John Calvin Commentary Genesis 47:8

"And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How many are the days of the years of thy life?" — Genesis 47:8 (ASV)

How old are you? This familiar question proves that Jacob was received courteously and without ceremony. But the answer is of far greater significance, in which Jacob declares that the time of his pilgrimage was a hundred and thirty years. For the Apostle, in his letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 11:13–16), derives from this the memorable doctrine that God was not ashamed to be called the God of the patriarchs, because they had confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

This is mentioned of only one man; but because he had been instructed by his forefathers, and had handed down the same instruction to his son, the Apostle honors them all with the same eulogy. Therefore, as they were not ashamed to wander during the whole course of their life, and to be reproachfully called foreigners and strangers wherever they came, so God granted to them the incomparable dignity that they should be heirs of heaven.

But (as has been said before) no people ever had a more special and hereditary possession in the world than the holy fathers had in the land of Canaan. The Lord is said to have cast his line to assign to each nation its boundaries; but an eternal possession, through a continual succession of ages, was never promised to any nation as it was to the descendants of Abraham.

In what spirit, then, should we dwell in a world where no certain rest or fixed abode is promised to us? Moreover, Paul describes this as the common condition of all pious people under the reign of Christ: that they should have no certain dwelling-place (1 Corinthians 4:11). This is not because all are to be cast out as exiles alike, but because the Lord calls all His people, as by the sound of a trumpet, to be wanderers, so that they do not become settled in their nests on earth.

Therefore, whether anyone remains in his own country or is continually compelled to change his place, let him diligently practice meditating that he is sojourning for a short time on earth, until, having completed his course, he departs to the heavenly country.