Matt Robison

Joseph and the Egyptian Ponzi Scheme

For the last several years, I haven’t had the highest opinion of Joseph. Most writing on the life of Joseph and Genesis drips with honey and can’t wait to sing the endless virtues of Egypt’s agricultural czar.

Sure, they always say he started off as a tattle-tail, quick to report his brothers to his father. And maybe he wasn’t the wisest of youths, spouting off his dreams like they were about to catch his tongue on fire. But he was young. Nothing a good dose of humility won’t fix.

The medicine of humility comes, and from then on Joseph is looked on as an angel. Usually. It was refreshing to read a book that brought up some doubts about this typical enthusiasm in Reno’s Genesis commentary, but these treatments are few and far between.

Joseph is obviously a type of Christ, but that doesn’t mean we should read about him with rose-tinted glasses. David is a type of Christ too, and I don’t see anyone trying to explain away his adultery with Bathsheba with clever excuses. But Joseph’s issues are not the loud, brass band of obvious, in-your-face sin like that of fornication and murder.

His issues are subtle. The problems of power and cultural chameleonism always are. And a failure to recognize the problems show just how enamored we have become with the trappings of power, and how easily we make an idol of the State.

A Great Story, but…

Granted, when you’re teaching a bunch of 5 year olds about Joseph, its easy to get caught up in the rags to riches part of the story. Its a great story that touches something deep within every human. And how do you even explain the nuances behind the temptations of political power to a child who hasn’t even read The Lord of the Rings?

Joseph’s faults shouldn’t surprise us. Look at the stock he came from. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the three names God decides to attach to Himself for eternity, all have their serious problems. Joseph’s eventual words to his brothers seems to be the theme behind the second half of Genesis. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” (Genesis 50:20)(ESV) And thank God for that, or else where would any of us be?

Joseph is still a man of obvious faith that we can learn from. But keep in mind what the Hebrew writer calls attention to when he praises the faith of Joseph:

By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.

Nothing about his perseverance in prison. Nothing about his steadfast hope while sold into slavery. And, notably, nothing about his role in feeding the entire world. Just a mention about his burial arrangements. This should give us a clue as to what was truly praiseworthy about Joseph, in God’s eyes.

So what are some of these issues, besides the obvious youthful pride?

Cultural Assimilation

As soon as Joseph is raised up, he is married to the daughter of a priest of On (Gen. 41:45), thereby gaining religious acceptance to a group that held enormous sway within Egypt, and later would gain even more power through Joseph’s own machinations. We know that during Israel’s time in Egypt, they served other gods (Josh. 24:14).

Perhaps this alliance was the beginning of this indiscretion? Regardless, we know that Abraham insisted on non-foreign wives for Isaac, and Rebekah did likewise for Jacob. After Sinai, such a marriage would be explicitly forbidden.

In an effort to absolve Joseph of this misstep, many rabbinical writings scramble to craft interpretations that border on fantasy. One even claims that Asenath was really Joseph’s kin, the daughter of Shechem and Dinah (Gen. 34) who eventually ended up being raised by Potiphera in Egypt. The sentiment may also have led to the writing of the apocryphal Joseph and Aseneth that depicts the conversion of Aseneth to the worship of YHWH before Joseph agrees to marry her.

The assimilation continues. In Genesis 42:23, we see that Joseph needs an interpreter to understand the language of his fathers. He has forgotten it. The curse of Babel rears its head, signifying that Joseph is currently separate from the family of promise. Not good.

Unlike Christ, who was faithful to both his divinity and humanity, Joseph cannot be a son of both Jacob and Egypt. One side inevitably gives way to the other, and it looks like the Egyptian side comes to reign.

Total Fraud and Enslavement

The world is fed on the labor of the Egyptian populace. They give up a fifth of everything they produce during the 7 years of plenty to prepare for the 7 years of famine. Its a temporary tax. Or so it was probably sold to the Egyptians.

When the famine hits, Joseph sells grain to anyone who needs it. This makes sense for foreigners who come from other lands. But what about the Egyptians who filled up the storehouses? Its their grain after all. Certainly they are due at least what they put in. But no. Joseph charges them money for their own grain.

Soon the Egyptians run out of money, and begin begging Joseph for food. (Gen. 47:15). Joseph, not without mercy, agrees to give them food for the small price of all of their livestock. But hey, at least they have enough food to live…for a year.

The Egyptians come begging again. They have no money. They have no livestock to give in trade. Desperate, they offer their bodies and their land and Joseph accepts their generous offer. (Gen. 47:18-22).

Except the lands of the priests. So the only people in Egypt that owned land after this were Pharaoh and the pagan priests. What a drastic shift in power.

Once again showing mercy (and probably realizing a 100% enslaved population isn’t really that productive), Joseph tells the people to keep tilling the land, do all of the work. And all they have to do is give back one fifth of their production to Pharaoh. During a debilitating famine. And beyond.

So much for a “temporary” tax to cover the tough times. Like a good politician, he didn’t let a good disaster go to waste.

Maybe we should rename the Ponzi scheme after Joseph instead?

But thanks be to God, for he works good out of evil. Even our own evil. It was true with the other sons of Jacob. It was true with Joseph himself. And it is true with those of us who are in Christ.

