Latest / Scripture Central / Genesis 42-50 I Come Follow Me I Handmaidens, Harems and Heroines I Lynne Hilton Wilson

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Genesis 42-50 I Come Follow Me I Handmaidens, Harems and Heroines I Lynne Hilton Wilson · Scripture Central

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  When Jacob, whose new name is now Israel's family, arrives and
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  goes before the pharaoh, the pharaoh asks Jacob his age, and
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  he says 130 years. His family now are foreigners in
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  Egypt. They're refugees, and they are
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  given a place to live. But I assume that they are
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  interacting with the community and they are going to be
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  learning some of the Egyptian customs.
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  But the Egyptians also learn from them.
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  And that's why Jacob blesses Pharaoh.
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  And we find the artwork of women not only taking care of their
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  children, but also having responsibilities as musicians
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  and managers and farmers and weavers, even priestesses.
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  They could own property, they could run businesses, they could
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  seek their own divorce. That was very rare in the
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  ancient world. Hello, welcome back to Scripture
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  Central. I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson, excited
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  to talk about Genesis 42 through 50.
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  As our scripture study today, as we focus on these wonderful
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  women in the Old Testament and we get handmaidens today and we
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  get harems and we get heroines. We've got it all in these
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  beautiful chapters. And we'll be looking at the
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  Israelite women and who leave Cana and come down to Egypt.
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  And these daughters of Jacob again are mentioned as well as
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  the mothers and some specific people, a great granddaughter of
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  Sarah named Sarah and the Hebrew women living in Egypt.
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  What was that like and, and what were the Egyptian customs?
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  So I am really excited to jump in today to talk about some of
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  these historical figures that we have.
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  I hope by now you've all got Jacob's wives memorized.
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  His first choice is Rachel, and that is his queen, but she was
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  not his first wife. His first wife is Leah.
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  And Leah bore him six sons and one daughter, seven children.
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  But Rachel was infertile for years and finally was able to
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  bear Joseph and then infertile again for years and was able to
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  bear Benjamin. We don't know how far apart the
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  two of them were, but Rachel died in child labor in
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  delivering Benjamin. There is of the vast majority of
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  women who died during their childbearing years, died in
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  childbearing or in fires from always being around the hearth.
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  So Rachel is one of those who the Lord took at the time, but
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  her son was allowed to live. In addition to these two
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  important wives for Jacob, Jacob had his two other wives as well.
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  They were, they were concubines or they were secondary wives and
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  they had their own separate tents and Bill Ha and Zilpah
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  were part of the family as well. But by the time they come down
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  to Egypt, we have many generations coming down.
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  And it says there are 70 souls in King James, but 70 souls
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  means 70 persons, you know, 70 people.
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  So they are not bringing down all their servants and all their
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  helpers. We learned a few weeks ago about
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  the abduction of many of the people of the city of Shechem.
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  Those are not included in this, that when Joseph reveals his
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  identity to his brother and, and at Pharaoh's command, Joseph
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  tells him, bring your wives and your little ones.
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  I want everybody to relocate, you know, And he gives them
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  these wonderful wagons. You know, artists have tried to
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  figure out what did a wagon look like in Egypt.
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  Well, luckily, we have so much artwork in Egypt, these
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  beautiful painted walls that have been discovered in the last
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  century or two, that we get a pretty good idea of what they
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  were. In Genesis 46, verse 7, the NIV
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  translation reads that Jacob brought with him into Egypt his
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  sons, his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters
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  and all his offspring, these young ones, everyone comes down.
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  It's about 300 miles. And when they get down to Egypt,
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  these daughters represent the future founding mothers of the
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  Israelite tribes during their 200 to 400 years in Egypt.
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  You know, the dates are a little bit difficult.
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  We're told in two places that they were in Egypt for 430
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  years. We're told elsewhere it's the
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  time from Abraham down to the time they're released from Egypt
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  is 400 years. So the Bible has different times
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  on my hand out. I have that all written out.
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  But the inclusion of women and children in Pharaoh's invitation
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  demonstrates the comprehensive nature of God's deliverance
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  through Joseph. And I also think it's a type of
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  Christ. It's a beautiful type of Christ.
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  And Joseph rescued these mothers and daughters and granddaughters
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  from starvation. And as they enter down into
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  Egypt, the Pharaoh gives them the land of Goshen.
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  So this is on the eastern side of the Delta River Valley.
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  And it's quite a ways N from the older kingdoms.
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  As the ancient kingdoms of Egypt grew over the Millennium, they
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  also moved further north. So they're going closer to the
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  Mediterranean when Jacob, whose new name is now Israel's family,
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  arrives and goes before the Pharaoh.
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  The Pharaoh asks Jacob his age and he says 130 years.
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  So if we add up Jacob's age, we know he left his parents,
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  Rebecca and Isaac at age 40. And then he goes to Heron and
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  serves his father-in-law for seven years before he gets to
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  marry first Leah and then Rachel.
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  Rachel has already passed away. But if he's 130, that means he
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  has been married now for 83 years.
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  And we get a feel for his life cycles.
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  His family now are foreigners in Egypt.
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  They're refugees, and they are given a place to live.
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  But I assume that they are interacting with the community,
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  and they are going to be learning some of the Egyptian
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  customs. But the Egyptians also learn
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  from them, and that's why by Jacob blesses Pharaoh.
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  You know, Pharaoh asked for these things.
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  And these descendants of these great women include their
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  genealogy in some of these chapters.
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  And in one of them, chapter 46 of Genesis, we have the story of
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  Simeon's Canaanite wife. Now, the way the text reads, it
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  appears as if some of his children are born to one wife.
