Jacob's Testimony

“And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” (Genesis 47:9)

This is Jacob’s response to Pharaoh when asked his age after Joseph had received his family into Egypt to sustain them during the famine. I have always thought Jacob’s answer was very humble, the true testimony of a child of God who had lived a long life under God's watchful care. Scripture teaches us God loved Jacob even before he was born and before he had done any good or evil (Romans 9:11-13). We are also told God hated his brother Esau before he was born. These boys were twins, Esau being the first born. These words have meaning. Unlike today's world, God always speaks truth and does not lie.

Jacob’s attitude in old age is remarkable. He was not bitter about all the hardships he went through in his 130 years. Many years ago, He made his older brother sell his birthright to him for a pot of bean soup. He also lied to his father Isaac, with his mother’s help, by taking advantage of Isaac’s blindness to receive Esau’s blessing of a greater inheritance. I have often wondered why Isaac did not retract his blessings from Jacob when he discovered this deception. Perhaps it goes back to when was Rebekah was with child, and she was able to feel the struggle within her womb and went unto the Lord to ask why.

“Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:21-23)

Surely Isaac knew about the Lord’s answer, realized God was in the matter, and by faith, let the situation stand as the will of God. Let us look at Jacob and see the reason he was so humble before Pharoah.

Esau was planning to kill Jacob after the death of Isaac. Also, it grieved Rebekah and Isaac that the women of the land where they lived were idol worshipers and they planned to send Jacob back to their homeland to find a wife from their kinfolk. On his way, while fleeing from his brother Esau and obeying his parents direction not to marry a local woman, Jacob came into a wilderness and set a stone for a pillow to sleep on.

“And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram; And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” (Genesis 28:7-22)

Just as God first appeared to Abraham and Isaac to make himself known unto them, so did he to Jacob. This is very important for us to realize; God always makes first contact with his children while they travel through this world. Jacob did not make God his God; it was God who made Jacob his child and gave him a promise of caring for him all the days of his life. So it is in all of God’s children.

When Jacob stood before Pharaoh he gave honor to God for his watch care over him and his family. Jacob’s experiences in his 130 years made him aware that it was the God of heaven who took care of him. He witnessed God’s personal care of him. He saw God as his maker and provider. Now he is old and knows it is God who rules the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of this world and no man say unto Him, what doest thou? (Daniel 4:35)

- Sonny Bonner