Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s family, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him, ‘My brothers and my father’s family, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me… Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen.” (Genesis 46:31, 34)
In today’s reading, we see that Joseph is reunited with his father and brothers. So many emotions must have been going on for Jacob, with the rollercoaster ride of hearing his favored son, Joseph, was dead, and now he is alive and doing well in Egypt. As much as Jacob was content to die after seeing Joseph was alive and well, the family still needed to find a place to live. Jacob’s family and possessions were a lot (70 people in all), and Joseph wanted them all to be near to him in Goshen.
When Joseph speaks to Pharaoh and explains that his entire family will be settling in Goshen, he is serving as an advocate for the whole family. The family made it all the way to Egypt safely, yet they still needed Joseph to represent them and make their case for moving to Goshen. Now you might be thinking, what is so important about having an advocate or proper representation? In Exodus 1, we see how it was easy to forget the past rules or decisions that were made in a previous regime. The pharaohs after Joseph’s death forgot about Joseph and made the people of Israel slaves.
We, as Christians, can be thankful that Jesus is our advocate and gives us representation before God the Father. Jesus is our eternal advocate and representative before God because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Has 2020 knocked you down? Has 2020 made you realize that all of your earthly treasures can fade away without any warning? We can rest in the promises of God. God has a place for His people. God didn’t bring the Israelites to Egypt and give them no home. God brought them to the place that He had prepared for them. Jesus does the same thing for His children. Jesus takes care of us in the present and He has also gone to Heaven to prepare a place for us, and He will receive us to Himself. Thank you Jesus for being our advocate.