“And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said:... And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread.”
Now the wisdom of preparing for the drought was to be proved. How gracious God was to the land of Egypt—indeed to the whole world of that day—that He sent one to them through whom life would be preserved. Pharaoh had unbroken confidence in his prime minister and his measures. When the Egyptians, in their distress and fears, cried to him as the father of the country, his one answer was, “Go unto Joseph: what he saith to you, do.”
“And the famine was over all the face of the earth.” Joseph, no longer in the dungeon, now proved himself their savior. Here again is a picture of the Lord Jesus in resurrection, triumphant over death, and through Himself offering life to all who will accept it. “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” John 6: 35.
God provided through Joseph for the needs of the Egyptians, but He had another purpose in connection with the famine and that was to reunite the house of Israel and restore Joseph, his father, and his brethren to one another. For twenty years or more a veil is drawn over the history of Jacob and his sons; but God had not forgotten Jacob, nor the promises made to him, to Abraham and to Isaac.
This presents a picture of the history of the Jewish nation down to our day. Having rejected Christ as their Messiah nearly 2000 years ago they have been set aside. Yet in Romans 11 The Apostle reasons. “Hath God cast away His people?... God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles... Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” vv. 1,11,25,26.
“And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn (wheat); because that the famine was so sore in all lands.” v.57. The famine had spread into Canaan, producing the same distress with the family of Israel. We can see in this the moral government of God who loves righteousness and had a controversy with those brethren of Joseph who had wronged their faithful brother, and had not judged their cruel envy and evil deeds. He who had exalted His wronged and abused servant, was about to break down their hardened hearts and to clear them from the old iniquity which made false their relationship as bearing His name.
But it was also the first step of the accomplishment of His word to Abram: “Know assuredly that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not theirs, and shall serve them;... and afterward they shall come out with great substance... And in a fourth generation they shall come hither again.” Gen. 15: 13-16.
ML 06/25/1967