17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph; and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. That year he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock. 18 When that year was ended, they came to him the following year, and said to him, “We can not hide from my lord that our money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. 19 Shall we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food. We with our land will become slaves to Pharaoh; just give us seed, so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. All the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe upon them; and the land became Pharaoh’s. 21 As for the people, he made slaves of them from one end of Egypt to the other.
Over and over again in chapter 47 of Genesis is the word “slaves” mentioned. This is the writer’s way of foreshadowing what is to come: though Pharaoh is now kind and gracious towards his chief-of-staff Joseph’s family, there will come a day when a new Pharaoh will arise who “knows not Joseph” and will make slaves of his descendants by the power that Joseph himself amassed for the Pharaohic destiny.
What we empower now in positions of authority can have bearing for generations to follow. The authority we give to so-called “benevolent dictators” can later be used to suppress and enslave a nation ruled by more heavy-handed Pharaohs.
The “knows not Joseph” test is a valuable one. We should ask ourselves at all times and all circumstances, “Will what we are empowering in this Pharaoh today be prudent to also give another Pharaoh who knows not Joseph tomorrow?”
NOTE: We’re reading the Bible together this year. Tomorrow we conclude Genesis with chapters 48 through 50.
No comments:
Post a Comment