Jacob immediately packs up the whole family and hits the
road for Egypt. On the way there, God visits his dreams. Mostly, God just
showed up to reassure Israel that he’s doing the right thing, that the family
will be in Egypt for a while, and that Joseph will in fact be there to lay
Israel/Jacob to rest when that day comes. And the entire family goes, and gets listed through some future generations
that aren’t even physically on the trip, like little Benjamin’s progeny. After
the long list of names, Israel sends Judah on ahead to meet up with Joseph in
Goshen. When everyone else joins them, Jacob falls upon Joseph and they have a
good cry together. Israel even goes so far as to say that he “can die now,
having seen for [himself] that you are still alive” (46:30) Before Joseph
leaves again to tell Pharaoh that the family has arrived, he makes sure that
his family knows to say that they’re shepherds if they’re asked about their
profession. Seems a little weird to me,
seeing as, well, they are shepherds…
<3 Agnostic in the Pews
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