I like to begin reading the Bible each New Year in Genesis 1:1. I try to read 3 or 4 chapters each day and I usually finish Revelation some time before the end of December. I often take notes and write down verses that I like, or parallels between different scriptures, and even questions that I have about verses that I don't understand. In 2022 my goal was to combine several years of my little Bible reading notebooks, and write them all together in my own Bible study notebook. God helps me to learn more from the Bible every year. I can't remember all that I read, but as I write the daily devotions, the Holy Spirit often brings scriptures to mind and I can read references from my notebook and find the verses that I need for our devotionals. I talked with Michael about the possibility of writing the devotions for 2023 in a "Through the Bible" format, beginning with Genesis and going through to the end. It would be quite an endeavor, but Michael was very encouraging. I am not a Bible scholar, so this will not be a commentary of wisdom and knowledge, but it will be thoughts that the Lord has shown me through the years in my daily Bible reading. Are you up for the challenge? Let's read through the Bible this year and see what the Lord has for us in His Word.
January 1 - Genesis 1 - 3
Genesis 1:1 begins with the beginning of creation. We also read of creation in the last book of the Bible, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." (Revelation 4:11)
"1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." (Genesis 1:1-5)
"1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:1-5)
Chapter 1 continues with the six days of creation and Chapter 2 begins with God resting on the seventh day. Verse 7 tells us, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Because I like to garden, I like the next verse... "And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed." Adam was "to dress it and to keep it." (2:15) The chapter ends with God making Eve from Adam's rib and establishing marriage between a man and a woman.
In Chapter 3 the serpent tempted Eve and she ate of the forbidden fruit. John tells us, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." (I John 2:16) Eve was tempted in each of these ways. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, (lust of the flesh) and that it was pleasant to the eyes, (lust of the eyes) and a tree to be desired to make one wise, (and pride of life) she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." (Genesis 3:6-7) Their eyes were opened and they tried to cover their sin. Jesus is the only way to find forgiveness of our sin. Chapter 3 ends with the curse, and the first promise of a Redeemer. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (3:15) (Just a note about 3:24, "Cherubims" are not the cute little baby angels as they are pictured today, but they were guards with a flaming sword.)
January 2 - Genesis 4 - 7
How happy Adam and Eve must have been over the birth of these first two children, Cain and Abel. The boys grew up and what a help they must have been, Abel kept the sheep and Cain tilled the ground. It may have been a picture of a happy family. (Just like we see on Social Media. But, I want to add here, things aren't always as they seem. Every family has problems.) When Cain's offering was not accepted he became angry. Was he angry at Abel, or angry at God? He killed his brother. "And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." (4:9-10) "And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me." (4:13-14) Cain realized that he was driven from God's protection and he was afraid that every one that found him would try to kill him. Do you know who he was afraid of? His own family! He was afraid of his brothers and sisters. Maybe Abel had children that would seek revenge on their father. Once again sin brought sorrow to this family. "And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord..." (4:16) and we have a short section on his family. At the end of Chapter 4, Adam and Eve had another son, Seth, and the lineage follows Seth. Chapter 5 begins, "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him... And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:" (5:2 & 4) Adam lived 800 more years "and he begat sons and daughters" but these are their only three children which are named in the Bible. Chapter 5 continues with the line of Seth. We read of Enoch, "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." (5:24) Jude 14-15 tell us that Enoch prophesied of God's judgment. "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." We also read of Enoch in Hebrews 11:5, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." He walked with God and he pleased God. May we strive to walk with God and please God this coming year! The first son of Enoch was Methuselah and he is the longest living person listed in the Bible, at 969 years. (5:27) He had a son named Lamech, who had a son named Noah. "And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth." (5:32)
Chapter 6 explains just how far mankind had gone away from God.
"5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them." (6:5-7)
We can all be thankful for the next verse... "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (6:8) God told Noah to build an ark, about 450 ft. x 75 ft. x 45 ft. high. I think the highlights are in verse 18, "thou shalt come into the ark..." This shows that God would be with him in the ark. Another high point of Noah's life is found in 6:22, and 7:5 & 9. "Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he."
