Review Joseph’s stewardship for Pharaoh and the impact it had on Egyptian history. BIB 502-2-23-1

Joseph entered Egypt as a slave and exited in a coffin with his people who were attempting to throw off 400 years of slavery. It's often been said that it took just a few days to get the Jewish race out of Egypt but 40 years to get Egypt out of the Jewish race.

The story of Joseph is well known, how he was tempted by his master's wife who accused him of attempted rape after he refused her. He was in prison for a number of years where he was able to interpret dreams, a talent that led him to Pharaoh’s court. After interpreting Pharaoh's dreams, Joseph was elevated to a position second only to Pharaoh. Due to the stockpiling of grains through seven years of plenty, there was a sufficient reserve to feed the Egypt’s during seven years of drought.

You'd think that the average Egyptian watching the government stockpiling grains for seven years would think it was a good idea to put some aside for the future. I wouldn't venture to guess the mind of the average Egyptian at that time; perhaps he expected the government to take care of him. The government took care of the people but at a great price. Pharaoh ended up owning all the livestock and land of the Egyptians. The Egyptians survived the drought to emerged as what would be known in this country as sharecroppers.

Perhaps an analogy can be made to the United States. For years we had great prosperity through the dot com bubble. Also we were told that the American dream is to own your own home and that everyone should own their own home whether they could afford it or not. So we had a housing bubble.

The dot com and housing bubbles burst and our country is in very bad economical shape. During the past few years we have not learned the hard lesson that you can't tax or spend your way out of a recession. Add to that we are evolving into an entitlement society with a seemingly decreasing degree of personal responsibility.

Just as Joseph’s stewardship for Pharaoh had an impact on Egyptian history, the liberal political mentality and morality in Washington is turning the United States into a country our founding fathers would not recognize.

The Egyptians gave up their possessions and their land and became virtual slaves to survive. In their case it was a natural disaster brought on by a drought (God?). In the United States most of the economical disasters have been brought on by the government. In this country we seem to be giving up our rights for security. I can only imagine what will happen people are faced with a one world government and the requirement of taking a mark.