Let us continue in our study of Genesis 45, where we read in verses 16-19:
And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan; And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
Pharaoh is making a decree; he is issuing forth a commandment: “This do ye.” Israel, the sons of Jacob, could have disobeyed. They could have gone back to Canaan, and being removed from Egypt, disobeyed Pharaoh’s commandment. No serious trouble would have befallen them because, historically, Joseph would have been able to protect them.
However, this is a king speaking. This is the ruler of the mightiest nation in all of the world, which is what Egypt became during the years of plenty and especially during the famine that followed.
Is it not interesting that this famine typifies the Great Tribulation? We have been seeing that Pharaoh is a type of God. Pharaoh was never stronger, never mightier, never more glorified than during the seven years of famine. He was more glorified during these seven years of famine than he was during the seven years of plenty.
The plenty, we can assume, came upon the whole world. During the time of plenty, the entire world would have had enough food and corn to feed their armies. During this time, Egypt would have only been an army amongst the other mighty armies of the world. But after the years of plenty, immediately the famine came upon the whole world. Because Egypt had made provision, due to God revealing these things to Joseph, Egypt was elevated. And as Egypt was raised up and became the mightiest nation in all of the world, likewise, Pharaoh would have been exalted and lifted up, more so than at any other time in history. Perhaps even at this point, he was the greatest and most powerful ruler that the world, historically, had ever seen. This was all because provision had been made and corn had been stored away against the time of famine
This tells us something. It tells us that it is God’s plan (God being typified by Pharaoh) to have His Kingdom glorified more during the final days of the Great Tribulation than at any other point in history, to receive greater glory during this time than during the years of plenty that the world experienced during the Church Age. It is His plan to be more glorified in this little season of Great Tribulation than at any other period of time. God is going to get glory because He has made provision against this time of spiritual famine. During this time, He has a plan to save a great multitude that no man can number (Revelation 7:9). We will try to revisit this when we get into Genesis 47, because it is in view more there than here.
Pharaoh gives this commandment in verse 19:
Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
This was a generous thing for Pharaoh to do. At that time, as well as today, people had possessions, and people grow attached to the things that they store up. They would have had wives and children, and many possessions. If Pharaoh had merely sent some donkeys back to Canaan and said, “Now get your families and return to Egypt to escape this famine,” that would have been kind and very generous enough. But because Pharaoh sent wagons, this meant that they could carry some of their goods; they could bring some of their household items. They could even make sure that the women and children were traveling comfortably, even the elderly, and especially Jacob who would have been 130 years old at this time. It was a nice and a generous offer for Pharaoh to send wagons to enable them to travel very securely back to Egypt
The wagons would go into Egypt with their goods in them. Pharaoh is saying, “Now put your little ones and your wives and your father in these wagons and come to Egypt. You are commanded to do this.” And that is what they did. They went back to Canaan and loaded up the whole family, the whole clan, and returned into Egypt.
What does this historical commandment of Pharaoh mean to us? This is where the spiritual meaning is so important. This is where the deeper Gospel meaning comes into view. What does it mean to you and to me that Pharaoh commanded them to return to Canaan, to load up their whole family, and then to enter into Egypt?
We know that God has the Great Tribulation in view because of Acts 7:11. We know that this period of time is pointing to our very day. We know that Joseph is a picture of Christ, that Pharaoh is a type of God, and that the Israelites are a portrait of the believers. Therefore, when we put all of this together and see that Pharaoh was issuing a command to Israel, this spiritually means that God is sending a command to His people. We know that Canaan has a spiritual meaning, and that Egypt has a spiritual meaning. The spiritual meaning is that God commands His people to come out of the churches and congregations during the Great Tribulation and to go out into the world. This is what we are commanded to do at this time.
Many people look at the Bible historically. They see that Pharaoh made a commandment, but it has no direct meaning for them. They do not think that it touches or affects their lives in any way. They would say, “Pharaoh commanded Israel 3900 or so years ago to leave Canaan and go to Egypt, so what I can learn? I can find the history of that interesting. It is a nice story. I will tell it to my children, and they will like the story. Yet, it does not have any meaning for me on a personal level.”
