Jacob, who is here called Israel, his new name, now started from the place which had for many years been his home, on the long journey to Egypt to see his long lost, but now exalted son, Joseph. When he came to Beersheba, the border of the land which God had promised to Abraham and Isaac and himself, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac, as though to say to Him that he would not go further without being sure God wanted him to, and God answered Jacob’s unspoken question that night, saying to him in a dream, “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: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.”
So Jacob was ready to go on now, and we get a list of all those who went into Egypt. If you read the list carefully you will see that the children and grandchildren are counted up in groups according to their grandmothers. First Leah’ children, six, and their children; then Leah’s maid Zilpah’s two; then Rachel’s two; and finally Bilhah’s two. There were “little ones,” as well as big folks, but all their names are there.
Judah went on before the others to learn from Joseph the way for them to go, and Joseph went. out to meet his father. What a meeting it must have been, when Jacob saw his lost boy again, now the very next person to Pharaoh, and the one in charge of the food for all the countries around.
How glad Joseph must have been to see his father, from whom he had been separated for many years. How they must have talked about God’s kindness and wisdom too, in all the days when it had seemed so dark and so sad for Joseph, first sold as a slave, then sent to prison for something he hadn’t done, and left there for years, to at last come out as the greatest man in the great kingdom of Egypt, under Pharaoh.
God’s object in telling us this wonderful account is to give us a picture of His beloved Son, for He was to be sold, He was to be taken from prison and from judgment and He will yet rule over the whole earth. His Jewish brethren are to be restored to Him, and they shall look on Him whom ‘they have pierced. Every knee shall bow to Him. How good it is to bow to Him now, and own Him as our Lord and Saviour. Have you done so, clear reader?