"17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.
19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he." (6:17-22)
Chapter 7 begins, "And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." (7:1) (Verses 14-16 tell us that "they went in..." speaking of the animals and birds, also seen in 6:20, "shall come unto thee." I believe God called them into the ark, and they listened, whereas the people didn't listen to His call.) After they were all safe in the ark, "the LORD shut him in." (7:16) It rained forty days and forty nights and all life died that was not safe in the ark. Noah had brothers and sisters who didn't believe. Noah's aunts and uncles and cousins died in the flood. His friends and neighbors had to be aware of the building of the ark, but they chose not to go in. II Peter 2:5 tells us that Noah "was a preacher of righteousness." It is our duty to witness for the Lord but we can't save the lost. That is a choice that is left up to each individual.
January 3 - Genesis 8 - 11
Genesis 8 begins, "And God remembered Noah, and every living thing..." This does not mean that God had forgotten them, any more than remembering someone's birthday with a phone call means that we had forgotten. God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 19:29) God remembered Rachel and gave her a son. (Genesis 30:22) And also Hannah and gave her a son. (I Samuel 1:19) We can call out to God just as Nehemiah did, "Remember me, O my God, for good." (Nehemiah 13:31) Aren't you glad that God remembers us! Moving on to verse 3, "And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated." On the second day of creation God divided the waters from above from those below, and on the third day He divided the waters into seas and made dry land appear. I believe that God let the waters go down over these 150 days to wash and clean the land from the filth of sin. After a year in the ark, (Noah's 600th year, second month, 17th day - Genesis 7:11 to 601st year, second month, 27th day - Genesis 8:14) the earth was dried and they all went off the ark. And Noah built an altar to the Lord. (8:20) The Law had not been given to Moses yet, but Noah knew the clean animals. Chapter 8 ends with God's promise. "And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." (8:21-22)
Chapter 9 begins with God's blessing. And God tells Noah that the animals will be afraid of him... I guess so, after being in an ark for a year. And in the third verse God tells them that they can eat meat. This makes me wonder if people ate meat before this time. (God had told Adam that they could eat the plants. Did Adam and Eve eat the meat from the anilmals that God used to make them coats? Genesis 2:16-17 and 3:21)
"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." (9:1-3)
God made a covenant with Noah and put a rainbow in the cloud, and He said, "And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." (9:15-16) So, we see that God does remember us! At the end of the chapter Noah cursed Canaan for his sin, and as you read how they spread out, in the next chapter you will notice that they, the Canaanites, Jebusites, and Amorites later become enemies of Israel. Chapter 10 tells of the sons of Noah and how they divided throughout the land. Chapter 11 tells how the people all spoke the same language and they built themselves up with pride. They wanted to make a name for themselves, as Nimrod had a name in Genesis 10:9. "And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." (11:4) (In Genesis 12:2 God told Abram that He would make his name great. "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:") God gave them different languages and they were scattered and stopped building the tower of Babel. (I believe this was the beginning of Babylon.) Chapter 11 ends with the lineage of Shem, all the way down to Abram.
January 4 - Genesis 12 - 15
As we begin Genesis Chapter 12 notice that in verse 1 the Lord told Abram to leave his kindred, but he took his nephew Lot, with him. In the next two verses we see that God promised that "all families of the earth" would be blessed through Abram. The Apostle Paul explains this in Galatians 3:14. "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." And in verse 4 we see that Abram departed... "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went... For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 11:8 & 10)
"1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran." (Genesis 12:1-4)
He built an altar at Bethel. (12:8) The chapter ends with them going into Egypt, and he lied about Sarai being his wife. Pharaoh gave him his wife back, and sent them away. In Chapter 13 he went back to Bethel and "called on the name of the Lord." The land could not bear all their great flocks and herds so Abram told Lot to choose the land he wanted, and Abram would go in the opposite direction.
