Joseph establishes his reign and his agricultural policy.
God moved Joseph from being a slave and prisoner for thirteen years to “being put in charge of all of Egypt” in one conversation! God can do whatever he wants with whomever he wants at any time to accomplish his will.
46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt.
Genesis 41:46 NIV
Joseph establishes his reign and agricultural policy in a time of plenty.
And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt. 47 During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. 48 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. 49 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 41:47-49 NIV
Grain cities with giant silos that were designed to keep the grain without spoiling.
Joseph is blessed with two sons whose names reveal how Joseph views his new life.
50 Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. 51 Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” 52 The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”
Genesis 41:50-52 NIV
- What are the meanings of these names?
- Manasseh: מְנַשֶּׁ֑ה from Nasha, “Causing to forget”
- אֶפְרָ֑יִם God has blessed me in the land of my poverty.
How do these names reveal how Joseph views his new life?
Manasseh: מְנַשֶּׁ֑ה from Nasha, “Causing to forget”
“It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.”
- Joseph credited God with giving him emotional healing. He put the past behind and so much so that he was able to forget the evil that had been done to him and the loss he had experienced as a young man. He was able to get on with his life.
- To become successful after a loss, you must be on your way to emotional healing.
- True healing comes through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Ephraim: אֶפְרָ֑יִם God has blessed me in the land of my poverty.
“It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”
- Joseph credited God with making him fruitful in the land of his suffering. How? He recognized that his wisdom and gifting were from God. He was able to become fruitful in his work which meant that he would have to have knowledge about all aspects of this world government. His 13 years revealed much of this to him.
- Pharaoh referred to him as discerning and wise. This meant a high level of intelligence but special insight that only his God through the spirit could give to him.
“Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?”39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you.
Genesis 41:38-39 NIV
One commentator writes succinctly:
“As the senior administrator Joseph’s work touched on nearly every practical area of the nation’s life. “His office would have required that he learn much about legislation, communication, negotiation, transportation, safe and efficient methods of food storage, building, economic strategizing and forecasting, record-keeping, payroll, the handling of transactions both by means of currency and through bartering, human resources, and the acquisition of real estate. “
What Joseph recognized was what we have said about this story from the beginning. It is not about Joseph but rather in the context of this story, it is about God. His extraordinary abilities with respect to God and people did not operate in separate domains. Joseph did not bifurcate his belief in God from his relationships with a pagan people.
The genius of his success lay in the effective integration of his divine gifts and acquired competencies. For Joseph, all of this was godly work.
Look what Joseph did … seven years of famine begin, and Joseph is at the center of the crisis.
53 The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, 54 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. 55 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 NIV
What are the chances of a believer being in such a place of authority that he has total control over the country?
56 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. 57 And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.
Genesis 41:56-57 NIV
Joseph meets his brothers who sold him to the traders.
When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” 2 He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”
3 Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. 5 So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan also.
6 Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So, when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. 7 As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked.
“From the land of Canaan,” they replied, “to buy food.”
8 Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. 9 Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”
10 “No, my lord,” they answered. “Your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.”
12 “No!” he said to them. “You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”
13 But they replied, “Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”
14 Joseph said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are spies! 15 And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” 17 And he put them all in custody for three days.
18 On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. 20 But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.” This they proceeded to do.
21 They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.”
22 Reuben replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood.”
23 They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter.
24 He turned away from them and began to weep, but then came back and spoke to them again. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes.
25 Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man’s silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, 26 they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.
27 At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. 28 “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “Here it is in my sack.”
Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”
29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. They said, 30 “The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as though we were spying on the land. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.’
33 “Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me and take food for your starving households and go. 34 But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade[a] in the land.’”
35 As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!” 37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.”
38 But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.”
Genesis 42:1-38 NIV
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