One of the great things we have learned about finances in the record about Joseph is that it is Godly to save money. But there are still some more interesting truths.

The years of great abundance have ended, and the famine has set in.

Genesis 41:55-57 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do. And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.

When the people of Egypt came to buy food, at first, they brought in money.

Genesis 47:13-14 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

Notice, the money went to the house of Pharaoh. Since Joseph was the steward of Pharaoh, his job was to prosper Pharaoh which he did very well. The food was not his to just give away.

Now when the money failed in the land of Egypt, Joseph gave them food the next year in exchange for their herds, their flocks and their horses. Then the people offered to sell themselves and their lands to Pharaoh in exchange for food. Thus, they became servants to Pharaoh. After this, Joseph moved them to different locations and gave them food and seed to use for crop planting. As servants to Pharaoh, they were to give 20% of their harvest to Pharaoh each year.

During this time, Joseph’s father Jacob (also called Israel) sent his sons down to Egypt to buy food during the first and the second years of the famine. Some estimate there were about 70-80 people in his household. That would take quite the sum of money to feed that many people for a year. He obviously was not poor.

Eventually, Joseph revealed himself to his older brothers and asked them to tell his father he was alive and living in Egypt, and that Jacob, his father, needed to come down to Egypt since there were five more years of the famine left.

Now this next section has a remarkably interesting verse at the end. It is apparent from reading about Joseph that he was a man with the spirit of God upon him. He listened to God and walked with God in everything he had done so far since being sold into slavery. So, his desire that his father move to Egypt was also a very wise move on his part.

Genesis 45:7-11 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not: And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.

As a man that walked with God, Joseph states that he did not want his father, Jacob, to come to poverty, and God had the writer of Genesis write that desire down. We can assume that it was God’s will to see Jacob prosper even in the worst of times. As other records show, Jacob’s prosperity had come from God. (Genesis 31)

Pharaoh was very blessed with Joseph, and when he learned that Joseph’s father, Jacob, was coming to Egypt, he sent wagons to help them come.

Genesis 45:17-21 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan; And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

During the time of the famine, the priests of the Egyptian gods were taken care of by Pharaoh.

Genesis 47:22 Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.

Pharaoh also took care of Joseph’s family. Jacob was to be nourished as were the priests during the famine. Pharaoh, by way of Joseph, gave them the best of the land in Egypt, the land of Goshen, and then Pharaoh paid Jacob’s sons to be herdsmen for his flocks. He must have been incredibly grateful for all that Joseph had done to preserve his country.

Pharaoh’s love for Joseph and his father, Jacob, can be seen in the services held for Jacob at the time of his death.

Genesis 50:6-9 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according to as he made thee swear. And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.

God knew there was a famine coming, so he sent Joseph to Egypt as a man who believed God to take care of his father and to watch over the Christ line. God had a lot invested in Jacob, and Jacob was a man who believed God and walked with God himself. Thus, God took care of those that believed Him.

In the Gospels, Jesus never stated that poverty was a virtue. We have seen many places where God says it is His will for His family to be wealthy and prosperous. This record reminds one of what Jeremiah the prophet wrote:

Jeremiah 17:7-8 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful (anxious) in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

Because of the lives of those men that believed God, you can see in these events that Egypt and the nations around her were blessed and saved from certain death because of the famine. Jacob and Joseph’s trust in God spared their lives and, as a result, saved the lives of thousands and thousands of people in that area of the world.

So, remember that your life is a blessing to many as you believe and trust God even though they may not be aware you are born from above.

Remember to watch and pray for those around you, your family, your country and the economic situations that arise. Your trust in God may be a blessing to people far beyond what you know. Understanding wealth and God’s desire for you to prosper, understanding God’s instruction to save money, having the right understanding of the “poor” and becoming financially literate is a result of acquiring the wisdom that is all part of living The Prosperous Life.