We are continuing in our study of Joseph and his family. At the close of Genesis 45, we remember, Joseph had finally revealed himself to his brethren. He had sent them back to his father and their families to let them know he was alive and in Egypt, and that he had risen to be the second in power behind Pharaoh.
Joseph had commanded his family to come into Egypt where he would feed and nourish and take care of them. Their coming into Egypt would allow them to escape the famine that had already been going on for two years. Coming into Egypt, they would be able to leave behind the desolated land of Canaan.
He had also revealed to them that the famine would continue for another five years. Joseph knew that his family could not survive if they remained in the land of Canaan. Therefore, Joseph told his brethren to bring their families and his father out and come into Egypt. In Genesis 46, that is just what they did, loading everybody onto wagons to make the trip.
Now in Genesis 46:28-30, it says:
And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.
We can see the picture here. Joseph was eagerly waiting for his father and the rest of his family. It is interesting, though, that he did not go to Canaan himself. Joseph probably wanted to see his father more than anyone else in the whole world. Yet, he simply directed the Israelites, his brethren, to go back and give a message to Jacob and then return with their families in the wagons that he had provided for them. Joseph never returned to Canaan himself. He did not go and confront his father face-to-face or run into Canaan to see him, but he waited in Egypt.
Historically, we can imagine why. Joseph was an extremely busy man at this time. All the nations were coming to Egypt for corn, and he was the one who was dispersing it. He was in charge of the entire process. It would have been very hard for him to take a long journey into Canaan in order to see his father and convince him, personally, to come into Egypt. Therefore, Joseph just sent the message through his brothers.
Jacob was convinced and did leave the land of Canaan. In these verses, Israel (Jacob) is leaving Canaan and is en route to Egypt. Joseph hears that Israel has come into the land of Goshen, and in verse 29 we read:
And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father…
Joseph can probably see them from afar off on the horizon, and he is eager and excited about meeting his father. Yet, he stays in Egypt until he sees him—only then does he get into his chariot. At this point, he probably rides furiously to meet the wagon trains, which would be moving slower because they had children and cattle and all kinds of things within them. Joseph rides up to them as they are coming into the land of Goshen; he gets out of his chariot and goes over to Jacob’s wagon. When he sees the old man, his father, he falls on his neck, weeping. It says that he “wept on his neck a good while.” Joseph puts his head on his father’s shoulder and weeps on his neck. Who knows how long they stood there like that.
Remember, they have not seen each other for twenty-two years. Joseph was seventeen when his brothers sold him as a slave into Egypt, and he is thirty-nine at this point. We know this because he was thirty when he went before Pharaoh (Genesis 41:46). Then, there were seven years of plenty, which would have made him thirty-seven (Genesis 41:53). It is now the second year of the famine (Genesis 45:6), so he is thirty-nine years old. If we count inclusively from seventeen to thirty-nine—that is, if we begin by counting the seventeenth year as one–we get twenty-three years.
It has been twenty-three years since he last saw his father, and it has been a long and hard twenty-three years. For his first thirteen years in Egypt, he was either a slave in Potiphar’s house or a prisoner. Then at the age of thirty, he was suddenly lifted up out of prison to be the right hand of Pharaoh.
Enduring this difficult life in Egypt for much of the time, we can imagine how much Joseph must have longed for his father and desired to hold him again. When he finally sees him again, he hugs him and puts his head on his shoulder and weeps, and this goes on for a good while. Then we read in verse 30:
And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.
From Jacob’s perspective, he was led to believe that Joseph was dead. Only recently has he learned that Joseph is still alive. Jacob is full of emotion when he hears that his favorite son yet lives, and it is a very emotional scene as father and son meet together in the land of Goshen.
This is the historical setting. It is very dramatic, but what does it mean as far as the Gospel is concerned? We always have to keep in mind that the famine that came upon the land is picturing the Great Tribulation. As I have stated before, the same two words “Great Tribulation” that we see in Matthew 24:21 are found in Acts 7:11-13, in reference to this famine.
This seven-year famine, typifying the Great Tribulation, has been going on for two years. Joseph has not shown himself to his family, up to this point, and then he suddenly reveals who he is. It is just as God, through the first part of the Great Tribulation, concealed Himself through His Word. He sealed up His Word and did not open it up to His people, not until the dividing part, the second part of the Great Tribulation—then He opened the Scriptures and revealed truth to His people.
