City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” 25 And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” 26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s. 27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years. 29 And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place.” He answered, “I will do as you have said.” 31 And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.

Genesis 47:23-31

15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

John 17:15-16

Reflection

God chose Abram and called him out from the place he was living to the promised land, promising to make his descendants as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore. Abram believed the promise of God, demonstrating his faith and gaining God’s approval.

As New Testaments reminds Christians, God chose us and called us out of the lives we were living (the “world: system), promising us eternal life with Him based on our faith in Him and what He did on the cross.

If Israel is a metaphor for the Church, what happened to Israel in Egypt as described in these few verses, and particularly v. 27, is instructive:

Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

Genesis 47:21

Egypt was not the promised land. It was not Israel’s ultimate home. It was the pinnacle example of what we would call “the world,” a prosperous, pagan culture not knowing or serving God. Yet Israel acquired property and multiplied there, in a place that was not ultimately their home. They prospered where they were planted.

Application

Christians are called to be in this world but not of it (see John 17:14-16). We rightly focus on what it means to be separate ethically from the world, but we sometimes do so to the exclusion of understanding what it means to be in the world. The story of Israel in Egypt provides some guidance.

Prayer

Lord, use me as Your instrument in redeeming Your creation and expanding Your Kingdom in the midst of a hostile world system. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.