In Sunday's passage we were told that during the seven years of plenty, "Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure." (Genesis 41:48-49)
It's believed that Pharaoh customarily charged a 10% tax on all the grain produced in Egypt. This was typical for kings of the time period. But earlier in Genesis 41 Joseph suggested that Pharaoh collect a fifth (20%) of all the grain produced in Egypt during the seven years of abundance. The grain tax was doubled for seven years but I don't believe this was a hardship for the people because the Lord caused their fields to produce far more than normal during those years. If this excess grain had not been stored, the people would have likely sold it off or been wasteful with either the grain or with the money obtained through selling the grain. If the Lord had not sent prophetic dreams to Pharaoh, and if the Lord had not made Joseph able to interpret them, the people would have had no idea a famine was coming and they would have seen no need to store the excess grain.
During the years of plenty, Joseph travels throughout the towns overseeing the collection of a fifth of the grain and making certain that each city's grain was placed in a storage facility in that city. Off and on throughout the last few centuries it has been suggested that Joseph built the pyramids and used them for the purpose of grain storage, but the Bible doesn't back up such an idea. First of all, it plainly states that "in each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it", which tells us that each city had its own granaries. There's no evidence to suggest that all the grain taxes were collected and placed in the pyramids at Giza. Furthermore, the seven years of plenty began as soon as Pharaoh promoted Joseph to second-in-command and Joseph immediately began collecting the extra grain tax that first year. There was no time to build pyramids. It's believed that it took 100,000 slave laborers twenty years to build the Great Pyramid. A lesser amount of time and labor may have been needed to build its companion pyramids, but still we see there was no time to accomplish such a feat before the years of abundance began. In addition, Joseph lived in Egypt during a different time period than that in which the pyramids are believed to have been built. Scholars believe Joseph was born in around 1750 BC whereas the Great Pyramid is believed to have been completed during the reign of Cheops in about 2560 BC. There's also archaeological evidence still in existence of how and where the Egyptians normally built granaries, and it appears that the larger ones were attached to temples and palaces while smaller ones were dispersed throughout the cities. There are enough archaeological remains of these granaries to tell their precise size and construction and to see how they were filled from the top and to estimate how much grain each granary could hold. It's fun to think of Joseph as a great builder of pyramids, I suppose, but there's no evidence to back up such a theory.
Because of Joseph's wise management, the people can't be wasteful with the excess grain during the years when their fields over-produce. It's human nature for us to be more extravagant with our spending during years of plenty, isn't it? There's nothing wrong with occasionally treating ourselves to something nice, but I think our passage today sets a good example for us in managing our money. I've had the same job since 1997 but my husband has had a number of different jobs due to factory closures, economic downturns that caused layoffs, and sell-offs of small family-owned businesses. During the almost twenty-six years of our marriage there have been times of plenty, when we were making more than we needed and when we were saving money but also spending money. We've had years of famine too, so to speak. There have been several periods of time where many months went by that my income was our only income. Then there have been times, like now, when he's been employed but at a job where he makes far less than usual. We're not exactly in a time of famine (we have our basic needs met) but there's nothing left over to save at the end of the month either. I can look back and see that during years of plenty we should have saved more than we did. We should have been less open handed with our funds. We should have taken fewer vacations. We shouldn't have eaten meals in pricey restaurants so often. We shouldn't have had such a casual attitude about money when we were out shopping. We should have stored up the excess grain in the granaries, like Joseph, and we'd have been better off right now if we had.
Often during years of plenty it's easy to make the mistake of believing all our remaining years on this earth will be years of plenty, but that's not necessarily the case. As King David wisely advises: "if your riches increase, do not set your heart on them". (Psalm 62:10b) Our trust is to be in God and not in money, but out of respect for the One who supplies us with what we need we are to be good stewards of any money the Lord blesses us with. Joseph is being a good steward during the years of plenty so everyone can survive the years of famine. We would do well to take his example to heart, and this passage really speaks to me. My husband and I are doing whatever we can right now to cut back on spending. We may not have enough left over at the end of the month to put money in savings yet, but we can start being good stewards of what we do have by taking steps to lower our monthly bills and by being careful not to purchase anything we don't need. We've learned a lesson and we've learned it the hard way. That's how I've learned most of my lessons in life, to be honest. But lessons learned the hard way are lessons you don't forget, and I hope that if the years of plenty ever come back we will be like Joseph and store up the excess for the future. Then, if times of famine come again, we'll be prepared for them.
"The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, 'Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.'" (Genesis 41:53-55) When the people of Egypt depleted what was in their own storehouses, they asked Pharaoh to open the granaries so they could buy grain. The grain is not free of charge, for it belongs to Pharaoh. It was taken as taxes and it is the property of the Egyptian government and its king. This early in the famine the people still have the funds to purchase grain, so Joseph opens the storehouses and sells it to them when purchasable food runs out everywhere else in the nation. "When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe everywhere." (Genesis 41:56-57)
When the author of Genesis says "all the world came to Egypt", he means all the known world at the time---the nations and tribes surrounding Egypt. The famine is severe in all those territories, including in the land of Canaan where Joseph's own family will soon be compelled by lack of food to come to Egypt to purchase grain. And when that time comes, who will they have to deal with in order to obtain the grain? Joseph, the brother they hated and sold as a slave. Joseph, the brother they thought they'd never see again. Joseph, who had prophetic dreams in which they bowed to the ground at his feet.
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