look at verse seven first. It says, and Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Now, in a verse like that, it's easy just to just read it, jump ahead to the next one, which I actually did, but now going back, because there's a lot to say in what Jacob does here. You see, years before, in fact, for most of Jacob's life, Whenever he came before a person who had the ability to enrich Jacob, the old Jacob would have been sucking up to that person, sycophantic. The old Jacob would have been seeing if he could get an advantage, even con the person. The old Jacob would have lied if it had got him an extra penny in the pound. when he appeared before a man like Pharaoh. And particularly when you come before the world's most powerful man, never forget who Pharaoh is at this point. This is the richest, most powerful man on the planet. The first great empire of civilization, the Egyptian. An empire that had incredible wealth. And Jacob's brought before him, his son is the favorite of Pharaoh. And this is a golden moment for Jacob to take advantage, to talk about himself, to blow about himself. And years before, the old Jacob would have said, that's a golden moment, golden opportunity. But now at 130 years of age, there's a new Jacob. And Jacob, the first thing he does, He prays a blessing upon Pharaoh. Isn't that wonderful? He just brings God into it. It's not about Jacob. It's about being a blessing to others now. Now, it's taken him 130 years to get to this point, but at least he gets to this point. Israel, which means what? Prince of God, has now met the Prince of Egypt. And Jacob comes with a blessing from the Lord. And he's going to give a great testimony to Pharaoh, because Pharaoh asked him, how old are you? And then Jacob immediately begins to speak. Verse nine, he says, the days of the years, and I think this is so interesting, how he describes his life. The days of the years of my pilgrimage. The old Jacob would never use this type of language. His grandfather, Abraham, did. His father Isaac did, although lesser than his grandfather did. But the old Jacob certainly would never have talked like this. But now at 130 years of age, with all the ups and downs and failures and experiences with God, this old man, He stands before the most powerful man on earth, and he describes his life as a pilgrimage. I'm not here forever, Pharaoh. I'm just passing through. I'm on my way to a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. I belong to a kingdom greater than Egypt. I belong to the kingdom of the eternal one. And soon and very soon, I'm going to see the king. And he just gets that straight out to Pharaoh. Even in answering the question, I am a pilgrim like my fathers. And then he has this almost sad statement. And there's a side of Jacob that's always on the melancholy. You know, you ever meet Christians like us, everyone's just, you know, they're never the most optimistic some Christians. And Jacob's like that. Even right to the end of his life, he's just someone He's not really a strong believer in his confidence in God, in his walk with God. There's always this insecurity in Jacob. He's like a lot of Christians, isn't he? Maybe you see yourself a lot of Jacob. Maybe you look at Abraham and think, I don't see myself in Abraham or Isaac, but you'll see yourself in Jacob. And Jacob says, few and evil have the days of the years of my life been. It's almost like a regret. I've wasted a lot of my life. 130 sounds impressive, Pharaoh. Maybe you're listening to me today, Pharaoh, and you think I'd like to live 130 years. Well, let me tell you about these 130 years, Pharaoh. I've wasted a lot. There's a lot of regrets. A lot of regrets how I brought up my family. A lot of regrets how I treated my father Isaac and my brother Esau. A lot of bad choices. A lot of very difficult things I've had to endure because of the consequences of my own foolishness. And Jacob's really honest here. There's no boasting about self. You have to notice that. And then he goes on, and I have not attained unto the days of the years of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. So I'm saying, I haven't lived as long as my father. I think I'm gonna die. I'm not gonna make it as long as Isaac. He never did make us the age Isaac made before he died. Because Isaac lived the longest of the patriarchs. Joseph actually lived the shortest of the four of them. But old Jacob, he's almost saying, oh, I don't think I'm going to make it there. I haven't had a lot of ups and downs, a lot of mistakes, Pharaoh. But notice how he connects himself to his fathers and their faith, because he says, just as my fathers had their pilgrimages and they made their way all up to glory, I'm on mine. I'm on the same journey. I haven't made it as well as they have, but I'm getting to the same destination. And then again, verse 10, and Jacob last fell straight away. And you're starting to see a lot of resemblances between Joseph and Jacob now. Remember every time Jacob or Joseph speaks to anyone, whether it's his brethren, whether it's Potiphar, Potiphar's wife, Whether it's the jailer, or the cheap butler, or the cheap baker, or Pharaoh, or the people of Egypt, Joseph's always been a blessing. He's always talking about the Lord. He's always promoting the Lord. Now old Jacob, 130 years of age, he's starting to behave like Joseph. Blesses Pharaoh at the start, blesses him on the way out. That's Jacob's heart now. He's trying to be a blessing to others. He's living up to Genesis 12. I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee. And you'll be a blessing, your descendants, to all peoples. And I hold Jacob's being a blessing to all peoples, including the Egyptians. Verse 11, Joseph takes his father out and his brother. and puts them in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. Joseph, you just see this all over jokes. It's like, just obey. Just do what you're asked. Don't take advantage. Don't try to get an extra few acres somewhere