Genesis 47:1-12

¹ So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they have, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.”

² And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh.

³ Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.”

⁴ They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to stay temporarily in the land, because there is no pasture elsewhere for your servants’ flocks, because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants locate in the land of Goshen.”

⁵ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

⁶ The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any competent men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

⁷ Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

⁸ And Pharaoh asked Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?”

⁹ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my travel are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their travel.”

¹⁰ And Jacob blessed Pharaoh then went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

¹¹ Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them property in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

¹² And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s family with food, according to the number of their dependents.

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who we belong to

Joseph knew that his family had several marks against them already as they stood before Pharaoh. They were foreigners in a land where the people prided themselves on their ethnicity. They were shepherds in a land where that vocation was despised. The other leaders in Egypt would resent them because of their relationship with Joseph. But Joseph and his family only had to be themselves. It was the God they belonged to who would be at work among them, making a way for them in this new land. He had a plan, and that plan would be accomplished in spite of the obstacles.

LORD, when we face challenges because of who we are, help us to remember who we belong to.