Jacob in front of Pharaoh

"Joseph brought in his father, and made him stand before Pharaoh ; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh." Genesis 47. 7

After a tormented existence, Jacob goes through a new ordeal, the loss of his beloved son Joseph. His other sons bring him the colorful robe of Joseph stained with blood (in fact the blood of a goat) : "Recognize if it is the tunic of your son or not" (Gen. 37. 32). It is then Benjamin who must remain hostage in Egypt ! ... What sorrows for this old man !

At last a happy news comes to him : "Joseph is still alive ; and even he governs all the land of Egypt "(Gen. 45. 26). At first incredulous, he accepts the truth and leaves for Egypt, not without having previously offered "sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac" (Gen. 46. 1). God shows him that his descendants will become a great nation; he finds Benjamin and Joseph; the latter became Viceroy of Egypt, he introduced him to the Pharaoh. Here is Jacob before Pharaoh !

An old man lame before Pharaoh !

While remaining very humble and respectful, Jacob is none the less worthy and it is he, this old dark Hebrew who left his country to survive the famine, who blesses Pharaoh ! What a scene! Despite his smallness against the greatest monarch of the time, Jacob is fully aware of what he is in the eyes of God : a man of God against a man of the world ! Without shyness, he blesses the pharaoh, realizing that "the least is blessed by the most excellent" (Heb 7. 7).

Jacob does not have the fortune of Pharaoh, but he possesses wealth far superior to that of his interlocutor ; it is he who, in fact, comes to enrich the most powerful man on earth. He asks nothing of Pharaoh and blesses him again by leaving him. These two blessings are worth more than the thanks he could have made.

Old man in Canaan, tried by the disappearance of his two sons, Jacob certainly would never have imagined that, on the one hand, he would find them again and that, on the other hand, he would one day be in the presence of Pharaoh and bless him. God does things unimaginable for his children, despite their failings. What he once did for Jacob, he can do again today. His goodness has no limit and he only wants the happiness of his family.

Source (Pleasing the Lord)