1. When Joseph had made himself known to his brethren, what did he tell them to do? "Make haste, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down unto me, tarry not: And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near unto me, you, and your children, and your children's children, and your flocks, and your herds, and all that you have: And there will I nourish you; for yet there are five years of famine; lest you, and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty." (Genesis 45:9-11)
2. What liberal offer did Pharaoh make? "And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto your brethren, This do; load your beasts, and go, get unto the land of Canaan; and take your father and your households, and come unto me; and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land. Now you are commanded, this do; take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours." (Genesis 45:17-20)
3. What timely caution did Joseph give his brethren? "So he sent his brethren away, and they departed; and he said unto them, See that you fall not out by the way." (Genesis 45:24)
4. How did Jacob feel when his sons returned with this story? "And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, and told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not." (Genesis 45:25-26)
5. What finally induced him to consent to go? "And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them; and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die." (Genesis 45:27-28)
6. When he started, what encouragement did the Lord give him? "And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. And He said, I am God, the God of your father; fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation: I will go down with you into Egypt; and I will also surely bring you up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon your eyes." (Genesis 46:1-4)
7. How many were there who went down into Egypt? "Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls." (Acts 7:14)
8. How long did they live there in peace? (Compare Genesis 41:46; 45:11; 50:26.)
9. How did the children of Israel prosper in Egypt? "And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." (Exodus 1:7)
10. What took place some time after Joseph's death? "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph." (Exodus 1:8)
11. What did they do to the Israelites? "Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses." (Exodus 1:11)
12. How did this affect them? "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel." (Exodus 1:12)
13. What did the children of Israel have to suffer at the hands of the Egyptians? "And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigor." (Exodus 1:13-14)
14. Of what prophecy was this a fulfillment? "And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years." (Genesis 15:13)
15. What cruel order did the king of Egypt make? "And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive." (Exodus 1:22)
16. Relate the story of one child who was saved from the king's decree. (Exodus 2:1-10)
17. What led the parents of Moses to do as they did? "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment." (Hebrews 11:23)
Notes:
In connection with their discovery, considerable light is thrown upon the statement that: "There arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph." (Exodus 1:8)
He was literally "a new king," inasmuch as he was the founder of a new dynasty. He was not an Egyptian, but an Assyrian, and therefore it could not be expected that he would be moved by any sentimental consideration of what Joseph had done for Egypt. The memory of Joseph's service for the country might have prevented a native king from oppressing his countrymen, but would have no weight with a foreigner. With this view of the case, (Isaiah 52:4) becomes perfectly clear: "For thus says the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause."
We are not to understand from (Genesis 15:13) that the Israelites were in Egypt four hundred years. The actual time spent in Egypt was only about two hundred and fifteen years, but they were sojourners in a land that was not theirs for a much longer period than that. As the four hundred and thirty years of (Exodus 12:40) are to be dated from the promise to Abraham, so the four hundred years are to be dated from thirty years later, or about the time that Ishmael, "he that was born after the flesh, persecuted [Isaac] him that was born after the Spirit." (Galatians 4:20)--Signs of the Times, May 18, 1888--Lesson 22 - Sabbath, June 2--Genesis 45:9 to 46:4; Exodus 1.
E.J. Waggoner