Genesis

IT is always interesting to study great men from different points of view. Joseph lived a many-sided life, and we are enabled to see him in his personal and domestic, and also in his public and official relations. Hitherto we have observed him mainly in regard to his personal life to God and to his family. In the present section he comes before us as a statesman wielding a mighty influence by his national policy.

It is important, however, to notice why this section describing his policy during the famine appears at this place in the story. A summary of the fourteen years has already been given in Gen 41:53-57, but the narrative at that point was interrupted in order to account for the coming of Joseph’s brethren into Egypt and all that arose out of it. This occupied the long section from Gen 41:1 - Gen 47:12, and even now the Egyptian policy seems to be introduced almost entirely from Israel’s point of view, for it is embedded between one small section (Gen 47:11-12,) and another (Gen 47:27) which describe Israel’s position and progress in Egypt. We shall see as we proceed how definite a bearing Joseph’s policy had on the life and future of his father’s family. The famine is shown to account quite definitely for the need of urgency in the care of his FATHER’S household.

We will, however, take a general look at Joseph’s administration during these years. Whatsoever has been written has been written for our learning, and there are very definite and valuable lessons derivable from Joseph’s statesmanship.

The main idea of Joseph’s policy was to take necessary steps during the years of plenty in order to economize for the years of famine. Overseers were appointed over the land, and a tax of one-fifth part was made during the seven plenteous years. Then the food of those good years was stored up against the years of famine. When the famine came and there was no bread in the land, the people came to Joseph according to Pharaoh’s orders and bought corn with their money. When the money was all spent and they still needed food during the famine, they bought food with their cattle. Last of all, when there were no more cattle to bring, they offered themselves and their lands for bread. Joseph thus bought up the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, with the exception of the portion that belonged to the priests, and the people entered into a sort of feudal service to the King.

Joseph’s policy has been questioned from time to time on several grounds. In the first place, it is charged against him that he showed undue partiality to his own kindred in providing them with bread when everybody else had to pay for their own. But it should be pointed out that the people of Israel were in Egypt as the guests of Pharaoh; they were not beggars, but on an entirely different footing. Besides, there was no possibility of their purchasing food in view of the fact that they had left all their possessions behind them. They had been told by Pharaoh not to be anxious about what they possessed in Canaan, and he promised that all the good of Egypt should be theirs (Gen 47:20). Joseph did nothing that was not clearly sanctioned and indeed ordered by Pharaoh, and he cannot be blamed for the kindness he showed to his father and brethren. Their temporary sojourn in Egypt as visitors placed them in an entirely different category from the inhabitants of the land. Pharaoh’s care of them was a matter of philanthropy, while a free gift of corn to the people would probably have resulted in pauperization.

It is also charged against Joseph that he did the people an injustice by leading them into servitude and putting them altogether at the mercy of the Crown, but it is not correct or fair to speak of it as servitude in the strict sense of the word. They were Crown tenants rather than slaves, and the tax that he imposed was a very moderate one in view of the great productiveness of the Nile Valley. The true interpretation of Gen 47:21 seems to be that Joseph removed them from place to place for the purpose of guaranteeing to them an efficient supply of food as needed (Gen 41:35). Nor is it correct to speak of the money as an exaction, for 20 per cent would not have been an exorbitant tax. They were free labourers or tenants of the Crown, instead of being independent landlords. Knobel (quoted in Driver’s Genesis, p. 374) says:

It is also very probable that some such naturalization of the land was necessary. As Sayce says: "The power of the old aristocracy was broken as completely as it has been in Japan in our own day."

But the main proof of the wisdom of Joseph’s plan is the simple fact that those who were chiefly affected by it accepted it with readiness and thankfulness. They were only too conscious of the benefits that accrued to them in those terrible years of famine. It is surely impossible to conceive of the entire absence of complaint, opposition or rebellion on the part of such people as the Egyptians if the policy was one that did not meet with their entire acquiescence and approval.

In view of all the foregoing considerations it does not seem difficult to justify Joseph’s policy. At the same time we ought to bear in mind that the fact of certain actions by one of God’s servants being recorded in Scripture is no necessary proof of any Divine vindication of it. We are not called upon to justify everything that Joseph did, simply because the story of his life is found in Genesis; but bearing in mind that he is described as a man in whom the Spirit of God is (Gen 41:38), we have no hesitation in believing most thoroughly in the Divine guidance, and therefore in the perfect justification, of his actions during the years of famine.

It is impossible to pass by the recent reference to a discovery by one of the foremost of modern Egyptologists, Brugsch Bey, of a hieroglyphic record of the failure of the Nile to rise for seven consecutive years, which resulted in a terrible famine. Even as an illustration and natural explanation of the famine recorded in Genesis the discovery would be of intense interest, but according to the discoverer the date of the failure of the Nile to rise was B.C. 1700, and this corresponds exactly to that which has been recognized by students of chronology as the date of the story of this chapter. The subject will doubtless be further considered by those who are qualified to discuss it. Meanwhile it is at least an interesting coincidence.

