Review:

• Exodus 3:16 “Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised you that I will bring you up from the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 They will listen to what you say. Then you, along with the elders of Israel, must go to the king of Egypt and say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
• 19 “However, I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go, even under force from a strong hand. 20 But when I stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles that I will perform in it, after that, he will let you go. 21 And I will give these people such favor with the Egyptians that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. 22 Each woman will ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry, and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.

 
MIRACULOUS SIGNS FOR MOSES
EXODUS 4
1 Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

• His mind was filled with imaginary scenarios.
• This is a form of doubting God.

2 The Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A staff,” he replied.
3 “Throw it on the ground,” he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it.

• The snake represents the evil power of Satan
• The Pharaohs wore a religiously symbolic metal cobra around their heads.
• It was a common symbol of Egyptian royal authority.

4 The Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. 5 “This will take place,” he continued, “so that they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

• Who actually has the power?

6 In addition the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, resembling snow. 7 “Put your hand back inside your cloak,” he said. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin.

• God would bring him and the Israelites out of their defiling environment—and heal them.

8 “If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign.

• Moses' leprous hand miracle would also have suggested to Pharaoh that Yahweh could afflict or deliver through His representative at will.

9 And if they don’t believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.”

• God would humiliate the Egyptians by spoiling what they regarded as a divine source of life.

10 But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant—because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.”

• Rather than inspiring confidence in Moses, God's commission frightened him.
• Stephen said Moses was "proficient in speaking" (Acts 7:22).

11 The Lord said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say.”

• God reminded Moses that He was the Creator 

13 Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

• "I don't have all the answers" (3:13),
• "I may not have their [the Israelites'] respect" (4:1),
• "I'm slow in my expressions" (4:10),
• "I'm not as qualified as others" (4:13).

14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, “Isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you. 15 You will speak with him and tell him what to say. I will help both you and him to speak and will teach you both what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you. He will serve as a mouth for you, and you will serve as God to him. 17 And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with.”

• Sometimes, you just need a buddy.
• To challenge you, to encourage you, and to shoulder you.
• Jesus sent the disciples out in twos.
• He regarded himself as a failure, the objects of his ministry as hopeless, and God as unfaithful, uncaring, and unable to deliver His people.
• He had learned his own inability to deliver Israel, but he did not yet believe in God's ability to do so.
• Even the miraculous revelation of God at the burning bush, and the miracles that God enabled Moses to perform, did not convince him of God's purpose and power.
• As time passed, Moses grew more confident and communicative and increasingly took his proper place as Israel's leader.

 
MOSES’S RETURN TO EGYPT
18 Then Moses went back to his father-in-law, Jethro, and said to him, “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living.”
Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
19 Now in Midian the Lord told Moses, “Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

• Midian Map & Modern Google Map

20 So Moses took his wife and sons,

• We learn here for the first time that Moses had sons (plural).

put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took God’s staff in his hand.
21 The Lord instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he won’t let the people go.

• He was not saying that Pharaoh would be unable to choose whether he would release the Israelites.
• God made Pharaoh's heart progressively harder as the king repeatedly chose to disobey God's will.
• Leviticus 26:23-24 - “If in spite of these things you do not accept my discipline, but act with hostility toward me, 24 then I will act with hostility toward you; I also will strike you seven times for your sins.[1]
•  It is not till after the sixth plague that it is stated that Jehovah made the heart of Pharaoh firm (9:12).
• Even though God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart was only the complement of Pharaoh's hardening his own heart, God revealed only the former action in verse 21.
• God's purpose in this revelation was to prepare Moses for the opposition he would face.
• He also intended to strengthen Moses's faith, by preventing any questions that might arise in his mind—concerning God's omniscience—as his conflict with Pharaoh intensified.

22 And you will say to Pharaoh: This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. 23 I told you: Let my son go so that he may worship me, but you refused to let him go. Look, I am about to kill your firstborn son!”

• This is the first mention in Exodus that Moses was to perform signs before Pharaoh.
• Since Israel is God's firstborn son, the appropriate punishment against Egypt for harming Israel is for God to harm Egypt's firstborn son.

24 On the trip, at an overnight campsite, it happened that the Lord confronted him and intended to put him to death. 25 So Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son’s foreskin, threw it at Moses’s feet, and said, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me!” 26 So he let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.

• Moses had neglected to circumcise his second son, Eliezer, and God struck Moses down with an illness that could have taken his life.
• We get the impression that when Moses had circumcised Gershom, his firstborn, Zipporah had been appalled by the ceremony and therefore had resisted having Eliezer circumcised.
• Moses let her have her way and this displeased the Lord.
• After all, Moses couldn’t lead the people of Israel if he was disobedient to one of the fundamental commandments of the Lord (Gen. 17:10–14).
• Even if the Jews didn’t know it, God knew about his disobedience, and He was greatly displeased.

