Genesis 47:24

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.

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.

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.)

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).

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.

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.

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.