00:00 Introduction and Current Events
00:32 Gratitude and Opportunities for the Church
02:04 Bible Reading: Genesis 46 Overview
02:23 Jacob's Journey to Egypt
04:53 Reunion of Jacob and Joseph
08:51 Joseph's Administration During the Famine
10:34 Conclusion and Prayer
Hey everybody.
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:Welcome back to another edition
of the daily Bible podcast.
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:It is Tuesday, January 28th.
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:And, uh, man, it's just been fascinating.
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:It's been interesting.
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:I'm sure you've been watching everything
going on over the last week with
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:president Trump's first week in office.
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:And as I record this, it's only Saturday.
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:So I don't know what's coming on
Sunday, Monday, or even today on
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:Tuesday as you listened to this, but.
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:Ah, man, there's been a lot of good
things happening over this last
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:week that we, as believers should be
thankful for even just the pardoning
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:of the pro pro-life activists.
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:The fact that he showed
up at the March to life.
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:Um, there's just good things happening
and we need to be grateful for that.
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:And again, it just seems to me that.
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:Uh, God is, is positioning
the church to, to.
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:To have an opportunity.
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:And almost as though he's saying
to the American evangelical
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:church at large right now.
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:Okay.
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:Here's another opportunity.
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:Here's another chance.
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:Uh, what are you going to do with it?
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:Are you going to seize this?
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:Is there going to be a season
of revival that's going to come?
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:Is there going to be a season where
the church really steps up and is
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:the church and fulfills her mission?
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:Uh, or is this going to be a
season where you're going to maybe
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:waste this is, is this, maybe
you are our last shot who knows?
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:Uh, between now and in persecution
and really paring down and
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:disciplining the church.
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:All that to say.
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:We need to be grateful for what's going on
right now and what's happening right now.
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:And the fact that there's even
a little bit more openness.
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:I mentioned it on Sunday.
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:Uh, in 2024 Bible sales shot
up by 22% in the United States.
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:Now.
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:That doesn't mean that everybody
that bought the Bible bought it
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:for good reasons, but it does
mean that that's a good trend.
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:We should be thankful for that.
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:The religious nuns, those that
identify as, as unaffiliated,
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:religiously, that number dropped.
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:Uh, for the first time in a
long time, that's something
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:to be good to be grateful for.
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:Uh, and so let's be thankful church
not and sit back on our laurels
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:and say, well, we get the rest now.
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:But to say let's let's Excel still more.
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:Let's let's seize the opportunity.
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:Let's seize the day.
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:Uh, when it seems that
we've got a cultural shift.
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:And I'm not going to say it's going
to, it's a total reversal because it's
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:not that the enemy is still very much
at work, but man, we've got a cultural
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:shift that's working in our favor.
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:Let's let's ride that wave
and let's seize the day.
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:So let's be.
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:The lampstand that God desires
us to be that Christ exalting
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:church, equipping culture, engaging
lampstand, and, and do it all for the
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:glory of God for the glory of God.
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:Well, let's jump into
our Bible reading today.
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:Uh, Genesis 46 through 47.
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:Uh, Genesis 46 opens up with
Jacob coming down to Egypt.
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:So.
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:Uh, Joseph had said to his
brothers, Hey, go get your father,
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:go get our father, bring him down
here and, and let's be together.
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:And I'll take care of you during
this famine that's taking place.
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:So that's what happened, Jacob.
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:Heads down to Egypt, but he stops
first in a town or an area called beer
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:Sheba or in the Hebrew Bert beer Shava.
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:Um, and this would have been right on
the borderline of the promised land now.
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:Jacob knew the promises made to
Isaac knew the promises made to
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:Abraham of the promised land.
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:And Jacob now is about to
leave the promised land.
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:And Jacob also knew that Egypt was
not necessarily where God had always
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:wanted his people to be in fact, had
been prohibited from going to Egypt.
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:And so now he's going to
stop there at Beersheba.
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:Right on the border of the
promised land before leaving.
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:And there's almost an uneasiness there.
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:You can sense in him, but God shows up to
him here and God confirms that it's okay.
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:That it's good and says,
Hey, go to Egypt for there.
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:God says that he would bring part of
the Abrahamic covenant to fulfillment by
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:forming that nation from his descendants.
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:And so that the remainder of the chapter
and chapter 46 details, those descendants,
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:the ones that go down with Jacob there.
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:And, uh, and we find out at the
end of it that there's 70 in all,
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:according to the Hebrew text and
magnetic text and that number there.
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:Would have included Jacob and Joseph and
his two sons already down there in Egypt.
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:So it's either including Jacob or
including Dinah perhaps, and maybe there
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:were 71 if Dinah's included in this and
Jacob is not counting himself either way.
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:70.
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:People there with him down in Egypt,
but God is going to turn that into a
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:nation by the time that they leave.
