Devotion for Thursday, November 12th
Kevin Peterson
Devotional Text: Genesis 41 (To read and even listen to this text for free, click here.)
Verse in Focus: Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house." The name of the second he called Ephraim, "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do." So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth (Genesis 41:50-57).
Related Verse: For the people of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And no portion was given to the Levites in the land, but only cities to dwell in, with their pasturelands for their livestock and their substance (Joshua 14:4).
Devotional Thought:
From prison to palace, Joseph’s life has undergone quite the transformation. And along the way he gained a wonderful family as well. The wife, of course, was arranged for Joseph by Pharaoh himself, as we saw last time. The children, on the other hand, followed after—though it is interesting to note that there were only two boys, namely, Manassah and Ephraim. It could very well have been that there were also daughters born to Joseph and Asenath. The mention of the sons is relevant to much of the rest of the Old Testament, in a way that daughters would not. Both of Joseph’s boys would go on to father tribes that would bear their names. The daughters, on the other hand, would have married into other clans and their lives and names lost to history.
As it is, Joseph rejoices at the birth of his sons—a fact that is evident in their names. Manassah, the first born, is given a name that in Hebrew sounds like “causing to forget.” This son is evidence that God has never abandoned Joseph. This son is evidence that God can bring good out of evil, so much so that the evil itself becomes lost in forgetfulness. A second son, Ephraim, is given a name that in Hebrew sounds like “making fruitful.” The Lord God has been touching every aspect of Joseph’s life with his gracious rain ... and the desert has begun to bloom.
Joseph has also made the most of his opportunities over the seven fruitful years God granted to Egypt. Joseph made sure that full advantage was taken of the bumper crops—building numerous granaries throughout Egypt to hold all the excess harvest. He proved to be a good steward for Pharaoh, and the king would definitely reap the benefits of his number two man’s hard work. As the long predicted seven-year famine set in, Joseph had everything in place. There is an infrastructure to store the grain, and a bureaucracy to distribute it. But don’t let the mention of Joseph “opening all the storehouses” fool you. Egypt may very well have bread, but it certainly is not free—as we shall see in the very near future.
It is important for the plot and pacing of the story, of course, to note the expanse and scope of the famine. It’s not just something affecting Egypt. Moses mentions that it was “severe over all the earth.” This is essentially hyperbole—intentional exaggeration used to make a point. The point in this case being that the famine was bad, it was widespread, and Egypt was the only place grain could be found. Terrible famines were not unknown in ancient Egypt. In fact, excavated records show that two such famines were so bad that survivors were forced to resort to cannibalism. But thanks to Joseph, that would not be this time. Blessings on your day!
Vaya con Dios!
Pastor Peterson
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