Scripture Daily

Context No. 1727 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 45:16-20: in context

16The report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” It pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. 17Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan. 18Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’ 19Now you are commanded to do this: Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20Also, don’t concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.”

The news reaches Pharaoh that Joseph's brothers have come, and it pleases him and his court. Pharaoh tells Joseph to send for the whole family: bring your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt; you will eat the fat of the land. Take wagons for your little ones and your wives, and bring your father. And then a striking word: do not concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.

Pharaoh's invitation is lavish beyond what Joseph's family could have expected. They were shepherds from a famine-struck land, coming with little; and they are told to leave even that little behind, not to worry about their belongings, because the good of all Egypt is being given to them. Do not cling to your few possessions, the message runs; a whole land's abundance awaits you. There is a picture here of the abundant provision God offers his people, and of the folly of clinging to our little when a greater good is held out. Joseph's brothers might have been tempted to gather up their meager goods, anxious not to lose the small things they had; and Pharaoh says, in effect, let them go, they are nothing compared to what is yours here. So God often calls us to loosen our grip on the small things we anxiously clutch, the security we find in our few possessions, our careful hoarding, our worry over what we might lose, because he holds out to us a provision far greater than what we are clinging to. Do not concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of the land is yours. To trust that God's provision is abundant, that he offers us the fat of the land, frees us from the anxious clutching that keeps us bound to our little. We do not need to cling so tightly to what we have when a greater abundance is held out by a generous hand. The invitation is to come, to leave behind the anxious grip on our small possessions, and to receive the abundance offered by the One whose good is more than enough.

Do I cling anxiously to my few possessions and my careful security, worried over what I might lose, or can I hear in Pharaoh's lavish invitation a picture of God's abundant provision, and loosen my grip on the small things I clutch, trusting that the One who offers me the good of the land holds out more than enough?

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