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:And we'll find that out as, as the
book of Genesis turns into the book of
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:Exodus and we see what God does through
the growth of his people here, but.
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:Uh, you may remember when we talked
about this more in depth last year,
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:I believe, but acts chapter seven 14.
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:So in Stephen's defense that he's
giving an acts chapter seven.
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:Uh, there it listed, there were
75 people that went down to Egypt
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:and that's based on the LX ex
translation, which is the Septuagint.
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:Okay.
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:The Septuagint.
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:And so the Greek Septuagint, the
Greek translation of the old Testament
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:reads 75 people, not 70 people.
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:Um, This is not a gotcha scriptures,
faulty scriptures erroneous here.
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:Uh, it's possible that the Greek
translation was not accurate on there.
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:Their accounting methods there.
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:It's also possible that the
theoretic texts may have missed
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:a couple of people, but 70 to 75
is, is a comfortable area there.
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:Pastor rod has often talked about
the fact that, uh, there are elements
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:that point to the fact that scripture
was not as concerned with absolute
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:precision in every detail, the way
that we are in our Western culture.
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:Uh, we see that with time
references sometimes.
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:So whether it's 70, 70, 1, 75, Uh, we
can be comfortable that, that, that
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:was the general ballpark number that
went down there to Egypt with Jacob.
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:And so that's, what's going
on here in chapter 46.
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:Is he's going down to
reunite with his son.
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:And then in verses 28 through
34, that's the first 27 verses
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:of chapter 46, at least.
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:28 through 34, then.
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:This is the reunion and what a
reunion it must have been to see,
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:and we get a glimpse of it, but, but
we can't really fully capture this.
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:I mean, if it was emotional for.
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:Uh, Joseph to see his brother
Benjamin, how much more so to
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:see his father, Jacob, remember.
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:Jacob loved Joseph, Jacob and Joseph
had a special relationship with
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:special bonds, such as Jacob even
gave him that coat of many colors.
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:And so this was a close, this
was an intimate relationship
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:between a father and a son.
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:And here, they're back together again.
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:And Joseph thought, I'm sure I
will never see my father again.
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:And, and Jacob thought that he had died.
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:And so the, the idea that they are
back together again in verse 29,
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:he presents himself to him and fell
on his neck and wept on his neck.
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:And just as a good while.
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:I can imagine the tears and the
joy and everything else there.
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:And then after that, that just
the time of, let me tell you
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:everything that's happened.
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:Let me tell you all that God has done.
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:And, and Joseph is told by
his father, Israel, verse 30.
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:He says, now I can die.
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:Now let me die.
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:Since I've seen your face and
know that you were still alive.
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:In other words, Israel saying, now I am.
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:Content I'm okay.
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:And he's going to tell Pharaoh
here shortly, he's going to
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:say I've lived a hard life.
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:Uh, but this is a glimpse in the fact that
he's saying, okay, this is, this is good.
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:Again, the parallels would
Jobe and the restored fortunes
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:at the end of job's life.
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:Uh, if there's a little bit of a
parallel there, here, this is the
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:restored fortunate for Israel that
he is back with his son, Joseph.
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:And even just all of his children
together there in Egypt, in the hope
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:that would have been there to know that
they were going to be cared for, they
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:were going to be provided for, but this
reunion in verses 23 through 34 is just
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:a sweet reunion there between his father.
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:Uh, and him, and he gives him some advice.
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:He says, Hey, when Pharaoh calls you,
because Pharaoh is going to want to meet
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:you when he calls you, uh, let him know
that your shepherds and you're going to.
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:I'm going to set you up over and Goshen,
Goshen, would've been a land that would
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:have been great for pasturing flocks,
and would have allowed his family to
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:thrive there, which they're going to do.
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:And again, I mentioned it a last
episode of the episode before shepherds
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:were an abomination to the Egyptians.
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:So that would have been a
land that would have allowed.
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:Uh, Jay Jacobs.
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:Uh, family.
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:They're the descendants
there and Joseph's brothers.
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:That's what I'm trying to say to
enjoy some, some Liberty, some
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:freedom to, to not have a lot of
interference from the Egyptians there.
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:And it's true.
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:I mean, they were shepherds, this is not
deception, so it's going to set them up.
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:Well, Uh, chapter 47, then
verses one through 12.
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:Uh, Joseph settled his family
there in Goshen and Israel is
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:summoned indeed to meet Pharaoh.
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:And he has an interesting, just
brief interaction with Pharaoh here.
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:And Israel is the Fountainhead
that the patriarch of the family.
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:Would have blessed Pharaoh.
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:So that's, that's part of that,
that greeting between him and the
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:king there as the family, patriarchy
would have represented his family and
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:blessed the ruler of the land, which
would have been Pharaoh, obviously.
