For there was famine

“So Israel’s sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan also.” (Genesis 42:5)

 

In June, Summer has been already begun. June is the month that makes remember painful history to Koreans. The Korean War broken in June 1950 devastated the entire land and left indelible scars on the hearts of the people. Every citizen of any countries should be concerned about the country, but especially Christian should live in practice as a patriot of true heart. Also, even if had gone through a painful history in the past, we always should live with hope God would give a new life. As famine had come in the land of Canaan, Jacob sent his sons to buy provisions from Egypt.

 

Joseph, hated by his elder brothers earlier, had been sold to Egypt and lived as a slave at first, but some time later miraculously, he became Prime Minister of Egypt the country. God had saved him even from the crisis thrown before death, and raised him to the top seat out of the very bottom. Not only what individuals go through, but also the changes in nature and the rise and fall of every nation are all done in God the Lord’s providence. Jacob thought Joseph had been already dead long time ago, and Joseph’s elder brothers never dreamed of Joseph had become the highest man under Pharaoh of Egypt. Last seven years of drought and Joseph’s success in Egypt, such all the cases were done through the providence of the Lord God.

A bad harvest of seven years came just after the bumper crop of seven years. The extreme drought covered around the areas of Egypt and Canaan. Egypt, the country of Pharaoh, was well prepared for drought in advance by Joseph’s policy, but the Jacob’s house who had lived in Canaan hadn’t prepare to it. So they had no choice but to go to Egypt in order to solve the problem of provisions for living. The purpose that they went to Egypt was to escape from crisis of hunger at first, but their descendants had to live as miserable slaves suppressed in Egypt for the next four hundred years. For what reason did the people of Israel have to go through such extreme difficulties in the foreign land? We learn a truth from the Bible, God’s ultimate purpose was to make see the birth of Messiah from Israelite descendant to save all the people in the world after all. Suffering conceals a precious treasure in its back side. Likewise the hardships given to Korean people in the past would be valid like that.

It is a reality of life that it has no choice but to die when without food. That is not the matter only to human but of all the created things. That’s a fateful situation of all living animals and plants. When we have nothing to eat, we must try to look for food in any means. When Jacob heard that there would be grain in Egypt, he made his sons to go buy there to get it. But Jacob didn’t let Benjamin go with elder brothers to Egypt. Because Jacob was very afraid that he would lose Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, a son born from Rachel the loved wife. We can see fully Jacob was a man with ordinary characters of human in many respects.

The famine in the lands of Canaan and Egypt created an opportunity for Joseph and his brothers to meet. But to tell the truth, the Lord has arranged all the processes related to famine, so that they can meet. But Jacob, his sons, the king of Egypt and the people, had no idea of God’s providence at all. Joseph also would not have known it but in part he may have realized, the guidance of God. The same goes for the difference between those who live by faith in Christ and non-Christians. Joseph pretended as if he hadn’t known his elder brothers when they had come to buy cereals and treated them who prostrated themselves in front of himself. He could have retaliated against the brothers who had sold himself to the merchant after tried to kill himself. But Joseph, unlike the attitudes shown outer, would have a heart to forgive his brothers. The heart Christians should have is like the Joseph’s. Joseph shows like model to us an appearance of Jesus Christ. Jesus was hated by people in the world, however He saved people with love by death on the cross.

 

Famine is one of the big trials people experience. In all over the world, people have been frequently suffered to great trials such as war, disease, and natural disasters. It is inevitable that all men suffer because of human sin and wrong, but we have to realize a fact behind there is God’s providence to save humans. Anyone who has faith in Christ Jesus would be able to know it. And, they can also predict that there will be a glorious future for all the world.

 

(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on June 6th 2021)