In this lesson, we are skipping the last part of Genesis 46 and the first part of Genesis 47. However, there are some notable things in those verses that we will deal with before we see how the government gets control of people when there is a financial collapse.

In Genesis 46:34, we learn that "every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians." Since Egypt is a type of the world, this explains why our "good shepherd" (John 10: 10) received the reception he did when he came to the world. The world hated him and it doesn't think any better of his sheep (John 15:18-19).

In Genesis 47:9, Jacob described his 130-year life to that point as "few and evil have the days of the years of my life been." He lived 147 years compared with Isaac's 180 years and Abraham's 175 years. These "few and evil" days recount that Jacob:

• Deceived his own father;
  
• Ran away from home to save his neck;
  
• Worked 20 years of hard labor for two wives and two concubines and his father-in-law's herd. He endured the cold, made up any loss of the herd, had his wages changed 10 times, made his in-laws mad, and left without saying goodbye;
  
• Raised two boys who were mass murderers;
  
• Had a daughter who was raped;
  
• Had one son who committed incest;
  
• Lost his beloved wife in childbirth;
  
• Had one son who was stolen, sold as a slave and imprisoned; and
  
• Near the end of his life, was driven out of his own land by a famine.
  

Jacob's life is the testimony of a Christian trying to run his own life without God

In Genesis 47:11, we learn that Jacob's family settled in the land of Rameses, where they remained until the exodus (Ex. 1:11, 12:37).

In Genesis 47:12, we learn that Joseph nourished his brethren with bread. Since he is a type of Christ, he matches "the bread of life" in John 6:35.

Then in Genesis 47:13-26, we see how a government gets complete control of the people in a country.

• First, the people "faint." (47:13). The problems they face wear them out and they look to the government to solve the problems.
  
  
• Second, the money fails (47:14-15). The supplies and services the government provides cost the people more than they can afford to pay. Thus, they run out of money.
  
  
• Third, the people have to sell their income producing assets (in this case, livestock) to pay the government to keep them alive (47:16-17).
  
  
• Fourth, the people sell their homes and real estate just to stay alive (47:18-20) and end up working for the government. Notice how they lose their private property.
  
  
• Fifth, this completely changes the society from rural and agrarian to urban and industrial (47:21).
  
  
• Sixth, one class of people is exempted from the burden of governmental servitude: the "priests," (47:22) in the state religion.
  
  
• Seventh, food production is now provided by sharecroppers who pay a "tax" of 20 percent of their revenue to the government in exchange for working the government's land.
  
  
• Eighth, the people in this socialistic society believe that the government, not the Lord, has saved them (47:25). Therefore, the government appears to have replaced God. In other words, "my government shall supply all your need according to its riches in earth which it took from you," (Phil. 4:19).
  

That old Bible is quite a book, wouldn't you say?