Genesis 47:13

Joseph's father and brothers were settled in the best of the land and fed there. We now turn to how things stood among the Egyptians. This takes up verses 13-26. As the dreams had foretold, the famine grew steadily worse. The people were fed, but not as those in Goshen were. They had to buy their food from Joseph, who acted for Pharaoh. They brought their money, and when that ran out their cattle, and when those ran out they had to sell their land.

Jacob's family was clearly not put under the same bondage as the Egyptians at this time. Pharaoh had given them land and Joseph had supplied their food. They grew and multiplied greatly. They did not become absorbed into Egyptian culture, but kept their identity as the children of Israel.

First "Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt" (Gen. 47:14); second, he "supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year" (v. 17); third, he "bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh" (v. 20); and last, he says, "I have bought you this day" (v. 23). So you see the money fell into Joseph's treasury, and the cattle became his. The lands fell into his hand, and at last 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.

They had spent it all and still needed food... the people came to Joseph again telling him they had nothing left except their bodies and their lands. Now they ask Joseph to take their land and also make the people the property of Pharaoh. Are we not to learn from this that it is good for us to be brought down to nothing?

As in the time we have referred to, only those who dealt with Joseph in their need had bread, so it is now. Christ is our Life-sustainer. Many are faint, confused and uncertain, because they do not go to Him to be nourished by His truth. As in the old days the people came to Joseph saying, "Give us food," so all believers have to learn that there is famine everywhere apart from the blessing of the One greater than Joseph... This Joseph was a remarkable type of Christ risen and glorified. His brothers hated him and sold him. He was falsely accused and put into a dungeon. After he came out, he was highly exalted. Then, by God's ordering, he became the giver of bread to preserve life — a striking picture of the Lord Jesus, our Life-sustainer.

So everything passes under the absolute control of Joseph — money, cattle, the land, and finally the people themselves... Many a ruler has made crushing claims, but not one has ever dared to claim everything the way Joseph did. What is more, those who have made large claims on their subjects have not been able to make them good. Others, in trying, have provoked rebellion and revolution. Joseph, however, not only makes unheard-of claims, but makes them good without a single voice raised in rebellion.

The time of famine is surely not far off which will show the resources of Him who will then be seen as the only One able to meet its terrible demands.

The people, bankrupt through the famine, receive their lands back from the bounty of the king. They return him one fifth of what the land produces. That fifth is the token of what they owe to the grace from which they have received everything.