We have been studying in the book of Genesis. We are currently in chapter 47 and are nearing the end of this study. This is a good time to think about what God has done in giving us this historical parable in the Bible.
It has been amazing to go through the history of the family of Jacob—him, his son Joseph, and Joseph’s eleven brethren. We have seen how the events that are recorded in these historical parables relate to our present day, how they tie in with the time of the Great Tribulation that we are living in; and we are amazed.
But really, it is not amazing on God’s part, because He is infinite God. He is all-knowing; He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). He knew exactly how history would unfold and exactly what His salvation plan would be. He could work out events and allow certain things to take place in the lives of His people, in the lives of Jacob and Joseph; and through these events, He could instruct us today, many thousands of years later.
I do not know exactly when Moses recorded these events, but it was about 1400 B.C., or 3400 years previous to our day and about 500 years after they took place. The year 1877 B.C. is when Jacob came into Egypt, so it is about 3900 years ago that these actual events dealing with Jacob and his family took place in history.
God, who is patient and long-suffering, had this written down knowing that its real, spiritual truth would not be revealed for almost 3900 years. It would not be known by the people of God in any detail until nearly 4000 years later. That is how God has written a lot of the information in the Bible concerning end-time events. We have to recognize, as we read through Genesis, that these things had been sealed up and closed for a long period of time.
We cannot find any theologian in church history who could have accurately given us the spiritual meaning of these events in Genesis. We could find faithful theologians (such as Matthew Henry) who would, as best they could, give us the account of Joseph. They could help us to understand that Joseph was a picture of Christ, but how could they have carried their understanding of these historical parables all of the way through to their spiritual meanings concerning the end-times?
We see Joseph, a picture of Christ, rising to the right hand of Pharaoh. After coming out of prison, he has dreams that relate to a coming period of seven years of plenty and seven years of famine.
How could any theologian of the past understand and realize what those dreams represented and how they would come to fulfillment? The answer is they could not. If you read a commentary on the book of Genesis from any time in the history of the church, going back no matter how far, you will not find the information that we are seeing today. This is because God had sealed up His Word (Daniel 12:4, 9).
We had brilliant and learned men in times past who were diligent beyond our ability to comprehend. These men spent their entire lives studying the Bible—and without all of the Bible helps that we have available to us in our day. They were fluent in Hebrew and Greek and some other languages like Latin. They diligently studied and compared Scripture with Scripture (1 Corinthians 2:13). Yet, God withheld Truth from them, because it was not the time; it was not for them to know the things that the Father kept in His own power (Acts 1:7), at least not until the proper season—the time of the Great Tribulation.
In our day, individuals, who have all kinds of study helps that the faithful men of the past have put together, might spend maybe a few hours studying the Word of God and be able to study more in those few hours than what took men of the past, days and weeks and months to study. Things begin to open up for those who study the Word of God in our day who have far less IQ’s than those before them. This is not a matter of intelligence; it is not even a matter of diligence: it is a matter of God’s timing. We are living in that time when God is revealing Truth. Therefore, as we read these things in Genesis, we are amazed that God is showing us clearly how they relate to our present day and this time of Great Tribulation.
Let us think about what was going on here. This famine was continuing in the world, even after Jacob entered into Egypt. We have been reading about the progression of this famine—for the first two years, Jacob was in the land of Canaan; then there was a third year of famine when the people of Egypt sold their cattle for corn; and a fourth year of famine when they had to sell their land for corn.
Through this, we are getting a glimpse into the second half of the Great Tribulation. It is progressing and moving towards its climax, towards the end of that famine, the end of the Great Tribulation. We are seeing that Egypt is increasingly being lifted up, and with it, Pharaoh, who sits upon the throne of Egypt. I do not believe that it is possible to find any other nation in history that ever had or has the power that Egypt had in that day.
