†. Gen 41:47-49 . . During the seven years of abundance the land
produced plentifully. 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.
When there's small amounts to work with, it's easy to use small containers
to tally it. But Egypt's abundance was so great that it was impractical to tally
the grain with standard containers. Instead, I would think Joseph did it
simply by building his silos to a standard size and dimension. So, instead of
tallying "bushels" of grain, Joseph simplified the process by tallying silos.
Although storing the grain near the communities where it was grown was a
practical consideration for later distribution, it was also a wise diplomatic
move. When people see their hard-earned things carted off to the unknown,
it makes them nervous about getting their stuff back. Putting his granaries
nearby, reassured local growers and consumers that Joseph meant well by
them and wasn't just taxing their produce for personal profit. I would like to
think that Joseph employed local labor for the construction of his granaries
rather than contracting it out to a global construction company that polished
the apple with him via his father-in-law's contacts; thus once again showing
good faith by injecting wages into local economies. Little by little, Joseph
was gaining the Egyptians' trust, which must have no doubt pleased Pharaoh
well and made him feel pretty good about his choice of man for the job.
Meanwhile, back on the home front, Joseph's marriage was holding up okay
and he became the father of two boys.
†. Gen 41:50 . . Before the years of famine came, Joseph became the
father of two sons, whom Asenath daughter of Poti-phera, priest of
On, bore to him.
In the Bible, it's the fathers who determine tribal ancestry; so the two boys
were Hebrews by birth rather than Egyptians. I don't know how Mr. Poti
phera felt about that, but what was he to do? One of the most powerful, if
not the most powerful, monarchs on earth had arranged his daughter's
marriage to Joseph so there really wasn't much he could say about it.
†. Gen 41:51 . . Joseph named his older son Manasseh, for he said;
God has made me forget all my troubles and the family of my father.
The meaning of Manessah's name in Hebrew is self explanatory. However,
there is just no way that Joseph forgot all about his family. That verse has to
be interpreted according to the progress of the narrative. I seriously doubt
that God deleted Joseph's memory; but rather, helped him to get over
doting about his misfortunes. Doting can lead to serious psychological
damage, dark thoughts, and long term depression, and/or in the case of
anger, it can lead to malice and sleepless nights plotting revenge, or
rehearsing retorts over and over again to counter something someone said
that you didn't like.
Though they weren't ideal, Joseph was at peace with his current
circumstances. Exactly how God brought him to that point isn't stated. But
in chapters ahead, Joseph will inform his brothers that his misfortunes
actually benefited everyone so that Joseph became a savior; not only to
Egypt, but to his own family as well (Gen 45:4-11, Gen 50:20). So then, in
the end, Joseph accepted his plight graciously and held no hard feelings
towards anyone in particular, nor was he blue and sad about being away
from home all those years because he was fully aware it all worked toward
the greater good.
Since Joseph couldn't leave Egypt himself to go home and visit his family,
then one has to wonder why he didn't dispatch a messenger to let his dad
know he was okay. Well; for one thing, to do so would have exposed his
brothers' murderous scheme, and who knows what kind of disharmony that
would have created in Jacob's home. This was one of those cases where it's
better to follow the advice of some Beatles' lyrics; "Words of wisdom: let it
be."
But seriously, I doubt Jacob would have believed it was actually his very own
Joseph in Pharaoh's court but would have automatically assumed it was a
cruel hoax. Later, Joseph is going to be sure that his brothers understand
that they weren't being told second-hand about his prosperity, nor being fed
a rumor; but were hearing about it from their long-lost brother's very own
lips. (Gen 45:12-13)
†. Gen 41:52 . . Joseph named his second son Ephraim, for he said;
God has made me fruitful in this land of my suffering.
Ephraim's name actually means "doubly fruitful" which is obviously in
recognition of God's providence in a place where a man of God would
certainly least expect to find it. I still think that Joseph had given up all hope
of prosperity, and of having a family of his own; but as it turns out, he got
both anyway in spite of his unfortunate circumstances. Maybe he'd rather
have married a girl back home, but you know what they say: Beggars can't
be choosers. At least Joseph was no longer a jailed slave locked up as an
accused rapist with no future at all. Asenath and Poti-phera may not have
been Joseph's ideal in-laws, but things could have turned out a lot worse.
†. Gen 41:53-54 . . At last the seven years of plenty came to an end.
Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted.
There were crop failures in all the surrounding countries, too, but in
Egypt there was plenty of grain in the storehouses.
Joseph had made no mention of the misfortunes of Egypt's neighbors to
Pharaoh. But now comes out the reason for Egypt's incredible over
abundance during the good years. It wasn't meant just to sustain their own
selves that God had so blessed the Egyptians, no, all around them countries
were effected, became desperate, and forced to look outside themselves for
relief.
