And now let Pharaoh look himself out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.
Joseph has just explained Pharaoh's dream of seven fat and seven lean cattle. Now, unasked, a man who left a prison cell that morning tells the most powerful king on earth what to do about it.
Joseph did not stop at explaining the dream. Speaking up took courage, and silence would have left Egypt careless:
A man just out of the shame and obscurity of a prison would normally hold back from advising a king and his courtiers on affairs of state — and on the most urgent and important matters. Joseph rose above all such scruples. Confidence in the revealed mind of God took away his fear of being brushed aside. It also drew out his heart in goodwill to the king and his people. Otherwise they might soon forget the dream and its meaning as a passing wonder. They would fall into the usual carelessness of unbelief, wasting the coming plenty and paying no attention to the scarcity to follow.
God had announced what He was about to do. Joseph's answer to that announcement was not a system but a person:
Joseph not only interpreted the dreams. He also told Pharaoh what should be done, since these things were coming. What was needed was the man of wisdom entrusted with carrying them out. Joseph was speaking on God's behalf. He showed that on the human side, faced with these acts of God, all that was needed was A MAN.
God's part in this goes further than choosing the man:
Two things mark this plan. First, God ordains that only one man shall be over the land. Second, God will so order circumstances that all come under the sway of this man. Joseph was to be set over all. The seven years of plenty, followed by the seven years of famine, would bring everyone under Joseph. The circumstances and the man would combine to bring about God's purposed plan.
Joseph describes a man he does not name, and the description fits the man speaking:
The man who could explain the dream turned out to be the discreet man who would govern Egypt through the famine. Here we have at once a picture of our Lord Jesus. He is the One raised from the dead, so that He might take His place at the head of the universe, and be even now over the house of God.
Pharaoh's conclusion moved from the dream to the man:
Pharaoh could see that the Spirit of God was in Joseph. God had revealed the meaning of the dream to him, so there was no one so discerning and wise as he. 1 Corinthians 2:15 tells us, "The spiritual person judges all things" — that is, he judges in the sense of discerning. He not only discerns spiritual things. He also discerns everyday matters more rightly than any unbeliever does. This is because God is the Creator of material things just as much as of spiritual ones.
The plan for Egypt sketches something far larger:
This, too, is God's plan for the future government of the world. Not by parliaments or cabinets, not by counsellors and ministers, will God govern, but by a Man "discerning and wise" set over all. And all will be brought under His sway either by the day of grace or in the day of judgment — the years of plenty or the years of famine. Many have already come under the sway of Christ by confessing Him as Lord, to His glory and their blessing. But the world at large has neglected God's grace and rejected the claims of Christ. It will be brought to bow in the day of judgment that follows the years of grace.
The good years are the time to act, and the principle reaches past Egypt:
The point was this: the future was to be provided for. There is a great principle there. Whatever you do not have as regards this life, make sure for eternity. Look ahead. The future is there.
Abundance itself is what makes people careless:
Often when people are greatly blessed they do not consider wisely what the future may hold. They squander the large amount the Lord has given them. Then the lean years come unexpectedly, and they are not prepared.
- One man. God's answer to a coming crisis was not machinery but a person. Everything in the plan hangs on finding him.
- One qualification. God gives the man discernment and wisdom. That wisdom handles grain as well as it handles dreams.
- One reach. Only one man rules. The years of plenty or the years of famine bring everyone under him.
- One greater. The man who described the office filled it. He pictures Christ, raised from the dead and set at the head of all things.
- One warning. Store during the plenty. Famine is coming, and abundance is the very thing that makes people forget it.
Let Pharaoh do [this] let him appoint overseers over the land, and take the fifth part of the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty,
Joseph has just told Pharaoh what the dreams mean. Now he goes further and proposes a plan: overseers across the land, and a fifth of each harvest stored during the good years.
Joseph was not asked for advice. One writer explains why he gave it anyway, and what would have happened had he stayed silent.
Joseph was not content only to interpret the dreams of the king... He saw that the case demanded the most energetic and careful measures. The light given from above had to be put to use: a long period of over-abundant plenty, then an equally long, certain and extreme scarcity to follow. So he rose above all hesitation. A man just out of the obscurity and shame of a prison would not normally advise a king and his court on affairs of state... Confidence in the revealed mind of God removed his fear that they would brush him aside. It also drew out his heart in goodwill to the king and his people. Otherwise they might soon forget the dream and its meaning as a passing sensation. Then they would fall into the usual carelessness of unbelief, wasting the coming plenty and ignoring the scarcity to follow.
Notice what Joseph puts first: not a system, but one man to lead it.
Joseph not only interpreted the dreams. He also told Pharaoh what should be done, since these things were coming. What was needed was the man of wisdom who could be trusted to carry them out. In fact, Joseph was speaking on God's behalf. He showed that on the human side, faced with these acts of God, only one thing was needed: A MAN.
The overseers of this verse work under that one man. Another writer sees God's own design behind the whole plan.