The immediate outcome of Joseph’s policy was the salvation and protection of the entire country of Egypt. The people’s lives were saved, and as we have seen, they frankly and fully acknowledged what Joseph had done. Then again, the influence of Egypt was undoubtedly extended by the policy. It is not without point to read that all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn. In view of the constant action of nation against nation, and the wars that were from time to time waged against Egypt, we can easily understand the real value and importance to the country of the action of Joseph during these years.

Not only so, but the protection of Israel was Israel’s assured by this policy. By putting all the power into Pharaoh’s hands Joseph prevented any of the aristocracy or chiefs of the people from thwarting the government. It made Joseph’s action much easier in providing for his father and brethren during these years. The people of Egypt might easily have been jealous of this special attention, but inasmuch as Pharaoh became the owner of the lands and all the produce, the people of Israel were safe during their sojourn in Egypt. Israel needed safety in order to develop, and for this a stable government was required. Herein undoubtedly is the real significance of this section coming in between (Gen 47:12-27) verses 12 and 27, for it shows that Joseph’s policy was part of the Divine providential care of Israel. At the same time we must not forget that this policy led eventually to the affliction of Israel under a new Pharaoh. With all the power in the hands of the King it was at once easy for the Pharaoh of Joseph’s time to protect Israel, and for the new Pharaoh to afflict Israel when Joseph and his work were forgotten (Exo 1:8). Meanwhile, however, God’s purposes were being accomplished in Egypt, and Israel was becoming transformed from a family into a nation.

As we ponder the public life of Joseph we see plainly the qualities which characterized him and enabled him to do the great work that he accomplished.

We are accustomed to speak of discretion, promptitude, and thoroughness as purely natural characteristics capable qualities, of almost infinite development by use and habit. This is undoubtedly true, so far as it goes, but it leaves quite unexplained the source whence these natural characteristics come, and Joseph is a striking illustration of the fact that all these elements of true nature come from God. If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God (Jam 1:5). All that Joseph did in this emergency sprang from his relation to God. "A man in whom the Spirit of God is." We must not narrow down the operations of the Spirit of God to those things which are purely spiritual and redemptive in the New Testament sense of the word. The presence and work of the Spirit of God are the source of all that is good and true in life and human nature. There is nothing outside His power. Joseph was as much influenced by the Spirit of God in selling corn as he was in bearing witness to Pharaoh and interpreting his dream. True religion touches life at every point, and nothing can be considered outside its scope. This ought to be an encouragement to us all to refer everything in our daily life to God and to seek the wisdom that cometh from above. There can be no doubt that the presence of the Holy Spirit does affect with vivifying power the faculties of mind, emotion, and will; and the Christian man, other things being equal, ought to show in his life, in all the natural events and actions of his daily career, the power and value of the possession of the Holy Spirit.

A Christian It is also a point to be pressed home that a Christian can succeed in business and yet be a Christian, though we must not for an instant make worldly success the measure and proof of our Christianity. It is essential that we should keep in mind the simple fact that Christianity is no bar to success. There is no incompatibility between goodness and brains. On the contrary, we believe it to be a simple fact of Nature as well as of history that only in the sanctions and supports of true religion can our intellectual faculties find their fullest and completest exercise and justification. Joseph’s life is a testimony to the simple but significant fact that a man can serve God and be successful, that a man can occupy the highest position and glorify his Maker, that a man can be a statesman, propounding policies affecting nations, and yet all the while be a humble-minded, true-hearted child of God.

Thus we may speak of Joseph quite literally as "diligent in business," "fervent in spirit," "serving the Lord." To use a colloquial but very expressive American phrase, "he was a man of grace, grit, and gumption," the three essential features of all true life and manhood. He was not afraid of work, and he did that work to the utmost of his power and ability. That was a fine testimony to real character suggested by a notice in a shop window, "Difficult work invited." It was the measure of the man inside the shop, and showed he did not fear to face difficult problems in his business. So it was with Joseph; he was a man of principle. His religion affected every part of his life, and the result was that he glorified God, and, we doubt not, was the means of extending the influence of true religion wherever he went. Let us therefore remember the well-known words of Archbishop Benson, To the Christian there is nothing secular but what is sinful. Religion is to be applied to every department of human life, and whatever we have to do we must do it to the fullest possible extent of all the powers we possess. "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord" (Col 3:23). "Whatsoever y e do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus (Col 3:17). "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1Co 10:31). With these three principles ever actuating us we come to learn and others come to learn through us, the real meaning of life.