Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of Genesis Chapter 47
Metaphysically Interpreting Genesis 47:1-12
47:1Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen. 47:2And from among his brethren he took five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. 47:3And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers. 47:4And they said unto Pharaoh, To sojourn in the land are we come; for there is no pasture for thy servants' flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. 47:5And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: 47:6the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and thy brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any able men among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.
47:7And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 47:8And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How many are the days of the years of thy life? 47:9And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. 47:10And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 47:11And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 47:12And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families.
January 13, 1924: Genesis 47:1-12
What do Canaan and Egypt represent to the metaphysician? If Canaan means low country; metaphysically it represents humbleness and receptivity. To mystics it is the name of the invisible substance that surrounds and interpenetrates all forms of which it is the mother. Egypt means fortified land; it represents the mother substance in its crystallized or formed state.
What is represented by the father of Joseph and his brethren and their flocks and their herds? Jacob, the father of Joseph, represents the spiritually quickened I AM; the brethren represent the faculties of the mind; the flocks and herds represent the elemental forces of the natural man.
Why did these attributes of man have to go down into Egypt in order to continue their existence? All ideas are first identified with the formless substance represented by Canaan. The next identification is in formed substance represented by Egypt. So under the law it is necessary that these mind powers take up their abode in the realm of things, where they are nourished, and where a few score are increased in several millions.
What is the meaning of “the land of Goshen”? Goshen means drawing near. It was the extreme northern province of Egypt adjacent to Palestine. Metaphysically Goshen represents love expressing through substance.
Why were the children of Israel represented as shepherds? The children of Israel represent our spiritual thoughts. These thoughts govern the more interior realms of consciousness. Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd; and I know mine own, and mine own know me.”
Why did Jacob bless Pharaoh? Pharaoh represents the personal ego that rules in body consciousness. The spiritually quickened I AM (Jacob) transmits its spirituality to the personal ego (Pharaoh) and thus raises it to the next degree in the progressive unfoldment of man. Jesus taught that the Son of man must be lifted up.
June 19, 1932: Genesis 47:7
What is the metaphysical interpretation of the passage, “And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh”? One metaphysical meaning of Pharaoh is “the whole house,” or the “whole body consciousness.” He typifies the force that rules the body under the material regime. Pharaoh's being ruler of Egypt means that he rules in obscurity. When the higher understanding (Israel) is made known to this body consciousness by the force of the visualizing faculty, the higher blesses the lower.
September 27, 1942: Genesis 47:11-12
What is the final effect on man of imagination, when disciplined and directed aright? It is constructive in every way. “Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread.”
September 30, 1945: Genesis 47:1-12
What is portrayed in the story of Joseph in Egypt? The involution of a high spiritual idea. This idea becomes a nucleus around which like ideas (Joseph’s relatives) gather, and these increase in the subconsciousness, until a great aggregation of spiritual reserves is accumulated.
How is [?] represented in this lesson? By the land of Goshen (“drawing near”). Subconscious oneness is the “best of the land” of Egypt (the body consciousness). The body consciousness is the race thought, and when once it is permeated by spiritual ideas the steady regeneration of the race mind is assured.
Can the ability to see ourselves as one with all others be developed? This ability of the imagination is developed by the growth in us of intuitive sympathy and understanding.
What is the chief work of the imagination in sense consciousness? The nourishing of all the faculties and powers with the substance of Truth. The constructive imaging power sees good in the substance in which it deals, and the steady seeing of good brings forth good into visibility in the realm of form.
What is represented by the five brothers that Joseph selected to present to Pharaoh? They represent the five senses refined and spiritualized by the creative influence of imagination.
What two aspects of substance are represented in this lesson? Canaan represents the invisible or unmanifest substance that permeates all bodies; Egypt, the solid or manifest form perceived by the senses.
Are the mental faculties affected by these forms of substance? The faculties of the mind (the sons of Jacob) are permeated first by the invisible substance of ideas, and after that they are projected into the visible form. The sons of Jacob lived first in Canaan and afterward in Egypt.
What faculty enables us to recognize the invisible realm? Imagination.
To what does a materialistic approach to life lead? To a lack of ideas (a famine). Where materialism is in the ascendant, there is “famine” in all lands, but wherever the stimulus of active imagination is found, original ideas are never lacking. “In all the land of Egypt there was bread.”
Metaphysically Interpreting Genesis 47:13-26
47:13And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 47:14And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. 47:15And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for our money faileth. 47:16And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. 47:17And they brought their cattle unto Joseph; and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their cattle for that year. 47:18And when that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide from my lord, how that our money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord's; there is nought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: 47:19wherefore should we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land be not desolate.
47:20So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was sore upon them: and the land became Pharaoh's. 47:21And as for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end thereof. 47:22Only the land of the priests bought he not: for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them; wherefore they sold not their land.47:23Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. 47:24And it shall come to pass at the ingatherings, that ye shall give a fifth unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. 47:25And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. 47:26And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests alone became not Pharaoh's.
Metaphysically Interpreting Genesis 47:27-31
47:27And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they gat them possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. 47:28And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years. 47:29And the time drew near that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found favor in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me: bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt; 47:30but when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. 47:31And he said, Swear unto me: and he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 01-07-2014
