Commentary - Genesis 47:13-26

Bird's-eye view

In this passage, we see the outworking of God's severe providence in the form of a famine, and the wisdom of God's man, Joseph, in managing it. This is not simply a lesson in economics or statecraft, though it is certainly that. At its heart, this is a story about salvation. A world is perishing, and God has appointed a savior who holds the keys to the storehouses of bread. The people of Egypt and Canaan, having exhausted all their own resources, are brought to a place of utter dependence. They come with nothing but their need, and Joseph provides. In doing so, he fundamentally restructures the entire society of Egypt under Pharaoh. This entire episode is a living parable of the gospel. The world is starving for the Bread of Life, and men must come to the end of their own resources, their own money, their own strength, before they will willingly sell all that they have to come under the authority of the one who can save them.

Outline

Commentary

13 Now there was no food in all the land because the famine was very heavy, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.

The narrative begins by stating the grim reality. The famine was not a minor inconvenience; it was "very heavy." The word for languished means to be faint, to be exhausted. This is a picture of a world brought to its knees. God's judgments in the world are not for show; they are effectual. He withholds the rain, and the machinery of civilization grinds to a halt. Both Egypt, the world power, and Canaan, the promised land, are undone by this. God is the great equalizer, and His providence governs all nations. No one is exempt from dependence upon Him for their daily bread.

14 And Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

Joseph, acting as Pharaoh's wise steward, centralizes the capital. This is not a malicious act. It is the natural consequence of a crisis when one person has what everyone else needs. All the liquid assets of the known world flow into Pharaoh's treasury. Notice the orderliness of it. This is not chaos; it is a massive, controlled transfer of wealth. Joseph is not embezzling; he brings the money into Pharaoh's house. He is a faithful servant, managing his master's affairs with integrity. This is a key principle: God's men are to be faithful in whatever station they are placed, whether in a prison or as prime minister.

15 Then the money came to an end in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan. So all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food, for why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone.”

The first resource is now gone. Money, which seems so powerful, is ultimately just a token. When there is no bread, gold is inedible. The people recognize their predicament. They come to Joseph, the one with the bread, and state the obvious: their money is gone. Their plea, "why should we die in your presence?" is telling. They see him as the source of life. To die before the face of the one who has bread is the ultimate irony. This is the cry of every sinner before Christ. We have nothing to offer, our spiritual currency is spent, and we will perish before the very face of our only hope unless He acts.

16 Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.

Joseph does not give a handout. He requires the next level of payment. This is not cruelty; it is wisdom. He is teaching them the true cost of survival and preventing the kind of societal breakdown that comes from mass dependency without responsibility. Their livestock represented their livelihood, their capital goods. They trade their means of production for immediate survival. For one year, this is the arrangement. Joseph is managing this crisis step by step, year by year. He is not improvising; this is all part of the plan God gave him in the interpretation of the dream. He is feeding them, the text says, shepherding them through the crisis.

18 Then that year came to an end. And they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money has come to an end, and the livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

Now they have reached the end of themselves. Money is gone. Livestock is gone. All that remains is their land and their labor. They are completely honest with Joseph: "We will not hide from my lord." This is true repentance. They are not trying to game the system. They lay their situation bare. And notice, the proposal to sell themselves comes from them, not from Joseph. They see the logic of their situation. "Buy us and our land for food." They understand that to live, they must come under a new ownership. They willingly offer themselves as slaves to Pharaoh in exchange for life. This is a beautiful, if stark, picture of conversion. The sinner, recognizing he is spiritually destitute, says to the Lord Jesus, "Buy me. I have nothing left. Take my life, take all that I am, in exchange for the bread that gives eternal life." They even think of the future, asking for seed so the land will not be desolate. They want to be productive servants.

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s. 21 As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other end.

Joseph accepts their offer. The entire land of Egypt, with one notable exception, is nationalized. This is a radical restructuring of society, all accomplished without a sword being drawn, because it was driven by necessity and managed with wisdom. The moving of the people to the cities was likely a logistical measure to make food distribution more efficient. He is consolidating the population around the storehouses. This also would have broken up old feudal loyalties and solidified their new relationship directly with Pharaoh. Joseph is a statesman of the highest order.

22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they ate off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land.

Here is a fascinating exception. The pagan priests of Egypt are exempt. Why? Because their provision came directly from the state, from Pharaoh himself. They had a separate arrangement. While we should not draw a direct line to the Christian ministry from the pagan priesthood of Egypt, the principle of a separate sphere is noteworthy. Joseph, acting for Pharaoh, respects this existing arrangement. There is a recognition here that the religious establishment operates on a different economic basis. For the Christian, this points to the principle that the church's provision ultimately comes from her Head, Jesus Christ, and she should not be entangled in the same way as the world in the systems of the world.

23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land. 24 And it will be, at the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

Joseph formalizes the new covenant, if you will. He states the reality: "I have today bought you." Then he immediately provides for them. He doesn't just give them bread for today; he gives them seed for tomorrow. He is restoring their productivity. The terms are simple: a twenty percent flat tax. A fifth goes to Pharaoh. This is the payment for their salvation and for the ongoing stability and provision the government now guarantees. The remaining eighty percent is theirs. In a world where subsistence farming was the norm, this was an exceedingly generous arrangement. He is not an oppressor; he is a wise and benevolent ruler.

25 So they said, “You have kept us alive! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” 26 And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.

The response of the people is not resentment, but profound gratitude. "You have kept us alive!" This is the testimony of a saved people. Their slavery is not a galling yoke but a joyful submission to the one who saved them from death. Their desire is to "find favor" in his sight. This is the heart of a true servant. This arrangement becomes the law of the land, a permanent statute. It was a testimony to the wisdom of Joseph and the salvation he had wrought, a system that endured for generations. The story ends by reiterating the two classes of people in this new Egypt: the servants of Pharaoh who were saved from famine, and the priests of Pharaoh who were provided for all along.

Application

First, we must see the severity of sin. The famine here is a type of the spiritual famine that covers the whole earth. Men are perishing, and all their worldly resources, their money, their good works, their strength, will eventually run out. They cannot save themselves.

Second, God in His mercy provides a savior. Joseph is a magnificent type of Christ. He is the one with the bread. He alone can save. To be saved, we must come to him on his terms, not our own. We must come to the end of our own resources and admit our bankruptcy.

Third, salvation involves a transfer of ownership. The Egyptians willingly said, "Buy us." The Christian life begins when we recognize that we have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Christ. We are not our own. We are His slaves, His bondservants. And this is not a grim reality, but a joyful one. Our response should be the same as the Egyptians: "You have kept us alive! We will be the Lord's slaves."

Finally, our new Master is not a tyrant but a benevolent King. He takes His fifth, His rightful due, but he leaves us with the vast remainder. He gives us seed, He makes us productive, and He provides for us and our children. Our service to Him is not burdensome; it is our life and our peace. This story calls us to abandon all self-reliance and cast ourselves completely on the mercy of our Joseph, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only bread of life.