Pam Padgett ... teacher
God set Joseph in a position of great authority in Egypt, and gave him wisdom to prepare during
7 years of great plenty for 7 years of famine. The famine was even in Canaan where Joseph's father (Jacob) and his brothers
lived. Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy corn and during their
second trip there, Joseph revealed himself to them. Joseph told his
brothers that God sent him before them to preserve them as a people and
to save their lives by a great deliverance ...
Genesis 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Because of dreams God had given to Pharaoh, Joseph knew there were still
five years of famine ahead and that his father and brothers were facing
poverty if they stayed in Canaan. But God provided a great deliverance
for them from the poverty, as Joseph sent for them to come to Egypt where he ruled ...
Genesis 45:9 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: 10 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: 11 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.
They had everything needed for the journey to Egypt, including wagons
and provisions. And once in Egypt, rather than facing poverty, they
could eat the fat of the land ...
Genesis 45:17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto
thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the
land of Canaan; 18 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. 19 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. 20 Also regard not your stuff;
for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. 21 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. 22 To
all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave
three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. 23 And to
his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good
things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat
for his father by the way.
They were given the best of the land to dwell in, and Joseph nourished them with bread. When all the land fainted because of the famine, they were cared for.
Genesis 47:11 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 Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families. 13 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.
God provided the way
of great deliverance for HIS people.