In order for the countries all around Egypt to experience the famine, it would
mean that they too were experiencing severe reductions in annual rainfall.
Though northern Egypt, around the Nile delta, normally receives very little
rain to begin with, it's agriculture prospers because of heavy rainfalls way
down in Africa that feed tributaries flowing into the Nile; e.g. the Blue Nile.
We're talking about a massive watershed encompassing several thousands
of square miles of Africa's countryside. And that, added to the surrounding
countries, really adds up to an incredibly large geographic area effected by
an unbelievable large-scale drought.
†. Gen 41:53-56 . .Throughout the land of Egypt the people began to
starve. They pleaded with Pharaoh for food, and he told them; Go to
Joseph and do whatever he tells you. So with severe famine
everywhere in the land, Joseph opened up the storehouses and sold
grain to the Egyptians.
Advocates of a welfare state might question Joseph's ethical integrity and
want to know why he "sold" grain to his fellow citizens instead of just doling
it out in soup lines. Well, for one thing, quite a few of the Egyptians had
good incomes (Ex 3:20-22, Ex 11:2). They were quite prosperous and could
easily afford to pay-- at least at first. Secondly, Joseph answered to a higher
authority than himself. It was his duty to look out for Pharaoh's best
interests, and make sure his boss received adequate taxes even during lean
years. (cf. Mtt 25:14-30, 1Cor 4:1-2, 1Pet 4:10)
†. Gen 41:57 . . And people from surrounding lands also came to
Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe
throughout the world.
The "world" wasn't the whole planet, nor did the drought effect the whole
planet as the Flood had. The famine was severe throughout the world, but
not everywhere under the whole sky (cf. Gen 7:19); meaning that wherever
the famine was, it was severe; as opposed to severe in some places while
tolerable in others; viz: nobody had it good. Wherever that famine went, if it
went there at all, then it was all bad rather than some bad and some not so
bad.
At this point, Joseph had been away from home for twenty years (cf. Gen
37:2, Gen 41:46, Gen 41:53) and had seen neither his dad nor his brothers
even once in all that time. When he was sold into slavery, Joseph was just a
young teen-ager; now he's in his late thirties. He was just a boy then; now
he's a man.
Cont.
/
produced plentifully. 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.
When there's small amounts to work with, it's easy to use small containers
to tally it. But Egypt's abundance was so great that it was impractical to tally
the grain with standard containers. Instead, I would think Joseph did it
simply by building his silos to a standard size and dimension. So, instead of
tallying "bushels" of grain, Joseph simplified the process by tallying silos.
Although storing the grain near the communities where it was grown was a
practical consideration for later distribution, it was also a wise diplomatic
move. When people see their hard-earned things carted off to the unknown,
it makes them nervous about getting their stuff back. Putting his granaries
nearby, reassured local growers and consumers that Joseph meant well by
them and wasn't just taxing their produce for personal profit. I would like to
think that Joseph employed local labor for the construction of his granaries
rather than contracting it out to a global construction company that polished
the apple with him via his father-in-law's contacts; thus once again showing
good faith by injecting wages into local economies. Little by little, Joseph
was gaining the Egyptians' trust, which must have no doubt pleased Pharaoh
well and made him feel pretty good about his choice of man for the job.
Meanwhile, back on the home front, Joseph's marriage was holding up okay
and he became the father of two boys.
†. Gen 41:50 . . Before the years of famine came, Joseph became the
father of two sons, whom Asenath daughter of Poti-phera, priest of
On, bore to him.
In the Bible, it's the fathers who determine tribal ancestry; so the two boys
were Hebrews by birth rather than Egyptians. I don't know how Mr. Poti
phera felt about that, but what was he to do? One of the most powerful, if
not the most powerful, monarchs on earth had arranged his daughter's
marriage to Joseph so there really wasn't much he could say about it.
†. Gen 41:51 . . Joseph named his older son Manasseh, for he said;
God has made me forget all my troubles and the family of my father.
The meaning of Manessah's name in Hebrew is self explanatory. However,
there is just no way that Joseph forgot all about his family. That verse has to
be interpreted according to the progress of the narrative. I seriously doubt
that God deleted Joseph's memory; but rather, helped him to get over
doting about his misfortunes. Doting can lead to serious psychological
damage, dark thoughts, and long term depression, and/or in the case of
anger, it can lead to malice and sleepless nights plotting revenge, or
rehearsing retorts over and over again to counter something someone said
that you didn't like.
