Vayechi “And he lived”
Genesis 47:28–50:26
1 Kings 2:1–12
Judges 10-12

His Faithfulness, Not Ours

The famine is now a memory recorded in the history books of Egypt. Jacob and the family have settled into life in Goshen. It is recorded that Jacob lives there for seventeen years, which is twelve years past the end of the famine. In those twelve years was there not a thought in Jacob from time to time to pack up his family and move back home? Scripture does not state this, but I am sure that it was something he thought about. No doubt he had a yearning to return, but knew that it was not to be so in his lifetime. Yah had revealed to him that a greater purpose was to be served by his family staying in Egypt for the prophesied time.

Though Jacob was destined to live out his life in Egypt, we see no record of him ever allowing Egypt to live in him. His last request indicates this when he asks his son Joseph to swear an oath not to bury him in Egypt, but to take him back home. Jacob knew there would be a resurrection one day, but he just was not real happy about his body being left in a pagan land to await that day. He wanted desperately to be out of Egypt, for he was seeing how easy it would be for Egypt to take its place in him.

The standard of remaining separated from Egypt would not hold true for his family though. With each passing generation, more and more of Egypt would work its way into their lives until it would hold them firmly in its grasp. Over time Egypt would become a place they would call home and the land of their forefathers would be a memory to be spoken of around a dinner table. “Go back?” the children may ask. “Why go back? Egypt is now our home,” would be the answer they would hear. Over time, the vision of who they were and Whose they were would be lost to the ways of Egypt. Their rich heritage and calling would be forgotten. With each passing day, Egypt would become more and more a part of their lives.

If controlled by their own nature, the story of the Hebrews would come to an end with the last verse of Genesis. The line between Goshen and the rest of Egypt would eventually blur to the point it could not be seen. For a few generations they would be known as Hebrew-Egyptians. Enough years would go by that marriages between Hebrews and Egyptians would water down the blood line to the point that the word Hebrew was relegated to its place right next to the word famine in the books.

This would have been the history and the end of the Hebrews if the story was really about them. But the story was not and is not about them. It is not about their faithfulness. The story is about Him. The story is about His faithfulness. This is proved out when Elohim speaks words of prophecy through Jacob which would reach far past their lives in Egypt, and to our lives today. The words of this Torah portion speak not to the twelve boys gathered around Jacob, but rather they speak to us today. The words of Genesis 49:1 say that the prophecy is to a people in the last days. They are to a people who would not look at themselves in the light of denominational badges, but would rather begin to see themselves through their scriptural heritage which is laid out before us within these last chapters of Genesis. They would be a people who would one day begin to realize that those who have gone before us left us in Egypt. They would begin to see that not only were they left in Egypt, but Egypt has been left in them. This people would awaken to the prophecies spoken centuries before and see them not as words spoken to a few boys in Egypt, but rather words spoken to them, to us, today.

With each passing year, the account of Egypt and the eventual exodus has spoken louder and louder. This year is no exception. In fact, I find these words speaking at a level within me very difficult to describe. I seem to be able to relate now even more than the years before to what their lives must have been in that day. I relate to Jacob not wanting to be left in Egypt. I relate to how many of them must have felt as they saw those around them slip deeper and deeper into the culture and lifestyle of Egypt. As I think on these things, it causes me to wonder just how far away deliverance really is. In the midst of the pondering though is a certainty that He kept them then and caused His plans to come to pass every step of the way. And just as sure as Yah did it then, He is doing it today. His words are coming to pass before our eyes and just as before, it is not about our faithfulness, it is about His faithfulness.