Shortly after the family's arrival in Egypt, Joseph brings his father Jacob to be presented before Pharaoh. Jacob is unawed by the pomp of royalty and the magnificence surrounding him, for amid nature he has communed with a mightier Monarch, and in conscious superiority he raises his hands and blesses Pharaoh. Crippled yet victorious through faith, he stands before the king with a weakness and suffering that do not diminish him but belong to his spiritual victory and authority, so that Pharaoh, the proud heir of a kingly line, stoops to seek his blessing. Struck by Jacob's venerable appearance, Pharaoh asks him how old he is.
Jacob answers that he is 130 years old and describes his life as a troubled pilgrimage, shorter than the lives of his fathers. He calls his years few and evil and painful because he has endured much trouble and perplexity that made them seem so. That trouble included jealousy among his wives and grief caused by some of his children, though his final years became more peaceful after his sons reformed.
Shortly after the family's arrival in Egypt, Joseph brings his father Jacob to be presented before Pharaoh. Jacob is unawed by the pomp of royalty and the magnificence surrounding him, for amid nature he has communed with a mightier Monarch, and in conscious superiority he raises his hands and blesses Pharaoh. Crippled yet victorious through faith, he stands before the king with a weakness and suffering that do not diminish him but belong to his spiritual victory and authority, so that Pharaoh, the proud heir of a kingly line, stoops to seek his blessing. Struck by Jacob's venerable appearance, Pharaoh asks him how old he is.
Jacob answers that he is 130 years old and describes his life as a troubled pilgrimage, shorter than the lives of his fathers. He calls his years few and evil and painful because he has endured much trouble and perplexity that made them seem so. That trouble included jealousy among his wives and grief caused by some of his children, though his final years became more peaceful after his sons reformed.