Jacob Goes Down to Egypt

A chariot races across the dusty fields of Goshen. The man driving it is one of the most powerful people in Egypt. But when he reaches an old shepherd waiting by the road, he jumps down, throws his arms around his neck, and weeps. And he keeps on weeping, for a long, long time.

For more than twenty years, Jacob believed his favourite son Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Then his other sons came home from Egypt with astonishing news. Joseph is alive. He is governor of all Egypt. And he wants the whole family to come and live near him, because the famine still has five years to run. Jacob is old now. Leaving Canaan, the land God promised to his grandfather Abraham, is a huge step. So he sets out, with his sons and their families, their flocks and all they own, and he travels south to Beersheba.

At Beersheba, where his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham had worshipped, Jacob offers sacrifices to God. And that night God speaks to him in a vision. “Jacob, Jacob.” “Here I am.” “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.” Do not be afraid. Jacob is leaving the promised land, but he is not leaving the God of the promise. God is coming too.

So the wagons Pharaoh sent roll south, carrying Jacob, the little ones and the women. Genesis counts the family who go down to Egypt: seventy people in all, including Joseph and his two sons who are already there. Jacob sends Judah ahead to get directions to Goshen, a good region in the north-east of Egypt. Then Joseph gets his chariot ready and rides out to meet his father. When he sees him, he falls on his neck and weeps for a good while. And Jacob says, “Now I can die in peace, because I have seen your face, and I know you are still alive.”

Joseph prepares his brothers to meet Pharaoh. “When he asks what your work is, tell him the truth. You have kept livestock all your lives.” Egyptians looked down on shepherds, so Goshen, a little apart, would suit them well. Pharaoh is generous. “The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your family in the best of it, in Goshen.” Then Joseph brings in his father. And something remarkable happens. The old shepherd blesses the king of Egypt. “How old are you?” Pharaoh asks. “A hundred and thirty years,” Jacob replies. “Few and hard have my years been.” He blesses Pharaoh again, and leaves.

The famine grows worse. Joseph sells Pharaoh’s stored grain to the people of Egypt. When their money runs out, they trade their livestock, and then their land, and Joseph sets a rule that a fifth of every harvest goes to Pharaoh. “You have saved our lives,” the people say. Meanwhile Jacob’s family settles in Goshen, and they grow and multiply. Jacob lives seventeen more years. When he knows his time is close, he calls Joseph and makes him promise. “Do not bury me in Egypt. Carry me home, and bury me where my fathers lie.” Joseph promises. And Jacob, Israel, bows in worship.

Families from Canaan moving into Egypt is something Egyptian evidence shows really happened. In a tomb at Beni Hasan, painted around nineteen hundred years before Christ, a group of thirty-seven travellers from western Asia arrive in Egypt: men, women and children in bright patterned clothes, with donkeys carrying their goods. The painting is not of Jacob’s family. But it shows the kind of people, and the kind of journey, that the end of Genesis describes.

Jacob goes down to Egypt. You’ll find it in Genesis chapters 46 and 47. Jacob was afraid to leave home, and God said, I will go down with you. So here’s a question to carry with you. Where are you facing something new, and can you trust that God goes with you?