Joseph did not return into the land of Canaan himself. This is because Joseph is a picture of Christ, and Canaan is a picture of the church. Joseph removed himself from the land of Canaan by staying in Egypt the whole time, never going back. Even after his brethren came to Egypt looking for corn, he never himself returned to Canaan to convince his father or his family that they needed to go to Egypt.
Likewise Christ, once the Great Tribulation begins, leaves the church and never will return again. He will never go back into the congregations once His spirit has departed and Satan has taken his seat. This is the final phase in God’s overall plan. The next event will be Judgment Day itself.
Joseph is picturing Christ, who is waiting on the border of Egypt for his father, Israel, to come out of Canaan. He could not go into Canaan, but he went as far as he could. He waited on the outskirts, in the land of Goshen, to see his father afar off. Then once he sees him, Joseph rushes to him in his chariot and falls on his neck.
This reminds us of the parable in Luke 15; it has many similarities. There was a son who gathered together his inheritance, went into a far land, and spent it all. Then a famine rose in that land, just like there was a famine in the land of Canaan. As the son was living under this famine, he remembered that his father’s house had bread enough to spare. Again, that is the situation in Egypt where Joseph is. Let us read this parable in Luke 15:14-20, which says:
And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off…
His father sees him a great way off, just as Joseph saw Jacob and all Israel when they were a way off in the land of Goshen. Joseph waited until he could see his family in the boundary of Egypt. But once he sees them, he goes to them. Likewise, this father in Luke 15 did not go into that land that was experiencing the famine. But once his son returned to him, the father noticed him a great way off; and it goes on to say in verse 20:
…his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Again, we see a similarity. Joseph fell on his father’s neck and was weeping. It does not say that Joseph kissed his father, but we can see that there is an emotional scene in both places. There is a reunion between father and son.
The only difference is that in Genesis the rolls are reversed. Joseph is the son and Jacob (who is returning) is the father. We have to keep in mind, though, that Jacob typifies the elect, the children of God, and that Joseph is a picture of Christ, the Everlasting Father. As Joseph is seeing Jacob, the elect, then in a spiritual sense the Father is seeing the Son. When Joseph goes to Jacob and falls on his neck weeping, it is indicating that God is having compassion, that He is once again blessing Jacob, the people of God. Because they had been in the land that was experiencing the famine, they were in a terrible situation, but now they are coming out. God will now bless His people. This is what is in view as Joseph falls on Jacob’s neck and weeps a good while.
Going back to Genesis 46:30, we read:
And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.
To see God’s face has to do with being in the presence of God. During the first part of the Great Tribulation, believers were not seeing the face of God. At least, that is how the Bible paints it. When someone becomes saved, they can, of course, never truly be separated from the love of Christ. They have salvation, and Christ will never leave them nor forsake them (Hebrews 13:5). But during this awful first part of the Great Tribulation, God was pouring out His wrath on the churches and congregations—hiding His face from those who were in them. For the believers that were in those churches, in that sense, God was hiding His face from them.
Let us look at Deuteronomy 31:16-18, which says:
And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.
When God begins to judge the churches, when judgment begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17), then God is hiding His face from the congregations. His presence is no longer there.
For twenty-three years inclusively, from the time Joseph was seventeen until he was thirty-nine, Jacob has not seen Joseph’s face. This is a picture of the time when God will judge the church. During the beginning 2300-day period, He will completely remove His blessings from the churches and congregations. There will be no salvation during that time. In a very real way, He will be hiding His face from all who are in the churches, including true believers.
However, God will reveal Himself once again to His people, just as Jacob is now seeing the face of Joseph. Let us look at 2 Chronicles 7:14, a familiar verse. It says:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Jacob and Israel are humbling themselves by coming out of Canaan and entering into Egypt, just as believers are humbling themselves today as they leave the churches in obedience to the Word of God. This is what humility is. Being humble is not so much that we are soft spoken and quiet, or that we look down with our faces to the ground. Being humble has to do with being under the mighty hand of God, the Word of God, the Bible. We are in submission to His Word, and we desire to keep His commandments. This is humility—someone desiring to do things God’s way and to obey Him. Anyone doing that is humbling themselves under the will of God.
