Genesis 46:31-47:26 - The Double Calling
Well, it is good to be with you tonight. If you have your Bibles, turn to Genesis chapter 46. If you happen to be a guest with us, we tend to teach expositionally through the Bible—which is a fancy way to say we go verse by verse, trying to understand what the text means in its original context, and then uncovering the implications for us today.
With that in mind, we have an abrupt start and an abrupt stop in this week’s message. We will be in chapter 46, starting at verse 31, and we will go through chapter 47, verse 26. It will make sense why we start and stop there, but just consider this a short on-ramp and a quick off-ramp as we get moving.
The Upper and Lower Story
Over the last several weeks, we have been tracing the life of Joseph. We have recognized that Joseph lived what we call the “upper story” and the “lower story.” In our own lives, we share a similar lower story—it consists of the day-to-day details of life. Joseph has brothers, gets sold into slavery, and experiences twenty years of absolute misery. Yet right in the middle of that difficulty, there is an upper story. God was actively doing something.
Who Joseph became twenty years after being sold into slavery was radically different from the seventeen-year-old kid who was thrown into a pit. It was far more than just natural maturing—like quitting cartoons and no longer treating breakfast cereal as an entire food group. God transformed his character. We see humility, godly leadership, and profound wisdom in him.
God was also working in the lives of his brothers—the very ones who betrayed him. God brought them to a place of genuine confession and biblical repentance, turning away from their sin to live differently. What we witnessed was first a reconciliation with God, and then the fruit of that reconciliation flowing horizontally to one another.
Our walk with God is never meant to be a compartmentalized, bifurcated faith where we keep faith in one box and daily life in another. When we are truly reconciled to God, it profoundly shapes the way we treat people around us. We saw that a couple of weeks ago in what looked like a massive family reunion. Remember, Joseph’s father Jacob believed his son was dead for twenty years. The brothers had to return home and confess the truth: “Joseph is alive, and yes, we lied to you.”
Yet they laid aside family betrayal, deceit, deep wounds, and the awkwardness of shared history to be reconciled. That kind of horizontal restoration is only possible when you have experienced vertical restoration with God. In Genesis 46, Jacob received permission from God to leave the Promised Land and take his family of seventy down into Egypt, where they arrived safely.
A Land of 1,500 Deities: Holy in an Unholy Land
They arrived safely in Egypt physically, but that raises a critical question: Are they going to be safe spiritually? In the midst of the famine, they will have food and provision, but what about their souls?
Joseph, having lived in Egypt for two decades, had some inside knowledge. We must remember that Egypt was a deeply pagan society. They were polytheistic, worshiping the sun, the moon, the stars, the Nile River, and Pharaoh himself. Historical records tell us that the Egyptians worshiped approximately 1,500 different deities. But God’s covenant family worshiped the one true God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who spoke the universe into existence and commanded that there be no other gods before Him.
How could this small family remain faithful to the one true God while surrounded by a culture worshiping 1,500 false gods? Joseph recognized the problem: his family needed to be in the world, but not of the world. They had to learn how to flourish in an environment entirely hostile to their faith.
Joseph understood the law of proximity. If you have ever raised a teenager, you know this principle well: show me your friends, and I will show you your future. Paul warned us that bad company corrupts good character. That is why my dad lost his mind when I joined a fraternity in college—not a whole lot of godliness was coming out of that environment. Joseph knew proximity matters, so look at how he strategically guided his family.
Genesis 46:31-34 (NASB)
Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, ’I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who [were] in the land of Canaan, have come to me; and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ ’When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is loathsome to the Egyptians.’
Joseph told them to ask for the land of Goshen. Think of it like this: the city of Fresno is ancient Egypt with its 1,500 deities, but Kerman is Goshen—it has one stoplight and the one true God. Joseph told them, “Tell Pharaoh you are shepherds, because shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.” By identifying as shepherds, they would be sent out to pasture rather than absorbed into the royal court and city life. Joseph did not want them living in the city, because the city was spiritually dangerous for them.
