Joseph in Egypt – A prime example of history repetition

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The well-known story of Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers into Egypt, offers a prime example of how to read the present and future in the past events of the Old Testament. It’s a prophecy in the typical pattern of the Bible, even though this story isn’t actually declared a prophecy. One simply needs to read it with open eyes and compare it with recent history and the current situation. This provides a wonderful insight into what is yet to come for humanity.

Joseph in Egypt – Prime Example

DHistory repeats itself, how true it is. God’s plan for this fallen world was already established before He created it. Once guarded as His secret (“Mystery of God,” Revelation 10:7) and then unfolded as the gospel on the occasion of the first fall into sin, which God also foresaw. God knows His creatures, each one better than they know themselves. Indeed, these are not exactly the most excellent qualities of man in his fallen nature. Thus, the truism arose that man learns nothing from his mistakes and (therefore) history repeats itself.

Solomon’s wise saying in Ecclesiastes 1:9 sums it up:
“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.“

Therefore, the Bible offers a wealth of events in the Old Testament that serve not only as a conditional but as a direct example of what we can observe and experience today, as well as what is yet to come. One would simply have to “read it up.”

Joseph – “Chancellor” of Egypt

A very good example of the Bible’s “timeless relevance” is the well-known account of the time of Joseph, son of Jacob (Israel), when he was already a slave sold by his own brothers in Egypt. Joseph was imprisoned there after being falsely accused by his mistress of sexually assaulting her. At that time, Pharaoh had two consecutive, strange dreams in one night.

Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream

The following scenes are found in Genesis 41. On the night in question, Pharaoh dreamed of seven fat cows and seven lean cows. The lean cows ate the fat cows but remained very emaciated. Pharaoh awoke, marveled, and fell asleep again. Then Pharaoh dreamed of seven lush ears of wheat and seven stunted ears of wheat. The seven lean ears ate the seven overfed ears of wheat, but remained thin themselves.

Pharaoh commissioned his “court wise men” and fortune-tellers to interpret his dreams. But they were unable to do so. A court official (the cupbearer) remembered Joseph, who was already virtually forgotten and still sitting in prison. Joseph had previously demonstrated his ability to make predictions that came true (Genesis 40). Joseph was taken from prison and brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams.

Joseph testified before Pharaoh that he himself was not able to interpret his dreams, but that God would do so. The answer to Pharaoh’s strange dreams was also immediately at hand. Joseph explained to the Egyptian ruler that the land would experience seven years of abundant harvests. A period of plenty would be followed by seven more years of drought and great famine. The fact that Pharaoh had these two dreams one after the other, each of which contained the same prediction, indicates that God would certainly make this happen soon.

Precautionary Measures Are Taken

Joseph also immediately gave Pharaoh advice on how to deal with the coming situation. He advised the ruler to send his overseers throughout the land to collect a fifth of the harvest during the time of plenty and store it for later use. This would create a reserve that would help them survive the subsequent seven years of drought.

Pharaoh and his advisors immediately accepted Joseph’s advice and also recognized that this prediction and the proposed measures must have come from the “God of Joseph.” Today, we would say a “rocket-like rise” followed. Joseph, just rescued from prison and at the age of 30, was appointed by Pharaoh as the supreme ruler of the land. Only Pharaoh himself ranks above him: the “absolute king” and his “chancellor.”

As said, so done

And so it happened. During the seven “fat years,” a fifth of the entire country’s harvest was harvested and stored. This was followed by the seven years of famine. During this period, Egypt ruled the then-known world. Its sphere of influence wasn’t limited to the geographical region of Egypt in North Africa we know today, but extended far beyond. The Levant, the Middle East, immediately east of the Mediterranean, also belonged to the empire at that time. Thus, a great famine prevailed there, while in the land of Egypt proper, there was sufficient food thanks to stockpiling..

People throughout the vast territory of Egyptian rule traveled to Egypt to buy grain and bread. Joseph’s family did, too, and there they encountered his brothers, who sold him as a slave.

Far more than just a nice story

“All’s well that ends well” is the conclusion if you “simply read” this and dismiss it as a story from ancient times. Unfortunately, this is how it is usually taught, without going into the details and background. Above all, there is a small sequel to the event that plays a significant role. The details concern the course of the seven years of famine, which are described in Genesis, chapter 47.