"10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered." (13:10-16)
In Chapter 14 Sodom and Gomorrah was taken captive in war and Abram armed his 318 servants and overcame the enemies and brought back all that had been carried away. We meet Melchizedek, a king and priest of Salem. "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." (Hebrews 6:19-20)
"18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all." (14:18-20)
The Lord promised Abram that his seed would be in number as the dust of the earth (13:16) and the stars of heaven. (15:5) His natural born descendants are as the dust of the earth and his spiritual descendants are represented by the stars. "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." (15:6) God also prophesied to Abram that his people would be afflicted and serve in a strange land for 400 years, but be delivered and come out with great substance. (15:13-14)
January 5 - Genesis 16-19
In Genesis 16 Sarai gave her Egyptain maid, Hagar, to be Abram's wife to give them a child. Ishmael was born when he was 86 years old. (Abram's father had another wife. "And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife." Genesis 20:12 The first example, I believe, of a man having two wives was Lamech in Genesis 4:19.) In Chapter 17 God changed his name to Abraham, and Sarai's name to Sarah. God promised that Sarah would have a son named Isaac. "Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?" Chapter 18 begins with visitors to Abraham's tent.
"1 And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said." (18:1-5)
They ate the food, although sometimes, as in the case of Gideon, fire rose up out of the rock and consumed the food. (Judges 6:19-21) They told Abraham that Sarah would have a son, and Sarah laughed. Then the Lord asked that great question, "Is any thing too hard for the LORD?..." (18:14) We also read in Jeremiah 32:27, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?" The Lord told Abraham that they were going to Sodom and Gomorrah because the cry of it was great. Remember what God said to Cain in Genesis 4:10, "And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground."
"20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (18:20-25)
Abraham pleads for the righteous, beginning with fifty and going all the way down to ten. Maybe Abraham thought there would be at least ten righteous in Lot's family. In Chapter 19 the two angels went to Sodom where Lot was sitting in the gate, and he asked them to stay with him. The wicked men of the city tried to take them, and I have never understood how Lot could offer them his daughters. But, the angels saved them and caused the men to be blind. Lot went to his sons in law to warn them, "But, he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law." (19:14) The angels took their hands, Lot, his wife, and two daughters, and rushed them to leave the city, telling them not to look back. God rained down fire and brimstone on the cities. Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. (19:26)
"27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:
28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt." (19:27-29)
"God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out..." Keep on praying for your friends and family. You never know how much your prayer does for them. The chapter ends with Lot's daughters having sons, Moab and Ammon, whose children will become enemies of Israel.
January 6 - Genesis 20 - 23
How beautiful Sarah must have been that King Abimelech of Gerar took her even though she was 90 years old. After God spoke to him in a dream he sent Sarah back to Abraham with silver, sheep, oxen, and servants.
"3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.
4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
5 Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this." (Genesis 20:3-5)
In Chapter 21 Sarah has a son and they name him Isaac. "And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me." (21:6) Ishmael, who was 14 years older than Isaac mocked Isaac and Sarah told Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Abraham gave them bread and water and sent them away. After the water was gone Hagar thought they would die. "And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is." (21:17) I am so glad that God hears us where we are! "And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer." (21:19-20) Here's a question I think about... Was the well there all the time and she just didn't see it? How many times in our lives does God have just what we need, but we just don't see it? Another great example is when God opened the eyes of Elisha's servant and he saw the horses and chariots of fire, God's protection. (II Kings 6:17) Also notice, "And God was with the lad..." We will see later that "God was with Joseph" through all of his troubles. In verse 22 King Abimelech and his chief captain tell Abraham, "God is with thee in all that thou doest." Let's not forget that God is with us!
Chapter 22 tells us how God asked Abraham to offer his son Isaac, and we have that beautiful picture of prophecy, "God will provide himself a lamb." "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)
"7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son."
Chapter 23 tells of the death of Sarah, at 127 years old.
