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Context No. 1276 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 41:53-57: in context

53The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end. 54The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 55When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.” 56The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt. 57All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

The seven years of plenty end and the seven years of famine begin, exactly as Joseph had foretold. But because Joseph had spent the years of plenty storing grain, Egypt has bread when the whole earth is starving. When the Egyptians cry out to Pharaoh, he tells them, go to Joseph; do whatever he says. Joseph opens the storehouses and sells grain, and as the famine grows severe over all the earth, all countries come to Egypt, to Joseph, to buy.

The whole scene rests on preparation done in advance. During the seven good years, when there seemed no need, Joseph gathered and stored, reading the future God had shown him, so that when the famine came the storehouses were full. God's provision for the crisis was laid up before the crisis arrived, and it came through a man who had the wisdom and discipline to prepare in the good times for the hard ones. There is a lesson in that about stewarding seasons of abundance, using the plenty not merely to consume but to prepare for the lean years that so often follow. But the deeper note is where everyone is sent: go to Joseph. In the famine, there was bread in only one place, and every starving person, Egyptian and foreigner alike, had to come to the one man Pharaoh had appointed over the grain. Joseph, once sold and imprisoned, is now the one to whom all the world comes for life. It is a foreshadowing worth seeing. In the great famine of the soul, there is one to whom the Father says go; one appointed over the bread of life to whom all must come, from every nation, to be fed and kept alive. Go to Joseph became, in the fullness of time, go to Jesus, the bread of life to whom the hungry world is sent.

In my own famine, do I go to the one appointed over the bread of life, and am I stewarding my seasons of plenty by preparing, as Joseph did, for the lean years that come?

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