Promise To Jacob That His Family Would Return to Canaan

Year of Prophecy: © 1762 BC (Genesis 46:4, 47:9)

Year of Fulfillment: © 1422 BC (Joshua 4:19)

Time until fulfillment: ~340 years

The promise to Jacob that his family would return to Canaan is an example of fulfilled Biblical Prophecy. To show how the amount of time passing between prophecy and fulfillment doesn’t matter, we will cover ten of such prophecies. This is the third of ten.

This promise is similar and related to the promise to Abraham discussed previously. God had told Abraham his descendants would be enslaved for a 400-year period but would return with great wealth (Gn 15:13-16). Apparently, Abraham’s descendants taught this fact to their children, for Joseph asked his brothers to not forget ‘his bones’ (realizing that it would be a long time before it would happen) when they returned to Canaan (Gn 50:24-25). Joseph realized that he was part of that fulfillment (Gn 50:19-20) and the reason he asked his father and family to come (Gn 50:21), and the reason God assured Jacob that going to Egypt was part of His plan (Gn 46:3-4). After the time of Joseph, however, this promise seemed to have faded with time. The Israelites complained even before they left Egypt (Ex 5:20, 6:9) and as they were leaving Egypt (Ex 14:12). Truly, if God had not kept His promise, no one would have even known He had forgotten. Thankfully, God does not forget! (Is 49:15; 2Pt 3:9).

There are promises in the Bible for us as well. That is why we need to read and study so that we can know what they are and claim them, knowing they will come true. God never forgets. That should be a comfort to us as well as a wakeup call. Do you want to be ready for the next fulfilled promise to come or be totally surprised and unprepared? The choice is yours.

Note: There seems to be a discrepancy between the times the Israelites were slaves in Egypt versus the time it took for the fulfillment of this prophecy. We know the Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years (Ex 12:40-41) and were in the wilderness for 40 years (Js 5:6); However, John Pratt (a Biblical chronologists whom I chose to indicate the timing of these Biblical events) puts the Crossing of the Jordan River in 1422 BC. Apparently, he is considering the 430 years to start with Joseph entering Egypt rather than Jacob and his family entering Egypt. Jacob was in Egypt 17 years before he died (Gn 47:28), which is about the same number of years as Joseph’s age when he was sold into Egypt (Gn 37:2). The important point is that God kept his promise even when the children of Israel had forgotten all about it. We can always count on God not forgetting.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens