Blogging
Genesis 41 & 47
Pharaoh is sneaky.
You think you’re getting what
Pharaoh gives, but all the while he’s getting you for all you got. He’s sneaky.
In Genesis 41 Joseph
gave Pharaoh a plan to save his people from starvation during the 7 prophesied
years of famine. The ancient Egyptian
government imposed an emergency 20% federal income tax and ordered
municipalities to increase local taxes to build up their capital reserves.
“Let Pharaoh do this, and
let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the
produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. And
let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up
grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.
Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine
which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may not perish during the
famine” (Genesis 41: 34-36).
This was a whole new deal for
Egypt. And it worked.
The seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had
said. The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread
(Genesis 41:54).
But, they didn’t just give away the government’s
grain. That would’ve been
socialism. No, “Joseph opened all the
storehouses and SOLD to the Egyptians”
(Genesis 41:56).
They made their own starving citizens BUY BACK grain
the citizens had grown. And they didn’t
just sell to their own people. The
Egyptian government’s new taxation scheme had been so effective that Egypt had
enough grain in reserve to sell to merchants and emissaries from starving
nations all over the region.
So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe in
all lands (Genesis 41:57).
Pharaoh (and Joseph) made exponential profits “saving”
people in the economic downturn. But, the
people received the real, tangible
benefit of not starving to death so that’s fair, right?
Check your pockets.
Pharaoh is sneaky.
And patient.
Buying back your own grain at
famine prices is expensive. After some
time, Pharaoh had “all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the
land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought” (Genesis 47: 14).
Pharaoh took control of all liquid
capital in the nation. He had the financial
markets.
Pharaoh continued feeding his
people, but not for free. That would be
socialism.
“Then Joseph said, ‘Give your livestock, and I will
give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.’ “ Within a year, Egyptian citizen had all
signed over the ancient equivalent of their vehicles and heavy equipment
(Genesis 47:15-17).
Pharaoh took control of the means of production.
After another year of renting back your own equipment with
money you don’t have to buy back your own grain, the good citizens of Egypt
began selling the only two things they had left: their land and their bodies. They asked
Joseph to, “Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants
of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and not die, that
the land may not be desolate” Then
Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. . . So the land became
Pharaoh’s. (Genesis 47: 19, 20).
Pharaoh became master of the housing sector, and the
Egyptians became sharecroppers on their own land.
But wait. There’s
more. To ensure the new status quo took
hold and stayed in place, Pharaoh made 3 more moves:
(1) He urbanized the population breaking each
family’s connection to their ancestral
land.
“And
as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end
of the borders of Egypt to the other end” (Genesis 47: 21).
(2)
The government made the emergency tax permanent because blah-blah-blah the
economy.
And
Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh
should have one-fifth . . . (Genesis 47:26).
(3) Pharaoh used religious tax-exemptions and
personal connections (his prime minster was married to the high priest’s
daughter) to make sure that the nation’s
religious leaders would support his policies and preach pro-Pharaoh patriotism.
Joseph
made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh
should have one-fifth except for the
land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s (Genesis
47:26).
Amazing what a sneaky man can do when he sits on the
throne (or in the Oval Office).
Now I know what some of you are thinking: “Pharaoh represents liberal Democrats enslaving our nation through dependence.”
And I know what the rest of you are thinking: “No. Pharaoh is the conservative Republicans enslaving our nation through corporate greed.”
Read this blog again.
Pharaoh owns a donkey and an elephant.
He’s that sneaky.
Pharaoh owns a donkey and an elephant.
He’s that sneaky.
--Anderson T. Graves II is a
writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural
leadership development.
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME
Church in Fairfield, Alabama. He writes a blog called A Word to the Wise at
www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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