Egypt had been a great nation and Pharaoh had been a great king, even before Joseph came out of prison, but there were also other great nations at that time. There were other powers in the earth and other great kings who reigned in the world of that day. But then, Pharaoh brought Joseph out of prison. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, giving Pharaoh insight into the next seven years of plenty and the following seven years of famine. In following those dreams that God gave Joseph the ability to interpret, and in recognizing that these things would come to pass, Egypt became the greatest and mightiest nation upon earth without comparison.
There was a famine in all of the lands. The Bible says that all of the nations came to Egypt (Genesis 41:57). All of the countries of the world were experiencing that seven-year famine, so they brought their money and their wealth to Egypt—the only nation prepared to handle those years of famine. As Egypt sold the corn to them, the nations around them were becoming weaker and weaker. At the beginning of the famine, they had nothing by which they could feed their armies, and then it got to the point where they had no money with which to even pay their armies.
At the same time, Egypt was continually getting stronger as a nation. They were being lifted up higher and higher in the world, until there was no comparison. They were the greatest super power of that day. They could have marched and literally taken over the entire world if they had chosen to, yet they did not. God is the One who controls even the heathen kings of the world—He sets them up and He puts them down (Daniel 2:21)—and it was not His plan for them to do so. Rather, His plan was that, as we read the Word of God, we see Egypt become a mighty power, strong, and the greatest nation upon earth, and that the throne of Pharaoh is strengthened as these things are going on. Pharaoh’s throne is lifted up and exalted because Pharaoh is a picture of God Himself.
At that time, Egypt was the greatest and mightiest nation in the world. But just like today, a mighty super power can still have internal troubles. For example, America is mighty in the world, but it has trouble at home. It is feared, perhaps, as far as its might goes, but it has all kinds of disagreements and a lack of unity within itself.
What happened in Egypt was this: after Pharaoh (through Joseph) bought all of the cattle from the people in the third year, the money failed. Pharaoh had all of their money, and now he owned all of their cattle as well. In the next year, he bought their land and the people themselves, consolidating the power and wealth, and lifting up Pharaoh even more within his own nation. All of the people became servants to Pharaoh.
Historically, this rise of the throne would lead to the Pharaohs becoming like gods in the eyes of the Egyptian people. To them, Pharaoh would take his place among the gods. We can see all of the power and wealth that he had accumulated—he owned the people because of the events of this famine. Later on, there would be mighty kings over Egypt, but they all owed much to this Pharaoh and to Joseph himself, and of course, to God, who enabled all of this to take place by giving Joseph the ability to interpret the dreams.
That is the historical setting, but there is a spiritual meaning, too. The corn (which pictures the Gospel) was stored up by Pharaoh (who represents God) at Joseph’s advice. We see that the spiritual meaning of this is that God stored up the Gospel in His Word.
During the seven years of plenty, the corn was stored in storehouses against the time of famine. Likewise, the Word was sealed up and closed till the time of the end, as we read in Daniel 12:4. Not until the Great Tribulation did God open up His Word and begin to feed the people. Just as Egypt became great and mighty, and Pharaoh was exalted, so is God exalted in the eyes of the world at the end, at this time of Great Tribulation. God is lifted up as He never has been before because of His end-time plan to save a great multitude (Revelation 7:9).
Let us now pick up in Genesis. In Genesis 47:16-18, we read:
And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses…
We see that the word “cattle” does not only mean cows; other animals are included under the heading of cattle. It continues:
…and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:
How do we know that these are the third and fourth years, and not the first two years? We know this because two years are spoken of here, and the famine had already been going on for two years.
How do we know that this is not reverting back to the beginning of this dearth that came upon the world? Because, both in the year that they sold their cattle, and in the year that they want to sell their lands, the people say that the money has failed, that it is spent. However, the first two years of this famine, Joseph’s brethren, the Israelites, carried money bags into Egypt to buy corn. Money had not failed in the land at that time; it was still operating as a monetary system in Canaan and in Egypt. Therefore, this account must be following those first two years; it is the third year and the fourth year when they sell their cattle and lands, and when the money has failed.
Then we read in verses 19-20:
Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's.
