The catastrophe lurking in the background and periodically brought to the forefront by Moses to push the plot forward is again front and center: the famine. This passage shows how Joseph deals with the famine and the desperate plight of the Egyptians. There are three stages, and each is worse than the previous.
1. During the first five years of the famine, the Egyptians exchange money for grain (vv. 13–14).
2. They eventually run out of money. So, Joseph offers to sell them grain for their animals (vv. 15–17).
3. In the second year—the second year of dire straits, without money—the people have nothing left, so they take the initiative to mortgage their land and become royal slaves (vv. 18–26).
At the end of the seven years of famine, all the Egyptians (except the priests) are serfs, paying a 20% tax on all future crops (vv. 24–25).
Joseph appears to be a dictator, a cruel taskmaster. Is he? As we approach this section of Scripture, we must exegete the passage and not engage in eisegesis—reading our modern sensibilities into the text. Many are offended by Joseph's actions. Some commentators question why this passage is even in the Bible. That is a good question. Why does the Lord include this portion in Scripture? To answer that question, we must ask other questions.
In this lesson, we look at the immediate context—the verses before and after the section (the Israelites prosper)—the paragraph prior (Jacob blesses… Pharaoh!), the whole story of Joseph (who fulfills God's covenant promise of a king), and the great themes of the book of Genesis, specifically the covenant, blessing the nations, and the land.
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Kurt Snow serves as a ruling elder at Covenant Reformed Church of Sacramento (RCUS). He served as a member of the Board of Governors of City Seminary of Sacramento from 2000 to 2020.