They think, “If I look at the Bible from an historical point of view, then I can learn some very interesting history and even a moral lesson here and there. As far as the life of Joseph is concerned, I can see that he was a very good man and did things God’s way. When I look at the Bible on the historical and moral level, I can learn the importance of keeping God’s commandments even when things go badly in my life. I can see that from the example of Joseph’s life, even those times when things do not work out for me as I would want them to, finally in the end, I will be lifted up. This is the story of Joseph. Just do right, do good, and at the end of the day, somehow things will work out. God will lift me up.” This is basically the teaching of many churches and congregations concerning the history of the Bible, because they fail to look into the deeper, spiritual meaning that God has for us in His Word.
It might even be possible to find some theologians who admit that in this particular historical account, Joseph is a type of Christ. They might be able to see the correlation as Joseph is thrown into the pit. But what about when he becomes prime minister of Egypt? Is Joseph not still a picture of Christ? What about when he is hiding his identity from his family—is he not still a picture of Christ? In this historical account, if Joseph is a spiritual picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, then this conclusion must be carried through in order for it to be a correct conclusion. We have to carry it through. We cannot take one verse and say, “In this one verse of this historical account, Joseph is a picture of Christ, but nowhere else,” and not carry it through the entire account.
It is important to note, however, that at times, God can have someone representing one thing spiritually, and later on in another passage, He can have that particular person pointing to something entirely different. However, those who only look at the Bible on an historical and moral level do not even attempt to follow the spiritual meaning through any particular account.
Now, we know that when God gives a commandment, it is to be obeyed. People easily recognize this fact. We look at the Ten Commandments, such as Exodus 20:13, which says:
Thou shalt not kill.
People understand, “That is a commandment from God, and it is to be obeyed.”
And in Exodus 20:14-16:
Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
These are commandments from God, and these commandments are to be obeyed. Most people easily recognize this; probably everyone recognizes this. Many commandments are not adhered to, but people would still agree, “Yes, they are commandments from God that we are obligated to obey. We may fail to do so, but we are nonetheless responsible for obedience to God’s commands, because as created beings, we are obligated to obey the Creator.” This is how most people understand the commandments of the Bible.
The problem exists when all of God’s commandments, even Pharaoh’s orders, are not understood as commands from God. They fail to understand that even Pharaoh’s orders go to a deeper spiritual level. They easily overlook what Pharaoh is commanding, because they do not understand that it is a commandment for them in this day. They might think, “What does it mean to me? I do not live in Canaan. Am I to go to Egypt?” This is because they look at the Bible solely on a literal level. If God makes a plain statement, such as, “Thou shalt not kill,” this is easily understood. But when Pharaoh is commanding Israel to return to Canaan, to gather their family, and then to return to Egypt—they wonder how this could be a commandment to them in their day. They simply can not understand it, because they can only see the historical meaning.
Yet it is God alone who has written His Word and given us the Gospel the way in which He has. It is imperative to understand that when He gives commandments on a spiritual level, we are no less obligated and responsible to obey them, anymore than we are responsible for obeying the literal understanding of the Ten Commandments.
Let me give a few examples of this. We read in Proverbs 31:4:
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
Do we not recognize the principle set forth here by God that true believers (typified by kings) are not to drink alcohol? Most true believers do recognize this, even though it is a commandment that is not given in a direct way. God has given a commandment in spiritual language that applies to believers, and true believers will try to live their lives accordingly. Are we literally kings? I do not know about you, but I do not have any royal blood. However, we do understand that God refers to the believers as “prophets,” “priests,” and “kings” (1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 5:10). God tells us, “It is not for kings to drink wine,” so we try not to drink alcohol.
Again, God says in Deuteronomy 25:4:
Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.
What does this mean? In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul explains. First he asks, “‘Doth God take care for oxen?’ Is that why God gave this commandment?” Let us read this because it helps us to understand that God does give commandments on one level, yet expects obedience on a deeper level. 1 Corinthians 9:9 says:
For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?