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  And another child named Shawl is born to a Canaanite woman.
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  Now it's sometime around 1700 BC, give or take 100 or 200
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  years. I really don't want to get into
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  that, but this text is now looking back to Simeon and going
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  to give some of his genealogy. As we look at this genealogical
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  list, we don't know anything about her, but the fact that she
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  is listed as a Canaanite wife suggests that she probably stood
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  out. The order of the text also
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  suggests that there may have been that he may have been
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  living polygamy. We don't know if she converted
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  to the gospel. We don't know if she was a
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  concubine. We don't know if they she was
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  married simultaneously or if this was the last child.
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  But what we do know is that women were usually not included
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  in genealogies. So we're very grateful to have
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  this little teeny lisp here in Genesis chapter 46 as we
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  continue on hundreds of years later.
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  Her descendants are part of these that are numbered with
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  Simeon's tribe, and by the time Moses in Numbers chapter one
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  starts counting up Simeon's tribe, they are ranked the third
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  largest among the 12 tribes. But after the 40 years in the
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  wilderness when when Moses numbers them again, her
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  posterity has declined substantially by 2/3.
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  So it makes Simeon one of the smallest tribes.
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  And as I looked at this, I realized in a pie graph that I
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  have on my slides that Simeon's wives gradually just fade away
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  and recede into Judah's shadow in the southern kingdoms.
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  So her posterity is not remembered very well by the time
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  of Joshua chapter 19. We have another named woman here
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  too in Genesis chapter 46 verse 17.
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  Remember, in the ancient texts, we don't usually use vowels.
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  And so the fact that Sarah is spelled differently in your King
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  James text does not mean that it's not pronounced pronounced
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  the same as her great grandmother.
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  But in Genesis chapter 46 verse 17, as well as in Numbers and in
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  First Chronicles, this second Sarah is mentioned and her name
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  is spelled differently at different places.
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  But she is a daughter of Asher, and she's the only named
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  granddaughter through Zilpa and Jacob.
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  So that makes her very special to me.
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  The fact that we have Leah's servant, Zilpah's posterity
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  tends to have me think that these were not second class
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  citizens, that all of them were welcomed into the family as
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  heirs of the Kingdom. We don't know anything about
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  this second Sarah except for the fact that she is the great
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  granddaughter of Sarah and Abraham.
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  In Genesis chapter 46 verse 17 we learn a little bit more about
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  this Sarah. She was one of the 16
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  descendants of Asher who left Canaan during the seven-year
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  drought. So she would have travelled this
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  300 mile journey or plus depending on how they got there
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  and she was able to see her uncle Joseph as the viceroy of
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  Egypt. She was able to live even though
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  she had been a nomad in Cana in search of food.
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  She was able to live the last part of her life in this fertile
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  land of Goshen in the northeastern Nile Delta region
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  of Egypt with plenty and being a welcome guest by the Egyptians.
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  It's interesting to go back and look at some of the
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  archaeological finds in Goshen. They found these mud brick
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  constructed homes that grew into a large city that date back to
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  the biblical time of these Israelites.
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  And as I looked at some of the Egyptian customs of women, I
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  thought it was interesting to compare the and contrast the
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  Hebrew women coming down to Egypt.
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  What were the similarities? What were their differences?
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  You they dressed differently, they cooked differently, they
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  they made their food differently.
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  So life for women in Egypt was a blend of their domestic duties
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  and their significant legal rights.
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  You know, they were even participating economically.
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  They had roles that varied between which class they were
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  from, but they generally they were given more autonomy than
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  many contemporary ancient cultures.
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  And we find artwork of women not only taking care of their
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  children but also having responsibilities as musicians
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  and managers and farmers and weavers and even priestesses.
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  They could own property, they could run businesses, they could
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  seek their own divorce. That was very rare in the
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  ancient world. They enjoyed relative freedom in
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  the court and in daily life, especially in compared to some
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  of the other ancient traditions. So when these Hebrew women came
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  down, I think even though it's still a patriarchal system, I
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  think that their status would have been consistent.
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  You know, Jacob treated his wives remarkably well compared
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  to the other ancient texts that we have.
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  And I see the same kind of thing happening here in Egypt, which
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  would have been a wonderful family connections to continue.
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  You know, we've got some records of some of these ancient wealthy
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  Queens, and we find that they lived in great comfort,
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  palacious palaces. You know, one of them they found
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  was 30,000 square meters. That's 30 hectares.
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  You know that they found these spacious apartments and
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  libraries and gardens and festival halls and kitchens and
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  store rooms, and these Queens would reign over them.
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  We have records of Queens all through Egypt, and I've got some
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  of these on my hand out. But 100 years later or more,
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  these Hebrews were no longer in a favored place.
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  And by 200 years or so later, they are in a devastating place.
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  They become the servants, they become the slaves.
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  And the women were probably either sold as concubines.
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  They were either laborers for domestic work or perhaps even
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  sexual exploitations. I don't know, but it was a
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  tragic time. And next week we get to start
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  the book of Exodus where we start talking about the
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  midwives. I hope as you dive into your Old
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  Testament, you can pray to see the Savior there and these types
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  of the Savior in men, women, and children.
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  Leading us all to appreciating our Savior more is the purpose
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  of not only Scripture Central, but the Scriptures in general.
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  And I testify that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the Jehovah of
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  the Old Testament, the promised Messiah that they eagerly
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  awaited. And we are so blessed to bow our
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  knees and our heads now and worship him.
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  And I leave this with you, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.