 
REUNION OF MOSES AND AARON
27 Now the Lord had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and about all the signs he had commanded him to do. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites. 30 Aaron repeated everything the Lord had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people. 31 The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had paid attention to them and that he had seen their misery, they knelt low and worshiped.[2]
 
MOSES CONFRONTS PHARAOH
EXODUS 5
1 Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.”

• By Egyptian law, the Israelites could have worshipped only the gods of Egypt while in the land, but they had to leave Egypt to worship a non-Egyptian God.

2 But Pharaoh responded, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him by letting Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”
3 They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, or else he may strike us with plague or sword.”

• Moses is only asking for PTO.

4 The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to your labor!” 5 Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are so numerous, and you would stop them from their labor.”

• Consequently when Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh to obey the command of Yahweh, Pharaoh saw this request as a threat to his sovereignty.

 
FURTHER OPPRESSION OF ISRAEL
6 That day Pharaoh commanded the overseers of the people as well as their foremen, 7 “Don’t continue to supply the people with straw for making bricks, as before. They must go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it.
Verses 9-21 – Israelites were oppressed because of the situation they placed in by Pharaoh through Moses.
 
22 So Moses went back to the Lord and asked, “Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? And why did you ever send me? 23 Ever since I went in to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has caused trouble for this people, and you haven’t rescued your people at all.” [3]
 
EXODUS 6
1 But the Lord replied to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong hand he will let them go, and because of a strong hand he will drive them from his land.”
 
GOD PROMISES FREEDOM
2 Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I was not known to them by my name ‘the Lord.’

• God proceeded to remind Moses of His promises to the patriarchs, and to reveal more of Himself by expounding another one of His names.
• "During the patriarchal period the characteristic name of God was 'God Almighty' (Gen. 17:1), the usual translation of the Hebrew El Shaddai, which probably literally means 'God, the Mountain One.'
• That phrase could refer to the mountains as God's symbolic home (see Ps. 121:1), but it more likely stresses His invincible power and might. …
• But during the Mosaic period the characteristic name of God was to be 'the LORD,' the meaning of which was first revealed to Moses himself (Exod. 3:13-15).
• Exodus 6:3 is not saying that the patriarchs were totally ignorant of the name Yahweh."

4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as aliens. 5 Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land that I swore, to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.”
 
Names of God in the Bible:

1. Yahweh (LORD): This is the personal name of God revealed to Moses, often translated as "LORD" in English Bibles (Exodus 3:14-15).
2. Elohim: A general term for God, used in the context of His power and might as Creator (Genesis 1:1).
3. El Shaddai: Often translated as "God Almighty," emphasizing God's ultimate power and sovereignty (Genesis 17:1).
4. Adonai: Meaning "Lord" or "Master," highlighting God's authority and lordship (Psalm 8:1).
5. Jehovah Jireh: Meaning "The LORD Will Provide," used by Abraham when God provided a ram as a substitute sacrifice for Isaac (Genesis 22:14).
6. Jehovah Rapha: Meaning "The LORD Who Heals," reflecting God's power to heal and restore (Exodus 15:26).
7. Jehovah Nissi: Meaning "The LORD Is My Banner," signifying God's protection and leadership in battle (Exodus 17:15).
8. Jehovah Shalom: Meaning "The LORD Is Peace," used by Gideon to describe God's presence and peace (Judges 6:24).
9. Jehovah Tsidkenu: Meaning "The LORD Our Righteousness," pointing to God as the source of righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6).
10. Jehovah Sabaoth: Meaning "The LORD of Hosts," emphasizing God's command over the armies of heaven (1 Samuel 1:3).
11. El Elyon: Meaning "God Most High," highlighting God's supremacy over all (Genesis 14:18-20).
12. Abba: An Aramaic term for "Father," used by Jesus to express intimacy with God (Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15).
13. Yahweh (LORD): This is the personal name of God revealed to Moses, often translated as "LORD" in English Bibles (Exodus 3:14-15).
14. Elohim: A general term for God, used in the context of His power and might as Creator (Genesis 1:1).
15. El Shaddai: Often translated as "God Almighty," emphasizing God's ultimate power and sovereignty (Genesis 17:1).
16. Adonai: Meaning "Lord" or "Master," highlighting God's authority and lordship (Psalm 8:1).
17. Jehovah Jireh: Meaning "The LORD Will Provide," used by Abraham when God provided a ram as a substitute sacrifice for Isaac (Genesis 22:14).
18. Jehovah Rapha: Meaning "The LORD Who Heals," reflecting God's power to heal and restore (Exodus 15:26).
19. Jehovah Nissi: Meaning "The LORD Is My Banner," signifying God's protection and leadership in battle (Exodus 17:15).
20. Jehovah Shalom: Meaning "The LORD Is Peace," used by Gideon to describe God's presence and peace (Judges 6:24).
21. Jehovah Tsidkenu: Meaning "The LORD Our Righteousness," pointing to God as the source of righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6).
22. Jehovah Sabaoth: Meaning "The LORD of Hosts," emphasizing God's command over the armies of heaven (1 Samuel 1:3).
23. El Elyon: Meaning "God Most High," highlighting God's supremacy over all (Genesis 14:18-20).
24. Abba: An Aramaic term for "Father," used by Jesus to express intimacy with God (Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15).
25. The Lord of Hosts: Emphasizing God's command over the heavenly armies and His power in battle (Isaiah 1:24).
26. The Holy One of Israel: Highlighting God's holiness and His special relationship with Israel (Isaiah 1:4).
27. The Redeemer: Signifying God's role in delivering and saving His people (Isaiah 47:4).
28. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords: Titles that emphasize God's supreme authority over all rulers (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:16).
29. The Light of the World: A title for Jesus, illustrating His role in bringing spiritual illumination and truth (John 8:12).
30. The Bread of Life: Another title for Jesus, emphasizing His role in providing spiritual sustenance (John 6:35).
31. The Good Shepherd: Describing Jesus' care and guidance for His followers (John 10:11).
32. The Way, the Truth, and the Life: Titles for Jesus that highlight His role as the path to God, the embodiment of truth, and the source of eternal life (John 14:6).
33. The True Vine: Illustrating the vital connection between Jesus and His followers (John 15:1).
34. The Word: Referring to Jesus as the divine Logos, the ultimate revelation of God (John 1:1).
35. The Almighty: Emphasizing God's omnipotence and supreme power (Revelation 1:8).
36. The Lord Our Banner: Signifying God's protection and victory (Exodus 17:15).
37. The Lord Our Peace: Highlighting God's role in bringing peace to His people (Judges 6:24).
38. The Lord Our Righteousness: Emphasizing God's provision of righteousness for His people (Jeremiah 23:6).
39. The Lord Who Heals: Reflecting God's power to heal and restore (Exodus 15:26).
40. The Lord Who Provides: Illustrating God's provision for His people's needs (Genesis 22:14).
41. The Lord Who Sanctifies: Highlighting God's role in setting His people apart for His purposes (Leviticus 20:8).
42. The Lord Who Sees: Emphasizing God's awareness and care for His people (Genesis 16:13).
43. The Lord Who Is There: Reflecting God's presence with His people (Ezekiel 48:35).
44. The Lord of Peace: Highlighting God's ability to bring peace into the lives of His people (2 Thessalonians 3:16).

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Le 26:23–24.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ex 4:1–31.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ex 5:1–23.

Review:

• Jacob (Israel) and his family of 70 people transferred to Egypt with Joseph.
• Jacob moved from Canaan to Egypt about 1876 B.C., during the reign of Pharaoh Senusert III (Sesostris, ca. 1878-1871).
• His predecessor, Senusert II (1894-1878), would have been the man whose dream Joseph interpreted and who made Joseph his 1st in command.
• Moses, who lived from about 1525 to 1405 B.C., wrote Exodus (17:14; 24:4; 34:4, 27-29).
• Exodus embraces about 431 years of history, from the arrival of Jacob and his family in Egypt (ca. 1876 B.C.) to the erection of the Tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai (ca. 1445 B.C.).
• However, 1:1-7 is a review of Jacob's family.
• If we eliminate this section, the narrative resumes the story of the Israelites where Genesis ends, after Joseph's death.
• About 364 years elapsed between Joseph's death and the Tabernacle's building.
• The bulk of the book (chs. 3—40) deals with only two of those years, the year before and the year after the Exodus from Egypt.
• The Exodus event is the focus of this book.
• The Israelites lived in Egypt 430 years (12:40).
• Genesis 15:13 has the rounded number "400 years" as the total time of Israel's oppression in Egypt.
• It may be helpful to remember that about 400 years elapsed between the end of Malachi and the beginning of Matthew and that about 400 years elapsed between the end of Genesis and the beginning of Exodus.
• The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt by Yahweh in the Old Testament is parallel in importance to the resurrection of Christ in the New Testament.
• The historicity of these events is a critical foundation for adequately understanding the rest of the Bible.

 
ISRAEL OPPRESSED IN EGYPT
EXODUS 1
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; each came with his family:

• NASB ’95 – “Now” – We couldn’t have Exodus without Genesis.

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.
5 The total number of Jacob’s descendants was seventy;, Joseph was already in Egypt.
6 Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation eventually died. 7 But the Israelites were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land was filled with them.