“Doth God take care for oxen?” Is that why He gave this commandment? If you take the Bible literally and only understand it on the surface level, then when God says, “Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn,” then that is exactly what He means. Therefore, God is only revealing to us in this verse that He has a great concern for animals. Now because we look for the spiritual meaning of this commandment, we must not come to the conclusion that God does not care for animals. God often addresses the literal meaning at the same time that He gives us the Gospel, therefore, it is important that people be kind to animals, but that is not the reason that He wrote this verse. God gave these words to Moses to record because they have something to do with His Gospel. Does God take care for oxen? Is that why He gave us the Bible, because God’s only concern is how man should live his life? No, ultimately, the reason for anything that is written in His Word is for the purpose of understanding His Gospel. It goes on to say in verse 10:
Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
Verse 10 explains that God did not say it for the sake of the oxen. He said it for our sakes. Now we can see that the Gospel is hidden in this statement.
As we have seen, God gives some plain, forthright statements regarding His commandments (and the Ten Commandments are a good example of this), and He also gives commandments that have a spiritual meaning. In our last study, we looked at an example of this in Luke 17. In this passage, we find that there were ten lepers who “lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” In response to them, Jesus gave them this commandment in verse 14:
And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
That is a commandment, an imperative: “Go show yourselves unto the priests.” Christ gave them this commandment because of a law in Leviticus 14:2 which states that a leper, in the day of his cleansing, was to go and show himself to the priest. Therefore, Jesus was quoting from the Old Testament when He spoke this. As we read this account, we see that these ten lepers begin to go to show themselves to the priests, and as they go, they are cleansed. The one, a Samaritan, seeing that he was cleansed, ran back to Jesus and fell on his face at Christ’s feet. Jesus responds to his actions in verses 17-18:
And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
Where are the other nine? They went to the temple to find a priest to show themselves to. Did they not obey the Law? Did they not fulfill the command of Leviticus 14:2 that in the day of the leper’s cleansing, he is to be brought unto the priest? Were they not obedient to the command of the Lord Jesus Christ that they should go show themselves to the priests?
God is letting us know in this passage that the spiritual meaning of His Word carries maybe as much or more weight than the plain, literal statement. The nine obeyed the literal command, “Go show yourselves unto the priests.” They went to the temple; they found a priest. They performed the sacrifice outlined in Leviticus 14. However, they failed to give glory to God. The one leper, the Samaritan who returned and fell down at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, glorified God. Christ goes on to say in verse 19:
…Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
This indicates that the one leper that returned and gave glory to God had become saved and a child of God. How is that? He was the one who was disobedient. He did not fulfill the commandment, did he? Jesus said, “Go show yourselves unto the priests,” but he came back.
What did he do? He fell down at the feet of the great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:14). Leviticus 14 commands that a leper in the day of his cleansing was to go show himself to the priest. Biblically, leprosy represents our sin, and the priest is, of course, pointing to Christ. When the Samaritan returned to the Lord Jesus Christ and fell down at His feet, he was obeying the spiritual meaning of Christ’s commandment as well as the commandment found in Leviticus 14.
We are accountable and responsible to God to know the deeper spiritual meaning and to obey it. The nine failed to give glory to God. They obeyed the literal statement, but they failed to go to the end of the law, which is the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 10:4). They did not find the deeper, spiritual meaning, and, therefore, they failed to glorify God.
As we have been able to determine, we are responsible to God to obey the deeper, spiritual commands in His Word. Yet, how can we be responsible for this when we need to have eyes to see the spiritual truths of the Bible? The fact is that we are responsible to obey, and if we do not have eyes to see, it is because of the direct result of our sin. It is the same as disobeying any of the other commandments in the Bible because of our sin and rebellion against God. We are just as accountable for a lack of obedience to a spiritual command, as we are for an outright direct commandment from God.