January 7 - Genesis 24 - 26
"And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things." (Genesis 24:1) Abraham had been faithful to the Lord, and the Lord had kept His promises to Abraham. Now, Abraham wanted to see that Isaac married a woman from his family and not a daughter of the Canaanites. He sent his servant back to Nahor with ten camels. The servant prayed that God would show him the right girl by letting her offer to draw water for his camels. Rebekah came to the well and she drew water for the servant and he watched as she drew pitchers of water for all the camels. They made room for the servant and the men with him to stay overnight and he explained his purpose in being there to them. I like verse 45, "And before I had done speaking in mine heart..." God often hears and answers our prayers before we are through praying them!
"45 And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee.
46 And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also.
47 And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.
48 And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son." (24:45-48)
Rebekah agreed to go with him and be the bride of Isaac. In Chapter 25 Abraham married Keturah and had six children. He gave all that he had to Isaac and sent his other children away with gifts. Abraham lived to be 185 years old, "and was gathered to his people." (25:8) Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave where he buried Sarah. Ishmael had twelve sons, princes, as God had promised Abraham. (17:20 and 25:13-16) Isaac and Rebekah had twins and God said that "the elder shall serve the younger." Isaac received the birthright over Ishmael, (Jacob will have the birthright and blessing over Esau, and Ephraim will be blessed over Manasseh.)
"27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright." (25:27-34)
In Chapter 26 there was a famine and God told Isaac not to go to Egypt, so he went to Gerar and followed the example of his father, and lied to King Abimelech and told him that Rebekah was his sister. The Philistines envied his wealth and told him to leave, and fought with him over the wells of water, which were a necessity for survival.
January 8 - Genesis 27 - 29
We have finished one week of our Bible reading. So much has happened in these first chapters, and our devotions have been quite lengthy. I believe that now I can focus on a thought or two from the daily reading and not share quite as much detail. Chapter 27 is when Jacob stole the blessing from Esau. What I notice about these verses is that all of Isaac's senses failed him except for his hearing. His eyes were dim and he could not see. (Genesis 27:1) His touch (27:21-23), his taste (27:25), and his smell (27:27) all failed him. "And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau." (27:22) God tells us in Revelation 13:9, "If any man have an ear, let him hear." It is important for us to hear. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17) Rebekah learned that Esau planned to kill Jacob, so she sent him away for "a few days", and didn't know that he would be gone twenty years. On his way to Laban's, Rebekah's brother, Jacob had a dream of a ladder that reached to heaven and there were angels going up and down on it. God blessed Jacob, so there was really no need for him to steal the blessing from Esau. Jacob named the place Bethel.
"13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." (28:13-15)
In Chapter 29 Jacob met Rachel at the well and rolled the stone away from the well so that she could water the sheep. Laban had two daughters. Leah was the oldest, and Rachel was the younger, beautiful, well-favored daughter. "And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her." (29:20) They had a wedding feast and Laban switched his daughters that night. When Jacob woke up he had married Leah. Jacob had cheated his father by pretending to be the oldest son, and now Laban cheated him giving him his oldest daughter. Laban told him the elder had to marry first, and after a week, he could marry Rachel also and serve him another seven years. Leah had four sons and named them Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.
January 9 - Genesis 30 - 32
As Chapter 30 begins, Rachel envied her sister, Leah, because she didn't have any children so she gave Jacob her handmaid to be his wife. Bilhah had two sons, Dan and Naphtali. Then, Leah gave her handmaid also and Zilpah had Gad and Asher. Then Leah had two more sons and a daughter, Issachar, Zeblun, and Dinah. "And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her,...' and she said, "God hath taken away my reproach:" and she named her son Joseph. (Genesis 30:22-24) Jacob wanted to take his wives and children and leave. "And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it." (30:27-28) Laban agreed to give all the speckled and spotted goats and all the brown sheep to Jacob. Jacob peeled streaks in tree limbs and put them in the watering troughs of the stronger animals and they had speckled and spotted babies. So he increased his wealth with the stronger flocks. (In this chapter, as well as in 29:7 we see that the sheep and goats were called "cattle".) In Chapter 31 Laban's sons were jealous of Jacob and said that he had taken away all that was theirs. Jacob called Rachel and Leah to the fields and tells them that Laban had changed his wages ten times. The angel of God spoke to Jacob in a dream and said, "... I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred." (31:12-13) When we are mistreated and think that no one cares, God sees it all. Jacob gathered all that he had and started back home. Rachel stole the images of her father. Laban went after them and notice that he said, "... the God of your father..". He does not claim God as his God. "It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?" (31:29-30) Laban searched and could not find the idols. You can hear the anger in Jacob's voice as he answered Laban.
