Genesis 47:7

II. THE PATRIARCH AND THE KING.

7. Joseph brought in Jacob his father and set him before Pharaoh.

It was only after this formal transaction and the settlement of the question of. temporary home in Egypt that the aged patriarch was introduced to the king. It will be noted, (1) that Joseph was not ashamed, though so highly exalted, to introduce his father and brethren to the king. He might easily have kept them in the background. (2) Jacob, accustomed as he was to. shepherd's life, and unused to the courts of kings, and especially to such splendid courts as that of Egypt, does not meet the king as an inferior, but rather as his superior. The consciousness of the high mission given him as the heir of the covenant made him the superior of kings. Time, which tests all things, has proved that, when Pharaoh and Jacob stood face to face, the latter was the loftier figure and the true king. It is with difficulty that the name of the Pharaoh can be rescued from oblivion, while that of Jacob is known to half the human race.

Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

The less, says Paul, is blessed of the greater. Jacob, though. stranger and. guest in need of the king's hospitality, does not crouch before him, in the style of Orientals, but, in the dignity and greatness of one hundred and thirty years of patriarchal life, pronounces his blessing upon the monarch; that is, asks Jehovah to be gracious to him. His blessing was the greatest return he could make for the king's kindness. This blessing was his salutation.