JACOB’S ENCOUNTER WITH PHARAOH Having informed from Pharaoh of the arrival of his family, Jacob was presented to Pharaoh, and went out fro before him to live in the land of Goshen till the day he died. 1- Five of Joseph’s brothers are presented to Pharaoh 1-6. 2- Jacob’s encounter with Pharaoh 7-10. 3- Jacob’s children in Rameses 11-12. 4- The Egyptians become Pharaoh’s servants 13-26. 5- Jacob’s will to Joseph 27-31. 1- FIVE OF JOSEPH’S BROTHERS ARE PRESENTED TO PHARAOH Joseph was not ashamed of the occupation of his father and brothers, as sheep shepherds, considered an abomination to the Egyptians. He proudly set forth in his chariot to meet them. He hastened to inform Pharaoh of their arrival, and chose five of his brothers to present to him, after instructing them to be frank concerning their occupation. As though he is the Lord Jesus Christ, presenting His Church, as five wise virgins, or presenting the believing humanity in glory, through sanctification of the five senses. The men said to Pharaoh: “We have come to sojourn in the land” (Gen. 47:4); Thus, feeling of sojourning is never to be separated from the believer, until he encounter with the Groom of his soul, face to face. Before Joseph’s honesty, and his love for his brothers, Pharaoh said to him: “The land of Egypt is before you, have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock” (Gen. 47:6). Thus, a heart opened by love, will get love in return, even if met, in the beginning with many afflictions. Pharaoh presented to Joseph all the land of Egypt; and requested from him to appoint, of his brothers chief herdsmen over his livestock, if he finds among them, those who are competent for the task. 2- JACOB’S ENCOUNTER WITH PHARAOH Joseph presented his father before Pharaoh, who, despite his old age, frailty, and probably poor eyesight, yet Pharaoh was impressed by his obvious dignity, and asked for his blessing; “Jacob blessed Pharaoh” (Gen. 47:5); that, most probably implied that Pharaoh bowed before the old man, to put his hand on his head to bless him. “Pharaoh asked Jacob:, ‘How old are you?;’ and Jacob said to Pharaoh: ‘The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years, few and evil..., and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage’” (Gen. 47:8-9). Jacob felt that feeling of pilgrimage all the days of his life; especially that his life was of continuous troubles: In his adolescence, although his mother loved him and favored him over his brother, yet it seems that he suffered much from the fierce nature of the later. In his youth, he had to escape to a foreign land, where he vigorously served his uncle “in the day, the draught consumed him, and the frost by night; and the sleep departed from his eyes” (Gen. 31:40), who deceived him and changed his wages ten times. When he fled from the face of his uncle, he was devastated by fear 4 from his brother Esau, and on his way, he wrestled with an angel the whole night (Gen. 32). In Shechem, his sons Simeon and Levi caused him much trouble, and made him obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land because of their sister Dinah. In Ephrath his beloved wife Rachel travailed in childbirth and died (Gen. 35), then his father died. After that, his firstborn son Reuben laid with his father’s concubine, something that was very painful for Jacob (Gen. 21). This was followed by the episode of Joseph that rocked his whole being. It may look as though he has been a failure. Yet becoming Israel, he presented the Church of the Old Testament. And from his seed, Christ the Lord came incarnated. He remains Jacob the father of every believer! He blessed Pharaoh, then blessed him again (Gen. 47:10), as though the sufferings caused his blessing to increase. 3- THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IN RAMESES Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Rameses, namely, the land of ‘the son of the sun,’ a part of the land of Goshen, where ‘San-el-Hagar’ is nowadays. There, the Hebrews built for Pharaoh the city of Raamses (Exodus 1:11); which was probably, so named, before building that city. From a spiritual aspect, he situated his father and brothers, and giving them possession in the land of Egypt. In this, Joseph is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ Who granted Jacob, in other words His Church that includes His lesser brothers, to reign spiritually over the land of Egypt. Namely, He gave them the right of authority over the body (the land of Egypt), to have the body submitted to the soul in Christ Jesus our Lord, and not rebelling against it. Joseph provided his father, his brothers and all his father’s household, with bread according to the number in their families (Gen. 47:12), as though man can be of more authority over his body, the more he carries spiritual fruits (namely children). From another aspect, what Joseph did with his father Jacob, who represents the sojourning Church, and with his brothers, giving them possession in the land of Egypt, according to Pharaoh’s command, refers to what the true Joseph, our Lord Christ, did with His Church (Jacob), making it extend to the Gentiles, as though get possession in the land of Egypt; something that was not realized by force, but according to Pharaoh’s command, that is, according to the free will of the Gentiles themselves, who received in faith, to submit to the Church, as their queen and mother. 