Genesis 47:9

The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years.

Jacob speaks of his life as. pilgrimage. It had been in the literal sense. He had left his father's house, long sojourned in Padan Aram, then returned after many years, and had been. sojourner in the land of Canaan, dwelling in tents at various places. Last of all he had moved down to Egypt to spend the evening of his days near Joseph. But,. suppose, that he rather speaks of life as. pilgrimage. All the patriarchs "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek. country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire. better country, that is, an heavenly" (Hebrews 11:13-16). All God's children are here "but straying pilgrims," journeying to "a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

One hundred and thirty years.

Pharaoh had probably never seen so old. man. Herodotus relates as. remarkable fact that persons among the Egyptians had been known to live to one hundred and twenty years. The low-lying country along the Nile was not so healthy as the uplands of Palestine, nor were Egyptian modes of life so favorable to longevity as the free shepherd life in the open air. As. rule the average human life is greatest among mountaineers and those who maintain. simple style of life. It has also been demonstrated by statistical tables that the Jews, even to this day, are longer lived than any other race.

Few and evil have the days been.

Jacob's life, though now serene, had been full of trouble. The Jews speak of Jacob's seven afflictions: (1) The persecution of Esau; (2) The injustice of Laban; (3) The result of his wrestling with the angel, (the dislocation of his thigh); (4) The violation of Dinah his daughter by Shechem, and the brutality of his sons, Simeon and Levi; (5) The loss of Joseph; (6) The imprisonment of Simeon; (7) The departure of Benjamin for Egypt. They might well have omitted some of these and inserted other sorrows; especially the incest of Reuben, and the death of the beloved Rachel.

Have not attained to... the life of my fathers.

Abraham lived to be one hundred and seventy-five years old, and Isaac reached one hundred and eighty years; yet neither of them had. tithe of the troubles that assailed Jacob.