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Truth worth contemplating from David Anthony:

PHARAOH’S BILL

My wife and I are reading through Genesis. We both grew up on Genesis stories. I have lost count of the times I have read it. Why keep reading it? Life has a way of orienting us to see things in scripture we might not see when younger. Things we pass over or quickly forget, become more meaningful as we grow in experience, and prayerfully, in wisdom.

The experience reminds me of Paul’s comment to the congregation in Corinth: 1 Corinthians 3:2 ‘I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.’ The Holy Spirit compels us to read scripture again and again. We see things we might not have been able to see when younger, or less mature in our faith.

We just read Genesis 40-47. There are lots of things going on in those chapters, but they begin with Joseph’s interpretation of pharaoh’s dream. Joseph reveals the dream means there will be seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine. Joseph recommends a plan to deal with the coming crisis: Genesis 41:34 ‘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.’ Joseph recommends a tax in kind of 20% on the harvests during the years of plenty. The grain is to be put in pharaoh’s storehouses. When the seven years of famine come, the stored grain will be used to feed the nation.

Pharaoh is so impressed by the interpretation of the dream and Joseph’s plan that he appoints Joseph to assume authority for the next 14 years to carry out the plan. Pharaoh turns the administration of Egypt over to Joseph. No one other than Pharaoh will have more power than Joseph.

We fast forward to the time of famine. Because of Joseph’s influence, he settles his father and brothers with their families and flocks in Egypt. Genesis 47:12 ‘And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families.’ They had not helped fill the storehouses during the time of plenty, but now they get food from the storehouses without charge. There is no bill to pay to pharaoh.

How about everyone else? To make a long story short, The Egyptians and anyone else wanting food had to pay pharaoh for it. When their money ran out, they had to turn their livestock over to pharaoh. When the livestock ran out, they had to sign title to their land over pharaoh. Joseph used the famine to give pharaoh total control over Egypt. Pharaoh had all the money, livestock and property. The people would thenceforth be totally dependent upon pharaoh for everything. They enslaved themselves in order not to starve.

The irony is they enslaved themselves to get the food they had grown in the first place. They had paid a 20% tax in kind, but pharaoh ended up making it a 100% tax.

In the short run, Joseph made sure his family was not enslaved, but they eventually would be.

Call it an ancient form of socialism or totalitarianism, but names do not matter. What matters is the human tendency to gather wealth and power at the expense of each other. Humans make their survival and well-being depend on other human beings and material things. It works in the short run, but then ‘Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ We give up far more than it is worth in the long run.

Enjoy the ‘free stuff’ from government today. You can be assured the people with power will get it all back plus your freedom tomorrow.

Pharaoh’s bill always comes due.

Wordmage 8 June 6
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