"36 And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?
37 Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us both.
38 This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten.
39 That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night.
40 Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes.
41 Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.
42 Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight." (31:36-42)
In verse 53 Jacob said, "The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us." Abraham and Nahor were brothers. Isaac and Jacob served God as Abraham did. Laban could have served God as his grandfather, Nahor, did but he chose to serve idols. Just because our parents or grandparents are saved, it does not mean that we will automatically go to heaven. Each and every person must make the decision to trust Jesus and serve Him! God has children, not grandchildren. Jacob left Laban who had cheated him during the twenty years he served him, and now he was headed back home where he had cheated Esau. He sent messengers to tell Esau he was coming and they returned saying that Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men. Jacob prayed to "the LORD which saidst unto me..." It was personal. "And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children." (32:9-11) He sent a present ahead for Esau, and sent his family over the brook.
"24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.
26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." (32:24-28)
January 10 - Genesis 33 - 36
Jacob sent the present for Esau, hoping that he would no longer be angry with him. As you read this list from the last chapter, you can imagine how wealthy Jacob had to be in order to give this great gift to his brother. "Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals." (Genesis 32:14-16) They came face to face in Chapter 33 and embraced and wept together. Esau wanted to help Jacob along on the journey, but Jacob chose to remain behind and travel slowly because the children and flocks were young. (He had served Laban 13 years after his marriage to Leah, so the 12 children were very young.) He later bought some land from Hamor and built an altar and called it Elelohe-Israel, which my Scofield Reference Bible says means, "The God Of Israel". Chapter 34 is a dark chapter. "And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her." (34:1-2) When Jacob's sons heard about it they were very angry. Shechem asked them to let him marry Dinah. They told him they could not marry uncircumcised people. Shechem and Hamor convinced the city to agree by telling them, "Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us." (34:23) On the third day Simeon and Levi killed all the males of the city and took the women and children and all their flocks and wealth. Jacob was very upset by what they did, and even scolded them in his closing words before he died. "Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour,... Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." (49:5 & 7) Let's begin a new chapter.
"1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
3 And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went." (35:1-3)
In verse 10 God tells Jacob that his name would not be Jacob anymore, but Israel. Rachel had another son and named him Benoni, "the son of sorrow", and she died. Jacob named him Benjamin, "the son of my right hand." Jacob finally made it back to his father. Isaac died at 180 years old. Chapter 36 gives us the generations of Esau, who is Edom.
January 11 - Genesis 37 - 39
As we followed the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (who was named Israel), we will begin our story of Joseph in Chapter 37. Joseph was 17 and feeding the flock with his brothers. Joseph was not liked by his brothers. First of all, he told his father of his brothers' bad behavior. Next, they were jealous of how their father loved him more. "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him." (Genesis 30:3-4) The third thing that made his brothers hate him even more was his dreams. "For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words." (37:7-8) To make matters worse he told them that he dreamed that the sun, moon, and eleven stars made obeisance to him. This time his father rebuked him and said, "Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?" (37:10) Israel sent Joseph to see how well his brothers were doing feeding the flock. When they saw him coming they conspired to kill him. Reuben, the oldest brother who could have been 13 years older than Joseph, around 30, told them to put him in a pit and he planned to take him back to Israel. They took his coat of many colors and sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver to Midianites who took him to Egypt, and sold him to Potiphar. The brothers killed a goat and dipped his coat in the blood and returned it to their father who mourned for his son and refused to be comforted. "For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him." (37:35) Chapter 38 is about Judah and his daughter in law, Tamar, and how Pharez was born before his twin. Pharez is mentioned in the genealogy of King David in the book of Ruth. " And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem: And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman." (Ruth 4:11-12) And in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-3. "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar;..." And also in Luke 3:33.
