God spoke to Jacob in visions in the night, calling to him: “Jacob, Jacob!” Jacob responded, “Here I am” (Genesis 46:2). It’s a response that indicates presence and readiness: I’m here, Lord, ready to do your will.

In the psalms we read that a normal expectation of a long full life would run 70 or 80 years (Psalm 90:10). From then till maybe the 1950s, that’s held pretty constant, with advances in modern medicine raising that just a little in the last few decades. God seems to have established a maximum human lifespan at 120 years (Genesis 6:3): and while it has become less unusual for people to live to 100, and while we can occasionally read of someone surpassing 110, it is extremely rare for anyone to reach age 120.

But in today’s reading we see the text reporting that Jacob died at age 147, after living in Egypt for 17 years (47:28): he would therefore have been 130 years old when he received these visions of the night. God said to him, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again; and Joseph’s own hand shall close your eyes” (46:3-4).

I can see how a man might be afraid, when he has lived longer than he would have expected: afraid of taking on a whole new project, moving to a new country, changing everything about his life. But Jacob went, trusting in the promise God had given him, a promise that extended far beyond himself in that moment, as it reached to include the generations who would be born over the next four centuries.

* * * * *

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).

* * * * *

Grant us the vision and the courage, O Lord, to believe in the great depth of your call: to believe that what you have in mind is not just about us today, but includes people and places and generations beyond anything we could imagine.

If you find these studies helpful, please Like, Subscribe, Comment, and Share. Thanks!