Genesis 42-47

During these chapters, Jacob and all his sons end up in Egypt. (God actually tells Jacob to go to Egypt in order to make it through the famine, which is opposite from what he told Abraham and Isaac earlier in Genesis.) And Joseph reveals himself, and basically, the whole family is reunited. And since Joseph is in good with Pharaoh, Joseph's family gets dibs on the best land in all of Egypt - Goshen. Overall, it's obvious that all of them are pretty pampered living in Egypt. They make it through the famine just fine; Joseph forgives his brothers for selling him off, and that's all fine; life is just good.

What's truly striking here is that God knew what was going to happen. He told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved for 400 years, and this is where that enslavement began. God knew it was coming. See, He told Jacob to go to Egypt to make it through the famine, but He never told him to settle there. But God is all-knowing, and He knew that Jacob would like Egypt so much that he wouldn't leave and go back to Canaan after the famine had ended. It's proof that He knows us so well, better than we know ourselves. We have free will, yet God knows us to the point where He can predict our every move - further proof that He is in control. And maybe that sounds a little intimidating, but for me it's comforting because I know God is on my side. Knowing that He has the control is a reminder for me that everything is going to work according to His plan, so I don't need to worry. Such a relief!

I really enjoyed reading these final chapters of Genesis. When I was younger, like elementary school, my grandma would babysit me during the summers and at night while my mom was at work. And I had this movie there that I was obsessed with called "The Prince of Egypt." It's a DreamWorks film. Anyway, it was about the Book of Exodus and Moses' story about leading his people out of Egypt. And I loved it. I watched it nearly every day for the longest time. And it never occurred to me until recently that I loved this movie, but I had no idea why the story existed and how these people got to the point where they needed to be lead out of Egypt to begin with. I didn't know the background. But now that I've read Genesis I understand exactly how the Exodus came to be. I understand how it all started, and I understand why it was so important for the Hebrews to get back to the land that God had promised them. I finally have a grasp on the magnitude of this event in history.

If you were to think of the Bible as a puzzle, until now I've only ever had individual sections of the puzzle pieced together. I've had the bottom right corner put together, the center of the left side, and a handful of small chunks of the middle, but nothing was connected. I've had these sections in place but nothing connecting the sections to each other. But now I'm making those connections, and I'm seeing how this one section leads into another section and how that section leads into another. It's all coming together.