Two things mark this plan. First, God ordains that only one man shall be over the land; second, God will so order circumstances that all will be brought under the rule of this man. Joseph was to be set over all, and all would be brought under Joseph by the seven years of plenty followed by the seven years of famine. The circumstances and the man would combine to bring about God's purposed plan.
Only one part in five went into store. One writer draws out what that says about the size of the harvests, and about how people treat plenty.
He must appoint a wise, dependable man to manage the great work of gathering produce into storehouses throughout the land of Egypt. This would need many helpers. During the seven years of plenty, they would need only one-fifth of the produce of the land to be kept for the future (vv. 33-36). The abundance of the first seven years must have been great. Often when people are greatly blessed they do not consider wisely what the future may hold. They squander the large amount the Lord has given them. Then the lean years arrive without warning, and they are not ready.
Storing a fifth while the barns overflow can look like fear of the future. One writer treats it instead as respect for what God has given.
The Lord would not have us lose His gifts through waste or neglect, just because we have more than enough for the moment. God gave seven years of plenty in Egypt. The spirit of divine wisdom in Joseph devised effective measures to gather up the surplus and store it for the days of famine. Nothing was to be lost!... The lesson applies widely. To waste His gifts is to despise them, and to lose them. Economy is not contrary to true generosity but consistent with it.
One writer reads the years of plenty as a picture of the present day, and asks who is doing the gathering.
During the years of plenty Joseph uses his place of exaltation to reap a great harvest for Egypt... In this day of grace the world is passing through its "seven plenteous years." The grace of God is giving out blessings by "handfuls." The men of the world may completely ignore the blessings that grace brings to their door, and go their way with no thought for the future. It seems the men of Egypt took no advantage of the years of plenty to store for the years of famine. We do not read that they gathered up any food. It was Joseph who went throughout the land and gathered up corn. And so today it is the exalted Christ who is reaping a harvest of souls during the day of grace.
- One man. God announced what was coming. On the human side, one thing was needed: a wise man Pharaoh could trust, with overseers serving under him.
- One plan. God arranged both the man and the circumstances, so that everyone in the land came under Joseph's rule.
- One fifth. Egypt stored only a fifth — a small share, which hints at how vast the good years were, and how easily people waste blessing.
- One habit. Storing the surplus was wisdom, not meanness. God wants none of His gifts wasted, and careful economy fits well with real generosity.
- One warning. The plenty is running now. The Egyptians gathered nothing for themselves, and people still pass through years of grace with no thought for what follows.
and let them gather all the food of these coming good years, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, for food in the cities, and keep [it].
Joseph has just told Pharaoh what his dreams mean, and now he adds a plan for the seven good years. Why would a prisoner dare to advise a king, and why should years of plenty need guarding at all?
Pharaoh called Joseph in to interpret a dream, not to advise on running the country. One writer explains why he spoke anyway.
Normally a man just out of the obscurity and shame of prison would hold back from advising a king and his court on urgent affairs of state. Joseph rose above all such hesitation. He was sure that God had made His mind known, so he had no fear of being brushed aside. That same confidence drew out his heart in goodwill to the king and his people, and to the others so closely concerned. Without his advice they might soon forget the dream and its meaning, treating it as a wonder that fades in a few days. They would sink into the usual carelessness of unbelief, wasting the plenty that was coming and ignoring the shortage that would follow.
The verse puts the gathering in the good years, not the hungry ones. That lesson reaches past Egypt to any household or nation enjoying good times.
Often when people are greatly blessed they do not think wisely about what the future may hold. They waste the large amount the Lord has given them. Then the lean years come without warning, and they are not ready. In the same way, when a nation has lived in luxury, a recession is likely to strike, and the whole atmosphere fills with bitter complaining. Through such things God speaks loudly to people.
Another writer takes the same counsel and presses it further than food supplies:
The point was this: they had to provide for the future. There is a great principle there. Whatever you lack in this life, make sure of eternity. Look ahead. The future is there.
The grain does not just pile up. It goes into store "under the authority of Pharaoh." One writer asks where Egypt's real security lay during the famine. His answer leads on to where God's riches are kept today.
All Egypt was in need during those seven years of famine. Where were Pharaoh's riches, his wealth, so that he could meet all that need and still keep his throne, his majesty and his glory? In Joseph — not in the storehouses of grain, but in Joseph, with all his wisdom and ability, in Zaphnath-paaneah. All Pharaoh's riches lay in the wisdom and the great administrative ability of that young man Joseph. Now, where are all God's riches today? Not in Israel, not in the nations, not in the church, but in Christ Jesus.
"Zaphnath-paaneah" is the name Pharaoh gave Joseph in Egypt.
The verse tells others to do the gathering. One writer notes who did it in the end, and sees in that a picture of Christ at work today.
In this day of grace the world is passing through its "seven plentiful years," when the grace of God is giving blessings by "handfuls." The people of the world may completely ignore the blessings that grace brings to their door, and go on with no thought for the future. We do not read that the men of Egypt gathered any food. It was Joseph who went through the land and gathered the grain. And so today it is the exalted Christ who is reaping a harvest of souls during the day of grace. He is going through the world, gathering His people out of it.