• His purpose was to contrast the small number of Israelites that entered Egypt, with the large number that existed when Moses was born, which was about two million individuals (cf. 12:37; 38:26; Num. 1:45-47). 603,550 men

8 A new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.

• The "new king" may have been Ahmose (Gr. Amosis), who founded the eighteenth dynasty and the New Kingdom Period and ruled from 1570 to 1546 B.C.
• However, the identity of this new king, Israel's oppressor, was not important enough for the writer to identify by name.
• His emphasis was instead on the oppression of the Israelites, the awful condition out of which God would redeem His people.

9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are. 10 Come, let’s deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and when war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.” 11 So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13 They worked the Israelites ruthlessly 14 and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.[1]

• The first plan (plan A) was to make the Hebrews toil hard in manual labor.
• Normally a population grows more slowly under oppression than in prosperous times.
• However, the opposite took place in the case of the Israelites ("the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied," v. 12).
• Physical oppression also tends to crush the spirit, and in this objective the Egyptians were somewhat successful (2:23-24).
• Tell vv. 15-22 - second plan (plan B)
• Pharaoh instructed the midwives to kill all the male babies born to a Hebrew woman.
• The midwives feared God and did not do this.
• When confronted by Pharaoh, they responded, “The Hebrew women are stronger than the Egyptian women and birth their children on their own before we can get there.”
• They lied to Pharaoh.
• God blessed the midwives, and they multiplied.
• Third plan (plan C) - Pharaoh then instructs the Hebrews to have all the male babies thrown into the Nile after birth.

 
MOSES’S BIRTH AND ADOPTION
EXODUS 2
1 Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman.

• At this point Scripture's aim is to inform us that from an ordinary man, … and from an ordinary woman, … whose names there was no need to mention [at this point – 6:20], God raised up a redeemer unto his people.

2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4 Then his sister stood at a distance in order to see what would happen to him.

• Miriam is Moses’ only sister in the Bible that is mentioned by name.

5 Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds, sent her slave girl, took it, 6 opened it, and saw him, the child—and there he was, a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a Hebrew woman who is nursing to nurse the boy for you?”
8 “Go,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” [2]
 

• Tell vv. 11-25
• Stephen’s Message in Acts 7:17-36
• 17 “As the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt 18 until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt. 19 He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them abandon their infants outside so that they wouldn’t survive. 20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was cared for in his father’s home for three months. 21 When he was put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son. 22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.
• 23 “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 26 The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’
• 27 “But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me, the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?,
• 29 “When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 30 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came: 32 I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob., Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.
• 33 “The Lord said to him: Take off the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.,
• 35 “This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?—this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.[3]

 
MOSES AND THE BURNING BUSH
EXODUS 3
1 Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. 3 So Moses thought, “I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!”
“Here I am,” he answered.

• This was the first time that God had revealed Himself to Moses, or anyone else as far as Scripture records, for over 430 years.

5 “Do not come closer,” he said. “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

• Clarifying that He was the God who had been and who always would be—the same God that their forefathers worshipped

7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 9 So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them, 10 therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 He answered, “I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain.”
13 Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?”
14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.

• "I am that I am" means "God will reveal Himself in His actions through history."

This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.
16 “Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised you that I will bring you up from the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey. 18 They will listen to what you say. Then you, along with the elders of Israel, must go to the king of Egypt and say to him: The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.
19 “However, I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go, even under force from a strong hand. 20 But when I stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles that I will perform in it, after that, he will let you go. 21 And I will give these people such favor with the Egyptians that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. 22 Each woman will ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry, and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”[4]
 

• The outstanding contribution of this book is the revelation that Yahweh is the sovereign God who provides deliverance for man from the slavery in which he finds himself.
• Jesus has delivered His Church from the slavery of sin.
• Jesus’ death & resurrection rescued us from the penalty of sin and even from the power of sin.
• Jesus has rescued us from doing our own works, and the Spirit constantly encourages us to rest in Him.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ex 1:1–14.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ex 2:1–10.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ac 7:17–36.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ex 3:1–22.

Review:

• Joseph sent his brothers back to Canaan to get Jacob and his “stuff” so they could live in Egypt with Joseph.
  
  

JACOB LEAVES FOR EGYPT
GENESIS 46:1-34
1 Israel set out with all that he had and came to Beer-sheba, and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

• There was hesitancy for Israel because this land was promised to him and his ancestors.
• He did not know his people would be captive in Egypt for over 400 years… or did he…
• Genesis 15:13 - Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed.[1]

2 That night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” he said.
And Jacob replied, “Here I am.”
3 God said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you back. Joseph will close your eyes when you die.”,
5 Jacob left Beer-sheba. The sons of Israel took their father Jacob in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him, along with their dependents and their wives. 6 They also took their cattle and possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan. Then Jacob and all his offspring with him came to Egypt. 7 His sons and grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters, indeed all his offspring, he brought with him to Egypt.
 