This is what is in view as believers are coming out of the church. We do not come out because of some idea of our own or because this is something that some man has thought up. Rather, God is commanding this from His Word. Believers must humble themselves and obey the Word of God; they must do His will and come out of the church. This is what is in view.
God says that if we humble ourselves, we will see His face and experience His presence. In relation to this, Jacob is saying, “Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.”
God is still operating in the world today. Still, I can see why some people would think that He is unconcerned, especially when we were experiencing the first part of the Great Tribulation. It was easy to think at that time, “What is going on? Where is God? Where are His mercy and His grace?”
This period of time caused many a true believer to wonder similar to what we read in Psalm 77:7-9. A child of God could have certainly prayed this unto the Lord. We read there:
Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
God was not blessing His Word for that horrible first part, for that 2300-day period. Where was God?
Now, in our Genesis account, it is the transition into the second part of the Great Tribulation—where God is making Himself known and revealing Himself through His Word. He is opening up the Scriptures, and He will save a great multitude of people from all over the world.
God is alive and operating in the world. Today, His mercy is available. Today, there is salvation for a sinner. God is still saving people, because today it is still the Day of Salvation. He is going to save a great multitude that no man can number in this second half of the Great Tribulation (Revelation 7:9). This is what is in view as Jacob sees Joseph’s face and sees that he is alive.
Let us continue on with Genesis 46:31-34:
And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father's house, I will go up, and show Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father's house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me; And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have. And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation? That ye shall say, Thy servants' trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
We see here that Israel (Jacob) and his sons were shepherds. That was their job and their occupation, what they did to support themselves. That was how they lived in the land of Canaan. Joseph instructs them to answer to Pharaoh, when he asks what their occupation is, “We are shepherds, and we feed and take care of cattle. That is our trade.”
From a lot of information in the Bible, we know that shepherds point to those who bring the Word of God. They are those who spiritually feed people with God’s Word. There is a particular office of shepherd, and we call them “pastors.” A pastor was supposed to feed the flock. He was supposed to preach and teach from the Bible. As people listened, they were supposed to be fed spiritually.
God set up and established that office of pastor. For many centuries, many hundreds of years throughout the Church Age, God blessed it. But, now we have come to the time when God has removed that office. We read in Jeremiah 23:1-2:
Woe be unto the pastors…
That is the same word “shepherd.” Continuing:
…that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people…
Notice how it starts out saying that the pastors scatter the sheep of His pasture, then God immediately calls the sheep “people.” It continues:
…Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
In Ezekiel 34:10, God says that He will cause these false shepherds, who are not feeding His people the truth of the Word, to cease from feeding the flock. That cessation takes place when God begins to judge the church during the Great Tribulation. At that point, God is no longer commissioning or giving authority to the pastors, the ministers, the reverends. Whatever title they use, they no longer have the blessing of God or His commission to feed the sheep; God has taken it away. Many, if not all of them, have abused that position and have been feeding people the thoughts and doctrines of men, rather than the thoughts and doctrines of the Bible. God, therefore, is judging the churches, and He is judging those who would continue to set themselves up as pastors.
Now notice what it says in Jeremiah 23:3-4:
And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
Again, this book of Jeremiah is dealing with the Great Tribulation. On one hand, God is finished with the office of pastor. He is finished with the office of shepherd. There is no commandment from God that these individuals should continue operating as elders in the church, feeding the flock. But God goes on to say, “I will set up shepherds over them.” This is referring to the same period of time—the Great Tribulation.
Also, look at Jeremiah 3:15. Again, the context here is of God’s judgment on the church. We read:
And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
On one hand, God is judging the church. He is judging the pastors and has removed their office. Then He says, “I will give you pastors.” He will give us those shepherds. Now we can understand what is meant when God says in Ephesians 4:11-13:
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
God will give pastors until we come “unto a perfect man,” which will not happen until Christ returns.
