This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 45-47.

    There are several things in this passage I want to write about today, but I am not sure that they tie together in any way. We will see. The first point is that Joseph’s brothers sold Joseph into slavery because that was God’s plan. By selling Joseph into slavery they set in motion the series of events which led to Joseph being in a position to provide for them when famine hit the region. While it is important that we acknowledge and repent of our sins, we should not continue to be angry at ourselves over them because God will use our sinful acts to accomplish His will. I want to emphasize that this does not mean we should happily go on sinning once we recognize our sin. No, we need to repent and turn from our sins. However, we need to let go of the past. What is done cannot be undone and God will use it to accomplish something wonderful.

    The next thing I found interesting and worthy of comment was that Jacob blessed the Pharaoh. Pharaoh considered himself the son of a god and a god in his own right. Yet here was Jacob, a shepherd, an occupation which the Egyptians despised, blessing the Pharaoh. The greater bless the lesser not the other way around. Pharaoh must have been somewhat taken aback by Jacob having the audacity to bless him. But Jacob was a very old man at the time, 130 according to the passage. Pharaoh could not scold such an old man for wishing him well (while a blessing is more than merely wishing someone well, it is still something positive). I believe that Jacob was well aware of the position he was putting Pharaoh in when he blessed him. By blessing Pharaoh, Jacob was claiming to be in a superior position to Pharaoh, but did so in a way which the Pharaoh could not challenge.

    The final thing which I thought worth noting in this passage is what happened to the people of Egypt when the government rescued them from the famine. Joseph collected food from the people on behalf the government when times were good and people had a surplus in order to provide for their needs when times were bad. But what happened when times were bad. Joseph, once more on behalf of the government, sold that food back to the people of Egypt. When the people ran out of money, he took their possessions and when they ran out of possessions, he enslaved them. As a result of the government program to help people get through the hard times, the people of Egypt were enslaved to their government. Except for a few favored groups of people. This is what happens when the people of a nation rely on the government to take care of them when times get bad.