And it shall come to pass in the increase that ye shall give the fifth to Pharaoh, and the four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
The famine has taken Egypt's money, its livestock and at last its land. The people now stand before Joseph with nothing but their lives, and this verse sets the terms they will live by from here on.
The people had nothing left before this verse begins. Joseph gives them seed to sow, and the larger share of the crop stays with them.
Joseph was not a cruel dictator who was seeking his own wealth by impoverishing the people. Some have strangely criticized the plan he put into action, but the people themselves appreciated it (v. 25). He had bought them and their land. Now he tells them he will give them seed to sow the land. For their labor they would receive four fifths of the crop. This arrangement would work very well, but only on one condition. The rulers had to be fair-minded and considerate of the people, and the people had to act responsibly.
Pharaoh had already bought the land. The people get it back as a gift from the king, and the fifth they hand over each harvest marks what they owe.
The people are bankrupt through the famine. They receive their lands back from the king's bounty, and they give him one fifth of the crop. That fifth is the token of what they owe to the grace they have received. This is how the world, under Christ, will find its place in true blessing before God. The one fifth they hand back reminds us once more of the Abrahamic five — the weakness of the creature and the all-power of God — that one part being a recognition of divine sovereignty. If we take it as two tenths, it may remind us of the double claim of God upon us — by creation and by redemption.
Elsewhere in Scripture the number five stands for what a person owes to other people.
Ten is the number of responsibility towards God, as, for example, in the ten commandments (see also Exodus 30:13, etc.), and five is responsibility towards man. (See Gen. 47:24; Num. 5:7, etc.)
Commentators differ over how to judge the arrangement. One sees a settlement the people welcomed. Another reads the lasting rent as harsh, and traces a long result from it.
So bit by bit everything in Egypt fell into Pharaoh's hands. Joseph made a law that people must acknowledge Pharaoh's ownership by paying rent in kind — a fifth of all the produce. This was oppressive legislation indeed, but quite ordinary in those days. We can see how, over many years, it may have helped to provoke that uprising of the ancient Egyptian dynasty. Scripture records it like this: "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph" (Ex. 1:8).
Read as a picture, Egypt under Joseph shows what the earth will look like when redemption has brought it back to God.
They hand over their money, their cattle, their lands and themselves to Pharaoh. Yet it all pleases them, for they owe their lives to Joseph. Egypt, in those days, was a sample of the new world, the world brought back to God by redemption. It was a "purchased possession," just what the millennial earth is to be. Eph. 1:14. It was creation reconciled, delivered from the doom of famine, from death and the curse, by the hand of a saviour.
Notice who receives the fifth. Joseph claims everything, but never for himself.
A second great fact stands out: in claiming everything, Joseph claims it for Pharaoh. Joseph gathers up all the money, and we read that he "brought the money into Pharaoh's house" (v. 14). The land comes under Joseph's control, and we read that he "bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh" (v. 20). So too, of the people, Joseph can say, "Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh." So Joseph uses his supreme power not to advance himself, but for the glory of Pharaoh.
The two aims are not rivals. One and the same power upholds the throne and blesses the people.
On the one hand, Joseph uses his power to bring everything under Pharaoh. On the other hand, he uses his complete supremacy to bless the people. Where Pharaoh's glory is upheld, the people's blessing is sure — but only as they submit to Joseph without holding anything back.
- Bankrupt. The people owned nothing when Joseph spoke these words. Pharaoh had already bought the land.
- Given. They receive seed and their fields back from the king's bounty, not by buying them.
- Owned. The fifth is the token of what they owe to the grace that saved them. It acknowledges God's sovereignty, and His double claim by creation and redemption.
- Kept. Four parts stay with them — seed, food, and bread for their households. They welcomed the terms, though some have judged them oppressive.
- Foreshadowed. Egypt settled under Joseph is a sample of the world brought back to God by redemption. There one power serves the throne's glory and the people's blessing at once.
And they said, Thou hast saved us alive. Let us find favour in the eyes of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's bondmen.
The Egyptians have nothing left to trade for food, so they hand Joseph their land and themselves — and then thank him for it. How can people who have lost everything call their new place a kindness?
The Egyptians name Joseph as the one who kept them alive. The same note sounds again on a far larger scale.
And the One who has secured everything for the glory of God and the blessing of man will be the centre of heaven's praise. As in the days of old, those who had been blessed by Joseph come to Joseph saying, "You have saved our lives" (Gen. 47:25). They recognise that they owe everything to Joseph. So too the great crowd of the redeemed delight to say, "You are worthy … for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation."
Such a confession only comes after the famine has taken everything, step by step. One writer traces the stages through the chapter and reads them as a picture of what brings a person to Christ.
First, "Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt" (Gen. 47:14). Second, he "fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock" for that year (v. 17). Third, he "bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh" (v. 20). And last, he says, "I have this day bought you" (v. 23). So you see the money fell into Joseph's coffers, the cattle became his, the lands fell into his hand. And finally Joseph acquired the people themselves for Pharaoh. Nothing brings a man down like hunger. Neither a man's pride nor his parentage can fill him in the day of hunger and need. … Nothing brings a man down like soul-hunger. It is a great thing when the soul-hunger becomes commanding, when a man feels that he is a sinner, and has need of Christ, and must have Christ.
Joseph has now brought all Egypt under one ruler. The people's own words show how they took that change.
Now Joseph brings all the land and all its inhabitants into full order and subjection to Pharaoh. They are now, in the fullest sense, the heritage and possession of Pharaoh, lord alike of Goshen and of all. … Though brought into order and subjection, it is really in blessing. "You have saved our lives; let us find grace in the sight of my lord," is the people's word — "we will be Pharaoh's servants."
(Older translations read "let us find grace in the sight of my lord" where the ESV has "may it please my lord.")
