UNDER THE TAMARISK TREE – Genesis 46:1-7

The first mention of Beersheba in the scriptures involves Abraham and a covenant established with a neighboring king. Abraham commemorates this event by planting a tamarisk tree as a memorial presumably for future generations, who will appreciate all the more its shade and thereby be reminded of God's faithfulness marked at this location. We might imagine Jacob approaching the region now some 200 years later pausing to offer sacrifices of remembrance and worship in the shadow of this now colossal tree. Review & overview: With the patriarchal blessing and calling of Jacob recorded in Gen 27 & 28, the record had focused on this patriarch exclusively through chapter 35. Here the narrative shifts to the next generation, especially Joseph, as the appointed son who would reunite and spare the covenant family from calamity. Chapters 37-41 follow Joseph's journey unto messianic ascension until the news of the long lost son's reign in Egypt finally reaches Jacob's ears in chapter 45. Chapter 46 then turns the spotlight of revelation back toward Jacob briefly in his waning years. As this chapter opens, the Lord speaks once again to the aging patriarch in a vision of the night, reassuring him of the promises of covenant revealed so many years ago at places like this to him, his father Isaac, & his grandfather Abraham who preceded him.