The First Year of the Famine

From verse 13 onward, it is again described that the famine was very severe. The starving people did not receive the stored grain as a gift; instead, they had to purchase it for money. Joseph collected all the money he collected and handed it over to Pharaoh. The people were grateful to be able to survive.

The second year of famine

After people spent all their money on food and the famine continued, bartering was the only way to survive. In the second year, people paid with their livestock. They handed over their horses, sheep, cattle, and donkeys in exchange for bread and grain. The people were grateful to be able to survive.

The third year of famine

As predicted, there was also an extreme shortage of food in the third year. However, the people had neither money nor livestock. These had already been lost in the first two years of famine, compared to the purchase of bread. All the starving people had left was their land. So it happened as it had to. To survive, they traded their land for food from the Pharaoh’s stores. And the people were grateful that they could survive.

Only the Egyptian priests were allowed to keep their land or fields. They received an exclusive grant from the Pharaoh anyway. The true position of power these priests held can be guessed at when one considers their abilities, such as how they were later able to transform their staffs into snakes in the presence of Moses and even imitate the first plagues that struck Egypt. The great Pharaoh must have had a great deal of respect for the priests.

From the fourth year of the famine

Money gone, cattle gone, land gone, but a severe drought still existed in the great empire of Egypt. It had already begun in the previous year of famine, when the people had no choice but to give up their own land in exchange for bread. The land became the property of the Pharaoh, and Joseph immediately suggested that from now on the Pharaoh’s land should also be cultivated. From the fourth year onwards, the people were given not only bread but also seed to scatter on the Pharaoh’s land. The people were allowed to keep four portions of this, however small the yield might have been during the drought. The fifth went to the Pharaoh. Here too, the people were grateful to have survived.

Permanent facility

Joseph passed a law stipulating that from now on, one-fifth of the revenues had to be paid to Pharaoh. The law was not intended to be temporary, but rather “open-ended.”

Strikingly “modern” version

It might now dawn on some that this sequence of events from around 3,900 years ago bears a familiar face (graphic chronicle from Adam to the present). Preacher Dr. Conrad Vine highlighted this visible parallel to the “postmodern” world in his sermon “Heaven’s Reset Has Begun!”(Source). To do this, we need to put the measures, legislation and people’s actions into a current context.

From temporary to permanent

A fifth of the harvest is to be paid. In other words, that’s 20 percent. This portion relates to what? To the harvest, i.e., to income. In this sense, it’s not at all far-fetched to speak of an income tax, and at a generous 20 percent right from the start. Another parallel, emphasized by Conrad Vine, is the manner in which this tax was introduced. This levy was initially declared a temporary measure, as long as this emergency situation persisted. But after three years of hardship, the temporary measure became a static matter. A truly very “familiar” pattern, even in our time.

Need – Help – Gratitude – To the limit

People suffered hardship and were grateful for the help. They gave all their money for food and were grateful. People gave all their livestock, which were trade goods and “tools” for working the fields and thus one of their means of subsistence, and were grateful that they received help. They gave their land and thus the foundation of their independent lives, and yet were grateful for the help they received. It even resulted in the loss of their freedom, as they had to perform forced labor on land that no longer belonged to them, paid permanent taxes, and were grateful that they could survive.

Doesn’t this sound somehow very familiar?

Own nothing and still be happy

After only a few years of suspended emergency, the people of Egypt and the surrounding area found themselves in a state of dependence. Nevertheless, they adopted an attitude toward the situation that could well be described as “owning nothing, but being happy.” Taxes and levies have long been so taken for granted that people no longer complain about their existence, but “only” about their extent and the additional taxes introduced, some with very questionable motives.

If there is no real emergency situation for such purposes, then one is simply invented and humanity is subjected to a constant media barrage, which then “explains” this emergency in great detail. Since people are inclined to react based on faith, this “emergency” is summarily declared a religion (Info).

The papal sequel

With the gradual dispossession of Egypt’s inhabitants, the transformation of the once free, independent people into a state of serfdom could be observed. This even occurred with at least the “negligent consent” of those affected due to their precarious situation. Around 2,900 years later, in the period known in Europe as the (Dark) Middle Ages, the situation was very similar: feudal structures, the common foot soldiers held in a form of serfdom and obliged to perform forced labor.