People look at this passage and say, “God is not finished with the church; He is going to give pastors until the Lord returns.” However, if we understand this word “pastor” in verse 11 to be the office of pastor, then what about the apostles or prophets? There was an office of apostles that the twelve apostles held, but there is no one today who holds that office. You might find some people who call themselves apostles, but that office is finished. Once the twelve apostles passed away, never again was there someone who could say, “I hold the office of apostle.” It is the same with prophets. There was the office of a prophet—we read of Jeremiah the prophet and Isaiah the prophet and all of the other prophets in the Bible who held that office. But once God had completed His Word, never again would He commission anyone to hold the office of a prophet. No longer is anyone receiving revelation from God that they are to go and declare. That kind of office is done and finished.
Therefore, as we read this, we realize that verse 11 cannot be talking about the office of pastor. Once we realize that it is speaking of believers, then we can have a proper understanding of this verse. All believers are apostles—we are all sent forth with the Gospel—but some more than others. He gave some to be apostles, and they are the ones that particularly go on tract trips or otherwise go out with the Gospel message.
Again, all believers are prophets—we all declare the Word of God—but some more than others have that particular gift. It is the same with evangelists—we are all commissioned to share the Gospel.
We are all pastors, we are all teachers, because God has given knowledge of His Word once He saves us. Some of us are not as knowledgeable as others, but to whatever degree we understand something, we share it. We share it with our friends and with others. In so doing, we are instructing and imparting knowledge, fulfilling the spiritual requirement that God gave as some are to be pastors and teachers.
Again, we are all teachers of the Word of God. Not one of these spiritual attributes will pass away until Christ returns. The apostleship continues, the prophecy continues, the pastoring continues, all until the Lord Jesus Christ comes back. Therefore, when God says in Jeremiah, “I will give you pastors according to Mine heart,” He is talking about the body of believers who will continue bringing the Gospel to the world and sharing that truth with others during the Great Tribulation. God will bless that sharing as they feed the flock, as they feed the people of the world with the Truth of the Bible.
Going back to Genesis 46, “Israel” is pictured as shepherds. That is their occupation, their task, their role. As they go into Egypt, they go in qualified as shepherds. Likewise, as believers come out of the churches and congregations and enter into the world, we are to be shepherds. We are to feed the flock and share the Gospel with the people in the world, so that God can accomplish His Word and save this great multitude that He intends to save at this time.
Going back to Genesis, we read in Genesis 47:1:
Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan…
We realize this means they came out of the church. It continues:
…and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.
We have looked before at the word “Goshen.” We saw that we were not helped very much with the understanding of it when we turned to the Strong’s Concordance. We only know that it is similar to a word that we would spell “Goshem,” the only difference being the last letter—an “m” instead of an “n.” We learned that the word “Goshem” has to do with rain—it is used to describe a land that receives an abundance of rain. I think that this is the same idea with Goshen, because it is called the “best of the land” (Genesis 47:6). It is a land for pasturing, a land for feeding the flocks. It is a land, therefore, that must receive rain.
This is the picture when we come out of Canaan. We enter into Goshen, into the land that is receiving the latter rain. We are out in the world where the latter rain is falling. It is not falling in the churches and congregations—there will be no latter rain there, nor harvest. The harvest is out in the world. Out in the world is where God is sending the latter rain, and that is where He will save that great multitude. Therefore, Israel enters into the land of Goshen.
Then we read in verse 2:
And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.
We do not know which five—God does not give us the specifics. The important thing for us to note is that there were five men. The number “five” in the Bible points to grace or judgment, and that is what is in view as God is showering His grace upon His people. Then in verses 3-4, it says:
And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers. They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.
There was no pasture in the land of Canaan, no food for the sheep or the cattle. There was no way to keep them alive in Canaan. They had to leave, and they are seeking for pasture. In John 10, where Christ pictures Himself as the Good Shepherd, we read in verse 9:
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
In this verse, we see how God connects pasture with salvation. “I am the door,” Christ says. If any man enter in, he shall be saved and he will find pasture. There is no pasture in Canaan. There is no pasture in the churches today, no salvation. But as we leave the church in search of pasture, we go to Joseph, the Lord Jesus Christ, who in turn presents us before Pharaoh, a picture of God the Father. We tell Him that we are seeking pasture, and pasture will be provided for Israel. Spiritually speaking, God will provide salvation for His people.