ISRAEL COMES DOWN INTO EGYPT. JOSEPH BRINGS HIM TO PHARAOH AND HE BLESSES PHARAOH. THE ISRAELITES LIVE IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN. JACOB DIES. HIS SONS CARRY HIM UP TO CANAAN AND BURY HIM THERE. JOSEPH DIES.
AND Israel left his home in Canaan and went on his journey to the land of Egypt, And he came to Beer-sheba, where Isaac his father had built an altar many years before; and Israel stopped there and offered up sacrifices to God. And God spoke to him in the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. He answered, Here am I. God said, Fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation. A nation is a great many people who live together in the same country, and have one king, or ruler, over them. And God said he would make Jacob's descendants so many, while they were in Egypt, that they should be a great nation there. And he told Jacob he would go down with him to take care of him, and that when the time came for him to die, Joseph should be by his side.
And Jacob left Beer-sheba; and his sons took him, and their wives and their little children, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry them. They took their cattle, also, and all that belonged to them in Canaan, and came into Egypt—Jacob and all his children with him, his sons and their sons and daughters; they did not leave one behind. There were sixty-six of Jacob's descendants, that is, of his children and his children's children, who came with him. Joseph and his sons made three more—that was sixty-nine; and Jacob himself made seventy, altogether, of the family of Israel that came into Egypt.
And Jacob sent Judah, his son, to go on before him and tell Joseph that his father was coming. When Joseph heard it he made ready his chariot to go out and meet his father. And when he met him he came to him, and leaned on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive. He was so glad to see Joseph, and to know he was still alive, that he felt as though there was nothing else he need stay for in this world; he was willing to die.
And Joseph said to his brethren that he would go and tell Pharaoh they had come, and had brought their flocks and their herds with them. And he said that when Pharaoh should call them to him, and ask what kind of work they had been used to, they should tell him they had always taken care of cattle, and that their fathers had taken care of cattle also. Joseph told them to say this because it was the truth, and because he wanted Pharaoh to let them live in Goshen, which was the best part of the land of Egypt for feeding cattle.
And Joseph came to Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan, and they are in the land of Goshen. And Joseph took five of his brethren and brought them to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh asked them what kind of work they were used to. Then they answered him as Joseph had told them. And they said that they had come to stay for a while in Egypt, because there was no food for their flocks in the land of Canaan, the famine was so dreadful there. And they begged Pharaoh to let them live in Goshen. And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, and said that his father and his brethren might live in the best part of the land of Egypt, they might live in Goshen. And Pharaoh told Joseph that if any of his brethren were industrious men, he should make them rulers over his cattle; for Pharaoh had cattle of his own.
And Joseph brought Jacob, his father, to Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh asked him how old he was. He answered that he was a hundred and thirty years old. Jacob called these hundred and thirty years the years of his pilgrimage. A pilgrim is a person going on a journey. Jacob was going on a journey all those hundred and thirty years. To what place was he going? To his home in heaven, for he loved and served God. So Joseph gave his father and his brethren a place where they should live, in the land of Goshen, as Pharaoh had commanded him. And Joseph was very kind to them, and fed them and their little children with bread, as much as they needed.
But the famine was very dreadful in Egypt, and in Canaan, and the people had no bread to eat. And they came to Joseph to buy corn, till they gave him all their money, and he gave it to Pharaoh. After they had given all their money, the Egyptians still came and asked for bread, for, they said, they had no more money. Then Joseph told them to bring their cattle; and they did so, and for their cattle he gave them bread—enough to last through that year.
When the year was ended, they came to Joseph again, and told him their money was spent, and they had given him all their cattle; so they had nothing left but their lands and themselves. And they said they would give their lands to Pharaoh, and be his servants, if Joseph would let them have bread. Then Joseph gave them more bread, and so he bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. Afterward he sent the people to the different cities to be fed there, for he had saved up the corn in the cities.
