The Blessing of Jacob Upon Pharaoh


Genesis 47:7–11 (ESV) Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.” 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 11 Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

 If we interpret this passage in light of how Hebrews interprets the Patriarchal blessings, it teaches us a lot about how to live in a world dominated by glitz, fame, celebrity and power. 

 Jacob - the wandering shepherd and Patriarch of the faith, the father of a rag tag family largely built on dysfunction - is blessing the king of Egypt. Pharaoh is a man of more power and notoriety the world had seen to his day. Yet he receives the blessing of this man Jacob. 

 Hebrews teaches us about such blessings in reference to Melchizedek's blessing of Abraham:
Hebrews 7:7 (ESV) It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior.

Jacob is not superior to Pharaoh by ANY stretch of the physical imagination. Yet he is blessing the king of the known world. This is instructive for Christians on how to engage the world around us. Faithful presence among the world's leaders and shapers is essential for the sake of all.

 First: Like Jacob in this moment, Christians must not be intimidated by the power players of our age. We have something better to offer our world than prestige and prosperity. We have the blessing of our God upon us through Christ Jesus. We have the greatest treasure to offer our "Egypt" - we have the Gospel: 2 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV) we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Secondly, we must realize what true blessing is. Jacob has his family and God's promises. Pharaoh has a kingdom largely built on slave labor. One will endure to this day and the other is long gone. Temporary power and prestige is nothing compared to the promises of God. We need to keep a long range vision of what we are doing with our lives. This world is not our home, but for the time we are here, we must invest for those we leave behind.

 Thirdly, it is good and right for us to work peacefully with civil government when they do not conflict with the laws of God. Christians should be of utmost benefit to their municipalities, local schools, businesses and employees. Sometimes we act so heavenly minded, we are of no earthly good. Jacob blessed Pharaoh because Jacob wanted what was best for Egypt. He had a vested interest, his sons would live there for a long time after him. We should be invested in our Country's progress for the sake of our children and the generations to come.

I thought about it, but this is a real sign that Jacob understands God's promise to his grandfather. He was called to be a blessing to the nations. Here Jacob does exactly that.

Be a blessing to your world Christian, for you are someone others need to see and experience.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God’s View of You

Sometimes I think we imagine that God is mostly disappointed with us. That He puts up with us and bears with us because He has to (after all He is love), but most of the time our glaring weaknesses weary Him and make His day miserable. Of course, this is the devil’s doing in our minds. The truth of scripture bears out that the world has to get staunch-raving evil before God is totally weary of us. And the stories in the Old Testament remind us with each passing character that God is patient, loving and kind to His very flawed inconsistent servants. Saul is a case study of this. His lineage will not hold the kingdom, that has already been stated from the mishap of offering the sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel to arrive in 1 Samuel 13. His next great gaff will happen in the chapter to come in 1 Samuel 15 where his own kingship will be taken from him and the anointing placed on one soon to come. Yes, God will regret making Saul king and we’ll talk about that next. But for now...
Read more

The Stain of Slavery

One of the greatest pains in my heart over the history of the church is the fact that many "Bible-believing" Christians used the Bible to promote, continue, and enable slavery in America's past. It may have happened elsewhere, but I'm an American, and I know it happened here. Then, some repeatedly make the claim because of a tiny amount of verses where God informs Israel on how to take slaves, it means the Bible is a pro-slavery document. How absurd. The overarching narrative of the Bible is that God sets the slaves free. The second book testifies to this part of God's character.  Getting to Jeremiah's day, one of the reasons Israel's nation was handed over to exile was because they enslaved each other. This attitude was so engrained into the culture of Israel that they had a hard time giving up slavery even in the face of national catastrophe.  In Jeremiah 34, the king is promised that he will die in Babylon, but he will die in peace. Jeremiah 34:3–5 (ESV...
Read more

Leaders Who Later Fail

Remember Johanan from Jeremiah 41? The man who saved many others from the threats of the murderous coup? He seemed like a noble leader. But time reveals a lot.  Jeremiah 42:5–6 (ESV)  Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.” These are the words of the presumptive leaders of Israel in the land while the nation is in exile. The previous chapter saw a hero arise to protect a few remaining survivors. His name was Johanan. On the surface, he seems like a good man, seeking the will of the Lord in his leadership position. Jeremiah returns with directives from the Lord: Jeremiah 42:10 (ESV) If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant y...
Read more