NOTES for Gen 46:1-7

Why did Jacob go to Egypt? One could say that hunger drove him. Or one could put it differently: his son invited him, and given the position he held in Egypt, it would have been foolish not to take advantage of the opportunities opening before them. After all, many people aspired to go to Egypt with its standard of living, and here good fortune itself, one might say, was falling into their hands. In a similar situation, many of us would probably not have doubted for a second that this was God’s will: we tend to see the hand of God in every success and the schemes of the devil in every failure; such are the peculiarities of a religious perception of the world. But Jacob, who has a long spiritual journey and rich experience, both spiritual and practical, behind him, does not rush to conclusions. He goes to Beersheba, to one of the altars that had appeared back in Abraham’s time, to ask God there what he should do next. In the possibility of resettlement he sees not only rescue from hunger or an opportunity to settle in a rich and prosperous country, but also—and perhaps first of all—the need to leave the land that God had promised to his fathers. Yet Jacob had seemingly come close to becoming master of that God-promised land: he had returned to Samaria, from which Abraham had been forced to depart under pressure from his neighbors, and had restored the altars of his ancestors there! So had it all been in vain? Jacob could not have failed to understand that if he left those places now, returning would be far from easy: vacated lands in that region never remained vacant for long. But God tells him: go. This seems to be the last serious spiritual lesson in Jacob’s life: leave behind everything that has been won and acquired. For it was not you who won it, but God. And you are leaving what was won and acquired not to your neighbors, but to God. He will manage the task. And in His own time He will return His people to the land He promised to Abraham.