টীকা বর্তমানে শুধুমাত্র ইংরেজিতে উপলব্ধ। বাংলা অনুবাদ চলছে।
Genesis 47 — Few and Evil Have the Days of My Pilgrimage Been
Joseph presents five of his brothers and his father Jacob to Pharaoh. Jacob blesses Pharaoh. The family settles in Goshen. As the famine deepens, the Egyptians give Joseph their money, then their cattle, then their land — all become Pharaoh's. Jacob, knowing his end approaches, makes Joseph swear to bury him in Canaan.
“Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been.”
— Genesis 47:9
- v.1-12 Jacob and his sons settled in Goshen
- v.13-26 The famine; Joseph's administration; the lands of Egypt sold
- v.27-31 Jacob's final request — bury me with my fathers
Few and evil. The life of the patriarch summarized in three words by the patriarch himself. He had spent it largely running, struggling, mourning. Yet through his life the covenant ran.
Pilgrimage. Jacob calls his life a journey, not a residence. Hebrews 11:13 picks up this same idea — the patriarchs confessed they were strangers and pilgrims. The believer's life is also a pilgrimage; arrival is on the other side.
Joseph's administration during the famine is a study in steward integrity. Every coin went to Pharaoh. No skim, no kickback. The man who could have enriched himself enriched his master.
The believer who is faithful in his employer's wealth — handling it as if it belonged to his Master in heaven — is the kind of steward God promotes (Luke 16:10-12).
Jacob refused burial in Egypt. He believed the promise of the land enough to require that his bones be carried back. His grave was a confession of faith.
Joseph would make the same request a few chapters later (50:25). And Moses would carry Joseph's bones for forty years through the wilderness (Exodus 13:19). Faith in God's land outlasted the lifetimes of those who waited for it.
How would you summarize your life to date in one phrase? Jacob said few and evil. And yet through that life the covenant ran. A life can feel disappointing to the one living it and still be one of God's strategic instruments. Do not measure the worth of your years by their pleasantness.
Jacob blessing Pharaoh prefigures the gospel's greater reversal — the One who had no form nor comeliness (Isaiah 53:2) blessing the world through His own pilgrimage. The Greater Pilgrim, too, called His life a journey — I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father (John 16:28).
A shepherd from Canaan blessing the king of Egypt. The lesser to the greater? Hebrews 7:7 — without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. The reverse is here. Jacob is the greater because he is the patriarch of the covenant line.
A reminder that earthly greatness and spiritual greatness do not run on the same scale. A poor old shepherd was the source of blessing for the king of the most powerful nation on earth.