else. No, Joseph's just, okay, that's what Pharaoh said. That's what we'll do. Verse 12, and Joseph nourished his father and his brethren and all his father's household with bread, according to their families. Joseph takes care of the family. Make sure even the children, the grandchildren, are all taken care of. Despite all the busyness of his family. He could have said, well, somebody else can take that. I've already got them into Egypt. I've got them into the land of Goshen. Let them sort out themselves. It's not that I believe because Joseph's a control freak that he's behaving this way. It's because he's just a person who just cares. He just gives of himself to the whole family. He gives himself to Pharaoh. He gives of himself to the people in Egypt. He's just someone who just, the grace of God just flows out of him. That's why he's such a wonderful character. Now both Jacob and Joseph had suffered much in their lives. As Jacob testifies here before Pharaoh. But you see, the difference is this. Most of the sufferings of Jacob were because of the bad choices Jacob made. They were a direct consequence of his own foolishness. But most of the sufferings that Joseph went through were because God put him through it, not because he deserved to go through it, because of something he had done that was wrong. And you'll notice even in the sufferings that Jacob comes out of it in a somewhat melancholy fashion, a lot of regrets. Whereas Joseph comes out of all his suffering with a bigger heart for others, full of the joy of the Lord, full of fervency to help others. And you know, that's the same for you and I. All of us will go through ups and downs in life. All of us will have mistakes. All of us will have adversity. Some of it will be because of our silliness and our stupid choices. Other times, because just God wants us to go through those situations. But it's how you come through it is a test of character. Jacob, by and large, came through it badly. Joseph, by and large, came through it wonderfully. I know you and I have to decide how we come through it. Now, from verse 13 to verse 26, we have this second trial, you could put it this way, or test for Joseph. The second very sensitive issue that Joseph has to handle. Now, let me just paint the picture, because sometimes we need to think about this in a very careful way. The famine is going to rage for seven years. When famine comes to a land, particularly a famine that lasts for seven years, not just one year, people become desperate. You sometimes see in the television pictures of famines in certain countries. What do people do? They just break into Supermarkets, they break into homes. There's complete anarchy in the society. They blame the governments. They blame the king. They blame anybody who has wealth. They raid banks. Anywhere there's money or food or anything, they go insane almost. They lose control of themselves because they're desperate. When a person starves, they're desperate. So Joseph knows that if he doesn't handle this famine carefully, these people could rise up against Pharaoh in their desperation and murder Pharaoh. Pharaoh's not gonna be able to handle millions of people in a revolution when they're desperate. Or the other individuals in Egypt that ruled Egypt, Pharaoh's family and the others who ruled with him. And then of course, Pharaoh would call upon the armies in such a situation and there would be tremendous bloodshed. But then on the other hand, Joseph has to balance up his duty as Pharaoh's servant. Pharaoh has made him prime minister. And in such an office, he is required to look after Pharaoh's interests. Pharaoh is the monarch. He's the ruler. And it's not up to Joseph just to say, well, I'm just gonna give away all Pharaoh's money, all Pharaoh's resources to everybody who wants it, because there's a famine in the land. And whether the person's worked or not, or saved or not, in the seven good years, that doesn't matter, we'll just give it all away. And that could leave a very bad relationship between him and Pharaoh. as well as set a very wrong precedent for future generations of just giving everything away free of charge. So he's got that duty to balance. And then he has the duty as a man of God to take care of people who are vulnerable. It's not the children's fault that their parents didn't save during the seven good years, is it? It's not the innocent people's fault that they maybe didn't even hear of the dream. of the seven good years followed by the seven hard years or lean years. And Joseph is a man of God. He knows that everybody's made in the image of God. Everybody has value. And he, as prime minister, has got to do as what he can to take care, to protect, to preserve life. And he's got all these duties, hasn't he? And this is going to be a very sensitive, delicate balance act so that Egyptian society doesn't explode or implode in this terrible crisis. And then he has to be concerned about the people on the borders and other countries, whether they would just flood in and attack Egypt. So it's not going to be an easy seven years. On top of that, he's handling all his brothers and all the problems with the family, and a father who's up and down a bit with his faith. So what does Joseph do? And it's really a model for you and I, how to handle work relationships. Because notice what it says, verse 13. And there was no bread in all the land, for the famine was very sore. So that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan, so not just Egypt itself, but outside of Egypt, in other countries, even hundreds of miles away in Canaan, the people fainted by reason of the famine. Now, what will Joseph do? Now, there are some critics, wrong in my view, very wrong, who say that Joseph exploited the people here. He took advantage of their vulnerability here. But if you look in verse 19, when the people really panicked, when they'd lost everything, sold everything, they said to Joseph, he says, buy us and our land. They said, sell