Welcome to today’s Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation covering Genesis 47:19-21 wherein we see the wise activity of Joseph in managing a people in need.
“Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.” So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s. As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other.
Times were not good east and south of the Mediterranean in those days, but relatively speaking, it was good to at least be an Egyptian at that time. Because of Joseph’s attentiveness to the Lord and ingenuity in management of the country, people were actually surviving through an awful seven-year drought. Still though, was Joseph being a bit harsh with the people of the land? Couldn’t he simply have handed out food to anyone who might have needed some, assuming there was supply? He may have had the freedom to do so, but I don’t think that we’re to recognize Joseph’s activity as ungracious and his treatment of the people as overbearing. Perhaps we even have a thing or two that we might learn from his methods.
One thing that is clear in the Scriptures is that work is good and to be rewarded. When Paul was warning the Thessalonian church about the dangers of laziness he said, If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Joseph understood this principle and knew that it was more beneficial to everyone that the people of the land earn wages instead of only receive gifts. In reality, they already saw themselves as owing Joseph everything: You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh (V. 25). They didn’t do anything to earn this physical salvation they spoke of, but their lives following such were to be ones of activity, work…productivity.
Furthermore, Joseph was put in place as a steward of Pharaoh’s nation. He was responsible for keeping the country strong, the people loyal, and his master as wealthy as possible. Now we could certainly address the good things regarding independence and freedom, but we’re talking about a very different time and situation in this instance. What we know of Joseph is that we have seen him throughout his life conduct himself according to wisdom, faithfulness, and graciousness; we have little reason to think that he is acting otherwise here.
Let me be clear–what I am not advocating is some anti-grace approach to living, but am simply pointing out that Joseph knew something of how life was supposed to work. It was better, at a national level at least, for people to engage in activity as land renting servants than to remain completely independent and simply receive hand-outs from the storehouses. Given such an account, we should be moved to think wisely on how we go about helping others. We should consider the importance of giving to organizations that do the most to truly help the people to which they minister succeed in life. We should say to our Jesus just as the people said to Joseph, “You have saved my life; I am Your servant.” Let us seek to be grace-filled people who wisely discern how to do the most good to others, all ultimately unto our Lord, today.
Last 5 posts by Seth
- Matthew 28:18-20--Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation - April 24th, 2010
- Matthew 27:20-23--Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation - April 23rd, 2010
- Matthew 26:30-33--Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation - April 22nd, 2010
- Matthew 25:29-30--Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation - April 21st, 2010
- Matthew 24:3-5--Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation - April 20th, 2010