What took place here was tremendous. These people had previously been scattered across the whole countryside of Egypt. They had their own farms and their own land. Yes, there was a central government, but that government did not have the power that it would soon possess when everything became Pharaoh’s. Suddenly, all of their livestock and their land belonged to Pharaoh. The people had no more money; they all became poor. They became servants to Pharaoh, working his land for him. A tremendous change had come over the land of Egypt at that time.
What could be the spiritual meaning of Joseph buying all of the land of Egypt for Pharaoh? Let us turn to Matthew 13:44, which says:
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
Earlier in Matthew 13 (verse 38), God identifies the “field” as the “world.” When this man finds the treasure hid in a field, he sells all that he has and buys the field. This man is Christ. The treasure is those whom He has elected to salvation.
The man buys the field, and in so doing, obtains the treasure. Likewise, Christ has bought the world, and in buying the world, He has also purchased a people for Himself. He has not saved every single person in the world—it is only the elect that God views as the hidden treasure—but He bought the world when He went to the Cross and died for the sins of His people. He purchased the world and purchased His people. That is why we read this in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20:
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
We are bought. Joseph bought the land from the Egyptians, and in buying the land, he also purchased the people. God has bought the world through the death of His Son, and purchased His people in redeeming them from their sins. We are bought with a price.
The main thing for us to think about here is that we are no longer our own. That is a good thing for us to mediate on. We do not own ourselves, though most people act like they do. Most people act like they are in control, like they are their own master and lord, and that they are the ones who dictate what they will and will not do. But if we are children of God, we are bought.
When a person goes to a store and purchases something, it becomes the possession of the one who bought it. It is that person’s property. Likewise, God has bought His people, and we can say that we are not our own. God commands us to do things. He tells us to repent, to keep Sunday as the Sabbath. He tells us many, many things in His Word, His Law, and we are obligated to do them. We are not our own, but we are bought with a price.
In this historical parable in Genesis, Joseph is buying the land of Egypt. Egypt is a picture of the world, just like the field in Matthew 13 is a picture of the world. A man buys the field because there is treasure hidden there.
This account in Genesis is looking ahead to the time of the Great Tribulation for its spiritual fulfillment, yet we were bought at the Cross—that is when Christ purchased the world and His people. The application of being bought, however, does not work itself out in someone’s life until they have actually become saved. During the Great Tribulation, God will apply the fact that He has bought a great multitude to the lives of many as He saves people from all over the world. It as though He has now bought Egypt and purchased all of these individuals for salvation.
Let us also look at the book of Ruth. In chapter 4, Boaz (who is a type of Christ in this historical parable) purchases a parcel of land. In Ruth 4:3, we read:
And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's:
Then we read in verse 5:
Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.
We are not going to get into all of the spiritual implications here, but notice that the day he buys the field, he is also buying it “of Ruth the Moabitess.” We see what that means in verses 9-10, which read:
And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife…
Boaz bought Ruth to be his wife when he bought the field. Boaz is a picture of Christ, and Ruth a type of the believers. God buys the world, and in so doing, He purchases His people and redeems His elect. It is just as the man in the Matthew 13 parable buys the field for the hidden treasure. It is just as Joseph (Christ), on behalf of Pharaoh (God the Father), buys all of Egypt. Let us read Genesis 47:20 again. It says:
And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's.
Pharaoh owns the cattle, just as Psalm 50:10 says that God owns the cattle upon a thousand hills. Pharaoh also owns all of the money; and now that their money has failed, everyone is poor in his sight. Spiritually, all riches are with God, just as all physical riches were with Pharaoh. He owns all the land, just as God owns the entire world. God created the world and redeemed that creation, and He will one day recreate a New Heaven and a New Earth, because He has bought the world.
We see this same picture again in verse 21, which says:
And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.
We wonder, “Why does God tell us about this? Why did Joseph start moving the people into cities?”
These people, who had been spread out on their own lands, were all gathered together into the cities where the grain was to be stored. Back in Genesis 41:33-36, when Joseph is first able to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, he says to Pharaoh:
Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine…
The food was kept in the cities. Also look at verses 47-49 of the same chapter, where we read:
And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.