Keep in mind, they had no written Bible yet; Moses would not write the Torah until after the Exodus. They had no church buildings or synagogues. All they possessed was the oral tradition of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Separation in Goshen protected their spiritual heritage.
The Shepherd’s Welcome and a Patriarch’s Blessing
Joseph presented five of his brothers before Pharaoh, and the plan unfolded just as he instructed.
Genesis 47:1-6 (NASB)
Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, ‘My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.’ He took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, ‘What is your occupation?’ So they said to Pharaoh, ‘Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.’ They said to Pharaoh, ‘We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, therefore, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.’ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ’Your father and your brothers have come to you. ‘The land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know any capable men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.’
Pharaoh granted permission for them to settle in Goshen, the best of the land, and even offered to put capable men in charge of his own livestock. Then, something culturally shocking happened when Joseph brought his father before the king.
Genesis 47:7-10 (NASB)
Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Jacob, ‘How many years have you lived?’ So Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.’ And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from his presence.
Culturally, the greater person bestows a blessing on the lesser. Yet here is Jacob—a dislocated, famine-stricken patriarch standing disheveled before the most powerful monarch on earth—and Jacob blesses Pharaoh.
Why would Jacob possess the audacity to bless Pharaoh? Because Jacob remembered the covenant promise passed down from his grandfather Abraham.
Genesis 12:1-3 (NASB)
Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’
Standing in Pharaoh’s palace, Jacob was still walking by faith, trusting God’s promise that through his family all the nations of the earth would be blessed. That promise pointed forward to Jesus Christ, the Messiah who would come from Jacob’s lineage to redeem people from every nation. Jacob’s blessing was not born of arrogance; it came from humble confidence in God’s sovereign plan.
Joseph settled his family in the fertile Nile Delta region and faithfully provided for their needs according to the size of their households.
Genesis 47:11-12 (NASB)
So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered. Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to their little ones.
Faithful in the Famine
In verses 1 through 12, Joseph faithfully served his family. In verses 13 through 26, we see Joseph faithfully serving Pharaoh. Faithful is the word that defines Joseph’s life. He bloomed wherever he was planted—in his father’s house, in Potiphar’s estate, in an Egyptian prison, and as the prime minister of an empire.
Verses 13 through 22 read almost like a “bring your child to work day,” giving us a front-row seat to Joseph’s administrative leadership during the devastating famine.
Genesis 47:13-22 (NASB)
Now there was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, ‘Give us food, for why should we die in your presence? For [our] money is gone.’ Then Joseph said, ‘Give up your livestock, and I will give you [food] for your livestock, since [your] money is gone.’ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, ’We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our lands. ‘Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.’ So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s. As for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other. Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land.
As the famine worsened, the people ran out of money to buy grain. Joseph accepted their livestock in exchange for food. When their livestock was gone, the people willingly offered their land and their labor to Pharaoh so they would not starve. Joseph relocated the population closer to the cities to distribute grain efficiently, providing them with seed to farm the land while instituting a twenty percent tax to Pharaoh.
Modern readers sometimes look at this and call it oppressive or unjust, but the people living through it saw it as merciful and redemptive.
Genesis 47:23-26 (NASB)
Then Joseph said to the people, ’Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, [here] is seed for you, and you may sow the land. ‘At the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.’ So they said, ‘You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.’ Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt [valid] to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.
The people responded with gratitude: “You have saved our lives!” Joseph was employed by Pharaoh, and his loyalty to God was expressed through his excellent, honest service to his earthly ruler. He lived out what we can call the “double calling”—honoring God through diligent, upright service to his employer.
The Pattern in Christ
Every story in Scripture ultimately points to Jesus. In John 5, Jesus told the religious leaders that the Scriptures testify about Him.
