Joseph is a type of Christ, and because this is so, we can look at his life and understand, perhaps more perfectly, what the Lord has done in his work of salvation. As disciples of Christ, we are his children and special care has been taken to save us, which is pictured in Joseph’s care for his family, bringing them into the presence of Pharaoh (a type of the Father in this context) and causing them to dwell in a well-watered land, where they would be fed, and where they would have pastureland for their cattle (Genesis 47:11-12; cp. John 10:9). Nevertheless, having saved his family Joseph reached out to also save all of Egypt (a type of the world), and brought them finally to Pharaoh (a type of the Father; cp. Genesis 47:19-20, 23). Thus, if we believe Joseph’s life and work reflects that of Jesus, then we must believe that Jesus has not only saved us, who know him and believe him, but Christ has saved even those who don’t believe, vis-à-vis the world (1Timothy 4:10) or in the context of Joseph’s work, this is seen in Joseph’s saving all of Egypt (cp. Genesis 47:25).
It seems that during the famine there may have been a slight yield from year to year, but by the fourth year of the famine, there was no yield at all, in either Canaan or Egypt. All the reserves that some may have had were depleted, except for what Joseph stored away during the 7 seasons of good harvests (Genesis 47:13). Therefore, Joseph sold grain from Egypt’s reserves to the people in the land, until, by the end of the fifth year of the famine, the people had used all their money to buy grain (Genesis 47:14). Thus, by the end of that year, Pharaoh had all the gold and silver that was in Egypt.
When the famine continued into the sixth year and the harvest yielded nothing, the people had no money, so they bought grain by trading their livestock for grain to eat for that year (Genesis 47:15-17). However, by the end of the seventh year of the famine, the people were still in need of grain. Yet, they had no harvest to preserve their lives, and, with all their money and all their livestock gone, they had only their land to sell for food and survive one more year. Therefore, they sold their land to Joseph in an effort to preserve their lives (Genesis 47:18-20), and in doing so, all the people became the servants or slaves of Pharaoh, who, as I claimed above, is a type of the Father in the context of Joseph being a type of Christ (Genesis 47:21, cp. verse-23).
The only folks who escaped the effects of the famine were the priests. They still had their lands, because they had daily portions of food allotted to them by Pharaoh (Genesis 47:22). By the famine’s end (seven years) Pharaoh had all the gold and all of the land and all of the livestock in Egypt. Moreover, the people, the whole nation, had become his servants (Genesis 47:23). Therefore, Joseph gave the people grain to plant in the fields of Egypt, and bound them to give 20% of the grain to Pharaoh for use of his land and grain, and 80 % of the land’s yield would be theirs and their families’ to live on, and this became the law of the land from this time forward (Genesis 47:23-24, 26). The people willingly accepted Joseph’s judgment, grateful to him for saving their lives (Genesis 47:25).
Smoodock's Blog 