But at last the seven years of famine were ended, and Joseph gave the people seed to plant in the ground, because he knew that now the grain would grow again. And he told the people they had sold all their land to Pharaoh, it was not their own any longer; yet Pharaoh was willing they should keep it, if, when the grain grew, they would give a fifth part of it to him. The people answered that Joseph was the one who had saved them from starving, and therefore they were willing to do as he said; they were willing to give a fifth part of the grain to Pharaoh.
So the famine was over in Egypt, but Joseph's brethren still lived in the land of Goshen; and they and their children came to be a good many people. And Israel, their father, lived with them for seventeen years; then the time came near for him to die. And he called Joseph, and told him that he did not wish to be buried in Egypt, but in Canaan; and he made Joseph promise that he would carry his dead body up to that land, and bury him there.
After this some one came to Joseph, and said, Thy father is sick. Then Joseph took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and went to the house where his father was. When Israel heard that Joseph had come, he made ready to see him, and sat up on his bed. And Jacob talked with Joseph, and told him how God had spoken to him, and blessed him many years before, when he had his dream in the land of Canaan. Then Jacob told Joseph that Ephraim and Manasseh were like his own sons to him; that is, Jacob took Joseph's sons to be his sons. And when Israel knew that the boys were there, he asked Joseph to bring them to him that he might bless them. Now Israel was very old, and his eyes were dim; and when Joseph brought his sons near, Israel put his arms around them and kissed them. And he said that he used to think he would never see Joseph again, but now God had let him see not Joseph only, but his children also.
And Joseph bowed down with his face to the earth before his father, and he took his two sons and brought them near to his father. And Israel stretched out his hands, and laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, to bless them. And Israel blessed both the sons of Joseph, and he blessed Joseph also. And he called all his other sons, and blessed each one of them, and told them he was going to die, but that God would be with them, and bring them back to the land of Canaan again; and he commanded his sons to bury him in that land, in the cave that was in the field, which Abraham had bought of Ephron the Hittite. There, said he, they buried Abraham, and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac, and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. And after Jacob had done speaking with his sons, he lifted up his feet into the bed and died.
Then Joseph put his face down to his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. And he commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father. To embalm a dead person was to put spices, and such other things into his body, as would keep it from decaying and going to dust: and Joseph's servants embalmed Israel. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
And Joseph sent word to Pharaoh that his father, before he died, had made him promise not to bury him in Egypt, but in his own sepulchre in the land of Canaan. And he asked permission of Pharaoh to go and bury him there; afterward, Joseph said, he would come back to Egypt. And Pharaoh told him to do as he had promised. Then Joseph went up to bury Israel, and with him went all Pharaoh's servants and many great men from the land of Egypt. Joseph's brethren went also; only their little children and their flocks and their herds, stayed behind. And there went up chariots, and men riding on horses, and a great many people. So Israel's sons did as he had commanded them, for they carried him into Canaan and buried him in the cave which Abraham had bought of Ephron the Hittite. Afterward Joseph came back into Egypt, he and all those who had gone up with him.
When his brethren saw that their father was dead, they began to fear Joseph again, and said that now he would surely punish them for all the evil they had done to him. And they sent a messenger to tell him that his father left word, before he died, asking Joseph to forgive them. Joseph wept when he heard their words, for, he knew they had sent that message because they were afraid of him. And they came and fell down before his face, saying, We are thy servants. But he told them not to be afraid, for though they had intended to do him harm, God meant to do good by sending him into Egypt, so that he might save many people from starving in the famine. And Joseph said to his brethren, I will take care of you and of your little ones. And he spoke kindly to them and comforted them.
And Joseph and his brethren stayed in Egypt, and Joseph lived till Ephraim's sons and Manasseh's sons were grown up and had children of their own.
But after many years, he told his brethren that he was going to die; yet some day, he said, God would certainly come to the children of Israel, (that is, to all of Jacob's descendants) and would bring them out of Egypt into that land which he had promised Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, to give them; he meant, the land of Canaan. And he made the children of Israel promise that when God should bring them there, they would carry up his dead body with them.
So Joseph died when he was a hundred and ten years old, and they embalmed him, and put him in a coffin in Egypt.