And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.”
The famine has drained Egypt and Canaan of money, and the people come back to Joseph with empty hands. Why does Scripture record, step by step, how a whole nation lost everything it owned?
Money first, then everything else
Money is the first of four surrenders. One writer traces the sequence:
W. T. P. WolstonWhen there was "no bread in all the land," the people "fainted because of the famine," and had to go to Joseph to buy grain. So, 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 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)... There is nothing that 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, and it is a great thing when that hunger takes over — when a man feels that he is a sinner, has need of Christ, and must have Christ.
A cry for bread
Where the ESV has "Give us food," older translations read "Give us bread." Their words are not a bargain. They are a cry to the only one who has what they need:
The Christian's FriendIn the old days the people came to Joseph, saying, "Give us bread." In the same way, all believers have to learn that there is famine everywhere apart from the blessing of the greater than Joseph... Joseph was a remarkable picture of Christ risen and glorified. His brothers hated him and sold him. He was falsely accused and put into a dungeon, and after he came out he was raised to the highest place. Then he became, by God's ordering, the one who handed out bread to preserve life — a striking picture of the Lord Jesus, who sustains our life.
The value of having nothing left
Losing everything sounds like disaster. One writer turns it into a question:
L. M. GrantThe people continued to buy food from Joseph as long as they had money (vv. 13-14). But when they had spent it all and still needed food, Joseph told them to bring their livestock to exchange for food. ... Are we not to learn from this that it is good for us to be brought down to nothing?
Why Joseph takes it all
He is not building his own fortune. Everything he gathers goes somewhere else:
Hamilton SmithIf Joseph gathers up all the money, we read he "brought the money into Pharaoh's house" (v. 14). Again, if the land comes under Joseph's control, we read he "bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh" (v. 20). Joseph can say the same about the people: "I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh." So Joseph uses his supreme power, not for his own advancement, but for the glory of Pharaoh.
The same power that strips them also blesses them — on one condition:
Hamilton SmithOn the one hand, Joseph uses his power to subdue everything for Pharaoh. On the other hand, he uses his complete supremacy to bless the people. If Pharaoh's glory is kept up, the people's blessing is secure — but only as they fully submit to Joseph.
Bought at a different price
The surrender that starts here ends with a nation owned by another. One writer points to a price far greater than grain:
G. C. WillisThe Lord Jesus Christ has saved our lives. Our bodies belong to Him, and not to ourselves. "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:19-20), and "you were ransomed... not with perishable things such as silver or gold... but with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18-19). Joseph bought the Egyptians with grain, but the Lord Jesus bought us with His own precious blood. He paid such a great price because He counted us most precious to Himself.
A sample of a world set right
Nobody resents the exchange. One writer sees a preview in it:
J. G. BellettThey hand over their money, their cattle, their lands, and themselves to Pharaoh; and 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.
Summary
- Money fails. Money is the first prop to go. Hunger brings a man down where pride and parentage cannot hold him up.
- Bread is elsewhere. There is famine everywhere apart from the greater than Joseph, and the way to Him is to ask, not to buy.
- Nothing left. The Egyptians lose their money, then their cattle, then their land, and finally themselves. One writer asks whether it is good for us to be brought down to nothing.
- Owned for another. Joseph claims everything and keeps nothing. Money, land and people all go to Pharaoh, for his master's glory.
- Owned, and blessed. Their blessing is secure only as they fully submit to Joseph. Christ bought His people not with grain, but with His own blood.