And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.
Genesis 47:28 stands in the closing chapters of Genesis, the book of beginnings, in the account of Jacob journeying with his descendants to Egypt, being received by Joseph and Pharaoh, and spending his final days there. That account leads on to his prophetic blessing upon Joseph's sons and upon his own sons and to his death and burial. His dwelling in Egypt there shows God's care for the preservation of the progenitors of the Seed and of the promised family.
The verse records that Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt and that his whole age was one hundred forty and seven years. Those final seventeen years were years of peace added to his life, changed after a stormy and troubled life into tranquility and calm reflection. He went to Egypt to die without receiving the promised inheritance of the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession.
He used those years in Egypt to instruct his children in the great truths he had learned from Abraham and Isaac, from direct revelation from God, and handed down from Enoch. Those truths included the second advent of Christ and the resurrection of the just. He carried that doctrine into Egypt and fell asleep there in hope of a part in the resurrection of the just, and his teaching in those years was preserved through Levi and Jochebed to Moses.
In chronology the 147 years place his birth in A.M. 2108 and his death in A.M. 2255. That date proves Shem lived to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with Abraham dying 35 years before Shem died. It belongs to the overlapping lifetimes by which Noah saw seven generations before the Flood and ten generations after the Flood, living 84 years with Enos the third from Adam and 58 years with Abraham the twentieth from Adam. His 147 years stand well beyond 120 years as one of thirteen generations beginning with Noah whose lifespans all greatly exceeded 120 years, proving the hundred and twenty years of Genesis 6:3 was not a limit assigned to human life in the days of Noah.
His dwelling in Egypt shows God preserving the promised family and directing events for the good of His cause. The surrounding history of Joseph shows that God may lead a person by a roundabout path while still guiding him to the right end. As part of the survey of the life of Joseph that sets out principles for dealing with the contingencies of life, the record of Jacob living in Egypt is a human experience with its counterpart in experiences people still go through. Its underlying principle and practical lesson are to be known as familiarly as one's own name for the good of the soul and for counseling others in similar difficulties, with the Bible held as the guidebook to be trusted to the very end.
Genesis 47:28 stands in the closing chapters of Genesis, the book of beginnings, in the account of Jacob journeying with his descendants to Egypt, being received by Joseph and Pharaoh, and spending his final days there. That account leads on to his prophetic blessing upon Joseph's sons and upon his own sons and to his death and burial. His dwelling in Egypt there shows God's care for the preservation of the progenitors of the Seed and of the promised family.
The verse records that Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt and that his whole age was one hundred forty and seven years. Those final seventeen years were years of peace added to his life, changed after a stormy and troubled life into tranquility and calm reflection. He went to Egypt to die without receiving the promised inheritance of the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession.
He used those years in Egypt to instruct his children in the great truths he had learned from Abraham and Isaac, from direct revelation from God, and handed down from Enoch. Those truths included the second advent of Christ and the resurrection of the just. He carried that doctrine into Egypt and fell asleep there in hope of a part in the resurrection of the just, and his teaching in those years was preserved through Levi and Jochebed to Moses.
In chronology the 147 years place his birth in A.M. 2108 and his death in A.M. 2255. That date proves Shem lived to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with Abraham dying 35 years before Shem died. It belongs to the overlapping lifetimes by which Noah saw seven generations before the Flood and ten generations after the Flood, living 84 years with Enos the third from Adam and 58 years with Abraham the twentieth from Adam. His 147 years stand well beyond 120 years as one of thirteen generations beginning with Noah whose lifespans all greatly exceeded 120 years, proving the hundred and twenty years of Genesis 6:3 was not a limit assigned to human life in the days of Noah.
His dwelling in Egypt shows God preserving the promised family and directing events for the good of His cause. The surrounding history of Joseph shows that God may lead a person by a roundabout path while still guiding him to the right end. As part of the survey of the life of Joseph that sets out principles for dealing with the contingencies of life, the record of Jacob living in Egypt is a human experience with its counterpart in experiences people still go through. Its underlying principle and practical lesson are to be known as familiarly as one's own name for the good of the soul and for counseling others in similar difficulties, with the Bible held as the guidebook to be trusted to the very end.