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of life," and "the Revealer of secrets." The history of Joseph's administration may be
traced in a few sentences. During the seven years of plenty, "he gathered corn as the
sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering," a notice which remarkably
agrees with "the representations of the monuments, which show that the contents of
the granaries were accurately noted by scribes when they were filled." Then, during
the years of famine, he first sold corn to the people for money. When all their money
was exhausted, they proposed of their own accord to part with their cattle to Pharaoh,
and lastly with their land. In the latter case exception was made in favor of the
priestly caste, who derived their support directly from Pharaoh. Thus Pharaoh became
absolute possessor of all the money, all the cattle, and all the land of Egypt, and that
at the people's own request. This advantage would be the greater, if there had been
any tendency to dissatisfaction against the reigning house as an alien race. Nor did
Joseph abuse the power thus acquired. On the contrary, by a spontaneous act of royal
generosity he restored the land to the people on condition of their henceforth paying
one-fifth of the produce in lieu of all other taxation. Besides the considerations
already stated in favor of such a measure, it must be borne in mind that in Egypt,
where all produce depends on the waters of the Nile, a system of canals and
irrigation, necessarily kept up at the expense of the State, would be a public
necessity.^71 But the statement of Scripture, which excepts from this measure of public
taxation "the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's," remarkably
tallies with the account of secular historians.
Two things here stand out in the history of Joseph. The same gracious Hand of the
Lord, which, during his humiliation, had kept him from sin, disbelief, and despair,
now preserved him in his exaltation from pride, and from lapsing into heathenism, to
which his close connection with the chief priest of Egypt might easily have led him.
More than that, he considered himself "a stranger and a pilgrim" in Egypt. His heart
was in his father's home, with his father's God, and on his father's promises. Of both
these facts there is abundant evidence. His Egyptian wife bore him two sons "before
the years of famine came." He gave to both of them Hebrew, not Egyptian names. By
the first, Manasseh, or "he that maketh forget," he wished to own the goodness of
God, who had made him forget his past sorrow and toil. By the second, Ephraim, or
"double fruitfulness," he distinctly recognized that, although Egypt was the land in
which God had caused him "to be fruitful," it was still, and must ever be, not the land
of his joy but that of his "affliction!" If it be asked why, in his prosperity, Joseph had
not informed his father of his life and success, we answer, that in such a history
safety lay in quiet waiting upon God. If Joseph had learned the great lesson of his
life, it was this, that all in the past had been of God. Nor would He now interfere with
further guidance on His part. The Lord would show the way, and lead to the end.^72
But as for him, he believed, and therefore made no haste. Thus would God be
glorified, and thus also would Joseph be kept in perfect peace, because he trusted in
Him.
(^)