JACOB’S FAMILY
8 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt—Jacob and his sons:
Jacob’s firstborn: Reuben.
9 Reuben’s sons: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
10 Simeon’s sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.
11 Levi’s sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
12 Judah’s sons: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.
The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
13 Issachar’s sons: Tola, Puvah, Jashub, and Shimron.
14 Zebulun’s sons: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
15 These were Leah’s sons born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, as well as his daughter Dinah. The total number of persons: thirty-three.
16 Gad’s sons: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
17 Asher’s sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah.
Beriah’s sons were Heber and Malchiel.
18 These were the sons of Zilpah—whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah—that she bore to Jacob: sixteen persons.
19 The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
20 Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt. They were born to him by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, a priest at On.
21 Benjamin’s sons: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.
22 These were Rachel’s sons who were born to Jacob: fourteen persons.
23 Dan’s son: Hushim.
24 Naphtali’s sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. She bore to Jacob: seven persons.
26 The total number of persons belonging to Jacob—his direct descendants, not including the wives of Jacob’s sons—who came to Egypt: sixty-six.
27 And Joseph’s sons who were born to him in Egypt: two persons.
All those of Jacob’s household who came to Egypt: seventy persons.
 
JACOB ARRIVES IN EGYPT
28 Now Jacob had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to prepare for his arrival at Goshen.

• Judah was made leader of the brothers here.
• Similar to meeting his brother, Esau.

When they came to the land of Goshen, 29 Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. Joseph presented himself to him, threw his arms around him, and wept for a long time.
30 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I’m ready to die now because I have seen your face and you are still alive!”
31 Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s family, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him, ‘My brothers and my father’s family, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 The men are shepherds; they also raise livestock. They have brought their flocks and herds and all that they have.’ 33 When Pharaoh addresses you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you are to say, ‘Your servants, both we and our ancestors, have raised livestock from our youth until now. Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable to Egyptians.”[2]
 
PHARAOH WELCOMES JACOB
GENESIS 47
1 So Joseph went and informed Pharaoh: “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen.”
2 He took five of his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. 3 And Pharaoh asked his brothers, “What is your occupation?”
They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants, both we and our ancestors, are shepherds.” 4 And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to stay in the land for a while because there is no grazing land for your servants’ sheep, since the famine in the land of Canaan has been severe. So now, please let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.”
5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have come to you, 6 the land of Egypt is open before you; settle your father and brothers in the best part of the land. They can live in the land of Goshen. If you know of any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”
7 Joseph then brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many years have you lived?”
9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “My pilgrimage has lasted 130 years. My years have been few and hard, and they have not reached the years of my ancestors during their pilgrimages.” 10 So Jacob blessed Pharaoh and departed from Pharaoh’s presence.
11 Then Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s family with food for their dependents.

• Rameses I reigned about 1347-1320 B.C. However the biblical chronological references (1 Kings 6:1; Exod. 12:40; et al.) point to a date for Israel's move to Egypt near 1876 B.C.

 
THE LAND BECOMES PHARAOH’S (vv 13-26)

• Severe famine in Egypt & Canaan
• People exchanged silver for grain until Joseph had all their silver.
• Next year, people exchanged livestock for food until Joseph had all their livestock. (horses also)
• The next year, the people gave Joseph their land and offered themselves as slaves to Pharaoh.
• The only land they didn’t get was that of the priests because they were given an allowance of food from Pharoah already.
• Joseph gave the people seed to sow and made it a law that 1/5 of their produce belongs to Pharaoh.
• The average tax at this time was 1/3.

 
ISRAEL SETTLES IN GOSHEN
27 Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. They acquired property in it and became fruitful and very numerous. 28 Now Jacob lived in the land of Egypt 17 years, and his life span was 147 years. 29 When the time approached for him to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor with you, put your hand under my thigh and promise me that you will deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt. 30 When I rest with my ancestors, carry me away from Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”
Joseph answered, “I will do what you have asked.”
31 And Jacob said, “Swear to me.” So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed in thanks at the head of his bed.[3]
 
JACOB BLESSES EPHRAIM AND MANASSEH
GENESIS 48
1 Some time after this, Joseph was told, “Your father is weaker.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed.
3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 4 He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make many nations come from you, and I will give this land as a permanent possession to your future descendants. 5 Your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are now mine. Ephraim and Manasseh belong to me just as Reuben and Simeon do. 6 Children born to you after them will be yours and will be recorded under the names of their brothers with regard to their inheritance. 7 When I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way, some distance from Ephrath in the land of Canaan. I buried her there along the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).
8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”
9 And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons God has given me here.”
So Israel said, “Bring them to me and I will bless them.” 10 Now his eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought them to him, and he kissed and embraced them. 11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, but now God has even let me see your offspring.” 12 Then Joseph took them from his father’s knees and bowed with his face to the ground.
 
