Genesis 47
There were still five years of famine in Egypt. Though the Egyptians planted fields, they got little or nothing. Soon all lands were starving. They went to Pharaoh for help. He said, “Go unto Joseph.” By the second year, there was still famine and no money, so Joseph said, “Give your cattle.” So Joseph bought the cattle.
Next year, the people said to Joseph, “Our money is spent, my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought 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: and give us seed that we may live, and not die, that the laid be not desolate.”
So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, and the people too, so Joseph gave them food. And they gave the fifth part of their harvest to Pharaoh. They said to Joseph, “Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”
The Lord Jesus Christ has saved our lives. Our bodies belong to Him, and not to ourselves. “Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price,” (1 Cor. 6:19-2019What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:19‑20)) and “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold ... .But with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)). Joseph bought the Egyptians with corn, but the Lord Jesus bought us with His own precious blood. He paid such a great price because He counted us most precious to Himself.
Thus Joseph saved the lives of his whole family, of all the people of all Egypt, and of many people from Canaan. Except Pharaoh, no man was more honorable than he.
When the Lord Jesus will be the king in the Millennium, what a wonderful time that will be! All the people of the world will gladly say to the Lord Jesus. “You have saved our lives.”
Asenath was Joseph’s wife, a Gentile and a picture of the church. We do not see her much. We see Joseph, yet she and Joseph were one. You and I who are saved do not belong to this world but to heaven.
Jacob lived to the age of one hundred and forty-seven years. Before he died he made Joseph promise that he would not bury him in Egypt, but would bury him in the cave of Machpelah, that was bought by Abraham to bury Sarah. Abraham himself and Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob’s wife Leah were all buried there. The reason Jacob wanted to be buried with his forefathers was that he knew God had promised the land of Canaan to his children; he knew that he had the right and blessing of the oldest, so he set his heart on that blessing and promise of God. At first, he had tried to get the blessing by his own planning. Now he trusted God who had promised to him the land in which he wished to be buried, for he loved and valued it.
Today Jacob’s grave is still in Canaan; God has looked after it for several thousand years. But a day is coming when at God’s command the graves of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all God’s people, will be opened; they will enter eternal glory. Will you be there?