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:Pharaoh asks this question in verses
eight and nine, he says, how old are you?
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:And Pharaoh's seems to be fascinated here.
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:How many are the days of
the years of your life?
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:That's an interesting question.
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:If you meet somebody.
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:Uh, and it's appropriate to do so
you should ask them that question.
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:How many are the days of
the years of your life?
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:See what they do.
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:Uh, but, but Pharaoh's fascinated
because the average Egyptian lifespan
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:at this time was 110 years old.
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:Okay.
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:Which is.
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:Not, I guess.
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:It's, it's not totally foreign for us
to think of somebody living to 110.
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:Now, what did we say that
to the average lifespan?
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:No, that that's, uh, a
pretty well lived life.
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:That's an old life, but.
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:At this point, um, he's looking at,
at Israel going, how old are you?
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:And Israel says I'm 130 years old
and he was going to live another
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:17 years beyond that point.
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:And so this, this is Pharaoh is intrigued.
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:He's fascinated by Jacob and he
wants to know how old are you?
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:And so this is inter.
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:Interesting interaction between Pharaoh,
this pagan king and, uh, and, and
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:Jacob who was not a king, but is the,
the, uh, one of the sons of promise.
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:That's continuing the blessing
through whom the king of Kings and
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:Lord of Lords was going to come.
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:And so you have a, uh, a paradox here.
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:You have the most powerful man
perhaps in the world at this time in
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:Pharaoh, looking at a man who is, is
very much not in a position of power.
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:And yet the one that would rule
all the one that would be the
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:king of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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:Who's not going to come
from Pharaoh's line.
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:But from the line here of Jacob?
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:Well, from here, Uh, we get into
more of Joseph's administration.
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:Then in verses 13 through 21, the famine
is still severe to the point that the
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:Egyptians run out of money and they say,
Hey, we don't have any money to buy food
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:from you anymore, but we still need food.
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:And so Joseph says, okay, well, I will buy
your flocks and your herds for Pharaoh.
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:And so they sell their flocks
and their herds to Pharaoh.
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:In exchange for food.
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:And even that runs out and
they come back and they say, I.
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:We're out of money again, and we
don't want any flocks or herds
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:because you've got them all.
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:He says, okay, I'll buy
your land and I'll buy you.
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:And so, uh, they give their land and
they even sell themselves and slavery.
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:Uh, to Pharaoh and in this
way, Pharaoh's power in Egypt
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:becomes unrivaled in unmatched.
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:He literally owns everything in
Egypt at this point, and that's
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:going to impact what transpires after
Joseph's death, because when a new
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:Pharaoh arises, who doesn't remember.
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:Uh, Israel or Joseph or any of
the, the descendants they're in.
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:We're going to find that that's going
to be problematic for the Israelites in
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:that in some ways it's traced back to
this right now that that Pharaoh becomes.
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:Inordinately powerful.
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:You already was the ruler
of the land, but even more.
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:So he's going to own it all now.
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:And it's a result of, uh, this
administration that takes place
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:under Joseph's leadership here.
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:Uh, which you can't fault him for
because he's doing his job and there
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:needed to be a transaction there of
goods for services, the services being
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:food, but still this sets up something
wherein, uh, this is going to be a
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:situation where, uh, Pharaoh is going to
rise to a level of power never before.
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:And don't hear.
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:Uh, and then in chapter 47,
verse 27, it says thus Israel
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:settled in the land of Egypt.
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:In the land of Goshen and they
gained possessions in it and they
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:were fruitful and multiply greatly.
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:And that's just a reminder to us.
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:Uh, of the Abrahamic, Kevin and blessings
to the people that they're fruitful and
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:multiplying greatly that he is indeed
going to turn him into the nation.
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:These chapters here are just good
reminders for us of God's faithfulness
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:to his people and to us as individuals,
uh, God was kind to allow Jacob
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:to see Joseph again and spend last
time with him before his death.
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:He doesn't die.
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:It's not as though.
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:Even Jacob says, even though Jacob says.
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:I've seen you now I can die.
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:God gives him another 17 years with
his family, with his sons there.
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:And that's just a sweet grace of God.
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:So what an encouragement
that is to us, let me pray.
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:And then we'll be done with this episode.
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:God, we are grateful for the sweet
kindnesses you give to us on a daily
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:basis that we're not even aware of just
to be able to see the smile of somebody.
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:Uh, to be able to experience warmth,
to be able to experience good food.
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:Uh, and fellowship with
brothers and sisters in Christ.
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:Uh, those are, are, are sweet
kindnesses and elements of your
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:grace that you've given to us.
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:And so we are grateful for them, help
us to be a continually grateful people.
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:We pray in Jesus name.
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:Amen.
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:And keeping your Bibles and tune
in again tomorrow for another
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:edition of the daily Bible podcast.
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:But.