EPHRAIM’S GREATER BLESSING (vv 13-18)
 - Israel criss-crossed his hands and placed his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh.

• Joseph tried to correct his elderly dad.

19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know! He too will become a tribe, and he too will be great; nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a populous nation.” 20 So he blessed them that day, putting Ephraim before Manasseh when he said, “The nation Israel will invoke blessings by you, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”

•  This was the fourth consecutive generation of Abraham's descendants in which the normal pattern of the firstborn assuming prominence over the second born was reversed: Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over Reuben, and Ephraim over Manasseh.

21 Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22 Over and above what I am giving your brothers, I am giving you the one mountain slope that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”[4]
 
 
JACOB’S LAST WORDS
GENESIS 49
1 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.
2 Come together and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel:
3 Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my strength and the firstfruits of my virility,
excelling in prominence, excelling in power.
4 Turbulent as water, you will not excel,
because you got into your father’s bed
and you defiled it—he got into my bed.
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers;
their knives are vicious weapons.
6 May I never enter their council;
may I never join their assembly.
For in their anger they kill men,
and on a whim they hamstring oxen.
7 Their anger is cursed, for it is strong,
and their fury, for it is cruel!
I will disperse them throughout Jacob
and scatter them throughout Israel.
8 Judah, your brothers will praise you.
Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
9 Judah is a young lion--
my son, you return from the kill.
He crouches; he lies down like a lion
or a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah
or the staff from between his feet
until he whose right it is comes,
and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.
11 He ties his donkey to a vine,
and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine.
He washes his clothes in wine
and his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.
13 Zebulun will live by the seashore
and will be a harbor for ships,
and his territory will be next to Sidon.
14 Issachar is a strong donkey
lying down between the saddlebags.
15 He saw that his resting place was good
and that the land was pleasant,
so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load
and became a forced laborer.
16 Dan will judge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan will be a snake by the road,
a viper beside the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
so that its rider falls backward.
18 I wait for your salvation, Lord.
19 Gad will be attacked by raiders,
but he will attack their heels.
20 Asher’s food will be rich,
and he will produce royal delicacies.
21 Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.
22 Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine beside a spring;
its branches climb over the wall.
23 The archers attacked him,
shot at him, and were hostile toward him.
24 Yet his bow remained steady,
and his strong arms were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 by the God of your father who helps you,
and by the Almighty who blesses you
with blessings of the heavens above,
blessings of the deep that lies below,
and blessings of the breasts and the womb.
26 The blessings of your father excel
the blessings of my ancestors
and the bounty of the ancient hills
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince of his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a wolf; he tears his prey.
In the morning he devours the prey,
and in the evening he divides the plunder.”
28 These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this is what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

• Map of the 12 Tribes of Israel

 
JACOB’S BURIAL INSTRUCTIONS
29 Then he commanded them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hethite. 30 The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (near Hebron), in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hethite as burial property. 31 Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there. 32 The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hethites.” 33 When Jacob had finished giving charges to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, took his last breath, and was gathered to his people.[5]

• Jacob desired that his funeral would be a clear witness that he was not an idol-worshiping Egyptian but a believer in the true and living God.

 
JACOB’S BURIAL
GENESIS 50
1 Then Joseph, leaning over his father’s face, wept and kissed him.

• (vv 2-14)
• Joseph commanded his servants to embalm Israel, which took 40 days.
• The Egyptians mourned for Jacob for 70 days, just two days less than they usually mourned the death of a Pharaoh.
• Joseph asked Pharaoh if he could bury his father in Canaan, which was granted.
• So a massive procession was made to Mamre, and they buried him in a cave. (mourned for seven days).
• Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt.

 
JOSEPH’S KINDNESS
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, “If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him.”
16 So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before he died your father gave a command: 17 ‘Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin—the suffering they caused you.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when their message came to him. 18 His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”
19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people. 21 Therefore don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
 
JOSEPH’S DEATH
22 Joseph and his father’s family remained in Egypt. Joseph lived 110 years. 23 He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation; the sons of Manasseh’s son Machir were recognized by Joseph.
24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 25 So Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath: “When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here.”
26 Joseph died at the age of 110. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.[6]

• Joseph lived to see God's blessing on his children's children.
• He died 54 years after Jacob's death, when he was 110 years old.