All that corn was gathered from the fields that were round about the cities. We do not know how many cities or where they were. We do not know their names, but we do know that there were certain cities, probably strategically placed and located in various parts of Egypt, where corn was stored and gathered.
Now the famine has come, and it is in its fourth year. The people have sold everything. Joseph has bought their land, but at this point, the land is worthless. There is a dearth; it is desolate and nothing can be grown. There is, therefore, no sense in remaining on the land at this time. To enable the corn to be disbursed in an easy and systematic way, all of the people are gathered into the cities around those storehouses. All of Egypt entered into these cities.
Once again, this is a beautiful picture, spiritually. The corn represents the Gospel, the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Great Tribulation goes on, there is a gathering together. Here are these people that have come from all over Egypt (and Egypt typifies the world). Joseph has now purchased them and brought them to the corn. He has taken them to the cities where the corn is stored up, to give to them against this time of famine. It is a picture of God feeding His people who are gathered together around the Word of God.
This is not a picture of going to church. It is not a picture of anything but gathering together around the corn, the Gospel. This is the same meaning that we have learned concerning the doctrine of “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is” in Hebrews 10:25. When we gather together, we are to gather to Christ. It says in 2 Thessalonians 2:1:
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 Thessalonians then goes on to talk about the man of sin. We see that we are gathering together unto Christ, not in fellowships. There might be a fellowship here or there, but what are a few people in the world? Believers are gathering together around the Word of God, because that is where we find Christ. We are gathering together around the Gospel, around the truth of the Bible.
It is God’s plan that we would gather around the corn and find food and nourishment in the Word of God. That is where God is going to feed His people. We now go directly to the Bible, no longer through middle men like pastors or elders or teachers. Even though teachers are still teaching, we are to go directly to the Word of God.
Let us turn to Isaiah 43:5-6, where we read:
Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
From one end of Egypt to the other, they are all being gathered together. This is taking place from the north, the south, the east, and the west—all the points of the compass. God is going to save His people worldwide. If you are a true child of God, no matter where you are, you will be gathered to the corn, the Word of God.
Let us look at another interesting verse—Matthew 24:31. Speaking of the Great Tribulation, it says:
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
It is the same kind of language we saw when God moved Joseph to bring the people into the store cities. There is a gathering together taking place. Spiritually, it is pointing to the fact that God’s plan will be for His people to come to the Word and gather together around the Bible during the time of the Great Tribulation.
Continuing in Genesis 47, we read in verse 22:
Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.
Everyone was bought except the priests. We know that these priests would have been priests of a false god. We know that Egypt worshipped idols and false gods. But we are looking at the spiritual Gospel meaning. Just as Pharaoh, in all probability, was not a saved man, God used him to typify Himself. Likewise, these priests, even though they were heathen priests, are a picture of true believers. God indicates that the children of God are prophets, priests, and kings, such as in Revelation 1:6. There are many other verses that look at believers as priests, also. Exodus 19:6 is one, and it says:
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
The body of believers is of a royal priesthood; we are priests spiritually. Even national Israel, in a way, was looked upon as a kingdom of priests. Similarly, these idolatrous priests of Egypt are typifying believers—specifically, those believers who already had their portion with God.
It says that the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh. This could be looking at the idea that as God is saving that “great multitude” in Egypt, there are already some who are true believers, who already have their portion (the Lord is the portion of our inheritance, we read in Psalm 16:5). Since God is making a distinction between Egypt and these priests, that is probably what is in view here. These priests are representing believers. Again, Genesis 47:22 says:
…and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.
The priests would not have sold their lands. Who else would not have? The Israelites were in the land of Goshen, the land given to them by Pharaoh. They, therefore, would have owned their lands.
Just as Joseph nourished his brethren, who were a picture of true believers, so Pharaoh nourished these priests. They did not have to sell their lands like the rest of the people of Egypt.
