BRAGADAYJAH 152

Before ending his meeting with the Pharaoh, Israel told him that he was one hundred and thirty years old; that although he had seen his share of trouble, neither his years nor his trouble could be compared with those of his ancestors. And Israel paid homage to the King; and having done so he blessed him and departed. Israel’s statement to Pharaoh with regard to the shortness of life and the fullness of trouble may be likened to that of Job when he said, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.” Be that as it may, after his father took his leave of Pharaoh, Joseph having had Pharaoh’s blessing, placed his father and his brethren in a good area of the land of Egypt in the area of Rameses, whereat he fed them with bread according to the size of their families and their needs Eventually, the bread ran out; for the famine grew more and more severe with each passing year; and also because Egypt was the marketplace for all those who wanted to buy food from areas outside Egypt. At that stage Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, and took it to the Pharaoh. There was no more corn left; but apparently there were still some people who had livestock and other consumables about for sale. So the Pharaoh gave them money so they could buy livestock and whatever they could buy with money to survive. The fact that the whole land was in a state of famine, does not mean that, for example, some farmers, shopkeepers, merchants and others did not themselves have some saleable commodities stored up for themselves. It is the way of business that there are always those who would have heard of Joseph’s interpretation of the Pharaoh’s dream and would have made preparations for the famine, some hoping to make a killing from selling goods at exorbitant prices. So when there was no more corn to be doled out, Joseph gave the money from the sale of corn to the Pharaoh who gave it to the people to buy food for themselves; but soon too, that money ran out, and the people once more turned to Joseph. More.