Genesis
41:46 ¶ And Joseph was thirty years old
when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the
presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth
brought forth by handfuls. 48 And he gathered
up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid
up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every
city, laid he up in the same. 49 And
Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left
numbering; for it was without number. 50
And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came,
which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. 51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn
Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my
father’s house. 52 And the name of the
second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of
my affliction. 53 And the seven years of
plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. 54 And the seven years of dearth began to come,
according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the
land of Egypt there was bread. 55 And
when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread:
and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you,
do. 56 And the famine was over all the
face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the
Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. 57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph
for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.
Note
that Joseph is thirty years old when he stood before the Pharaoh. Young Hebrew
Levite men began their service to God at thirty years of age (Numbers 4:3).
David was thirty years old when he began to reign (see 2Samuel 5:4). Jesus
Christ began His ministry on earth at that age, as well when He, the Holy
Ghost, and God the Father were all three present together at His baptism (Luke
3:21-23).
Joseph
toured Egypt as Pharaoh’s representative, carrying with him the power of
Pharaoh over the Egyptians. For seven years harvests were plentiful and there
was no end to the amount that Joseph could store up for the coming dearth.
Obviously, all the food doesn’t mean
he left the Egyptians with no food, now, does it but that he gathered all of
the food from the 20% of the land that the government took. Countries in
crisis, like England in WWII, did things similar to this in their control of
food output for war purposes. His wife, Asenath, gave him two sons, Manasseh
and Ephraim, the meaning of their names found in the text with Manasseh having
to do with forgetting and Ephraim being fruitful. The seven years of famine
came and in Egypt there was plenty of bread. Finally, when Egyptians began to
feel the bite of the dearth they sought for help from the government. Wisely,
Pharaoh directed them to Joseph.
This
brings us to an important point about reading the Bible. The modern
fundamentalist reads it like the owner’s manual for his car and sees And the famine was over all the face of the
earth and says there was famine in South America, in the Pacific islands,
and in China then, too. But, that is not what this means. The earth, in many places in the Bible, has only to do with the
area under concern, the lands of the Near East, what we call the Middle East
unless explanatory descriptions like uttermost
part of the earth or the four corners
of the earth are referring to the entire earth as we know it. This
modernistic view of the Bible where we make it mean what we want it to mean and
leave no room for question has caused much confusion over the past century, at
least. Just remember that when the Bible says;
Luke
2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a
decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
…it most certainly does not mean that a Roman Emperor had
the power to tax the Kalahari bushman of southern Africa or the Olmec kingdom
of Mexico. Use some common sense. When you say, “I want everyone to come to my
party,” you most certainly don’t mean the entire world without exception.
Thanks to God’s use of Joseph Egypt is now the source of
food for the countries around it. All are drawn to it for food as all were
supposed to be drawn to Israel for the food that is the word of God had they
been obedient. The Old Testament model for evangelism was Israel as a place
where men were drawn to know about God as it shall be in the millennial reign
of Christ.
Zechariah 8:23 Thus saith the
LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take
hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of
him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is
with you.
While under the New Testament model for the Christian the
role of evangelism is to go out in the world as we have no abiding earthly
country. Jesus told the early Jewish Christians so. Notice in the following how
the meaning is to go beyond the boundaries of what the Jew considered his
homeland and the command is to go to the
uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses
unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth.
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