Tasty Sampler 6/3

1. Advice for Slow Readers. And no, it’s not “learn to read faster.”

For a few years now, I’ve used a reading plan that has helped me get through a pretty good number of books every month, despite my setback of being a slow reader. For the frustrated and overwhelmed readers, here are a few suggestions.

2. Ads can implant false memories. Another reason not to watch too much TV.

It turns out that vivid commercials are incredibly good at tricking the hippocampus (a center of long-term memory in the brain) into believing that the scene we just watched on television actually happened. And it happened to us.

3. Moses Vs. Hyperpreterism. Michael Bull calls attention to the general outline of covenants in the Bible, and how it speaks against full blown hyperpreterism.

Every Covenant has an element of futurism because the Covenant process is how God directs history and moves it forward. Moses helps us to identify which part of Revelation is yet future. To claim otherwise is to ignore the structure of the entire Bible.

4. Poverty and the Delay of Gratification. This should be read and discussed around the dinner table. Valuable lessons from Eastern Kentucky.

The main difference between rich and poor is not birthplace, or education level, or the area of the country, or the quality of the schools. It’s not the local economy. The main difference between rich and poor is the ability to delay gratification in anticipation of greater rewards down the road.

Since the Dawn of Reason

This is my second favorite Lutheran Satire video. Intellectuals love to attribute nonsensical motives to people in history, and their favorite targets are the early Christians.

Now we finally know the true story.

“Since the dawn of reason in like 1687 or something, all the smart people have known that Christ’s resurrection was a myth created by the early Christians to amass power oppress people…”

Pride of Ownership

Proverbs 14:4 teaches a lot in it’s brilliant phrasing, but the main warning is against being boastful about the wrong things.

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. (ESV)

If someone ignores the strength of a few oxen, just because they don’t want to clean up the corresponding mess, they have their priorities wrong. Mangers are meant to get dirty, to smell like animals. That’s their purpose. A clean manger is a wasted manger, and pointing to it in justification is foolishness.

What are some modern day mangers?

Houses – A house that doesn’t need to be cleaned is a wasted house, and the owners miss out on abundant fruit. The house is never “lived in” by the resident family, or the doors are never open to others in hospitality. Perhaps some of the furniture is still covered in cellophane wrap. The carpets almost never need to be cleaned. There are rooms that no one is allowed to enter. The kids are shooed outside at the earliest convenience. There are so many coasters covering the tables that you can’t see the wood underneath.
Vehicles – The whole point of a car is to get passengers from one point on the map to another, not to show off how great the upholstery looks. Would you brag about how the tread on the tires you bought 7 years ago shows no sign of wear? And if someone, somewhere, would be crazy enough to be impressed by unused tires, you probably shouldn’t be making eye contact with them.

There is a certain pride of ownership that is needed. After all, the manger needs to be cleaned. Its not left to wallow in the filth of the oxen. But the pride of ownership isn’t the point of ownership. Always be asking why God gave this blessing to you.

What are some other modern day mangers, in the context of this proverb? What else is it warning against?

Tasty Sampler 5/27

A blind man sees the world…with a click of his tongue. This is one of the most amazing articles I have ever read.

Kish has trained himself to hear these slight echoes and to interpret their meaning. Standing on his front stoop, he could visualize, with an extraordinary degree of precision, the two pine trees on his front lawn, the curb at the edge of his street, and finally, a bit too far from that curb, my rental car. Kish has given a name to what he does — he calls it “FlashSonar” — but it’s more commonly known by its scientific term, echolocation.

“Running into a pole is a drag, but never being allowed to run into a pole is a disaster,” he writes. “Pain is part of the price of freedom.” This attitude is not wildly popular, especially in a safety-first nation like the United States.

16 tips for beginning homeschoolers. Some are more attacking myths than actual tips, but a good read.

Ultimately, your role will be as a facilitator to your child’s learning. There’s no need to lecture, and very often you’ll find yourself learning something new right alongside your child.

4 Myths About World War 2. Most focus on the bad light generally cast on the French.

No army in the world at that time could have withstood Germany’s blitzkrieg, planned by the brilliant Erich von Manstein, and led by the audacious Heinz Guderian, and Erwin Rommel –three of modern history’s greatest generals.

Understand by listening closely. A good article on how to establish trust in sales, and to brush up on your social skills in general.

As we got off the plane, Ann stopped me in the gangway, shook my hand and said, “Gill, you’re the most interesting person I’ve ever had the pleasure to ride with on an airplane. It was great getting to know you” – and I had hardly told her a thing about me!

The Danger of “Fruitfulness” without Purity. Scandals of hypocrisy harm the gospel witness, and should be cut at the root with confession and prayer.

Winning or losing the heart battles over confession, repentance, and humility is the difference between those who end well and those who do not. Why hypocrisy often wins the day is, I believe, because leaders learn the possibility of being “fruitful” without being pure. There is, in some sense, the ability to maintain professional administration of ministry and even to see “fruitfulness” in such activities. This, in turn, can deceive one into thinking that confession of heart struggles and personal sins are in some sense unnecessary and mere distractions to ministerial progress.