Genesis 46

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were men who understood they were strangers or foreigners in the land God promised them (Heb. 11:9-10,13-16).  In Gen. 15, God confirmed His covenant with Abraham, but also told him that he would die before the promise was realized.  Thus the faith of these men was seen in how they lived as “pilgrims” in the land.  Living in tents, they trusted God for an eternal city in the heavens.  On earth they were on a “pilgrimage”.  Jacob understood his father that way (Gen. 37:1).  And he understood himself that way.

In Gen. 47:9 Jacob told Pharaoh: The days of the years of my pilgrimage 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 pilgrimage.  Those words are full of insight.  Life is days and years, but it is not endless; it is a pilgrimage, a time that will end.  The place where we live those years is not our destination.  We are traveling on to an eternal home.

Gen. 46-47 tells the story of Jacob moving his family to Egypt.  In that story we see glimpses into aspects of life that we must consider, since we too are only here temporarily.  As “strangers in the land” we will see that we can neither hold too tightly to this life, nor can we live life as if it did not have any significance at all.  Consider your pilgrimage as today and tomorrow as we think about these matters, asking God to give you a heart of understanding in each of them.

·        46:1: worship.  In our pilgrimage this is primary.  We must worship our Creator before Whom we travel.  Jacob had been on a spiritual journey.  He initially sought to manipulate God (IF you do as You said I will worship You).  He became an observer of God’s work in Padan Aram.  He wrestled with God, seeking His blessing.  At Bethel he seemed to come to rest in El Shaddai, the All-Sufficient One.  Where are you in your spiritual pilgrimage?

·        46:2-5: change.  By definition, change is a part of pilgrimage.  But we will want to know that God is leading us and that He is with us in power.  It is never satisfying to change simply for the sake of change.  This is a major move for Jacob, given his age; but God assures him that He is in it!

·        46:6: possessions.  We must have a right understanding of possessions.  Jacob took his possessions because he needed them in Egypt.  The question is: do we possess things we need, or do they possess us?  Are they God’s provision for me or are they the goal and purpose of my life?

·        46:7-27: family.  Even if you are single, family is part of pilgrimage.  Jacob went from being a single man with parents to 11 sons, a daughter and 4 wives in Padan Aram.  Now, counting the men (and Dinah) there are 70.  Given all that Jacob went through one might think it better to forgo family obligations while on pilgrimage.  But that is not the Creator’s plan.  Jacob’s spiritual growth came more through family than anything else.  In the Pilgrim Psalms (120-134) two of them deal with the blessing of family (127-128).  Are we committed to family in this life?  Will they join us in our eternal home?