During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly,
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.)
Abundance Without Measure
This was no ordinary good year. The harvest was extravagant, and one writer sets its scale beside the age we live in:
C. KnappThere 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."
The First Proof That God Had Spoken
Joseph had told Pharaoh two things: seven full years, then seven empty ones. The full years come first, and they are the first evidence:
William KellyWhat 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.
The One Who Gathered the Grain
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:
Hamilton SmithIn 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.
Plenty With a Closing Date
The years of plenty were counted. They were always going to end, and one writer ties that to the urgency of today:
C. KnappAfter 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."
Living Like Beggars in a Time of Plenty
This verse sits between Joseph's exaltation and the famine. One writer applies that window to what Christians now hold:
Michael HardtVerse 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?
Summary
- 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.