62 JOSEPH SETTLES HIS FAMILY

A major mark of a leader is the ability and willingness to take responsibilities for the care for others and to manages their affairs providing opportunities to be useful to others as well as to benefit themselves. Joseph displays this ability and willingness in his care for his family who have just moved to Egypt from Canaan. If you want to be a Christin leader, this part of Joseph’s story can give you a wonderful model to try to duplicate.

Notice the respect which Joseph, as a subject to Pharaoh, showed to his king. Even though Joseph was the king’s favorite, and prime-minister of state, and had had particular orders from Pharaoh to bring his father down to Egypt, yet Joseph would not allow his father and brothers to settle until he had reported everything to Pharaoh. In other words, Joseph worked well under Pharaoh and was responsible for his family. He was responsible and communicative in both direction. Verse 1 says, “Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.” Jesus too, our Joseph, arranges things for His followers in His kingdom according to the plan of the Father. Jesus is over us and under the Father. Every leader has someone to report to, even Jesus. This is good. Matthew 20:23 says, “Jesus said to them, ‘You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.’” A good leader makes himself or herself comfortable in his or her place in the chain of authority. We have authority and responsibility over others, but we must also remain under the authority of whoever is responsible for us.

We may also notice the respect which Joseph, as a brother, showed to his brothers, in spite of  all the unkindness he had received from them earlier in life. Though he was a great man, and they were comparatively mean and despicable, especially in Egypt, yet Joseph acknowledged them. Let those that are rich and great in the world learn from this example not to overlook or despise any poor relations. Every branch of the tree is not a top branch, but, just because it is a lower branch, is it therefore not of the tree? Our Lord Jesus, like Joseph here, is not ashamed to call us brothers.

A sample, five of the eleven of the brothers, being strangers, shepherds and not accustomed to social decorum in a king’s court are introduced to Pharaoh, to give a greeting intending by it to put an honor on them among the Egyptians. In this same way Jesus presents His brothers in the court of heaven, and improves their reputations, even though in themselves they are unworthy and quite comparable to shepherds in the Egyptian court, are an abomination to the Egyptians. Being presented to Pharaoh, no doubt according to the careful instructions Joseph would have given them, they tell Pharaoh what was their business, their vocations—that they were shepherds. Joseph was an astute man and surely knew what would be one of the first questions Pharaoh would ask. Verse 3 says, “Pharaoh asked the brothers, ‘What is your occupation?’ ‘Your servants are shepherds,’ they replied to Pharaoh, ‘just as our fathers were.’” Pharaoh takes it for granted they had something to do, or else Egypt would be no place for them. Egypt was no harbor for idle vagrants. If they would not work, they should not eat of his bread in this time of scarcity. All that have a place in the world should have an employment in it according to their gifting, some occupation or other, mental or manual. Those that need not work for their bread must yet have something to do, to keep them from idleness.

If you are a political leader in your nation, you are wise to enquire into the occupation of your subjects. You have the care and responsibility of the public welfare. Idle people are as drones in the hive; they are unprofitable burdens of the community. Pharaoh also may have thought of another aspect in his question. Specifically, what was their business in Egypt? They were prepared for this question. Verse 4 says, “They also said to him, ‘We have come to live here for a while, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants’ flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen.’” They included this important phrase, “for a while.” They did not intend to become Egyptians or to live there endlessly. They would not settle there forever, but only to journey there for a time. This was to be just while the famine prevailed in Canaan, which had a higher elevation so that it was not habitable for shepherds. The grass was burnt up there much more than in Egypt, which had a lower elevation, and where, though the corn had  failed, there evidently was still tolerably good pasture for sheep. Joseph had prepared his brothers well. Can you see the marks of a good leader in the way Joseph facilitated this meeting of the king of Egypt and shepherds from Canaan?

Joseph obtained for his brothers a settlement in the land of Goshen. Verses 5 & 6 say, “Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Your father and your brothers have come to you, and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock.’” This was a benefit from Pharaoh because of Joseph. Pharaoh was thankful to Joseph because Joseph had been such a blessing to him and his kingdom. Now he would be kind to Joseph’s relations, purely for Joseph’s sake. He offered them preferment as shepherds over his cattle, provided they were men of activity. The Bible teaches that the man who is diligent in his business will stand before kings. Again we find an indication in Scripture that whatever our profession or employment is, we should aim to be excellent in it and prove ourselves clever and eager to work.

