As a former teacher who has taught a history class, not many Americans have heard about the spiritual heritage of the United States. Did you know that local education began at churches serving as an outreach to the illiterate in their communities? Or that the New England Primer introduced each letter of the alphabet with a verse from the Bible? While completing his summary on the life of Joseph, Moses refers to the relationship between posterity and God’s remnant.
God sent me before you to preserve for you a posterity and to continue a remnant on the earth, to save your lives by a great escape and save for you many survivors, Genesis 45:7.
Posterity refers to all future generations of people. Meanwhile, remnant is a small remaining quantity of people from a specific place or share a common interest. What Moses is trying to say in the passage above, Joseph’s life via God’s providence protected and secured the future of the Israelites. By moving from Canaan to Egypt, God will provide all they need to survive this drought.
For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things [n]impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, 39 Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans 8:38-39.
Due to the shrewd and shift actions taken by Joseph as governor of Egypt, the Pharaoh welcomed Joseph’s family with opened arms. However, over the years as Israelites prospered, new Pharaoh’s forgot how Joseph saved their country and placed them into slavery for 400 years. This is why the promises of God in the Bible are needed to carry on through from the tough times in life so that future Christian generations will endure the trials of today.
by Jay Mankus