Some readers have faulted Joseph's policy. The people's own verdict in this verse answers them.
Joseph was not a cruel dictator who was seeking his own wealth by impoverishing the people. Some have strangely criticised the plan that he carried out, but the people themselves appreciated it (v. 25). He had bought them and their land. Now he tells them he will give them seed to sow the land. For their labour they would receive four fifths of the crop.
The Egyptians do not keep the whole harvest. What they hand back marks where their land came from.
The people, bankrupt through the famine, receive back their lands from the bounty of the king. They return him one fifth of the produce of the land. That fifth is the token of their debt to the grace from which they have received all. Two tenths may remind us of the double claim of God upon us — by creation and by redemption. All the world will own this in the day to come.
The people are content in their new place. One writer sees Egypt under Joseph as a small model of the earth under Christ's reign.
All the people are made willing in that day of his power. Their money, their cattle, their lands, and themselves, are made over to Pharaoh; and yet all pleases them, for they owe their lives to Joseph. Egypt, in those days, was a sample of the new world, the world brought back to God by redemption. It was a "purchased possession," just what the earth will be in the days of Christ's kingdom. … It was creation reconciled. A saviour's hand had delivered it from the doom of famine, from death and the curse.
- Emptied — hunger took their money, cattle, land, and at last themselves. Soul-hunger does the same work in anyone who must have Christ.
- Saved — their whole account of it is simple: Joseph gave them their lives back, and they owe him everything.
- Owned — they ask to belong to Pharaoh, and that subjection turns out to be blessing, not loss.
- Provided — Joseph gave them seed and left them four fifths of the harvest. The fifth they gave back was their token of a debt to grace.
- Pictured — a saviour's hand bought this land back from famine and curse. It is a sample of the earth under Christ, where willing people own God's double claim of creation and redemption.
And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, [that] the fifth should be for Pharaoh, except the land of the priests theirs alone did not become Pharaoh's.
Joseph's famine plan ends with a law that outlived him. A fifth of every harvest went to Pharaoh, and only the priests' land was left out. Was the rule harsh or kind? And why does Joseph's rise end with a tax law?
The law was the last step in a long process. Joseph set the terms of what came after.
So bit by bit everything in Egypt fell into Pharaoh's hands. Joseph made a law that the people must acknowledge Pharaoh's ownership by paying rent in kind — a fifth of all the produce. This was oppressive legislation indeed, but the sort of thing that was quite ordinary in those days. We can see how over many years it may have helped to provoke that uprising of the ancient Egyptian dynasty. Scripture records it this way: "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph." (Ex. 1:8).
Commentators differ. Another writer looks at what the farmer kept, not at what he paid.
Joseph was not a cruel dictator seeking his own wealth by impoverishing the people. Some have strangely criticised the plan he carried out, but the people themselves appreciated it (v. 25). He had bought them and their land. Now he tells them he will give them seed to sow the land. For their labour they would receive four fifths of the crop. This arrangement would work remarkably well. But it depended on rulers who were fair-minded and considerate of the people, and on people who acted responsibly.
Joseph held total power. Notice who he used it for.
In claiming all, Joseph does so for Pharaoh. If Joseph gathers up all the money, we read that he "brought the money into Pharaoh's house" (v. 14). If the land comes under Joseph's control, we read that he "bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh" (v. 20). So too of the people Joseph can say, "I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh." Joseph uses his supreme power not for his own advancement, but for the glory of Pharaoh.
The fifth was more than a tax. It pointed back to how the people got their land in the first place.
The people, bankrupt through the famine, receive back their lands from the bounty of the king. They return to him one fifth of the produce of the land. That fifth is the token of their debt to the grace from which they have received all. Two tenths may remind us of the double claim of God upon us — by creation and by redemption. All the world shall own this in the day to come.
The verse names a single group outside the law. Their exemption has been read as a picture of a different kind of standing altogether.
The land of the priests was exempt from this decree. Pharaoh already supported them, and nothing changed in this respect (v. 22). These were not priests ordained by God. Yet they still picture the liberty that true believers in the Lord Jesus have today. The people illustrate the sphere of government. The priests speak of the sphere where the Spirit of God works freely in grace. As priests of God, all saints today are not under bondage; grace makes full provision for them.
That exemption points forward to the age to come:
Pharaoh bought all the land except the land of the priests, and it became part of his footstool. And so in the coming kingdom: all shall be of the footstool, except the inheritance of that family who have been related to Joseph in his Egypt, to Jesus in heaven. They are then to be kings and priests to God, heirs of the throne with Jesus, with their inheritance apart from the footstool.
Whatever we make of the policy, its shape points beyond Egypt.
Though this action of Joseph strikes us as oppressive, we cannot but think it has a typical value. It shows how fully he was "lord of all Egypt," and so a figure of Christ. Now the Lordship of Christ is absolute, for if He is not Lord of all and of every detail, He is not Lord at all. As Lord He subdues everything to God and disposes of everything according to the Divine mind.
Notice how the Egyptians took it.
I cannot but observe the willing, unmurmuring subjection which the Egyptians yield to Joseph. He moves them here and there, and settles them as he likes, but all is welcome to them; and so, in the days of the kingdom, the whole world will be ready to say, Jesus has done all things well. What blessedness! Subjection to Jesus, but willing and glad subjection!
- Famine emptied Egypt. The people lost money and land, and Joseph set the terms of what came next.
- Grace gave the land back. The fifth was the token of what the people owed the king's bounty.
- Four fifths stayed with the farmer. That is why commentators differ over whether the law was harsh or generous.
- Priests alone stood outside the law, already provided for — a picture of believers who serve by grace, not bondage.
- Christ is the Joseph in view: Lord of every detail, using all power for another's glory, and welcomed rather than resented.