(Genesis) Genesis 47:15-26

Now, let me read beginning at verse 11 of chapter 47 of Genesis. And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ramesses, as Pharaoh had commanded. And that's the land of Goshen.

And Joseph nourished his father and his brethren, all his father's household, with bread according to their families. 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. Now, the reason these two lands are mentioned, they are the geographical locations that are involved in our story.

But both places now are suffering, and had Jacob remained with his family in Canaan, he would have perished. But now in the land of Egypt, grain has been stored, but they're not producing it anymore. Evidently, the famine had spread all over Africa because the Nile River, the Blue Nile, was not feeding water in for the overflow of the River Nile in Egypt.

Verse 14, 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 unto Pharaoh's house. Now, this is something Joseph has been criticized for, that he took advantage of the people's poverty and he bought up the land.

In other words, he closed in on the mortgage and brought the land. Well, I think that's an unfair criticism of him to begin with. He's the agent of Pharaoh.

He did none of this for himself. It didn't help him a bit. He's making no effort to enrich himself.

And he was not crooked in any sense of the word. He did not gain personally because of the famine. And I think the illustration would be that you will recall when it was discovered that the atom bomb is to be made from uranium.

Uranium all of a sudden becomes one of the elements, one of the metals that's intensely valuable. And some man found that they had uranium in their property, especially over here in Arizona. Well, they were paid a handsome sum for it.

Well, were they taking advantage of their government? I don't think so. The law of supply and demand took care of the price and the scarcity of the article and the demand for it. And the same thing, I think, was true here in the land of Egypt.

He bought the land. I'm sure that he got it at a good price. He bought it for Pharaoh.

But it's the question of law of supply and demand. And he's actually enabling the people to live by furnishing them food. I think that Joseph stayed within the confines of the law of supply and demand.