1 So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

 2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!”

 “Here I am,” he replied.

 3 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. 4 I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.”

5 Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel’s sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. 6 So Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt, taking with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan. 7 Jacob brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.

8 These are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt:

Reuben the firstborn of Jacob.

9 The sons of Reuben:

Hanok, Pallu, Hezron and Karmi.

10 The sons of Simeon:

Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.

11 The sons of Levi:

Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

12 The sons of Judah:

Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan).

The sons of Perez:

Hezron and Hamul.

13 The sons of Issachar:

Tola, Puah, Jashub and Shimron.

14 The sons of Zebulun:

Sered, Elon and Jahleel.

15 These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, besides his daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters of his were thirty-three in all.

16 The sons of Gad:

Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi and Areli.

17 The sons of Asher:

Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah.

Their sister was Serah.

The sons of Beriah:

Heber and Malkiel.

18 These were the children born to Jacob by Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all.

19 The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel:

Joseph and Benjamin. 20 In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.

21 The sons of Benjamin:

Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard.

22 These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob—fourteen in all.

23 The son of Dan:

Hushim.

24 The sons of Naphtali:

Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem.

25 These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel—seven in all.

26 All those who went to Egypt with Jacob—those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons’ wives—numbered sixty-six persons. 27 With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all.

Dear God, I went back to remind myself about the significance of Beersheba. This was the place where you revealed yourself to Jacob’s father, Isaac, and told him that you would bless him and be with him, and he built an altar to you there. It shows something about Jacob’s love for you that he took the time to stop there and sacrifice to you while he was there. I think that landmarks and memorials are important, especially when they point us back to remembering you.

 

 

 

I cannot imagine what Jacob was experiencing at this point. A child whom he loved and had great hopes for was thought to be lost, but instead was found. But he must have had some misgivings about taking the whole clan to Egypt because you decided to appear to him and tell him it was okay (even though, if you had told Jacob how things would go over the next several hundred years he would have turned the clan around and gone home).

 

 

 

I think that is the lesson for me here—well, one of them anyway. The lesson is that you don’t always do things the way I think they should be done, but I can have faith that the way I want things to turn out is not as good as the way you want things to turn out. Even with the day that is ahead of me today. I am dealing with more building-issue stuff. But you are guiding me and working this out for the good—maybe not my good, but somebody’s good.

 

 

 

Father, I have friends right now that are facing trials ranging from losing a job to death. They are discouraged and in need of your touch and your encouragement. They could use a little voice from you telling them it is going to be okay. Perhaps you are already giving them that voice and they are hearing it. Perhaps you are speaking and they aren’t hearing it. I pray that you will make each of them fully aware of you and help them to hear you and be comforted by you.