 

• Faith… trust… through troubled times.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 15:13.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 46:1–34.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 47:1–31.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 48:1–22.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 49:1–33.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 50:1–26.

Review:

• Joseph promoted from a hole in the ground to running the country.
• Manages the famine, and his brothers come for food.
• Joseph imprisoned Simeon and told them to bring back Benjamin.
  
  

DECISION TO RETURN TO EGYPT
GENESIS 43:1-34
1 Now the famine in the land was severe. 2 When they had used up the grain they had brought back from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little food.”

• What was the length of time to use up all the grain?
• Simeon was in prison by Joseph in Egypt.

3 But Judah said to him, “The man specifically warned us, ‘You will not see me again unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go, for the man said to us, ‘You will not see me again unless your brother is with you.’ ”
6 “Why have you caused me so much trouble?” Israel asked. “Why did you tell the man that you had another brother?”
7 They answered, “The man kept asking about us and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”
8 Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me. We will be on our way so that we may live and not die—neither we, nor you, nor our dependents. 9 I will be responsible for him. You can hold me personally accountable! If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, I will be guilty before you forever. 10 If we had not delayed, we could have come back twice by now.”

• Jacob passed on Reuben (Gen 42:37-38) because Joseph didn’t survive under his watch.
• Joseph imprisoned Simeon
• Levi was rejected because of the slaughter of men at Shechem with Simeon.

11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balsam and a little honey, aromatic gum and resin, pistachios and almonds. 12 Take twice as much silver with you. Return the silver that was returned to you in the top of your bags. Perhaps it was a mistake. 13 Take your brother also, and go back at once to the man. 14 May God Almighty (El Shadai) cause the man to be merciful to you so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin to you. As for me, if I am deprived of my sons, then I am deprived.”
 
THE RETURN TO EGYPT
15 The men took this gift, double the amount of silver, and Benjamin. They immediately went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his steward, “Take the men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they will eat with me at noon.” 17 The man did as Joseph had said and brought them to Joseph’s house.
18 But the men were afraid because they were taken to Joseph’s house. They said, “We have been brought here because of the silver that was returned in our bags the first time. They intend to overpower us, seize us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys.”

• Total paranoia.
• Power of sin - thoughts

19 So they approached Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the doorway of the house.

• This incident illustrates how guilty sinners crave a mediator who will defend them before a just God, and how Jesus acts as an advocate for them before the Father (cf. 1 John 2:1).

20 They said, “My lord, we really did come down here the first time only to buy food. 21 When we came to the place where we lodged for the night and opened our bags of grain, each one’s silver was at the top of his bag! It was the full amount of our silver, and we have brought it back with us. 22 We have brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in the bags.”
23 Then the steward said, “May you be well. Don’t be afraid. Your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your bags. I received your silver.”

• Utter surprised by his response.
• Evidently Joseph had covered the loss by paying for his brothers' food himself.

Then he brought Simeon out to them.

• A joyful reunion

24 The steward brought the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet, and got feed for their donkeys. 25 Since the men had heard that they were going to eat a meal there, they prepared their gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon. 26 When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him.

• Joseph’s dream fulfilled for a 2nd time.

27 He asked if they were well, and he said, “How is your elderly father that you told me about? Is he still alive?”
28 They answered, “Your servant our father is well. He is still alive.” And they knelt low and paid homage to him.

• 3rd time.

29 When he looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother that you told me about?” Then he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.”

• Benjamin was about 16 years younger than Joseph, so he would have been about 23 at this time

30 Joseph hurried out because he was overcome with emotion for his brother, and he was about to weep. He went into an inner room and wept there. 31 Then he washed his face and came out. Regaining his composure, he said, “Serve the meal.”
32 They served him by himself, his brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, since that is detestable to them.

• The system in Egypt required that Joseph, as a upper class member, eat at a table separate from his Egyptian companions.
• The Hebrews sat at a third table, since they were foreigners.
• The Hebrews and other foreigners ate animals that the Egyptians regarded as sacred.
• The Egyptians also followed strict rules for the ceremonial cleansing of their food before they ate it.
• This made the Hebrews "an abomination" to the Egyptians.
• The Egyptians also shaved off all their body hair (cf. 41:14 - Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they quickly brought him from the dungeon., He shaved, changed his clothes, and went to Pharaoh.[1]), so the hairiness of the Hebrews may have been another reason for the Egyptians' distaste.

33 They were seated before him in order by age, from the firstborn to the youngest. The men looked at each other in astonishment.

• Joseph now hosted a meal for his brothers, who, years before, had callously sat down to eat while he languished in a pit.

34 Portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, and Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than any of theirs.

