Context No. 2731 of 4322 · Genesis
Context · Reflection
Genesis 47:20-24: in context
20So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh’s. 21As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it. 22Only he didn’t buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn’t sell their land. 23Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.”
The famine grinds on, and Joseph, who reads Pharaoh's dream and stored grain for seven years, is now managing a nation with no food. As people run out of money they trade their land for bread, until the fields of Egypt belong to Pharaoh. Joseph resettles the population, hands them seed to sow, and sets the terms: a fifth of each harvest goes to Pharaoh, and four-fifths is yours, for seed and for your households and your little ones.
It is a hard and tangled chapter, and the people's own verdict on it is simple: you have saved our lives. What the story underlines is provision in a disaster that others did not see coming. Joseph's wisdom was not a lucky guess in the crisis. It was years of preparing in the fat times so that when the lean years arrived there was still bread on the table.
Do I prepare in the good years for the lean ones, or spend as if the harvest will never fail?
Sources
- Genesis 41:36: "The food will be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine... that the land not perish through the famine."
- Genesis 47:25: "They said, You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."
- Proverbs 6:8: "[The ant] provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest."