The true story of Joseph

The story of Joseph has been somewhat changed from the true story.

Have you ever read about Joseph as told in the pages of the Old Covenant?  Most have not!

Gen 30:22-24
22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:
24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son. (KJV)

 

Rachel had two sons.

 

Gen 35:24 The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin. (KJV)

 

As you may know Joseph was the favorite among all of Jacob’s sons. It was for Joseph that Jacob (Israel) made the famous coat of many colors.

 

Gen 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. (KJV)

 

We will not go into Jacob’s life in this article. He loved Rachel, but was tricked into marrying Leah. And in the end, he was buried with Leah. Although He loved Rachel more that Leah, Leah was the wife who gave him more children!

 

Gen 49:29-31
29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.
31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. (KJV)

 

It was there that he was buried with Leah.

 

Gen 50:12-14
12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:
13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. (KJV)

 

Our focus will be on the period of the 7-year Egyptian famine.  That story has been glossed over to make Joseph seem like a really good person, and he was good to the sons of Israel! However, to the rest of those who lived in Egypt the story was a little different.

 

As you may recall, Joseph interpreted a dream that came to Pharaoh and so He put Joseph in charge of planning for the famine of his dream.

 

Gen 41:17-32
17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:
18 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow:
19 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness:
20 And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine:
21 And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke.
22 And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good:
23 And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:
24 And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.
25 And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.
26 The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.
27 And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.
28 This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.
29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:
30 And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;
31 And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous.
32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. (KJV)

 

For those of you who like a more modern language translation, here is the Today’s English Version.

 

Gen 41:17-32
17 The king said, "I dreamed that I was standing on the bank of the Nile,
18 when seven cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the river and began feeding on the grass.
19 Then seven other cows came up which were thin and bony. They were the poorest cows I have ever seen anywhere in Egypt.
20 The thin cows ate up the fat ones,
21 but no one would have known it, because they looked just as bad as before. Then I woke up.
22 I also dreamed that I saw seven heads of grain which were full and ripe, growing on one stalk.
23 Then seven heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the desert wind,
24 and the thin heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told the dreams to the magicians, but none of them could explain them to me."
25 Joseph said to the king, "The two dreams mean the same thing; God has told you what he is going to do.
26 The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven full heads of grain are also seven years; they have the same meaning.
27 The seven thin cows which came up later and the seven thin heads of grain scorched by the desert wind are seven years of famine.
28 It is just as I told you—God has shown you what he is going to do.
29 There will be seven years of great plenty in all the land of Egypt.
30 After that, there will be seven years of famine, and all the good years will be forgotten, because the famine will ruin the country.
31 The time of plenty will be entirely forgotten, because the famine which follows will be so terrible.
32 The repetition of your dream means that the matter is fixed by God and that he will make it happen in the near future. (TEV)

 

We have been told how Joseph saved the Israelites and the Egyptians from starvation and became a hero in the process. 

 

But, how did he accomplish it and what were the consequences of his actions?

 

That has never been openly explained!

 

We have always assumed that Joseph collected enough food during the good times to take care of the bad times and that is true to an extent.

 

When the seven good years came, the farms of Egypt were all privately owned, and the Egyptian people were a free people under the king.

 

Then, the days of famine hit!

 

Joseph had taken the produce of farms as a tax. When the famine came, he sold what he had taxed from the people until they had no money (gold, silver, or other such goods with which to buy food for their families.

 

At that point, they sold their children into slavery to the Pharaoh. Then, they placed themselves into Pharaoh’s slavery.  When Joseph finished, the Pharaoh personally owned all that was in Egypt! He owned all the people, land, farms, and farm animals. The cattle and sheep were his, the crops were his, and the people were his personal slaves!

 

Joseph took care of the Israelites, but all non-Israelis had to live the best way they could.

 

Gen 47:12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families. (KJV)

 

Joseph squeezed all that was squeezable out of the Egyptian people!

 

Gen 47:13-20
13 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.
15 And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.
16 And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail.
17 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: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.
18 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:
19 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.
20 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. (KJV)

 

Here is the Today’s English Version of those days in Egypt!

 

Gen 47:13-21
13 The famine was so severe that there was no food anywhere, and the people of Egypt and Canaan became weak with hunger.
14 As they bought grain, Joseph collected all the money and took it to the palace.
15 When all the money in Egypt and Canaan was spent, the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, "Give us food! Don't let us die. Do something! Our money is all gone."
16 Joseph answered, "Bring your livestock; I will give you food in exchange for it if your money is all gone."
17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. That year he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock.
18 The following year they came to him and said, "We will not hide the fact from you, sir, that our money is all gone and our livestock belongs to you. There is nothing left to give you except our bodies and our lands.
19 Don't let us die. Do something! Don't let our fields be deserted. Buy us and our land in exchange for food. We will be the king's slaves, and he will own our land. Give us grain to keep us alive and seed so that we can plant our fields."
20 Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for the king. Every Egyptian was forced to sell his land, because the famine was so severe; and all the land became the king's property.
21 Joseph made slaves of the people from one end of Egypt to the other. (TEV)

 

Under Joseph, Egypt became a land of slaves! All Egyptians became sharecroppers.

 

Israelites were given the best land, but that led to hatred for Israel.

 

Because of all he did for Israelites, Joseph is revered today as a hero of the faith and he was blessed in many ways. But, in his treatment of the average Egyptian, he may have set up the conditions of slavery that were prophesied to Abraham.

 

God’s will always comes to pass in ways that are difficult to explain from a merely human perspective.

 

Joseph was loved by the people of God and hated by many others. Today, we find that true men of God are loved by the true people of God, but hated by many others.

 

Over the centuries, people have not changed!

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