John 5:39 (NASB)
’You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;
Did Jesus live holy in an ungodly world? Absolutely. He was divinity clothed in humanity, tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 7:26 (NASB)
For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)
He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Did Jesus live out the double calling? Completely. He lived in perfect obedience to His Heavenly Father.
John 5:30 (NASB)
’I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
John 6:38 (NASB)
’For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Jesus was also faithful in His earthly labor. For thirty years, He worked as a carpenter—a tekton, likely shaping stone and timber with His hands. When His earthly ministry began, He stepped fully into His ultimate assignment, remaining obedient to the Father even to the point of death on a cross.
Luke 2:49 (NASB)
And He said to them, ‘Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s [house]?’
Luke 22:42 (NASB)
saying, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’
Living Holy Today
What does this mean for us today? First, God calls us to live holy lives in the midst of an ungodly culture. We live in a world that has largely rejected biblical truth and embraced moral confusion. How are we doing at walking in purity?
Ephesians 5:3-4 (NASB)
But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and [there must be no] filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
1 Peter 2:11-12 (NASB)
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe [them], glorify God in the day of visitation.
When we examine our lives against God’s standard, every single one of us recognizes areas where we fall short. This is not an occasion for legalistic shame; it is the reason we need the gospel. The gospel does not offer a license to sin; it offers an invitation to walk in the grace and power of Jesus, turning away from impurity to pursue holiness.
2 Timothy 2:22 (NASB)
Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love [and] peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
By the law of proximity, you become like the people you spend time with. We need to lock arms with brothers and sisters who are genuinely pursuing Jesus, spurring one another on toward love and good deeds.
The Double Calling in Everyday Life
The second application is living out our double calling: seeking the Kingdom of God first, and honoring Him through our daily work.
Matthew 6:33 (NASB)
’But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
When you orient your heart, your time, and your ambitions around Christ and His Kingdom, everything else falls into its proper place. We are called to be salt that preserves and creates thirst, and light that shines in moral darkness.
Galatians 2:20 (NASB)
’I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
1 Corinthians 15:58 (NASB)
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not [in] vain in the Lord.
We often create an unbiblical divide between the sacred and the secular, treating church as spiritual and our jobs as mere financial survival. But your workplace is your mission field. Whether you are a “knowledge worker” sitting behind a desk or working with your hands with grease under your fingernails, your vocation is an opportunity to express your faith.
Paul was a tentmaker in Corinth alongside Aquila and Priscilla, using his trade to engage merchants and marketplace workers with the gospel. If you are a teacher, your mission field is your classroom. If you work in business, healthcare, banking, or real estate, your daily encounters with coworkers and clients are divine appointments.
Colossians 3:17 (NASB)
Whatever you do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Colossians 3:23-24 (NASB)
Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
Ultimately, you do not work merely for a human supervisor; you serve the Lord Christ. When you sweep a floor, sweep it with excellence as unto the Lord. When you stock shelves, do it with absolute integrity. Do not pad your timecard, cut corners, or slack off when no one is watching. Your work ethic should cause employers to marvel at your dependability and trustworthiness.
1 Thessalonians 4:10-12 (NASB)
for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.
2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 (NASB)
For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.
Live a quiet life, work diligently, and fulfill your responsibilities. If you are starting in an entry-level position, do not despise it. Work hard, out-serve everyone around you, and demonstrate unshakeable faithfulness for the glory of God.
Conclusion and Prayer
Joseph’s life reminds us of our high calling: to live godly in an ungodly world, and to honor God by excelling in our daily work. When we live with undivided hearts toward Christ and serve our employers with excellence, our lives validate the transformative power of the gospel.
Let’s pray together.
Father, thank You for Your Word tonight. Thank You for the example of Joseph and the ultimate model of faithfulness in Jesus Christ. Give us the courage to pursue holiness in an unholy culture. Help us to embrace our double calling—seeking Your Kingdom first and honoring You in our workplaces with integrity, diligence, and grace. May our lives shine brightly so that others may see our good works and give glory to You. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.