
Hebrew Bible;
Deu.: 32: 39–” see-you ! now that I > I he and there is no god with me I > I am putting to death and I am making alive I transfixed and I > I shall heal and there is no from hand of me one rescuing”.
Gen 47: 13- 27; NIV
Joseph and the Famine
13 There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine.
14 Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace.
15 When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”
16 “Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.”
17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.
18 When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land.
19 Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. 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 in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s,
21 and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other.
22 However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.
23 Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground.
24 But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.”
25 “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”
26 So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—still in force today—that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s.
27 Now the Israelite settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
Joseph and the Famine an interesting story no one knows exactly when it came about in oral history. Most scholars tend to believe that the events occurred around 1400 BC and found its edited form during the building of the second temple 500- 200 BC.
To understand what these scriptures are talking about then you must understand some of the verbiage involved:
- Pharaoh— that is any government in the world today it does not matter what kind or form of government. Governments lacking morality or decency in everyday affairs of the people.
- Egyptians— a majority of people that flock to a certain ideology or philosophy concerning their governess. Example; diversity, multiple genders, not concerned with individual morality or decency of their children. In their everyday affairs they follow the lemons over the cliffs.
- Food is both a literal expression and a figurative expression a lack of morality or decency both constitute a famine within the person or the family as a whole. Death has two shades to it both literal and figurative.
Phrases to pay attention to;
- “We will be in bondage to Pharaoh”, you will always be in bondage to a government, but it does not mean you have to be a slave to that ideology or its form of morality.
- “Joseph established a law concerning the land of Egypt—still in force today”; land is an expression it means anywhere in the world where your dwelling is be it in America, Europe or the Middle East etc…Egypt simple means people in darkness.
In this narrative there was a famine across the land for a period of 3 years which correlates to the seasons of a man or woman. Joseph had the knowledge and life experience to know how to overcome what looked like impossible odds. He bartered one item for another and kept everyone moving along. In the end it was those people closest to him that flourished that listened to him.
You weekend warriors will come along and state that it was the hand of god that helped Joseph, or some will even say it was the Lord Jesus Christ had a hand in the affair.
The problem with that assertion is that the ancient Semitic/Hebrew believed in the heavens and gods and angels and the like, but they also believed that no mortal could enter that realm. It was the culture of the time to believe in gods demons and angels and the likes but for a few they did not worship the gods or existential beings.
Nonetheless because of the phrase, “still in force today” (Gen.42:26) that is talking present tense not future tense that is talking about today anywhere in the world. The present tense is always in force because the future never comes no one ever the gods can predict the future.
Reading Gen: 42: 24 you read the allotment of wealth given to the government. “a fifth” the other four-fifths to the people and a fifth to the family to provide food and shelter.
Remember Joseph bartered for land, animals (food, shelter, transportation) etc…
For those (priests) there was no allotment the government can take care of them and their gods and extraterrestrial beings. There is no tenth in this narrative you see the word tenth put in by the early church. You pay for lavish temples and pay for people not to work and teach you what they want you to know not how to survive.
To those adherents to Christ the Redeemer look at the giant statue of him overlooking the city of Rio De Janeiro tell me in 2000 yrs. what he has redeemed in the land of Brazil. The only thing that was redeemed was the Roman Catholic church who redeemed the land around the early 1400’s AD. They have been redeeming the wealth of Brazil for 600 yrs.
This is the famine in land that Joseph was talking about in the narratives still in force today.
It takes Fathers to help their families and children to survive for generations.
That is what I believe
A Father teaching His children to Create their Worlds