9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."
Whereas you don't know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
Your statutes have been my songs, In the house where I live.
"Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry. Don't be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, A foreigner, as all my fathers were.
Behold, you have made my days handbreadths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath." Selah.
Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
For we don't have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come.
By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised. Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen{TR adds "and being convinced of"} them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking after a country of their own. If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
You turn man to destruction, saying, "Return, you children of men." For a thousand years in your sight Are but as yesterday when it is past, As a watch in the night. You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass. In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is withered and dry. For we are consumed in your anger. We are troubled in your wrath. You have set our iniquities before you, Our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh. The days of our years are seventy, Or even by reason of strength eighty years; Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, For it passes quickly, and we fly away. Who knows the power of your anger, Your wrath according to the fear that is due to you? So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Remember how short my time is! For what vanity have you created all the children of men! What man is he who shall live and not see death, Who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.
"Please inquire of past generations, Find out about the learning of their fathers. (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow.)
For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding.
Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old: and he had provided the king with sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man. The king said to Barzillai, Come you over with me, and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem. Barzillai said to the king, How many are the days of the years of my life, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? I am this day eighty years old: can I discern between good and bad? can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? why then should your servant be yet a burden to my lord the king?
It happened after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred ten years old.
Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their travels, in which they lived as aliens.
So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
These are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived: one hundred seventy-five years. Abraham gave up the spirit, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah. Nahor lived after he became the father of Terah one hundred nineteen years, and became the father of sons and daughters.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 47
Commentary on Genesis 47 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 47
In this chapter we have instances,
Gen 47:1-12
Here is,
Gen 47:13-26
Care being taken of Jacob and his family, the preservation of which was especially designed by Providence in Joseph's advancement, an account is now given of the saving of the kingdom of Egypt too from ruin; for God is King of nations as well as King of saints, and provideth food for all flesh. Joseph now returns to the management of that great trust which Pharaoh had lodged in his hand. It would have been pleasing enough to him to have gone and lived with his father and brethren in Goshen; but his employment would not permit it. When he had seen his father, and seen him well settled, he applied himself as closely as ever to the execution of his office. Note, Even natural affection must give way to necessary business. Parents and children must be content to be absent one from another, when it is necessary, on either side, for the service of God or their generation. In Joseph's transactions with the Egyptians observe,
Gen 47:27-31
Observe,