but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,
Joseph has just told Pharaoh that seven years of plenty are coming, and now he turns to the famine that swallows them. Commentators read it as a warning about how fast plenty vanishes, and as a picture of the world today.
A dream that was already settled
Joseph was not offering Pharaoh a possibility. One writer points out that the repeated dream was part of the message. The famine would wipe out everything the good years produced.
F. B. HoleGod was revealing what He was about to bring on the land of Egypt. First, seven years of very great plenty. Then seven years of severe shortage and famine. Both depended on the waters of the Nile. At the end of the seven years of famine, all the richness of the good years would be gone… What is more, the dream came to Pharaoh twice, so that he would see that the matter was settled and nothing could reverse it, and that God would bring it to pass soon.
Why plenty gets forgotten
The verse says the plenty will be forgotten. One writer gives the reason: good years make people careless, and whole nations do the same.
L. M. GrantThe 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 waste the large amount the Lord has given them. Then the lean years arrive 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 bitter complaining fills the air. Through such things God speaks loudly to men.
The practical answer Joseph gave
Joseph did not stop at announcing the famine. He also told Pharaoh what to do about it.
W. T. P. WolstonJoseph's counsel is very simple. During the years of plenty, store up for the future. Prepare for the future — that is the point.
The world's good years now
One writer reads the two sets of seven years as a picture of the world now, and of the One the coming famine will reveal.
Frederick W. GrantPharaoh's dream foretells seven years of plenty, and then seven years of famine that devour them up. Even now the world is enjoying its own years of plenty, and it hardly believes the future plainly foretold for it. Yet the time of famine is surely not far off. It will display the resources of the One who will then be seen as the only One able to meet its terrible needs.
A famine of a different kind
One writer applies the same pattern to the teaching of God's word. The famine he describes falls on places that once had plenty.
The Christian's FriendIn 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; and all the plenty was forgotten when the famine consumed the land. So it is sometimes with the ministry of the word of God… Some of us can look back and see place after place where the word was once given in plenty. Those places have now become little more than a desolation, almost a famine of the Word. The children of God there are barely existing, instead of living in holy liberty, devoted to the Lord.
Where the famine sent people
The famine left the people with nowhere else to turn, so they cried to Pharaoh. One writer finds the gospel in his reply.
F. B. HoleThe famine that followed was unusually severe, and it spread over the whole inhabited earth. When the people cried to Pharaoh for relief, his reply was simple: "Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do." This at once reminds us of the words the mother of our Lord spoke at His first miracle, "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5). Does a conscience-stricken sinner cry out today for salvation? The answer in three words is, "Go to Jesus." All God's grace and bounty flows through Him.
Summary
- Announced. The famine was not a risk but a settled matter; the repeated dream told Pharaoh it would come soon.
- Forgotten. Abundance has a short memory. Squander the plenty, and nothing is left when the lean years arrive without warning.
- Prepare. Joseph's counsel was simple: store up during the good years. The warning called for action while there was still time.
- Now. The world is living in its own years of plenty and hardly believes the future foretold for it. The famine to come will reveal the only One who can meet it.
- Go. When the famine consumed everything else, one answer was left: go to Joseph. Today the answer is: go to Jesus, for all God's grace and bounty flows through Him.