In reading the Torah parshah for today (Dec. 11, 2021: Vayigash—Genesis 44:18-47:27), it occurred to me for the first time that Joseph's solution for Egypt would be considered extremely evil by today's American standards. First, he had all the people save up one-fifth of their produce and give it to the government, who stored it for them (Genesis 41:48-49); then, when the famine hit, he made them BUY their own grain back. When the money was gone, they sold their cattle; and when their cattle was gone, the people sold themselves and their land to Pharaoh and became his slaves. Pharaoh then 'graciously' gave back to them 4/5 of their land to grow their own food again, but retained ownership of the people and the property, and demanded the fifth portion as his (Genesis 47:13-26). If they tried something like that today in our country, there would be absolute civil war over the injustice of such a plan. (Or would there?) In our day, Joseph would have been found guilty of a national socialist conspiracy, and we would have locked him away for life.

Now, to be sure, Joseph's original idea did not mention the slavery part—only the collecting of the grain. (Genesis 41:28-45) Yet, in the administration of the plan, Pharaoh told the people to do whatever Joseph told them, and Joseph was the one who told them to buy the grain with their money, their animals, and finally themselves and their land. So, we don't know whether Joseph completely came up with this on his own, or whether Pharaoh took Joseph's originally benevolent idea and put his own evil twist on it and commanded Joseph to tell them these things, or whether the thought process of the ancient Egyptians was such that since they worshipped Pharaoh as a god anyway, that he was deserving of such power. They did voluntarily sell themselves to Pharaoh to get their grain back, after all.

Regardless of what the motivations were, only the priests of the Egyptian religion and the Israelites were exempt from this system (in Genesis 47:27 it says that the Israelites owned land in Goshen, and Exodus 1:6-8 shows that they were not made slaves in Egypt until later). So we see that God used the situation, even though it was an evil plan, to preserve His people. But doesn’t this still make Joseph a horrible, evil totalitarian? And why did God allow such an awful thing to happen to the entire nation—whether it was Joseph’s idea or not?

First, we have to remember that most of the time, we can’t simply apply a modern framework to the text of the Bible and call it a day. Our sense of national justice is colored by centuries of evolving views of civil rights beginning with the Magna Carta in medieval Europe—and I will certainly not forget to mention that this was greatly influenced by Christianity; before this, monarchy was absolute, and the best that civilians could hope for was a benevolent ruler.

Secondly, evil exists in the world. God created man with free will, because He wanted men to worship Him freely, and not as automatons; but men from the very beginning have chosen to worship themselves. What we are not free from are the consequences to ourselves and others which flow from the choices we make, and so evil flourishes because mankind chooses it. The bad choices of a few sometimes cascade over into many lives of those who are innocent. Romans 8:28 assures us that God works everything for the good of those who believe and are called according to His purpose; it does not say that God will not allow anything bad to happen to us. The slavery of both Egypt and Israel was awful, but in the midst of it, God brought about the Exodus, and established the nation that would bring about the Messiah and Savior of the world.

It may have been that Joseph had no choice in the matter. He did hold out as long as possible before recommending that the people sell themselves into the slavery of Pharaoh, and when he was dying, he didn’t want his body to remain buried with the Pharaohs of Egypt, but with his family in Israel. He knew he didn’t belong to Egypt, but to YHWH—which brings us to the most important thing to remember: even though the whole earth belongs to YHWH, Israel is His people—His kingdom of priests and holy nation, and until the judgment of the world is finished, Israel is His main national concern. This doesn’t mean that YHWH is unconcerned with the affairs of other nations, but there is an element in which the nations, because of their rebellion against the Most High, have subjected themselves to the worship of other 'gods', and they are suffering consequences across the ages since mankind's universal decision to reject Him at the Tower of Babel.

This is why it is so important to recognize that those of us who are ethnically Gentiles, like myself, have been translated into a different kingdom—we have changed citizenship to His people Israel, no matter what our passport might say. If we remain separated from Israel, we are lost and have no hope in the world (Ephesians chapters 2 & 3)—but Romans 11 tells us that we have been grafted by Messiah into Israel like a wild olive branch into a domesticated tree; and because of this, we are no longer part of the nations doomed to suffer the wrath of God. While we remain subject to the governing civil authorities in the nations where we live, whom God allows to be raised to power and whose hearts God can turn as easily as directing the flow of water, we do not have to be subject to the spirits controlling the nations behind the scenes. In fact, he has given us authority in the New Covenant to plunder their kingdoms—not for assets like money, power, or land, but citizens (Matthew 16:17-19, 28:18-20; Mark 16:14-18; Luke 16:18-19, Acts 1:6-8). YHWH has called us to wage a spiritual war for liberation of prisoners, to bring captives back home to YHWH, so they can live as part of His people once again. YHWH alone is our King.

This is why it was evil for the people of Israel to call for a king to rule over them like the other nations (1 Samuel 8); God knew His people would suffer under the rule of an imperfect human being; but Israel didn’t want to live under God’s direct rule and reign as His people. So God acquiesced to their request, and gave them many kings who did evil things and took advantage of them, just as the other nations’ rulers have done all throughout history. But He also declared that He would bring a King of His choosing—Yeshua, who came to save Israel from her sins, and who will come again to bring Israel into all of the promises of the covenant, triumphing over all the other nations who hate the children of Jacob.

Psalm 33:12 states, “Blessed is the nation whose God is YHWH; the people He has chosen as His inheritance.” Of course, this is talking about Israel specifically; but it applies to any nation who worships Him. The more true worshipers of YHWH that exist in a country, the closer they are aligned with God’s value system and His plan in the world; that nation is poised to walk in God's blessings and the freedom that comes from walking in His ways; and sometimes, even their leadership becomes softened to the Gospel, and their whole society prospers. America is the only nation that was specifically founded to worship God; other nations became Christian after a significant portion of their population converted to Christianity―but they didn't start off that way. Even Israel, though they are eternally God’s chosen people, were chosen by Him; but Americans chose God. And I believe we have reaped the blessings that have resulted from that choice. So it is extremely important that America remains a nation under God.

But we have been walking away from Him, and it is beginning to show. Unlike Israel, God is not obligated by His own promises to prop us up and conduct the United States of America into a happy ending. He can easily let us suffer the consequences of our own choices. If we don’t return to YHWH, eventually, we will cease to be prosperous and will be swallowed in bondage, just like the Egyptians did under Pharaoh so long ago. Instead, let’s seek YHWH with all our hearts, our souls, and our strength—He may yet save us from ourselves!