As we continue to look at the history of Pharaoh and of this famine in the days of Joseph that God has written down for us, we see that Pharaoh gives this commandment in Genesis 45:19:
Now thou art commanded, this do ye…
We have searched and studied the Bible in order to find out who Pharaoh represents. We have seen that Pharaoh represents God, and we have been able to see this all along. We understand that the famine is a famine of hearing the Words of the Lord—that it is the time of the Great Tribulation (Amos 8:11, Acts 7:11). We have seen that Canaan represents the church, and that Egypt represents the world. Pharaoh says, “Return to Canaan and gather your family. However, you are commanded to come back to Egypt.” Now we understand that this is a commandment of God to everyone having eyes to see and ears to hear: come out of the churches and congregations.
We find that this is very similar to Revelation 18:4 where God is again speaking in parables. He sets up the parable of Babylon and says:
…Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins…
This is a commandment of God for everyone: obey and come out.
Genesis 45:19 continues:
…this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones…
These “wagons” are mentioned four times in this passage. What do the wagons represent? The brethren are going to go back, and the families of Jacob will be loaded onto them. These wagons will carry Israel out of Canaan and back into Egypt. What are these wagons representing?
The word “wagons” is found twenty-four times in the Old Testament—four times here and fifteen times in association with the temple sanctuary service or worship. It is translated as the “cart” that they would put the Ark of the Covenant on in 1 Chronicles 13. It is the word used in the account of Uzza, who touched the Ark as it was being transported on a “wagon” or “cart,” and where Uzza was slain “because he put his hand to the ark” (1 Chronicles 13:7-10).
One of the most interesting places that this word is found is in Amos 2:13, where it says:
Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.
This gives us an image of a cart, a wagon, that is fully loaded with sheaves in the time of harvest. Because a trip down to the market at that time might be a long journey, I am sure that they would try to get as much into each wagon as possible. The grain and the sheaves are being thrown into the wagon. It is a picture of the cart being pressed down as more and more is being heaped on top of it so that the wagon can be as full as possible.
This is an interesting correlation because we know that God typifies the time of Great Tribulation as a time of separating the wheat from the tares (Matthew 13:24-30). It is a time of harvest, a time of separation, and this is exactly what is in view as the wagons are being sent back to Canaan and all Israel, which represents the elect of God, are being loaded onto them. They are all loaded on—their little ones and their children—and they are being separated from Canaan and taken back to Egypt.
It could very well be that God is using a picture of a harvestman who is gathering his harvest. He is separating the wheat from the tares, and he is loading his wagon with the sheaves.
More evidence towards this is found in one of Joseph’s dreams. Joseph had two dreams—the one was of the sun, moon, and stars. Then he had another dream in Genesis 37. There we find a different Hebrew word for “sheaves,” but it is the same idea. We read in verses 6-8:
And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 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.
This is exactly what was happening in Genesis 45. When Joseph revealed himself to his brethren and the wagons were sent to Canaan to load up all of Israel and return them to Egypt, that was the fulfillment of this dream. Their sheaves would bow down to his sheaf that had risen and become prime minister of Egypt.
This appears to be the picture as God is bringing about the harvest separation of the wheat and the tares. The sheaves are being gathered and brought in. One way of doing this is issuing forth a commandment, “Come out of Canaan and into Egypt.” The wagons are sent and the sheaves are gathered, just as God is separating the wheat from the tares today in the churches and congregations. His methodology is issuing forth a commandment that the Church Age is over, and that the time to leave the churches and congregations has come.
True believers have eyes to see and ears to hear. They can look at the deeper meaning and see that this is a commandment from God. They can understand that it requires obedience. They can recognize, “I have no recourse but to obey.” Therefore, they come out of the church, and in so doing, God is gathering His harvest.
In Genesis 45:20, Pharaoh tells Joseph to say to Israel:
Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
“Regard not your stuff”—this is an interesting statement. Historically, Pharaoh is saying to them, “I understand that you will not be able to fit all of your possessions in these wagons once you put your children and wives in. You will not be able to pack up your entire house. You will not be able to fit all of your cherished belongings into the wagons. You are going to have to leave some things behind, but regard not that stuff, for all the good of the land of Egypt will be yours.”
