Read for This Week’s Study: Genesis 46; Rom. 10:12, 13;
Genesis 47; Genesis 48; Acts 3:25, 26; Genesis 49; Phil. 2:10; Gen.
49:29–50:21.
Memory Text: “So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of
Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied
exceedingly” (Genesis 47:27, NKJV).
Genesis covers the last years of Jacob and Joseph together. We
see Jacob (Israel) leave Canaan (Genesis 46) in order to settle in
Egypt (Genesis 47), and there he will die (Gen. 49:29–50:21).
And yet, even in this Egyptian setting, the prospect of the Promised
Land still looms large in the background (Gen. 50:22–26).
As soon as Jacob arrives in Egypt, Jacob blesses Pharaoh (Gen.
47:7–10), thus fulfilling (partially, of course) the Abrahamic promise
to be a blessing to the nations (Gen. 12:3). Later, about to die, Jacob
blesses Joseph’s sons (Genesis 48). Jacob also blesses his own sons
(Gen. 49:1–28) and makes impressive predictions concerning each of
them in the context of the future 12 tribes of Israel (Gen. 49:1–27).
The fact, however, that Israel “dwells” in exile, in Egypt as strangers,
is in tension with the hope of the Promised Land. And though the book
of Genesis itself ends with the children of Israel in Egypt, some of the
last words of Joseph point to another place: “ ‘I am dying; but God will
surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He
swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob’ ” (Gen. 50:24, NKJV).
