Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

people."ever"appear"like to be introduced to aking or queenand to talk with them? How careful wewould be to have just the right clothesand to say and to do just the right thingsat the right time. Yet Jacob was notafraid, for he had talked with God Himself face to face and to be in the presenceof even the greatest kingwould be asnothing compared to that. Besides, Joseph was with him to introduce him andto see that all went well. What a picture that is of our Lord Jesus who introduces us to His Heavenly Father andspeaks for us. We are "accepted in thebeloved" and need not be afraid to meetthe Father of our Saviour. Pharaoh wasvery polite to Jacob and as was the custom then in speaking to very old people,asked him his age. Read the answer thatraoh. Can you imagine what it would beJacob gave. Gen. 47:9. Then Jacob,whose new name, Israel, meant "Princewith God" (Gen. 32:28) asked God'sblessing on Pharaoh, the king of Egypt,and left the palace.During all the years of famine, Josephwas in full charge of the stored up foodin Egypt. He provided for his ownfamilyduring that time, and sold food to thepeople of Egypt. When their money wasgone, he took their cattle in payment forthe food. When the cattle were all gone,he bought their land for the king andgave them food. In return, the people ofEgypt were to give the kingone fifthpart of the crops when the famine wasover. So Joseph saved the lives, not onlyof his own family, but of all Egypt aswell.Of the years after the end of the famine w>An not know very much, exceptthat Joseph and his family were stillhtxd :n great honor in Egypt and thatGod blessed them, both in numbers andin possessions. Jacob was by now growingold and weak and blind, and the timecame when he felt his death was near. Hehad lived seventeen years in Egypt andhad not only seen Joseph again but evenhis children and grandchildren. But nowhe called all his sons together and blessedthem and told what was to happen toeach of them. Read the special blessinghe gave to the two sons of Joseph. Gen.48:15-16. What a wonderful witness toGod's goodness to him ! When he had finished, he asked his children to bury him,not in Egypt, but in the land of Canaan,in the cave of Machpelah that his grandfather Abraham had bought for a buryingplace. How many of the family were buried there (See question 4 above.) Afterthis meeting with the whole family, hedid not live long, and, in the beautifulwords of the Bible, was "gathered untohisWhen Joseph saw his father was gone,he kissed the face of the one he had lovedand cried. Then he called in the Egyptian330doctors to embalm the body. Ask in advance some of the older Juniors to findout about the waythe Egyptians prepared for burial the bodies of kings andimportant people and how longthese bodies have been preserved. For ten wholeweeks, including the time it required toembalm the body, the Egyptians mournedfor Jacob. This long time of mourningand the fact that Jacob's bodywas embalmed as were the bodies of kings, showsin what respect and honor Joseph and hisfather were held in Egypt.We know very little about the burial ofmost of the great men of the Bible. AboutAdam and Noah, we know only that theydied. Abraham and Isaac were buried bytheir sons, the Lord Himself buriedMoses where no man could find the spot.But the burial of Jacob was like that ofa king. When Joseph asked .permission ofPharaoh to take the bodyof his fatherback to Canaan for burial, Pharaoh notonly allowed him and his brothers to gobut sent with them many of the peopleof the palace and of the great men ofEgypt, all in their rich chariots with thefinest horses. All these took the longjourney back to Canaan to bury thefather of Joseph. Then the twelve sonscarried their father to the grave he hadchosen and laid him there. The long lifeof Jacob had come to an end, and hisbody, after all the long journeys and theyears of joys and sorrows, was laid torest beside the bodies of Abraham andof Sarah, of Isaac and Rebekah and ofhis own wife Leah.Following the death and burial of theirfather, Jacob's sons were afraid that nowJoseph would punish them for sellinghim as a slave when he was a bov. Firstthev sent a messenger to him to ask hispardon, and then came themselves andfell down before him. Joseph must havehad a verv tender heart, for his eyesfilled w;