May 25, 2018 - Day 47 - Genesis 47

I am writing from my desk in Seattle, WA.

Genesis 47:

Joseph tells Pharaoh that his family has arrived and are in Goshen (which is in Egypt).  Pharaoh asks the brothers what they do for work, and they tell him that they are shepherds.  They ask Pharaoh to live there in Goshen for awhile since the famine is real bad in Canaan.

Pharaoh says they can live there and tells Joseph to put them in charge of his flock.

Pharaoh meets Jacob and asks him how old he is.  Israel (Jacob) says 130, which probably isn't true lol.  All you need to know is that he's old.  Jacob blesses Pharaoh, though we are not told was this means.

Interesting segue here:

"Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their children.  There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine."

So was there food or not?

I guess not.

Joseph gathers up all the money in Egypt and Canaan in exchange for the grain they bought, so all of Egypt came to him and asked for food.  Obviously.  Joseph says he will sell them food in exchange for their livestock.  So he takes their livestock and gives them food in return.  That lasted for a year.

They came back a year later in need of more food, saying the only thing they have left is their bodies and land, so they try to sell that.

Remember that God made this famine for no reason.  This is why reading the Bible literally gets real problematic, real fast.  If literal, God is not cool.  This is one of many reasons why I don't read the Bible literally.

Joseph buys up all the land and makes the people slaves.  We are told he did not buy the land of the priests because they were already hooked up by Pharaoh and were't starving.  Nice.

Joseph gives the people some seeds so they can plant their own stuff, but they are obligated to give Pharaoh one fifth of their crops.  We are reminded that the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh's.  This is a great example of why he with the most money and resources ends up on top.  Its tough to get ahead when you're already behind.  This is evident of the Egyptians here.

The Israelites (Israel's family) settled in Goshen and got some property and had babies.  Jacob (Israel) lived there for seventeen years.  Now he's 147.  He's dying at this point and has Joseph swear to him that he will take him out of Egypt and bury him with his fathers.  Joseph obliges.  It should be noted that they do that hand-under-the-thigh promise.  We really need to bring that back.