us into slavery, for we're gonna die anyway. And Joseph's not gonna do that. You'll see how he handles this. In fact, at verse 25, when this whole process has ended and they've survived the seven years of famine, notice what the people say about Joseph. Thou hast saved our lives. It's not easy to please the people and Pharaoh, is it? It's not easy to be a politician anyway, in any walk of life, but to be one in a famine, that at the end of the famine, Pharaoh's pleased and the people are pleased. I mean, that's an incredible balancing. It takes tremendous wisdom and prudence to get that balance. Now, how does he do it? First step. It says in verse 14, He gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the corn which they bought. So the first thing he did is he didn't give away the corn. Whatever the people wanted to eat, first year they came, they paid for it. No freebies with Joseph, no handouts. If you can afford to pay, you pay for it. And he made them pay. And notice what happened to the money. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. No secret bank accounts, no skimming 5% off the top. Whatever was owed to Pharaoh was given to Pharaoh. The people can afford to pay for it from their savings. They should pay for it. And he made them do that. But then the second year, the money failed. Verse 15, no money left. All the savings was gone. Now Joseph could have said, well, it's their fault. I mean, they were told of the seven good years followed by the seven bad years, and it's their fault they didn't save. It's their fault they didn't hide food away. But they come to Joseph, and they said, the money faileth. There's nothing left. So what will Joseph do? Verse 16, give your cattle. You've got animals. You may not have silver and gold, but you've got animals, you can sell them. So he makes them accountable for their choices. In doing so, he's giving them dignity, he's giving them a way to survive and their families without handouts, but he's also being fair to Pharaoh. He really balances us beautifully each step of the way. So the cattle goes. But then the third year comes, verse 19, and they said, what's going to happen? There's still no food. There's still a famine. We sold our cattle, we've emptied our savings. And they make a suggestion to Joseph, buy us and our land for bread. He says, take our lands, take our freedom. Make us slaves, Pharaoh slaves, that we may live and not die. So what does Joseph do? Does he make them slaves? No. Yes and no, but you'll see in a way how he handles this. It says, he bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. For the Egyptians sold every man his field because the famine prevailed over them. And then he gives them seed, verse 25, I'm jumping ahead a little bit, to sow the land. And then look at verse 24, look how fair he is here. He says, from now on, from this year forward, four parts, 80% of the money you make on the land that you have sowed the farrow, 80% belongs to you. 20% is Pharaoh's tax. Now he could have said 100% belongs to Pharaoh, couldn't he? But he didn't. He was very wise and very fair. He left them an incentive to work and a profit incentive for future generations. He says 20% belongs to Pharaoh. And in doing so, he's keeping the peace and the balance of power in Egypt. so that Pharaoh and his subsequent generations are treated fairly for what they have done in this famine, but also the people are treated fairly. Now, you save 20%, it's a big lump of money. How many people here would complain if your tax rate was just 20%? Not too many. If that's all the tax you ever paid, 20%. And Joseph very prudently and very wisely ensures Pharaoh is taken care of. He gets his 20% every year, but the people and their families are taken care of, they get 80% every year back for themselves. So there's an incentive to work, there's an incentive to save, there's an incentive to improve, but there's also a recognition that Pharaoh must get his portion. And what do the people say? having come through this terrible famine, now signed up to paying 20% for life to Pharaoh, and only 20%. Verse 25, they said to Joseph, they paid this great tribute. Thou has saved our lives. This is a great deal. He's kept everybody happy. He's kept everybody on board. in the worst crisis probably to hit this nation in its history. We could have done with him during COVID, couldn't we? We could do with him now. The wisdom, the prudence, the respect he has for people, the dignity that he conducts himself, the fairness, the justice of Joseph, how he handles, no wonder He's a shining star of scriptures, isn't he? No wonder when God said to Abraham in Genesis 12, your descendants will be a blessing to the other nations. Joseph is the prime example of that. What a blessing he was to Egypt. And all the Egyptians said, this man is a real blessing. And now at the end of Jacob's life, he's going to say the same too. You'll read it in chapter 49. When he looks at Joseph and he compares Joseph to the other brothers, wow, old Jacob is just overcome. What a son this is. What a blessing this is to the family. Now, I don't have time to go through the rest, but we'll do it next time. Because old Jacob's going to die. And as he gets ready to die, who does he call to guide him through the last days of his life? Who does he trust? to ensure his last wishes are carried out, Joseph. Not the firstborn, not the secondborn, not the thirdborn, Joseph. Because he knows here's a man that you can trust with your life. May God bless this little study to all of our lives. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for Joseph. What a story he has to tell us. What an example he is. in the home life, in the work life, even in society, his fairness, his justice, his common decency and respect for others. And Lord, may we look at the principles that Joseph put into place here and say, well, I want to be like him in how I conduct my affairs. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.