Next let us notice the respect Joseph, as a son, showed to his father. He presented him to Pharaoh too. Verse 7 says, “Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh . . .” Everyone ought to show some pride in his or her  parents. Can you see Joseph’s face as he presents his aged father to Pharaoh? Pharaoh then asks Jacob a common question recorded in verse 8. “How old are you?” This is an honorable question usually put to old men, as it is natural to us to admire and reverence old age. Leviticus 19:32 says, “Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.” It is very unnatural and does not look good to despise old age as Isaiah describes the evil of  bad times in Isaiah 3:5, “People will oppress each other—man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored.” Jacob’s face may have showed him to be very old, for he had been a man of labour and sorrow. It is also possible that in Egypt people did not generally live as long as in Canaan. Pharaoh may have looked on Jacob with wonder and a kind of admiration. Jacob’s visit may have been a dignified spectacle in Pharoah’s court. And as for us, from time to time when we are weighing or measuring our accomplishments, we too might ask ourselves, “How old are we?”

Jacob gave Pharaoh perhaps a longer answer than Pharaoh expected as recorded in verse 9, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” Jacob spoke in a way that was appropriate for a patriarch, with an air of seriousness, for the instruction of Pharaoh and for any of us who want to learn from this wise old man. Though our speech be not always of grace, yet it must like this be always with grace. Jacob calls his life a pilgrimage, looking on himself as a stranger in this world, and a traveller towards another world. Earth was his hotel, not his home. Hebrews reflects this truth saying in 11:13. “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.” He not only considered himself a pilgrim now that he was in Egypt, a strange country in which he had never been before; but also during his whole life, even when in the land of his nativity. It was all a pilgrimage, and those who consider it that way can better endure the inconvenience of absence from their native soil.

He spent twenty years in Padam Adam and another seventeen in Egypt. He was, as we are, a pilgrim still, and always would be as long as he was here on earth. He calculates his life by days, not years. We are not sure we will live for another day to its end. We may be dismissed from this tabernacle at less than an hour’s warning. Let us therefore number our days as Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” And also measure them as Psalm 39:4 says, “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.” If we will number and measure our days, we are less likely to waste time on earthy matters and be more ready to meet the Lord when He calls. Notice the character he gives of his days. First, they were few. Though he had now lived 130 years, they seemed to him but a few days, in comparison with the days of eternity, the eternal God, and the eternal state. In that state a thousand years, longer than ever any man lived, are like one day. Life is brief so let’s not waste it. Second, his days were evil. This is true concerning man in general as Job 14:4 says, “Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.” Since his days are evil, Ha!, it is well they are few. Jacob’s life, particularly, had been made up of evil days though the most pleasant of them were yet before him. Third, his days were fewer than the days of his fathers. His days were not so many and not so pleasant, as their days. Old age came sooner to him than it had to some of his ancestors. As the young man should not be proud of his strength or beauty, so the old man should not be proud of his age. The crown of his grey hair, though others may reverence it is a crown of glory, is only glorious when it is found in the life of a righteous person.

Here is the king of a great land, the lofty and mighty ruler over a great civilization meeting a lowly shepherd from the dessert to the north. Yet notice who blesses whom. After Jacob addresses himself to Pharaoh he departs from him with a blessing. This is mentioned twice, once in verse 7 and again in verse 10. “Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh,” and “Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.” This action was not only an act of civility as he paid him respect and expressed thanks for his kindness, but an act of godliness—he prayed for him, as one having the authority of a prophet and a patriarch. Though in worldly wealth Pharaoh was the greater, yet, in relation with God, the Creator and King of the universe, Jacob was the greater. Jacob was God’s anointed, “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm” (Psalm 105:15). A patriarch’s blessing was not to be despised, no, not by even a potent king. Darius, in another time and place also valued the prayers of godly persons for himself and for his sons, “. . .  so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king (meaning Darius) and his sons” (Ezra 6:10). Pharaoh kindly received Jacob, and, whether as a prophet or not, he had a prophet’s reward. This sufficiently rewarded him for his courteous conversation with him and all the other kindnesses Pharaoh showed to Jacob and his family.

Joseph provided well for Jacob and his family, “So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed.” “Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their children.” This demonstrates that Joseph, with all his leadership qualities and qualifications was a good man, who took this detailed care of his poor relations, and was a tool for God, a good God, to use. He was one whom God had raised up for this purpose, and put him in the position and gave him the ability and authority to do it. You will recall that Esther also came to the kingdom in her day for such a time as this—for such a time as occurred in her day. What God did here for Jacob he has, in effect, promised to do for all His, that serve Him and trust in Him. He needs you to be a Joseph today whether we discuss the need for God’s Word, wisdom or material provision. Psalms 37:19 says, “In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.” Today you are Joseph. Rise to your responsibility and opportunity. The reason God has placed this story in the Bible is so that you will know that.

Let us learn to be responsible for others (over whom God has placed us) and responsible to others (under whom God has placed us).