Genesis 46 Commentary
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Now the LORD speaks! The LORD had known all along (these many years) that Joseph was not dead but alive. Strange. This is itching information you want to quickly pass on to a friend but the LORD is long-suffering. Yes, long-suffering.
The LORD speaks about the exodus. Again these are events arranged by God in the same way that Joseph’s trip to Egypt was arranged. The LORD has a way to transport us through history, and what transport! The book of Exodus is appropriately positioned right next to Genesis as a continuation of the Jacob story (now Israel).
Statistics are important and the scriptures are full of them. I would call this the first numbering of the nation of Israel. Jacob has grown from 1 to 70
We see Jacob sending Judah (not Reuben or Simeon or Levi) to go and get instructions from Joseph. Remember how Jacob would send Joseph much earlier to check on his other sons! While everyone else gets their own share, it’s these two (Joseph and Judah) that define the blessing more clearly and firmly.
Joseph meets his father and weeps. He weeps for a long time. It’s emotional. Jacob now feels ready to die. One piece had been missing. He can die because he has passed on the blessing. A man always feels incomplete without the hope of stable posterity in his mind. He was designed for posterity. Jacob feels he is now done. THE LORD’S promise that Joseph would close his eyes (as he transitions) assures and ensures posterity. Fathers shouldn’t die before their children. The death of a son is painful and a very crude termination of posterity. It spells the end of the story. Jacob’s own is different as the LORD assures him that Joseph’s own hands would close his eyes into eternity.
Diplomacy isn’t a modern invention. Check how Joseph’s diplomacy ensures that Israel stays in Goshen! He is very much a government worker! You would understand the importance of Goshen as the LORD determined that HIS children stayed together in a community of believers, with minimum foreign influence.
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