He is again telling them, “I am going to give you wealth and blessings and benefits. You are Joseph’s family; if you leave Canaan and come back to Egypt, I will take good care of you. The last thing that you will need to be concerned about is your belongings that you had to leave behind. Egypt is a great and mighty land, and we have tremendous wealth right now. You can have your pick of the good of the land of Egypt. All is yours; regard not your stuff.”
That word “regard” can be translated as “spare,” such as “Mine eye shall not spare thee” (Ezekiel 7:4). It is used many times in connection with pity or mercy, or the lack of it—as in to spare not, or to have no compassion.
This is the same idea that we see in Genesis: regard not your stuff. Do not feel sorry about those things that you are leaving behind. Leave them; do not be attached to any of it. Do not be thinking, “My dresser—I remember the day that my husband personally carved it, and it is such a beautiful dresser.” But it might have taken two wagons to carry such a large possession—so the dresser must be forgotten. “Do not worry about your household possessions. What is important is that you get out of that land.”
Again, once Joseph revealed himself, we can see that there is a sense of urgency. We can see that it is not a light matter; that there is not to be any tarrying. It is an urgent matter. Once Joseph revealed himself, it was time to get out and leave. They were to not let any attachments hold them back, not one.
We can see how this relates to the commandment to come out of the churches and congregations. People have established themselves in the churches. Some have been members of churches for many years. They may have many friends and family within the church, and they have the church itself. It might be a beautiful building with wonderful architecture and carpeted floors with air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter. It might be a very modern building. We are not to be attached to any of this. We are not to worry about anything that we might be leaving behind. We are simply to obey God. Come out of the church and go out into the world. Go home, listen to the radio and read your Bible all by yourself.
This does not sound very exciting; it sounds like we are getting the bad end of the stick. But we are to do it. Find another family or a fellowship, or meet on the Internet. Do whatever you have to. Only get out of the church—that is the most important thing. Regard not your stuff.
In Matthew 24, the chapter dealing with the time of the Great Tribulation and the end of the world, we read in verses 15-16:
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place…
That would be the church. It continues:
…(whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
God is putting the same commandment in another way. Let them in Judaea, in the churches and congregations, flee into the mountains. That is, get out, leave the church. Then verse 17 says:
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
The commandment is given: do not go back into the house. The house represents the church. You are on the housetop, a place of intense spiritual activity. If you study the word “housetop” in the Bible, you will find that it is a place where prayers are offered. “What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops” (Matthew 10:27). It is a picture of a place from which the Gospel is proclaimed and sent forth. Do not go back into the house once the abomination of desolation is in there—once Satan is ruling in the churches and congregations. Stay on the housetop. Continue the task of sending forth the Gospel into the world, but do not go back into the house.
This is added to in Luke 17:30-32. It says there:
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed…
Likewise Joseph, a type of the Son of man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is revealing himself in Genesis 45.
The passage in Luke continues:
…In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife.
In other words, regard not your stuff. God is saying the same thing through Pharaoh in Genesis 45—regard not your stuff—that He is saying in Matthew 24 and Luke 17—that when we are on the housetop in this time and our stuff is in the house, we are not go down into the house and get our stuff; we are to leave it.
The word “stuff,” in both the Old Testament Hebrew and the New Testament Greek, is also translated as “vessel” or “good.” It is the word that is used in the parable of Matthew 12, where the strong man is bound so that his “goods,” his “stuff,” can be plundered. We know that this is pointing to the time when Satan was bound at the Cross. His house was then plundered as the Gospel went out and a great many became saved. These “goods” are representing “souls,” and it is the same with the word “vessel.”
In Romans 9, God is spoken of as the potter Who makes one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. Again, the word “vessel” is pointing to souls, to people. One person is His elect and the other is not—one to honor and one to dishonor.