Chapter 39 returns to the story of Joseph. We will see over and over in the life of Joseph that the Lord was with him.
"1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.
2 And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand." (Genesis 39:1-3)
Joseph was over all his household, but Potiphar's wife caught him by his garment and when he fled she took his garment and lied to her husband, and he put Joseph in prison.
"21 But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
23 The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper." (39:21-23)
January 12 - Genesis 40 - 41
Chapter 40. Joseph was in prison with the chief butler and chief baker of Pharaoh. "And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you." (Genesis 40:8) Joseph told the butler in three days he would be restored to his place of service, and to remember him, but the baker would be hanged. On the third day was Pharaoh's birthday and the dreams were fulfilled, but the butler forgot about Joseph. Two years later Pharaoh had a dream and all the magicians and wise men were called but there was no one who could tell him what it meant,... and the butler finally remembered Joseph.
"14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.
16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace." (41:14-16)
In the first dream there were seven fat cows that fed in a meadow, and seven skinny cows came up and ate them, but they were still skinny. Pharaoh then dreamed there were seven ears in one stalk, full and good, but then seven withered and thin ears devoured the good ears.
"28 This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.
29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:
30 And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;
31 And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous.
32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass." (41:28-32)
Joseph told Pharaoh to find a discreet and wise man and set him over all the land of Egypt. He told him to appoint officers over the land to take a fifth part of all the food for the seven plentious years, and store it for the seven years of famine.
"38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt." (41:38-43)
Pharaoh changed Joseph's name to Zaphnathpaaneah and gave him a wife. Joseph was 30 years old.
Thirteen years passed since he was sold by his brothers. During the next seven years food was gathered all over the land of Egypt. Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. The famine began and Joseph opened the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, and to all the other countries that came to buy food.
January 13 - Genesis 42 - 44
Did your Mom or Dad ever ask, "Well, what are you waiting on???" That's just the sentiment that Israel has towards his ten sons.
"1 Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?
2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die.
3 And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.
4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him." (Genesis 42:1-4)
Joseph's brothers went to Egypt and "bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth." (42:6) They had probably spent the last twenty years trying to forget their brother's dreams, but Joseph remembered. They did not recognize Joseph because he was clean shaven as the Egyptians and dressed in the clothes of an Egyptian prince. Joseph called them spies and spoke roughly with them. They explained that they were twelve brothers, the youngest with their father, and "one is not." He put them all together into ward for three days. He agreed to let them go and take food back home, but one of them had to be kept in prison until they brought the youngest brother back.
"21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes." (42:21-24)
Reuben reminded them that he was against them harming Joseph. (37:22) Joseph commanded that their sacks be filled with corn, and their money put in the top of each sack. They found the money in their sacks and told Israel all that had happened. "And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me." (42:36) Have you ever felt that way, like everything was against you? He did not know how God was working everything out for him. Time passed and they ate all the food they had, so Israel told them to go back to Egypt to get more food. They said they could go only if they took Benjamin with them. Israel reluctantly agreed to let them take Benjamin, along with balm, honey, spices, myrrh, nuts, and double the money. "And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." (43:14) They tried to give the money back to Joseph, but he told them God gave them the treasure in their sacks because he had their money. When he saw Benjamin he went into his chamber and wept. They sat at the table in order of their birthright and they marvelled. Remember the first eleven sons were born in a thirteen year span, so it would be very hard for someone to know their birth order. Joeph was 30 when he was brought out of prison, plus 7 years of plenty, and now there have been 2 years of famine, so he is 39. The other brothers are within 13 years older than he is. We don't know how old Benjamin is. He is called a "lad" in 43:8 and "a little one" in 44:20. This little one actually has ten sons. (46:21) In Chapter 44 Joseph commanded the steward to fill the men's sacks with food and their money, and put his silver cup in Benjamin's sack. When they had not gotten too far, Joseph sent his steward after them. He searched and found the cup in Benjamin's sack and took them back to Egypt. Again they bowed on the ground to Joseph. "And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord's servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found." (44:16) And Judah agreed to stay as a servant if he would let them take Benjamin back to their father.