• Joseph gave the highest honor to Benjamin as his distinguished guest.
• Special honorees frequently received double portions, but a fivefold portion was the sign of highest privilege.
• With this favor, Joseph sought not only to honor Benjamin but also to test his other brothers' feelings toward Benjamin.
• He wanted to see if they would hate Benjamin as they had hated him, his father's former favorite.
• Evidently they passed this test.
• Those who would participate in God's program must be willing to take responsibility for their actions, make restitution when they are culpable, and accept their lot gratefully and without jealousy.

They drank and became drunk with Joseph.[2]
 
JOSEPH’S FINAL TEST
GENESIS 44:1-34
1 Joseph commanded his steward, “Fill the men’s bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s silver at the top of his bag. 2 Put my cup, the silver one, at the top of the youngest one’s bag, along with the silver for his grain.” So he did as Joseph told him.
3 At morning light, the men were sent off with their donkeys. 4 They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Get up. Pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? 5 Isn’t this the cup that my master drinks from and uses for divination?

• A black art of the dark demonic world, that was later outlawed by God in Deuteronomy 18:10

What you have done is wrong!’ ”
6 When he overtook them, he said these words to them. 7 They said to him, “Why does my lord say these things? Your servants could not possibly do such a thing. 8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found at the top of our bags. How could we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? 9 If it is found with one of us, your servants, he must die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”
10 The steward replied, “What you have said is right, but only the one who is found to have it will be my slave, and the rest of you will be blameless.”
11 So each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. 12 The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and each one loaded his donkey and returned to the city.
14 When Judah and his brothers reached Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him.

• 4th time

15 “What have you done?” Joseph said to them. “Didn’t you know that a man like me could uncover the truth by divination?”
16 “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed your servants’ iniquity. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
17 Then Joseph said, “I swear that I will not do this. The man in whose possession the cup was found will be my slave. The rest of you can go in peace to your father.”[3]
 JUDAH’S PLEA FOR BENJAMIN

• Judah has one on one with Joseph
• “You are like Pharoah”
• You asked us about our Father, and we told you.
• Our father is grieving from the loss of his son.
• He doesn’t want to lose Benjamin.
• He repeats what Joseph demanded and how they responded accordingly.
• Their father said he would die if something happened to Benjamin.
• Judah is taking responsibility for the welfare of Benjamin.
• He offers himself to be Joseph’s slave.

 

• There it is… repentance!
• Joseph was waiting to see if they were jealous of Benjamin and turn him over to be a slave, just as they did him years ago.
• But they didn’t!
• Judah even showed compassion for their father rather than hatred from jealousy.
• They were remorseful and unified as a family.
• This had Joseph worked up into an emotional frenzy.

 
JOSEPH REVEALS HIS IDENTITY
GENESIS 45:1-28
1 Joseph could no longer keep his composure in front of all his attendants, so he called out, “Send everyone away from me!” No one was with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers. 2 But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and also Pharaoh’s household heard it. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But they could not answer him because they were terrified in his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please, come near me,” and they came near. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt. 5 And now don’t be grieved or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. 7 God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. 8 Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
9 “Return quickly to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay. 10 You can settle in the land of Goshen and be near me—you, your children, and your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and all you have.

• "Goshen" was the most fertile part of Egypt.
• It lay in the delta region northeast of the Egyptian capital, Memphis.

11 There I will sustain you, for there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you, your household, and everything you have will become destitute.” ’ 12 Look! Your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin can see that I’m the one speaking to you. 13 Tell my father about all my glory in Egypt and about all you have seen. And bring my father here quickly.”
14 Then Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder. 15 Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept, and afterward his brothers talked with him.
 
THE RETURN FOR JACOB
16 When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” Pharaoh and his servants were pleased. 17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and go on back to the land of Canaan. 18 Get your father and your families, and come back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you can eat from the richness of the land.’ 19 You are also commanded to tell them, ‘Do this: Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your dependents and your wives and bring your father here. 20 Do not be concerned about your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

• This was not an invitation… but a command.

21 The sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had commanded, and he gave them provisions for the journey. 22 He gave each of the brothers changes of clothes, but he gave Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothes. 23 He sent his father the following: ten donkeys carrying the best products of Egypt and ten female donkeys carrying grain, food, and provisions for his father on the journey. 24 So Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Don’t argue on the way.”

• Since Joseph had forgiven them, they should forgive one another

25 So they went up from Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 They said, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them.

• Both Abraham and Jacob figuratively receive their sons back from the dead.
• Both sons prefigure the death and resurrection of Christ, but Joseph is even more so.
• Both Joseph & Jesus are not only alive but rulers overall.

27 But when they told Jacob all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.
28 Then Israel said, “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go to see him before I die.”[4]

• Genesis declares that children raised in dysfunctional families are not locked by fate into living dysfunctional lives.
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[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 41:14.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 43:1–34.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 44:1–17.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 45:1–28.