Egypt’s Part in God’s Plan

Genesis 41:46-57

GOLDEN TEXT: “He hath given meat unto them that fear Him: He will ever be mindful of His covenant.”—Psalm 111:5

OUR Golden Text presents an interesting viewpoint in connection with the remainder of today’s lesson. God supplied food to all Egypt during the seven years of famine, but it was not because the Egyptians were God fearing people. In this instance it was because of Joseph and the family of Joseph—God’s chosen family—who feared Him and with whom He had made a wonderful covenant. This was a case where the ungodly benefited from God’s dealings with the godly.

This principle has operated in other instances also. The whole western world has benefited because God chose to send the Gospel in this direction to gather out a people for His name, rather than toward the East. The Bible has exerted an influence for good. It has enlightened the people and led in the direction of liberty and righteousness. The masses have not been converted in the sense of becoming true followers of the Master, but they have been benefited. However, God’s special interest has been in the few, the “little flock,” His own people, who have heard and who have responded wholeheartedly to the Gospel.—Luke 12:32; II Cor. 6:16; I Pet. 2:10

God supplies all the needs of His people. The need of Jacob and his family was material food. The fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham depended upon the survival of his family, so He permitted Joseph to be sold into Egypt that later he might be in a position to make this necessary provision. But there are times when the greatest need of God’s people is spiritual food; and He never fails to supply it.

In this respect God’s dealings with His people during the Gospel age are quite different from the way He dealt with His typical people prior to the first advent of Jesus. This is an age of faith and of spiritual blessings. Faith was required during the Patriarchal and Jewish ages also; but it was not so much a faith in heavenly things “which are not seen,” as it was a recognition of the source of the material blessings promised the nation if faithful, and a belief in God’s promise to bless “all the families of the earth” in due time.—II Cor. 4:18; Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4

God’s antitypical people, the church of this Gospel age, enter into a covenant of sacrifice with their God. (Psa. 50:5) They agree to sacrifice their earthly rights and blessings, hence they should never measure the love of God from the standpoint of the material blessings He may permit them to enjoy. If God permitted us to starve to death it wouldn’t mean that He was unfaithful to His covenant. It is through death that He will fulfill His covenant to exalt us to joint-heirship with Jesus. Our part of the covenant is to be faithful unto death, irrespective of the hardships of the road which may lead thereto.—Rom. 8:17; Rev. 2:10

The “meat” which God provides for the new creation of this age is the spiritual food of His Word, the exceeding great and precious promises whereby we become partakers of the divine nature. (II Pet. 1:4) If there is a famine condition in our hearts it is probably due to the fact that we have neglected one or more of the means of grace whereby our Heavenly Father is now feeding His people with “meat in due season.”—Matt. 24:45

When the present age of faith is fully ended, and the Kingdom of Christ is operating in the earth, then God’s care for His people will be manifested in the material blessings provided for them. The 72nd Psalm is a beautiful portrayal of divine blessings during the Messianic rule—blessings which to some extent were typified by the abundance of food which, under the leadership of Joseph, was provided for the Egyptians and for Jacob and his family.

Psalm 72:16 reads, “There shall be an handful of corn in the earth, upon the top of the mountain; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.” One might suppose that a “handful” of corn is a small portion, but evidently the thought is the reverse. Describing the abundance of food produced during Egypt’s seven years of plenty, Genesis 41:47 reads, “And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.”

Here the term “handful” denotes an abundance, and evidently it is this thought which is conveyed in Psalm 72:16, quoted above. Joseph arranged for this abundance of food to be stored in the cities (Gen. 41:48), and it is significant that the Psalmist should write that the cities during the Messianic Kingdom will flourish because of the “handful” of corn in the earth at that time. Possibly the Lord, through the prophet, is reminding us of the Egyptian picture as an illustration of the life-giving provisions He will make for the people through Christ during the thousand years of His reign.

There is much in God’s dealings with Egypt which is typical. The prophet Hosea alludes to the plagues which led up to the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, and tells us that God will plague death until its prisoners are released, and sheol, the great prison house of death, is destroyed.—Hosea 13:14

QUESTIONS:

Are the unrighteous sometimes blessed by being associated with God’s people?

Should Christians expect God to care for their material needs?

What is meant by the statement that the “earth brought forth by handfuls”?

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