And in the seven years of plenty the land brought forth by handfuls.
Joseph had told Pharaoh that seven years of plenty would come, and then seven years of famine. This verse is where the land itself proves him right. Commentators also read this overflowing harvest as a picture of the present day of God's giving. That raises a question: who is gathering while it lasts?
(Some older translations read, "the earth brought forth by handfuls." The writers below comment on that wording.)
This was no ordinary good year. The harvest was extravagant, and one writer sets its scale beside the age we live in:
There were seven years, not of plenty only, but of "great plenty." And during those years, we read, "the earth brought forth by handfuls." It was a time of extraordinary abundance. And there never was a day like the one in which we live. Never before this present age did God send His messengers out into all the world. He sent them to proclaim to every sinner a free and full salvation through faith in the name of His own exalted Son. In all God's earlier dealings with the earth there was never a time of such "abundance," such "great plenty."
Joseph had told Pharaoh two things: seven full years, then seven empty ones. The full years come first, and they are the first evidence:
What follows shows how well Joseph managed Egypt. For most people, overflowing plenty leads to extravagance and waste. But he knew in Whom he believed. He wisely took up the duty that fell on him more than on anyone else in the land of Egypt, and he made provision for the years of severe want... The overflowing harvest set the first seal on the prophecy God had given and interpreted. The famine set the second seal. That seal struck even harder those who barely believed such a change could come — a change so ruinous to comfort, and more and more dangerous to life.
A whole nation had food in its hands, but the record names only one man gathering it. One writer reads that silence as part of the picture:
In this day of grace the world is passing through its "seven plentiful years." The grace of God is giving out blessings by "handfuls." People of the world may neglect those blessings entirely, even though grace brings them to their door. They may go their way with no care for the future. It seems the people of Egypt took no advantage of the years of plenty to store 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 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 people of the world.
The years of plenty were counted. They were always going to end, and one writer ties that to the urgency of today:
After Joseph's exaltation came the seven years of plenty. And these seven years of great abundance picture, if they do not exactly foreshadow, the present age of grace we are so happy to live in. "Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation," 2 Corinthians 6:2 says. And it will last till the coming of the Lord... Seven is the number of spiritual perfection, whether of good or evil. In these twice seven years we see two complete periods of time. The present is "the year of the Lord's favor." What follows is "the day of vengeance of our God."
This verse sits between Joseph's exaltation and the famine. One writer applies that window to what Christians now hold:
Verse 47 brings out another interesting detail about timing: "And in the seven years of plenty the land brought forth by handfuls." The time of the church corresponds to the "years of plenty" in which men and women are blessed as nobody has ever been blessed before (Ephesians 1:3). Outside the church age, no believer could ever claim to be "chosen before the foundation of the world," or "made acceptable in the Beloved." Not even the greatest men of God could claim it. Nor could Adam before he sinned. None of them could claim to be linked with Christ, or to have Christ as head, or to have any of the many blessings that belong to Christians alone. Even so, one question remains: do we enjoy these riches, or do we live as beggars in the time of plenty?
- Word. The overflowing harvest was God's first seal on what He had said through Joseph. The famine would be the second.
- Handfuls. This was not just a good season. It was extraordinary — a picture, commentators say, of a day of giving unlike any before it.
- Gatherer. The record never says the Egyptians stored anything. Joseph went through the land and gathered it in. So the exalted Christ gathers souls now.
- Window. The years of plenty were counted, and seven years of famine followed. That is why "now is the day of salvation" carries weight.
- Now. The riches are real. The question is whether we live like beggars in the middle of them.
And he gathered up all the food of the seven years that was in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities; the food of the fields of the city, which were round about it, he laid up in it.
The seven good years come just as Joseph said they would. He travels through Egypt and stores each city's harvest in that city, and commentators press one question: why did it all rest on one man?
Plenty usually makes people careless with it. Joseph did the opposite, and one writer traces his steadiness to what he believed:
The details that follow reveal the admirable administration of Joseph. Great plenty with most people leads to extravagance and waste. But he knew in Whom he believed, and he entered wisely into the duty which fell on him more than on anyone in the land of Egypt, and provided accordingly for the years of extreme want.
The same writer adds that the plenty did two things — it fed people, and it proved God's word true:
In this way everyone living on the soil was to benefit in the highest degree, from the ruler to every subject, and far beyond that land. The overflowing plenty put the first seal on the prophetic truth God had given and interpreted; the famine put the second.
The verse names only one gatherer. One writer draws a picture out of that:
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. In this day of grace the world is passing through its "seven plentiful years." The grace of God is giving blessings by "handfuls." The men of the world may completely ignore the blessings that grace brings to their door. They go on their way with no thought for the future. 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 grain. And so today it is the exalted Christ who is reaping a harvest of souls during the day of grace.
Egypt now had one man over all its food. One writer takes that as a picture of what God plans for the world:
This, too, is God's plan for the future government of the world. Not by parliaments or cabinets, not by advisers and ministers, will God govern, but by "a Man discreet and wise" set over all. And all will be brought under His rule either by the day of grace or in the day of judgment — the years of plenty or the years of famine.
The storehouses Joseph filled reached far past Egypt's borders. One writer says the world's wheat supply hung on them:
Naturally speaking, wheat would have disappeared from the earth altogether if Joseph had not stored up the precious grain in Egypt with the wisdom God gave him. Through seed time and harvest it has been reproduced and kept in the earth as the true staff of life. And in it, given by God, we have a remarkable picture of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Another writer notes how Egypt treated that mercy later:
As to Egypt: Joseph was given to that land in mercy, and by him God made it the head of the nations, and the granary of the whole earth. But Joseph was forgotten, mercy was slighted, and then Moses and the plagues were sent.
Joseph filled the cities while nobody was hungry. One writer applies that to the ministry of God's word:
In a time of plenty who thinks of famine? But famine sometimes follows plenty. It was so in Egypt. There were first seven years of plenty, and then seven years of famine. All the plenty was forgotten when the famine consumed the land. So it is sometimes with the ministry of the word of God. Many honoured servants of the Lord are busy ministering Christ to souls. At such a time few perhaps consider that scarcity may follow the plenty.
- Store, not squander. Great plenty usually ends in waste; Joseph "knew in Whom he believed" and worked the good years for the bad ones.
- Store by one hand. The Egyptians gathered nothing. Joseph went through the land — a picture of the exalted Christ gathering souls during the day of grace.
- Store as God's method. God will rule the world not by parliaments or cabinets but by one wise Man set over all. Plenty or famine, grace or judgment, all are brought under Him.
- Store for the world. The grain fed everyone from the ruler down to the poorest subject, and far beyond Egypt. Without it, one writer says, wheat itself would have been lost.
- Store before you need it. In years of plenty nobody thinks of famine. The same thing can happen with the ministry of God's word.