Genesis Continues:   Genesis 47   Joseph presented his father and five brothers to Pharaoh.  They talk about Israel’s occupation.  Pharaoh treated them well and told them to settle in Land of Goshen.  Jacob blessed Pharaoh and told Pharaoh, when asked, that he was now 130 years old.  Abraham lived to be 175 years; and Isaac lived to be 180 years old.  Jacob will live in Egypt another 17 years before he dies at age 147.  In the next chapter, Jacob will meet the “redeeming Angel” Vs. 16 who is Christ.   The famine remained in Egypt and elsewhere   People trade their belongings, their land and even their freedom for food.  “The land became Pharaoh’s.” Vs 20 Amp.  Commentary “Though he had now lived one hundred and thrty years, they seemed but a few day, in comparison with the days of eternity, and the eternal state…All our wealth would not keep us from starving, if rain were witheld for two or three years.  See how much we are at God’s mercy, and let us keep ourselves always in his love…The Egyptians confessed concerning Joseph, Thou hast saved our lives.  What multitudes will gratefully say to Jesus, at the last day.  Thou hast saved our souls from the most tremendous destuction, and in the season of uttermost distress!  The Egyptians parted with all their property, and even their liberty, for the saving of thir lives; can it then be too much for us to count all but loss, and part with all, at His command, and for His sake, who will both save our souls, and give us an hundredfold, even here, in this present land?  Surely if saved by Christ, we shall be willing to become his servants.”  Matthew Henry, pp. 68-69 As all people must, Jacob neared the end of his earthly life and spoke about his wish to be buried with his fathers in the land of Canaan at Hebron.  And Jospeph swore to his father that this would be done.  (For more on Hebron, click Genesis 32-36, look towards the bottom of the page.)   Genesis 48   Jacob is near to the end of his days.  He spoke to his son Joseph and adopted his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh who were born in the land of Egypt.  Jacob indicated Joseph’s later sons should be named after these first two sons.  Jacob, like the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac, was a prophet.  Jacob blessed Joseph’s two sons.  But he crossed his hands so that his right hand was on the head of Ephraim, the younger son, and put his left hand on the head of Manasseh, the older brother.  When Joseph protested believing that his old father had merely made a mistake, Jacob said:  “And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.” Gen 48:19-20 KVJ   Jacob spoke of the “redeeming Angel (that is, the Angel the Redeemer-not a created being but the Lord Himself) who has redeemed me continually from every evil, bless the lads!”  Gen 48:16 Amp.  Jacob here is speaking of Jesus, the only begotten son of the father, who is not created.  The text in the Amplified Bible makes this clear.  (see also Genesis 16:7)   Israel declared to Joseph that he was about to die but that God would bring them all back to the land of their fathers (Canaan). Joseph’s two sons are each appointed by Jacob to be the head of a tribe of Israel. They have a full inheritance with the other sons of Jacob. They are not to mingle with the Egyptians but to remain separate.  They are, after all, the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people.  The account of their return to Canaan will be told in the next chapter, the book Exodus.  Genesis 49, 50 and Summary