January 14 - Genesis 45 - 47
"1 Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
2 And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.
3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." (Genesis 45:1-8)
Joseph's brothers had carried their guilt and their father's sadness for 22 years. Now, they don't know what to think. Pharaoh gave them wagons to go get their families and bring them to Goshen where they could live. Joseph tried to see how the brothers responded to adversity, and we see what he had to say about it in verse 24 when he said, "See that ye fall not out by the way." The old folks used to call disagreements "falling out", such as, "They had a falling out and haven't spoken to one another in years." Their father could not believe them, but then he saw the wagons which Joseph sent. "And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die." (45:28) "And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:" (Genesis 46:2-3) Chapter 46 lists the names of Israel's children and grandchildren. In verse 19 we read, "The sons of Rachel Jacob's wife; Joseph, and Benjamin." This shows the love he had for Rachel because she is the only one called his wife in this passage. There were 66, that came into Egypt, and when you add Joseph and his two sons, and Israel, his family had 70 born, (plus the wives). They went to live in the land of Goshen with their flocks and herds. Joseph took his father in to see Pharaoh. "And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." (Genesis 47:8-9) Joseph was 30 when he stood before Pharaoh, plus the 7 good years, plus the 2 years of famine, so he is 39, which means Israel was around 91 when Joseph was born. He served Laban 20 years, so he was around 71 when he cheated Esau and went to Laban, and 78 when he married Leah and Rachel. The famine was so great Joseph gathered all the money of the people as they paid for food. Then he took all their herds and horses. Then Joseph bought all their land for food. Finally the time came that they sowed the land and Joseph gave them seed, and made it a law that they gave the fifth part to Pharaoh, except for the priests. Israel lived in the land of Egypt 17 years and died when he was 147 years old. He made Joseph promise not to bury him in Egypt.
January 15 - Genesis 48 - 50
We are completing our last devotional from the book of Genesis, the book of the beginning. Someone told Joseph that his father was sick, so he took his two sons to see him. And Israel blessed them. "And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine." (Genesis 48:5) In the first chapter of Numbers we will see that the tribe of Joseph is divided and counted by the tribe of Ephraim and the tribe of Manasseh. Israel put his right hand on the head of Ephraim and his left hand on the head of Manasseh. When Joseph tried to switch his hands he told him that the younger brother, Ephraim, would be stronger than the older one, Manasseh. This was just as he had the blessing over his older brother Esau. In Chapter 49 Israel called his sons together so he could tell them what would come to pass in the future days. It is important that we notice Judah. We will see the Lion of the Tribe of Judah in the book of Revelation. "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." (Revelation 5:5)
"8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." (Genesis 49:8-10)
He also gave Joseph a special blessing.
"22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under..." (49:22-25)
Then he charged them to bury him where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah were all buried. The last verse of the chapter tells us that Jacob "was gathered unto his people." Isn't that a wonderful way to end? "And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people." (49:33) Forty days were fulfilled for him to be embalmed, and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
"7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8 And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan." (50:7-11)
We notice in verse 8 their little ones and flocks and herds were left in the land of Goshen. Pharaoh will suggest this when they want to leave Egypt in Exodus 10. We also see that they were close enough to go bury Israel, and return, but four hundred years later when they leave Egypt as a nation they will wander in the wilderness forty years. Joseph's brothers were afraid of Joseph after the death of their father because of how they had treated him.
"19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them." (50:19-21)
The book of Genesis ends...
"22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees.
24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt." (50:22-26)
