Genesis 41:53-57

The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end. The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.” The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt. All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

Sometimes God allows severe, worldwide disasters to take place. God has His reasons for this and He is under no obligation to tell us what they are. All I know is that, as sinful people, we certainly deserve what we get. Fortunately, God doesn’t always give us what we deserve. In this case, God had positioned Egypt to be a kind of salvation for the people of the earth.

From a meteorological point of view, I wonder what took place in the atmosphere that caused a worldwide famine. I am assuming that there was a lack of water, or that the seasons were not suitable for farming. Perhaps it was combined with destruction by pests. It’s difficult to say, but the world was out of food.

What caught my attention was the bread sales. The world today tells me that when people are hungry, you should give them food, yet, what Joseph did was to sell it to them. I am definitely not against the personal gifting of food to people in need, even if it was because of their own neglect, but this was not a personal gifting. This was the government of Egypt. There is no indication that God expected Egypt to give away the food in their store houses. Both foreigners and Egyptians were required to purchase it instead. God never requires that we give away things free of charge. What we find in practice is that this is a destructive practice for a government to do.

There is a twisted belief in the air that causes us to assume that if something is vitally important like food, clothing, shelter, or healthcare, that it should be given away free of charge. There is no evidence here that this is God’s will. In fact, it appears that God expects everyone to pay what they can. It isn’t right for anyone to take for free what they can pay for. We should be purchasing the things we need, not just trying to take it. The Bible has a word for that. It’s called theft. This goes for Bible teachers too. We owe them because the things they teach us are extremely valuable. We should make sure that they are paid well for the valuable work that they do for us.

Proverbs 22:16 :

Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty.