Thursday 08 October 2015

Psalm: Psalm 105:1-15

Background

'Israel' is the new name God had given to Jacob (Genesis 32:28) and which was subsequently usedfor the nation of his descendants which is promised in the versesquoted above. Old Testament thinking naturally oscillates betweenthe importance of the individual and of the community, and weobserve this in verse 4 where it is Jacob the individual who isgoing down to Egypt and will die there, but it is the nation thatwill be brought up again (in the story recorded in Exodus) somecenturies later. Yet the final reference reverts to Israel theindividual whose eyes at death will be closed by his sonJoseph.

Verse 2 is not the first time God has chosen night-time to talkto Jacob (see Genesis 28:10-17 and Genesis 32:22-32), and what he says is verysimilar to other "Do not be afraid" oracles God spoke to Abraham(Genesis 15:1), Hagar (Genesis 21:17) and Isaac (Genesis 26:24). This speech of God primarilyserves as an indication that God's great plan to create a people tobe God's own is on track; there is no reason to suppose Jacob isfearful of the journey or anything regarding its outcome in thathis chance to see his lost son again outweighs all otherconsiderations.

Jacob sends Judah as the go-between to inform Joseph of theirimminent arrival (verse 28), reminiscent of the way in which muchearlier in his life he had sent advance parties to prepare for hismeeting up with his long estranged brother Esau (Genesis 32:13 - 33:3). When father and sonmeet, touch and tears are exchanged, and the first words spokenwere Jacob's affirming that he could now die in peace having seenhis son again (verse 30) - compare Simeon's similar response onfirst seeing the infant Jesus (Luke2:28-32). In fact Jacob would live another 17 years (Genesis 47:28), as long as he'd had with Josephas a child before he'd been taken into slavery.

To Ponder

• Do you have a life ambition which, once fulfilled, you wouldfeel content for your life to reach its earthly end? If not, whatdo you feel would be necessary for you to achieve, or whatmilestone in life would you hope to reach, in order to be ready todie in peace, and why do you think that?

• Jacob is doubtless eager to complete his journey and see Josephbut he makes space to pause and offer sacrifice on the journey(verse 1). How might you appropriately stop to worship in thecontext of significant moments in your life? What might be thevalue of doing so?

• What have been the experiences in your life where touch andtears said it all?