Jacob and his sons are presented before Pharao: he giveth them the land of Gessen. The famine forceth the Egyptians to sell all their possessions to the king.
We see the extent of hardship the people endured because of the famine: being humbled to give up all they own, for want of food. Jacob and his sons were able to come to Joseph for relief; yet, seeing their time on earth only as a “sojournment.”
“And being asked by him: How many are the days of the years of thy life?” (Genesis 47:8)
Since he saw the old man was in extreme old age, he asked his age. ‘Jacob replied, ‘The years of my sojourn on earth.’ See how all good people have the same attitude to this life as if living in a foreign land. I mean, hear what David also says later: ‘I am a sojourner upon earth, sojourning in a strange place’; while Jacob says, ‘The years of my sojourn on earth.’ Hence Paul too said about these good people that ‘they recognized they were strangers and sojourners on earth.’ ‘The years of my sojourn on earth,’ he says, ‘a hundred and thirty of them, have been few and harsh; they do not compare with the lifespan of my forebears.’ Here Jacob is referring to the years of servitude he endured under Laban in consequence of the flight made on account of his brother, and as well, following his return from there, the grief he suffered for so long on account of ‘Joseph’s death’ and all the misfortunes in the meantime. After all, how great do you think was the fear he had when in retribution for their sister the company of Simeon and Levi in one fell swoop wiped out a city and took captive everyone in Shechem? He said at that time, too, remember, to show the anguish with which he was stricken, ‘You have made me so hated as to be an enemy to the inhabitants of the land. I for my part am few in number, and if they assemble against me they will strike me and I shall be exterminated along with my house.’ Hence Jacob says, ‘Few and harsh have been the days of the years of my life.’ – St. John Chrysostom
Discussion: God often sends us trials and hardships to humble and sanctify us. Recall a time in life in which you were humbled.
Having the hope of things to come should encourage us in this life through the trials.
As adopted children of God, we await the best to come, the heavenly inheritance and His Kingdom come.
“But Joseph gave a possession to his father and his brethren in Egypt, in the best place of the land, in Ramesses, as Pharao had commanded.” (Genesis 47:11)
“As those who died in the faith, as the wise Paul says, ‘did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect,’ so we wait for the fathers, so that we will not be made perfect apart from them. In the same manner and together with the holy fathers of the first, the second and the last people we will receive the very good inheritance of the heavenly kingdom that is not made by human hands in Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to God the Father with the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.” -St. Cyril of Alexandria
“For life is to be with Christ; where Christ is, there is life, there is the kingdom.” – St. Ambrose
“As long as the contest lasts, you see, it is possible, if we wish it, to shake off indifference and cling to virtue so as to succeed in attaining the crowns laid up for us.” – St. John Chrysostom
Women's Prayer Group In Christ 