4- THE EGYPTIANS BECOME PHARAOH’S SERVANTS The famine was so severe that the Egyptians came with their silver to purchase grain from Pharaoh; and when the money failed they gave their livestock, followed by their bodies and their lands, saying: “Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh” (Gen. 47:20). Having done that, and all of them became servants of Pharaoh. He moved them from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. Everyone, in servitude, got seed to saw land that was not his own, to give, all his life, one-fifth of the harvest to Pharaoh. What is painful was that they came to seek servitude by their own free will, saying: “Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants” (Gen. 47:25). Here, Origen contemplates in the difference between the Egyptians in these days, and the Hebrews: The Egyptians, by their free will, came to seek servitude, while it was said of the Hebrews, “The Egyptians made the children serve with rigor” (Exodus 1:13); and again it was said: “All their services in which they made them serve, was in rigor” (Exodus 1:14). There is great difference between someone 5 running to the real Pharaoh (the devil), to ask him to have him as a slave, for a little grain, a temporary lust, or dignity, and another who is enslaved by the enemy by force. Origen says: [Take notice of what is said, that Hebrews fell into servitude with rigor, having known to carry in themselves, natural freedom, which cannot be easily taken away from them, except through force. Pharaoh, on the other hand, submitted the Egyptians to servitude, without any claim of use of force. The Egyptians (symbolizing lovers of the world), were easily swept down to corruption, and quickly fell into wickedness1.] If the Egyptians symbolized to the non-believers (having been worshippers of idols) and were symbols of lovers of the world, the Hebrews represented the believers. The former coveted the life of humiliation and servitude to the devil, for the sake of world lusts, while, for the latter, the enemy uses all his energies, and exerts every effort to captivate them to his side. Anyhow, when the former happened to fall into servitude, they used to live it all their life, while the Hebrew, if it happens to be sold as a slave, according to the Law, he should be set free on the seventh year of his servitude. The wicked falls by his own free will, to be said of him, that he is like “a dog returning to his own vomit, and a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:22); while the man of God, even if he falls, will stand again. He would not find comfort, except in the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Going back to the Egyptians, at that time, we find that they first presented their silver to Pharaoh, then their livestock, and their bodies and lands, namely their whole life. If silver refers to the word of God (Psalm 12:6), the beginning of our setting forth toward servitude, is surrendering our weapon - the word of God - to the enemy; who would draw from our heart its attachment to the word, to deprive us of the warmth of the spirit, and take away from us the sweetness of the experience of the cross, and the fellowship with our Savior. As man surrenders his gospel to live without it, the enemy would demand the livestock, namely the bodily lusts, to turn him with his body under the servitude of the enemy, who agitates the bodily lusts, to act as hooks to catch the body with all its energies, to put all its movements, its feelings, and all its energies, namely to put all the land under the authority of Pharaoh - the devil. When man loses the sanctification of his livestock, body, and land, all to become Pharaoh’s, there will be no way for the soul, but to bow, with its full will before Pharaoh, to beg him to acquire it on his account; to work as an instrument of wickedness, rejoicing in the fall of others and their doom. Some people may wonder, why Joseph, the righteous man, acted that role, to deliver the Egyptians as slaves to Pharaoh? Origen says: [We can answer that