Related Topics
No topics are associated with this blog
In Genesis 41 Joseph, favored youngest son of Jacob and Rachel, sold into slavery by his jealous half brothers, convinced the Pharoh to set aside one fifth of the harvest during seven prosperous years to tide the country over through the inevitable seven years of famine which would follow.
Let this be a lesson for all future generations.
"Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die" may be appropriate for gladiators but for the rest of us it is a recipe for calamity.
It is said that the 2007-8 Financial Crisis struck the American Middle Class particularly hard. Did these people not study the Bible? Shame on them for not having learned the lesson of Joseph. And shame on us now, ten years later, for repeating that mistake.
Genesis 41 English Standard Version (ESV)
Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dreams
1 Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile,
2 and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the grass.
3 And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.
4 And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke.
5 And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk.
6 And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind.
7 And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears.
25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one.
27 The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine.
28 It is as I told Pharaoh; God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
29 There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt,
30 but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,
31 and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe.
32 And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.
33 Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.
34 Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.
35 And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.
36 That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.
Originally published: Friday, May 17, 2019; most-recently modified: Friday, May 17, 2019