13 There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. 14 Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace. 15 When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”
16 “Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.
18 When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, 21 and Joseph reduced the people to servitude,[c] from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.
23 Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. 24 But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.”
25 “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”
26 So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—still in force today—that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s.
27 Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
Dear God, I do not remember this story, but it is really interesting to see that Joseph basically used the famine to increase Pharaoh’s wealth and enslave the Egyptian people. It is hard to believe that he would do this. In the framework of “what would Jesus do?” this doesn’t seem to quite fit. I would have thought that after about year four or five of the famine, when all of the money was gone, Joseph would have said, “You know what, it’s okay. I know you are out of money. Just take a ration of food since you are a citizen of Egypt.
Here at our charitable medical clinic we charge for the services we provide, but if the patient tells us they are out of money we find a way to make arrangements for them. I have to admit that, yesterday, I did try to make a woman feel guilty because she had received services almost two years ago from a surgeon who helps our patients and still had a balance with him that she hadn’t paid. Now, she needs more help and the surgeon said that he needs some attention to the previous balance before he can address the new one. We were able to get it all worked out, but I think the woman knows in a new way that the care she receives here does come with at least some amount of cost.
Father, I guess the trick is to find the line between responsibility and charity. I am surprised that Joseph didn’t show more charity here. Perhaps it is because of his feelings of responsibility to Pharaoh. Perhaps it was a cultural norm. Regardless, I do not think Joseph’s example is a good one. I also don’t, however, think that he should have just given all of the food away for free. There needs to be a balance, and it is a balance that I need to work harder to find as well. I tend to go too far the other way from Joseph, and that isn’t right either. So help me to simply look at a given situation with your eyes and then wait for your still, small voice to guide me as I make decisions on how to show mercy to and yet require responsibility from others.
Emails to God 
George
February 20, 2012 at 1:14 pm
This story has bothered me for quite some time. The grain that Joseph was selling back to the Egyptians was grain that had been taken from them by force for 7 years. They had had a 20% tax enforced by the government of Egypt to confiscate their food. Then, when a famine hit, he charged them money and cattle and land to receive their own food that he had had taken by force. Finally, when they were flat broke, he put all of Egypt (except the ruling class and priests – which included him and his family and extended family) into slavery to Pharaoh in perpetuity.
I actually think that this is why the Hebrews were eventually enslaved in Egypt themselves. They were enslaved for more than 400 years when a “Pharaoh arose that did not know Joseph”. Perhaps it was justice that the Hebrews were enslaved. When a thief stole something, the Scriptures taught that the thief had to pay back 7 times the amount stolen as restitution. How many years were the Egyptians under bondage to Pharaoh (and the Hebrew ruling class of Joesph’s family)? Perhaps the slavery of Israel was payment of restituion? I don’t know, but you are not alone in being bothered by this episode.
John D. Willome
February 20, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Thanks for the comment. I have long thought that God actually used the 400 years of slavery so that the nation of Israel could grow in an “incubator”. They were pretty exposed to being wiped out at any time living where they were. But the Egypt years (both pre-slavery and during slavery) were a time when they grew by quite a bit. In fact, Exodus tells us that the more oppressive things got the more the Israelites multiplied.
One of the reasons I reject prosperity teaching is that I believe that God needs some of us to live lives that will never be pretty or finacially rewarding. Generation after generation of Israelites were born, lived, and died in slavery, seemingly as part of God’s plan. The widow that Jesus saw put her small donation in and He lauded her for her sacrificial and joyful giving not only went home poor that day, but she never knew that Jesus used her as an example that would be told for thousands of years. Is my life and “comfort” really worth more than theirs?
But, yes, the story of the decisions Joseph made here is an interesting one that is hard to reconcile with the Joseph we all know and love.
Ike
July 12, 2013 at 5:01 pm
I have been contemplating this for several days now. And I will admit it is a conundrum! We can conjecture all we want but still remain in the dark. Jacob was a supplanter, a heel grabber, a sneak and a thief. Wow, good start huh…well he was also no Abraham. Because of his nature of sin and lack of trust in God to perform any promises he and his mom took it upon themselves to secure ‘the birthright’. Bad plan…Jacob was no different than any other fallen man except for God’s promise to Abraham and his performance of HIS WORD. Because he was sneaky and deceitful he was dealt with in the same way by Laban even though he was blessed. Now Isaac or Israel also had his foibles but he also had ‘the promise’. But, underhandedness seems to run in the family genes! Isaac has several wives, no wonder he had problems, but most of his children envied Joseph because he apparently was spiritual and the blessing rested on him. But the story repeats, the deceit, the underhandedness and lying to their father Israel. Now was Joseph exhibiting the same traits as his kin by mistreating the Egyptians…I really do not know. However if Joseph is a archetype of Jesus Christ it makes no sense whatsoever, unless, it is an addition by a Levitical Priesthood (or the lying pen of the scribes) to ensnare the people and show Israels treatment of those outside their tribe. Eventually Israel was enslaved in the end possibly for their sins and pride. Is turnaround fair play…is it possible they went into servitude because of their family sins…i.e. selling Joseph into slavery. Jealousy appears to be the excuse when Israel was very numerous and prosperous in Egypt. After all they had the best land in Goshen…that can make a people jealous when there is preferential treatment of one over another and that is human nature and not necessarily sin. It can be a sin for those who wish to maintain preferential treatment and all indications are they did have it over the Egyptians. Israel did not have to get rid of its substance to maintain their lives during the famine, quite to the contrary they prospered under Joseph…well that will warm the cockles of your heart if your Egyptians…So I leave to other to determine if God inspired all that is penned and all that transpired or is something missing…In my opinion we do not have all the facts…but we do see the hand of God fulfilling his promise to Abraham. Is turnaround fair play, I leave that to God. But the Egyptian taskmasters went too far in their oppression of Israel! Thus Pharaoh was going to come up against the Lord and Moses for his misdeeds. Pharaoh should have know his own history but obviously he was a flake. All these examples are IMPERFECT examples until Jesus Christ came in the flesh and the imperfect is passing away!
Ike
July 12, 2013 at 7:43 pm
Takes too long to have comment post?