[Joseph] presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. 30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.”
Jacob last saw Joseph when he was 17, going out to seek his brothers, dressed in his many-colored coat. He’s now 39, dressed in the robes of an Egyptian ruler. But this is his son! His beloved son! Dead, and now alive! Returned from the dead!
Jacob is content. Living with Joseph will be a joy; but now even death holds no fear.
This statement is quite a contrast to what Jacob said when his sons told him they must take Benjamin to Egypt:
But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.” Genesis 42:38
Jacob feared dying in sorrow. Now – through the very trip he didn’t want Benjamin to take – Jacob is reunited with Joseph. He fears death no more. He won’t die in sorrow – now he knows he will die with joy. Joseph lived with Jacob the first 17 years of his life; Jacob will live with Joseph the last 17 years of his life.
What a joy! Such a reunion! Joseph cries “a good while”, and well he should.
Question: Is the reunion with Joseph Jacob’s greatest joy?
Jacob knows that the answer to that question is “No”. At Beersheba he was willing to give up this reunion. For despite the great joy of a reunion with Joseph, Jacob knew a yet greater joy: The joy of knowing and following the God of the universe. The joy of fulfilling God’s purposes for his life.
Jacob knew this God to be:
- The good, loving God, who always keeps His promises;
- The merciful God Almighty who protected Joseph and miraculously exalted Him.
True joy can only be found in obedience to Him. To disobey the source of all good gifts is to seek pain eventually, not pleasure.
So Jacob’s greatest joy is found in following God, clinging to Him. His greatest earthly joy – graciously granted by God – was to hold his son raised to life. But he knew:
- Having Joseph without God is no gain.
- Having Joseph with God is great gain indeed.
- Are you – like Jacob – willing to say no to pleasures in order to pursue your greatest joy?
- Are you willing to say to God, “Earth has nothing I desire besides you?”
Then, dying to self, you will be raised to true life indeed.
So die to self.
Die to pseudo-pleasures
Live to the greatest joy imaginable – intimacy with God
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 