Though they weren't ideal, Joseph was at peace with his current
circumstances. Exactly how God brought him to that point isn't stated. But
in chapters ahead, Joseph will inform his brothers that his misfortunes
actually benefited everyone so that Joseph became a savior; not only to
Egypt, but to his own family as well (Gen 45:4-11, Gen 50:20). So then, in
the end, Joseph accepted his plight graciously and held no hard feelings
towards anyone in particular, nor was he blue and sad about being away
from home all those years because he was fully aware it all worked toward
the greater good.
Since Joseph couldn't leave Egypt himself to go home and visit his family,
then one has to wonder why he didn't dispatch a messenger to let his dad
know he was okay. Well; for one thing, to do so would have exposed his
brothers' murderous scheme, and who knows what kind of disharmony that
would have created in Jacob's home. This was one of those cases where it's
better to follow the advice of some Beatles' lyrics; "Words of wisdom: let it
be."
But seriously, I doubt Jacob would have believed it was actually his very own
Joseph in Pharaoh's court but would have automatically assumed it was a
cruel hoax. Later, Joseph is going to be sure that his brothers understand
that they weren't being told second-hand about his prosperity, nor being fed
a rumor; but were hearing about it from their long-lost brother's very own
lips. (Gen 45:12-13)
†. Gen 41:52 . . Joseph named his second son Ephraim, for he said;
God has made me fruitful in this land of my suffering.
Ephraim's name actually means "doubly fruitful" which is obviously in
recognition of God's providence in a place where a man of God would
certainly least expect to find it. I still think that Joseph had given up all hope
of prosperity, and of having a family of his own; but as it turns out, he got
both anyway in spite of his unfortunate circumstances. Maybe he'd rather
have married a girl back home, but you know what they say: Beggars can't
be choosers. At least Joseph was no longer a jailed slave locked up as an
accused rapist with no future at all. Asenath and Poti-phera may not have
been Joseph's ideal in-laws, but things could have turned out a lot worse.
†. Gen 41:53-54 . . At last the seven years of plenty came to an end.
Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted.
There were crop failures in all the surrounding countries, too, but in
Egypt there was plenty of grain in the storehouses.
Joseph had made no mention of the misfortunes of Egypt's neighbors to
Pharaoh. But now comes out the reason for Egypt's incredible over
abundance during the good years. It wasn't meant just to sustain their own
selves that God had so blessed the Egyptians, no, all around them countries
were effected, became desperate, and forced to look outside themselves for
relief.
In order for the countries all around Egypt to experience the famine, it would
mean that they too were experiencing severe reductions in annual rainfall.
Though northern Egypt, around the Nile delta, normally receives very little
rain to begin with, it's agriculture prospers because of heavy rainfalls way
down in Africa that feed tributaries flowing into the Nile; e.g. the Blue Nile.
We're talking about a massive watershed encompassing several thousands
of square miles of Africa's countryside. And that, added to the surrounding
countries, really adds up to an incredibly large geographic area effected by
an unbelievable large-scale drought.
†. Gen 41:53-56 . .Throughout the land of Egypt the people began to
starve. They pleaded with Pharaoh for food, and he told them; Go to
Joseph and do whatever he tells you. So with severe famine
everywhere in the land, Joseph opened up the storehouses and sold
grain to the Egyptians.
Advocates of a welfare state might question Joseph's ethical integrity and
want to know why he "sold" grain to his fellow citizens instead of just doling
it out in soup lines. Well, for one thing, quite a few of the Egyptians had
good incomes (Ex 3:20-22, Ex 11:2). They were quite prosperous and could
easily afford to pay-- at least at first. Secondly, Joseph answered to a higher
authority than himself. It was his duty to look out for Pharaoh's best
interests, and make sure his boss received adequate taxes even during lean
years. (cf. Mtt 25:14-30, 1Cor 4:1-2, 1Pet 4:10)
†. Gen 41:57 . . And people from surrounding lands also came to
Egypt to buy grain from Joseph because the famine was severe
throughout the world.
The "world" wasn't the whole planet, nor did the drought effect the whole
planet as the Flood had. The famine was severe throughout the world, but
not everywhere under the whole sky (cf. Gen 7:19); meaning that wherever
the famine was, it was severe; as opposed to severe in some places while
tolerable in others; viz: nobody had it good. Wherever that famine went, if it
went there at all, then it was all bad rather than some bad and some not so
bad.
At this point, Joseph had been away from home for twenty years (cf. Gen
37:2, Gen 41:46, Gen 41:53) and had seen neither his dad nor his brothers
even once in all that time. When he was sold into slavery, Joseph was just a
young teen-ager; now he's in his late thirties. He was just a boy then; now
he's a man.
Cont.
/
