Coming to the End: Genesis 47:27-31
People need to know our desire to be where God calls us and live as God calls us. That’s how we feel complete. When we understand what our creator called us to do and where to do it, life makes more sense.
Once things in Egypt settled down, Jacob and his sons find their place and increase their wealth. Jacob lived for seventeen more years in Egypt, which is highly symbolic. Jacob had seventeen years with Joseph before his sons sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites. He then had seventeen years with Jacob in Egypt. Altogether, that’s thirty-four years. It is also only thirty-four years of the one-hundred forty-seven he lived. Jacob spent less than a quarter of his life with Joseph.
As Jacob gets towards the end of his life, he comes to Joseph and makes sure Joseph understands he doesn’t want to be buried in Egypt. This may seem a little strange, because the Egyptians were masters at tomb building and embalming. Egyptian tombs and mummies are impressive even by today’s standards and as such continue to be studied relentlessly. Why would Jacob want to be buried in Canaan rather than under the skill of the Egyptians?
The answer to this question resides in observing Jacob talks to Joseph. Jacob doesn’t talk to Judah, or even Reuben. Jacob goes to Joseph and makes sure Joseph understands Jacob’s wish. It could be Jacob goes to Joseph because Joseph is a powerful figure in Egypt, but that would assume Jacob cares about the power structure. Given his short conversation with Pharoah, it feels unlikely Jacob cares much for Egyptian power.
Jacob may talk to Joseph because Joseph has been accepted in Egypt. Joseph is the son who needs to be convinced of his wishes. The rest of the sons – the ones who intentionally avoided integration into Egyptian lifestyle, would naturally understand Jacob’s desire to be buried in Canaan. Joseph might need to be convinced to take Jacob back to Canaan instead of allowing the Egyptians to utilize their skill and bury him in Egypt.
We know Joseph remained faithful to God even while serving in Egypt, so I’m not trying to call Joseph’s faith into question. This isn’t about whether Joseph had fallen away from God and started worshipping the Egyptian gods. There is no evidence of that whatsoever. Just because Joseph remained faithful to God, though, doesn’t imply that Joseph didn’t fall in love with Egyptian lifestyle. He may have genuinely appreciated the cleanliness, the linen, and not being a shepherd. He probably thought of Egypt as his home. Jacob needed to make a point with his son to remind Joseph that Jacob’s home is Canaan.
That’s where Jacob’s from. That’s where his father and grandfather are buried. That’s where God called him to and where he wants to go back to in the end. People need to know our desire to be where God called us and live as God calls us to live.
