Title Goshen, settled there (Gen 46:28-34)
Contents
Goshen settles there (Gen 46:28-34)
There is a violinist named Minjin Kim who is actively working on the European stage. Last month, on November 29th, a violin worth at least 1.2 million was stolen. It was also stolen from a sandwich shop in the UK after the case was put on the floor for a while. How would she feel now? But what if-this is a real case Let's say that one day, 20 years later, a dreamlike thing to find that violin happened. How would you describe that emotion and joy?
One day, Jacob receives the unbelievable news that his son Joseph, whom he thought he had lost 20 years ago, is alive. I wanted to meet you as soon as possible. So, at the age of 130, Jacob leads the whole family, sells all his possessions, and crosses the border to meet his son. From Genesis 46:8 to 27, the Jacob family who was with us at this time is introduced in detail. But what is important is what follows. “Jacob had sent Judah ahead of time to Joseph to lead him to Goshen, and they all came to the land of Goshen” (Genesis 46:28). You have to go to the royal palace to see Joseph, but he meets his son Joseph in Goshen.
Jacob had never been to Egypt before. There is absolutely no information about that vast Egypt, where any city is, what it is, and what kind of place is livable. Above all, God told them to go to Egypt, but he did not name Goshen (Gen. 46:3). But why does Jacob go to Egypt, as if he knew Goshen, from all the land? Why do you decide to live there?
Why did Jacob and Joseph want to settle down in Goshen? Why did their descendants live in Goshen for over 400 years? Scholars could not find the etymology of ‘Goshen’ in Egyptian literature, no matter how hard they searched. They only found out that this place name, 'Goshen', was not originally an Egyptian name, but was related to the Semitic peoples who occupied and lived in the eastern part of the Delta (Fertile Crescent) long ago. Because Goshen had the same name in Egypt but also in Canaan (Joshua 10:41; 11:16). So, the land of Goshen was in Egypt, but its roots are not in Egypt, but go back to a distant past, and it is a name closely related to the Semites. So, what kind of tribe are the Semites?
Of Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Shem was the one who served God after Noah. “Shem was the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, and children were born to him” (Genesis 10:21). This Eber built the 'Kingdom of Ebla' in the Paddan Aram region centered on Haran in the north, built a great altar to the Lord God, and gave glory to his name. The nickname given to people who worshiped God like this was ‘Hebrews’. The first person to be called a Hebrew was Abraham (Genesis 14:13). The word ‘Hebrew’ comes from ‘Ebla’ in the ‘Kingdom of Ebla’. It means a person from the Kingdom of Ebla. Abraham's hometown was Ur of the Chaldeans, and calling Abraham a Hebrew means that Abraham's original hometown was closely related to the kingdom of Ebla.
‘Goshen’ was a land closely related to the descendants of the Semites, especially the descendants of Eber, who feared God well, that is, the Hebrews. Although this Goshen was located in Egypt, it is a place where there are traces of where the descendants of Shem, who worshiped God in the old days, lived in Eber, that is, descendants of the Hebrews. It seems we will only know. How Jacob knew of Goshen in Egypt, which he had never been to before, and that he had decided to go and live there, and how Joseph dared to force his family to come and stay in Goshen.
Jacob did not want to unpack anywhere in Egypt. I think of ‘Goshen’, a land where traces of God, a land where traces of worshiping God remain, and a land where you can leave and return to Canaan. Although Joseph himself is on his way to becoming prime minister, he also remembers ‘Goshen’. We can confirm the deep feelings of Jacob and Joseph through their wills. “When I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their graves.” Joseph said, “I will do as you have said” (Genesis 47:30). “And Joseph made an oath to the children of Israel, saying, ‘God will surely take care of you, and you will carry my skulls up here with me’” (Genesis 50:25).
Jacob is said to be the father of faith. He gave Jacob the name Israel. He is a very weak-minded, selfish person. He was also a liar. But the love and fear of God were burning like fire in his heart. I didn't get immersed in the world. Even when they have no choice but to go to Egypt, they choose ‘Goshen’ and decide to stay there. This was the attitude of faith that pleased God. So was Joseph. He had a career, but he could live with power, wealth, and pleasure, but he did not do that.
The place where we are staying today is also like Egypt. Where are you staying in Egypt? Are you going deep in the interior of Egypt and making your home there? Or am I deciding where to live next to a royal palace where power, pleasure, splendor, and convenience are imbued? Jacob and Joseph settled in Goshen, there. God called such a person a person of faith, established him in the rank of faith, and blessed his descendants.
Dear all!
Where do I prefer now? Where are you happy to settle down? We are people who sit on this earth and live in heaven. Our citizenship is in that heaven (Philippians 3:20). They are here for a while, but someday they have a place to go. They can't stay here forever. Our hometown is that sky. I hope to be a person who always longs for it and lives there.