If your stuff, your vessel, is in the house, do not go back. We have seen that one of the most difficult aspects of this command for those who realize what God is saying at this time is their families. Members of their family can not understand these issues; they are not seeing these things in the Bible. Their family members remain in the house, in the churches and congregations, in the house of God. They do not understand these spiritual commands. They can understand the Ten Commandments and any plain, literal teachings of the Bible, but they can not understand what God means when He issues forth the spiritual commandment to flee, to depart out of Jerusalem, to come out of Babylon, to leave Canaan.
Lot, in the historical parable of Genesis 19, lingered in Sodom, a type of the church. Why did he linger? Because he had daughters and sons-in-law that were remaining in Sodom. He most likely even had grandchildren. He had stuff in the house. He knew fire and brimstone were soon to fall, but he had family inside, loved ones that were in Sodom. Therefore, he lingered.
But God was merciful to Lot. He took him by the hand and pulled him out of Sodom. Then fire and brimstone fell; the end, the judgment of God came, and that city was destroyed. This is exactly how it will be at the end of the world. Judgment Day will come on the heels of the Great Tribulation. All who are in the house, those who are left in the churches and congregations, will experience the fire and brimstone of God’s wrath. Those that remain will be the tares for bundling and throwing into the fire.
This is the struggle that many true believers must deal with after learning that they are to flee the churches and congregations. This is an area where a believer, a true believer, can feel great sorrow. Maybe his wife is still in the church, or his son or his daughter or even very close friends. Yet God is telling him, “Regard not your stuff. Spare not. Do not have so much compassion upon your loved ones that you remain behind and perish yourself because you do not think that you can leave your family.”
Under these circumstances, those people are, in essence, saying, “I love my family more than I love God.” Jesus warned against this in Matthew 10:37 when He said, “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” We are to love God and obey Him above all. If God commands us to take some action, we are not to let our family interfere with our obedience. Under these circumstances, we are not to conclude “I just cannot leave my family.” This is what God is warning against.
We can see a dire warning given to us by God in Luke 17 concerning this very thing. In verse 32—after He commands him whose stuff is in the house not to come down and take it away, and he who is in the field likewise not to return back—we read, “Remember Lot’s wife.” What did Lot’s wife do? She looked back. Why? Because she had daughters and sons-in-law, and she could have had grandchildren. Fire and brimstone were falling. She looked back, indicating that her heart was not completely right with God, and, because of that, she experienced the judgment of God.
It is wonderful that by God’s mercy, some are coming out of the churches and congregations. However, a very real problem could remain for those who have come out if they continue to look back in their hearts and dwell on the churches and congregations that they have left behind. God is warning us that once we put our hands to the plow, we are not to look back (Luke 9:61-62). We are to get busy with getting the Gospel out into the world.
Let us go back to Genesis 45:20. We read:
Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
The good of the land—this phrase is found again in Ezra 9:12. We read there:
Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
This is the account of when the Israelites had taken strange wives. God is indicating, “You are to obey My commandments, and If you do, that will be like eating the good of the land.”
Again, in Isaiah 1:19-20 we read:
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
God equates the good of the land with obedience and with doing things His way. He has in mind someone who has become a true child of God. They will be demonstrating obedience to the will of God, so God’s blessing will come upon them, and they will eat the good of the land.
Let us go to Deuteronomy 28. From verse 15 onward, this chapter outlines all the curses that come upon the people of God for disobedience. However, in the first fourteen verses, God speaks of the blessings that come upon those who are willing and obedient. We read in verses 1-2:
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Then in Deuteronomy 28:12, it says:
The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
These are the blessings of being willing and obedient, when you eat the good of the land. One of the blessings is that the rain begins to fall in his season; this is associated with the latter rain. When we come out of the churches and congregations, God makes the latter rain to fall upon the world.
We have seen how the word “Goshen” could be identified with the land that is “rained upon.” It is close to the Hebrew word “Goshem,” which means just that. It is the best of the land of Egypt; it is a place of good pastures. Therefore, they are to come out of Canaan and enter into Egypt, into Goshen, and there they will raise their flocks and experience the blessings of God. There the rain will fall. That is what is happening today as believers are, by God’s grace, obeying the will of God.