Then in verse 23, we read:
Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.
This reminds us of 2 Corinthians 9:6-10, which says:
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
Joseph is giving them seed, and telling them to sow, just as God gives His people spiritual seed, the Word of God, to sow and cast upon the hearts of individuals as they bring the Gospel.
God is the One who gives the increase, and that is the picture here. The people are representing those who have become saved. Immediately, they are given seed, the Word of God, because their task is to go forth into the world with the Gospel. We go with the seed and we sow.
Then Genesis 47:24 says:
And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
The fifth part was given unto Pharaoh. Of course, Pharaoh owned it all. This was generosity on his (and Joseph’s) part to give back to these individuals what he already owned. He did not have to give them anything—he could have had them work the land as slaves. Yet he allowed them to keep four parts of the increase. Only the fifth part would they give back.
It is similar to the fact that, although God has saved us, He allows us to retain our finances and our possessions. He allows us to keep whatever it is we have in this life. Yet, He also commands us to give for the work of the Gospel. He understands that we have to pay bills and buy food and use this money for certain things, but He requires us to give for His work.
Here it was a fifth part; later in Leviticus, it is laid out to be a tenth. The idea is that we give whatever we can and we give however God has prospered and blessed us. We are not our own, but we are bought with a price. The things we possess are not really our own. Pharaoh owned the people and their land and whatever increase came from that land, yet he gave of it back to them. Likewise, God has given us jobs and income and property, and so forth. He has given us wealth and riches, to whatever degree, yet He owns everything. He gives of it to us, as we need money to operate in this world.
The people were to give a fifth back to Pharaoh. The “fifth part” is discussed several times in Leviticus in connection with the sacrifices. For instance, Leviticus 5:16 says:
And he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.
Again, we read in the next chapter, Leviticus 6:4-5:
Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.
Again and again, when we read about this fifth part, it has to do with offerings to the Lord and with sacrifices unto God. That is what is in view—that we are no longer our own, so we are to make an offering unto God. Really, we are to offer up ourselves as a living sacrifice. We read this in Romans 12:1, which says:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
This is what God would have all whom He has saved to do. We are to perform the will of God as He moves in us to do so (Philippians 2:13).
Then in Genesis 47:25, we read of the people of Egypt:
And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.
We can see salvation here very clearly. “Thou hast saved our lives,” they say. They would have physically died if they had continued through that dearth without the ability to plant crops and receive the food that the crops would bring forth. Physically, Pharaoh and Joseph saved them.
The day that Pharaoh had that dream and brought Joseph out of prison, how tremendous and wonderful a blessing it was that God gave Joseph this insight so that many would be spared and saved! It is just as God is saving a great multitude today. These people of Egypt are a picture of the great multitude that God plans to save and will save by His Word. He will save them because He has this corn stored up. There is salvation taking place outside of the churches and congregations. The Gospel is always a Gospel of grace, and it is God’s grace that He is saving a great multitude that no man can number.
At the same time that these people become saved, they become God’s servants. That is what shines through in this passage again and again—we are servants of God. We are not the boss, we are not to dictate to God in any way, but we are humble servants whom God has bought and purchased. We are to do the will of God in our lives. We are to go to God and pray and beseech Him to guide us and enable us do His will, whatever it would be. We are to read the Bible to find out what His will is, and we are to follow it. If He has truly made us born again, then He has given us a spirit that will enable us to obey His Word and can keep His commandments, and thereby show our love for the fact that He has spared us from death.
Then in verse 26, it says:
And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.
Phrases like “unto this day,” are found again and again in the Bible, such as when an altar is said to exist “unto this day” (Judges 6:24). Whenever we read something like this, it is referring to the fact that the spiritual truth of the passage goes on perpetually, eternally.
All those whom God has saved are to give themselves in service to God eternally. We will forever be servants of God. As God talks about the New Heavens and the New Earth in Revelation, He speaks of His servants serving Him eternally (Revelation 22:3). Each child of God will be there, serving Him forevermore.