The verse ends by telling them to keep the food. But food kept in the cities was never meant to stay locked away. One writer sees here both a picture of Christ and the one place the picture breaks down.
Joseph opened all the storehouses of Egypt (v. 56). In the same way the Lord Jesus has opened the storehouses of heaven through His great sacrifice at Calvary, to bless those who have found themselves reduced to spiritual poverty. One great contrast, however, is that the Lord Jesus gives freely, "without money and without price."
- Word — Joseph spoke up because he was sure the meaning came from God. Without that certainty the warning would have faded, and the plenty would have gone to waste.
- Gather — the storing happens in the good years. Few people look past plenty to the lean years coming, so the counsel is to look ahead and make sure of eternity.
- Keep — the grain went into store under Pharaoh's authority. Egypt's real wealth in the famine lay not in the barns but in Joseph, the man who managed them.
- Open — the store was not meant to stay shut. Joseph opened Egypt's storehouses, just as Christ has opened the storehouses of heaven to those reduced to spiritual poverty.
- Free — one great contrast remains — the Lord Jesus gives without money and without price.
And let the food be as store for the land for the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt, that the land perish not through the famine.
Joseph closes his advice to Pharaoh with the reason for the whole plan: Egypt must not starve. A verse about grain storage raises the largest questions — who gives such wisdom, who holds the reserve, and who lives through the famine.
Most people treat abundance as an invitation to spend. Joseph treated it as a chance to prepare.
The details that follow show Joseph's excellent administration. For most people, overflowing plenty leads to reckless spending and waste. But he knew Whom he had believed. He entered wisely into the duty that fell on him more than on anyone else in Egypt, and he made provision for the years of extreme want. So everyone living on that soil was to benefit enormously, from the ruler down to every subject — and so would people far beyond Egypt. The overflowing plenty set the first seal on the prophecy God had given and interpreted; the famine set the second.
Pharaoh saw more than a good reading of the dream. Joseph also handed him a plan.
Pharaoh recognised the wisdom of God not only in the interpretation but also in the counsel that Joseph gave. And who was wiser than Joseph to take Egypt's critical case in hand? He could manage its resources during the seven years of plenty, and hand out the stores during the seven years of famine that would surely follow.
The verse looks no further than Egypt. Joseph's new name shows how much further the reserve reached.
Little did aged Jacob dream how Egypt had become the life-centre for the countries around it. Little did he think that the son he mourned as dead had been raised by the hand of God to chief power in Egypt. Nor did he know that by his wisdom Joseph was the sustainer of life, not only of Egypt, but of the world around it. His name, Zaphnath-paaneah, means The food of life, or, of the living.
The account is careful about who does the work. It never credits the saved grain to the people who would later eat it.
During the years of plenty Joseph uses his place of exaltation to reap a great harvest for Egypt. He deals with the harvest of Egypt during the years of plenty; he will deal with the men of Egypt during the years of famine. Apparently the men of Egypt took no advantage of the years of plenty to lay up for the years of famine. We do not read that they gathered up any food. It was Joseph who went throughout the land and gathered up the grain. And so today it is the exalted Christ who is reaping a harvest of souls during the day of grace. He is going through the world gathering His people out of the world. But when the days of grace have run their course He will deal with the men of the world.
The verse puts a whole nation's survival in one man's hands. Commentators find in that a pattern for how God will govern.
This, too, is God's plan for the future government of the world. Not by parliaments, or cabinets, not by counsellors and ministers, will God govern, but by "a Man discreet and wise" set over all. And all will be brought under His sway either by the day of grace or in the day of judgment — the years of plenty or the years of famine.
Commentators apply the same two seasons to the world's own future.
Even now the world is enjoying its plenteous years, and it hardly believes in its plainly predicted future. Yet the time of famine is surely not far off. It will reveal the resources of the One who will then be seen as the only One able to meet its terrible needs.
Joseph's counsel was policy for a nation. One writer turns it on the reader.
Joseph was wise. He said in effect to Pharaoh, Make provision for the future. Now I do not want you to be thinking of the things of this world. I want you to be ready for eternity. I want you to be ready for that moment of unequalled importance in your history, when you have to pass out of this world.
- Reserve. The seven full years were never about the harvest itself. They were about the store kept back from it. Plenty exists to answer a famine that has not arrived.
- Wisdom. Pharaoh saw God's wisdom in the plan, not just in the reading of the dream. No one else could both save the surplus and share it out later.
- Gatherer. Egypt's people laid up nothing; Joseph gathered. The man they never chose built the store that saved them.
- Reach. The stated aim was Egypt's survival. Yet Joseph's name — "the food of life" — marks him as the sustainer of the world around Egypt too.
- Urgency. Commentators read the plenteous years as today's day of grace, and the famine as what follows. The one question left is personal: have you made provision before it comes?