by the fact that the Holy Bible itself, gives a justification to the ordination of that saintly man, by saying that the Egyptians have sold themselves and their possessions (Gen. 47:20). Thus, we can not blame Joseph for executing what these people brought on themselves. You may also discover that the apostle Paul as well, did something like that, when he delivered someone, who was sexually immoral, to Satan, “for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:5). That man qualified himself for unworthiness of the fellowship with saints. We cannot say that St. Paul acted in haste, when he cast such a man out of the Church, and delivered him to Satan; the whole blame actually falls on that individual himself, who deserved through his behavior to lose his place in the Church, to be in 1 In Gen. hom 16:1. 6 the company of Satan1.] If the Egyptians have voluntarily given up their silver, and sold their livestock, lands, bodies, and all their livelihood, and accepted servitude to Pharaoh, the pagan priests were more wicked, as they did not have to sell anything, but received grain from Pharaoh, as his friends; and as Origen says: [As God says to those, advanced in faith and holiness: “No longer do I call you servants, but I have called you friends” (John 15:15), so also Pharaoh says to those who seem to have reached a high degree of wickedness in the priesthood of perdition. Do you wish to know the difference between the priests of God, and those of Pharaoh? Pharaoh give his priests land, while God denies them a portion in the land, but says to them, “I am your portion2.”] 5- JACOB’S WILL TO JOSEPH If the Egyptians have sold themselves as slaves to Pharaoh, and if the pagan priests became his friends, Israel, on the other hand, lived in Egypt, but his heart has been with the Lord. Israel lived in the land of Goshen, meaning symbolically the attachment of the heart to God. Origen says: [Goshen means ‘nearness’ or ‘kinship.’ So Israel lived in Egypt, but not far from God, but near Him, and attached to Him. The Lord Himself says: “I will go down with you to Egypt” (Gen. 46:4). Thus, even if we look as though we are going down to Egypt, namely be in the flesh, if we dwell with those submitting to Pharaoh in servitude, yet we are near to God, as long as we abide to His commandments - as that is what nearness to God means - to contemplate in what is God’s, and seek what is His (Philippians 2:21); so that God would be always with us, through our Lord Jesus Christ3.] “When the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, ‘Now if I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me, Please do not bury me in Egypt, but let me lie with my fathers. You shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place’...” When Joseph swore to him, Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed” (Gen. 47:29-31). We previously explained why someone put his hand under the thigh of him, to whom he vows4. In this case, Israel is resorting to the testimonial of the Lord Christ who is to come from his seeds. Israel intended through that vow, to proclaim his care for the resurrection of his body; and the commitment of his children to God’s promises, concerning their enjoyment of the inheritance of the land of Canaan, where their ancestors were buried5. As to bowing himself on the head of the bed (Gen. 47:13), it came in the Septuagint version that Israel bowed on the head of Joseph’s staff. The apostle Paul adopted this view (Hebrew 11:21). Some scholars interpret that phrase that Israel, as an old man, having seen God’s gifts to him and to his son Joseph, held the head of the staff of his son, to lean on it, while still on his bed. Another interpretation was, that Israel, hearing the voice of his beloved son, promising him to head his final request, he bowed before the staff of his son, that represents his authority and high status - a custom known in Egypt and in most of nations of the East; as when Esther touched the 1 In Gen. hom 16:2. 2 In Gen. hom 16:2. 3 In Gen. hom 16:7. 4 Cf. our Commentary on Gen. 24:2. 5 Cf. our Commentary on Gen. 50:1-6. 7 top of the golden scepter in the hand of King Ahasuerus (Artaxerxes). Anyhow, we said that, Israel representing the Church, sojourning in the world, as did Israel in Egypt. As she finds the True Joseph, namely our Lord Jesus Christ, he promises her to carry, even her body to the heavenly Canaan, after granting it a new spiritual nature. Then the Church bows before the Royal Scepter of her true Groom, as a sign of thanksgiving for His continuous benefits. Several Fathers saw in that phrase a clear prophecy about the cross, or the Crucified One, worthy of bowing before Him.
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