Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Pharoh and Joseph's People (Gen. 47:11-27)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02-05-2020

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Pharaoh and Joseph’s people  

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                    Reference:  Genesis 47:11-27

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered.  12 Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to their little ones.

13 Now there was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.  14 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.  15 When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, "Give us food, for why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone."  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.  18 When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our lands.  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."  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 removed them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other.  22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land.  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  "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."  25 So they said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves."  26 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.

27 ¶ Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.”

 

In these verses it can be seen that five years takes place, which will be the end of the famine, but by the time these five years were over Pharaoh not only got all of the money in the land, he also got all of the land and even all of the Egyptian people as slaves.  When the famine was over Joseph gave the people seed in order to go back to the land and plant their crops, but Pharaoh got one fifth of the proceeds for these people.  Now I want to contrast what happened to the Egyptian people with what happened to Joseph’s family, for they were living in the land of Goshen and were taken care of by Joseph and not only taken care of but did not have to pay for these services.  The family began to multiply very rapidly and by the time that Moses would led them out of Egypt they would be two million strong.

 

God used Pharaoh and unbelieving world leader to work out his plan and He does that to this day and all throughout history, and for the most part these leaders don’t even realize that God is doing this.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at what is happening in our country I am very saddened by what I see, for there have been millions and millions of babies killed for convenience sake and there is very much immorality in this country and when I look at those who are running for President the only comfort is that God is in control and is on His throne ruling all of the nations and working out His own plan.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord in the storms of life that He has sent my way in order to cause me to grow in my faith and trust Him to conform me more into the image of Jesus Christ, His Son.

 

Memory verses for the week:  Philippians 1:9-11

 

  1. And this I pray, that you love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
  2. so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;
  3. having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

    

No comments:

Post a Comment