Surrey Chapel Fellowship Group Notes March 28/29th

Genesis 46 Jacob’s Move

This chapter divides neatly into 3 sections. The first deals with Jacob’s departure from Beersheba to go to Egypt, a journey of about 200 miles, mostly across desert. The second is a list of those that made the journey. The final section describes Jacob’s arrival in Egypt and his reunion with Joseph.

Departing in Faith
V.3 “I am God, the God of your father”. -This is a repetition of the promise made to Isaac in Genesis 26:24. God also promises to make Israel into a great nation. This is one of the key themes of Genesis 12-50. See  12:2, 17:20, 18:18, 21:18 and 46:3.

V.4 contains two promises, the first is that God will go with Jacob to Egypt. In the ancient world deities were closely associated with certain civilisations and therefore certain geographical areas. Jacob’s need for reassurance is therefore understandable. The second promise is that there will be a return from Egypt.
But there are further reasons for Jacob’s need for reassurance. See Genesis 15: 13-14. Presumably Jacob knew of this promise! Also God had prohibited Isaac from going to Egypt during a time of famine in 26:1-5. Furthermore his grandfather Abraham had had difficulties in Egypt in an earlier famine 12:10-20.

The patriarchs died before seeing the fulfillment of God’s promises to restore his people to a land of their own and his wider plans for the redemption of mankind. But they still believed that their eternal destiny was secure because of their faith in God. Read Hebrews 11: 12-16 & 39-40.

You may like to reflect on the similarities and differences with how we have to live now by faith as we await Jesus’ return and the new heavens and new earth.

Verses 5-7 emphasise that Jacob took everything he possessed to Egypt. - He was setting out in full assurance of faith and not holding anything back.

The list of names in the middle of this chapter serve to remind us that this story was about real people at a real time in history. Successive generations of Israelites would have traced their family history back to the names presented here.

Reunion
Judah is sent ahead to prepare the way for the family to settle in the land of Goshen - an area on the edge of the Nile delta to the north-east of modern day Cairo. Joseph used his political influence and administrative skills to secure the best area for his family to live (47:5).

The following reunion reminds us of the human side of this account - a father and son being reunited after over 13 years of separation.

Prayer points										ADB
Proposal to become a CAP centre. 
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