Dave Burnette's Commentary

Genesis Chapter 47

Written By: God through Inspiration
Penned By: Moses
Date Penned: (1450-1410 BC)
Overview: The Record of God's Chosen People (c 23-50)
Theme: The Story of Joseph (c 37-50)
Message: Jacob Blesses Joseph (v 1-31)

Genesis 47 Commentary

(47:1-6) Joseph's Fruit of His Faith - Joseph's faithfulness affected his entire family. When he was in the pit and in prison, Joseph must have wondered about his future. Instead of despairing, he faithfully obeyed God and did what was right. Here we see one of the exciting results. We may not always see the effects of our faith, but we can be sure that God honors faithfulness.

(47:29-31) Jacob Instructs Joseph on His Burial - Jacob had Joseph promise to bury him in his homeland. Few things were written in this culture, so a person's word carried as much force as a written contract does today. People today seem to find it easy to say, "I didn't mean that." God's people, however, are to speak the truth and live the truth. Let your words be as binding as a written contract.


Dave Burnette's Life Application

Victory


Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter, making application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. There are many applications we can make from each day's text. Today we Continue in the book of Genesis with Chapter 47, and in today's text, we see Jacob, now Israel, coming to the end of his life and wanting a burial in Canaan. Israel will have a burial in the promised land, which his descendants would have so much trouble reaching in the coming days. Canaan in the Bible is a picture of the victorious Christian life, and after a long life filled with challenges, Israel ends in victory. In making application, we see that the Lord gives us ultimate success. It didn't look promising for a while, but God made a way. In our lives, we face situations and circumstances that don't always look promising, but then the Lord steps in, and we, too, get the victory. We learn that we should never quit but instead press on till we see the Lord come through for us. How about you? Are you facing a situation that seems bleak? Be encouraged by today's text with the life of Israel, and press on even if we don't see the finish line. The Lord will give you ultimate victory. 

 

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Genesis 47


Genesis 47

 1Then 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; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

 2And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.

 3And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers.

 4They said morever 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.

 5And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:

 6The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

 7And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

 8And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?

 9And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

 10And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

 11And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, 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.

 12And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families.

 13And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.

 14And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

 15And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.

 16And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail.

 17And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.

 18When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:

 19Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.

 20And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's.

 21And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.

 22Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.

 23Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

 24And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.

 25And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

 26And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.

 27And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.

 28And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.

 29And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:

 30But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.

 31And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.