Who owned the land? The landowners were generally the high and low nobility, and especially direct institutions of the Roman Catholic Church or affiliated institutions. These were ecclesiastical foundations such as prince-bishoprics and archbishoprics, and also monasteries. The patricians were not far removed from the Roman Church. A legacy of the upper class in ancient Rome. Occasionally, wealthy families also emerged virtually from “nowhere,” such as the Swabian merchant family Fugger (Hans Fugger, Augsburg, born c. 1350). Among other things, they granted Pope Leo X a loan to finance St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Leo’s legacy was a mountain of debt that towered far above the obelisk in the center of St. Peter’s Square.

To the dismay of the Roman clergy, an Augustinian monk also appeared and put a serious damper on the indulgence business model that was necessary for the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica and the debts to the Fugger family. His name was Martin Luther.

Forced labor of the nobility

Serfdom, one might almost say modeled entirely on ancient Egypt, was common practice in the Middle Ages. However, this wasn’t limited to the level of dukes and princes “downward” to the common people, but extended even further. The Italian nobility, in particular, had “strong ties” to the papacy. This is in the nature of things. For the noble families either held their fiefdoms in the Papal States of the time or received their noble titles via a letter of nobility from the Pope. This letter could also be torn to shreds at a later date, if the Pontiff saw fit.

Spätestens seit 1076 / 1077 wusste ein jeglicher Adel im “Heiligen Römischen Reich” darüber Bescheid, wer im Reich die Hosen anhatte. Nachdem der römisch-deutsche König Heinrich IV mitten im Winter die Alpen überquerte, um im Anschluss heulend und winselnd, barfüßig bei Frost und Schnee, für 3 Tage und Nächte vor verschlossenen Türen der Burg in Canossa beim Papst Gregor VII um Gnade flehte, waren die bis dahin diskutierten Rollenverteilungen abgeklärt. Damit war auch die “Nahrungskette” von einem Ende (Bauer) bis zum anderen Ende (Papsttum) klar definiert.

Just over a century later, reality caught up with England and its kings. King Henry II and especially John I capitulated deeply to the “Holy See,” and ultimately, Pope Innocent III “incidentally” confiscated the English crown. Since then, and unchanged to this day, the kings of the British Isles have been tributary to the “Emperor of Rome,” with all the associated “rights and duties.” It goes without saying that this has an impact on the local population and their fate.

Another prophetic connection

The important hint for a further prophetic perspective can already be found in Exodus 20:5 on the Second Commandment:
“…visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;”
Up to the “fourth link.” Daniel 7 explains the succession of four beasts, each representing a world empire. The lion (Babylon), the bear (Medo-Persia), the leopard (Greece), and the “monster” (Rome). They all have in common that they were specifically enemies of the people of Israel, the people of God. Four kingdoms, thus “four links.” With the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the Bar-Kochbar revolt, ancient Israel was dissolved.

Daniel 7 describes the rise of a “little horn” on the head of the “monster,” ancient Rome. Clearly, and historically, this is the rise of the papacy in the fluid transition of declining (Western) Rome. A quasi-new generation of adversaries against the equally new generation of God’s people, from now on spiritual Israel. The papacy (as a whole, the fifth beast) as the first beast of the “new generation.” Followed by the democratic states, succeeded by the next beast, which will only remain for a short time. And finally, the eighth beast, which will be one of the preceding beasts. The book of Revelation, chapter 17, explains more about this (Info).

And again there are (virtually) four members, but then there follows not a new generation, but the final downfall of this power that opposes God (Revelation 18).

Was Joseph really a “scoundrel”?

“What? Good old Joseph took advantage of the Egyptians’ plight like this?” Until now, it was assumed that Jacob’s son, who was sold into slavery by his own brothers, reconciled with them, and brought the entire family to the lush land of Egypt, was a thoroughly upright man. Such surprise is even understandable. But only if one views the Bible as a collection of mere stories, proceeds according to human thought patterns, sets one’s own moral standards, and limits this view to a narrow time period.

Although Conrad Vine didn’t elaborate on it in his sermon, this fact nevertheless illustrates something very important. God thinks completely differently than humans, has an overview of every detail of the whole, and also knows what will happen in the future. Isaiah 55:8:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.”

God’s plans (for now) not transparent

The course and changes during this time of hardship demonstrate the method by which people can be brought into dependence (or rather, enslavement) without perceiving this as a deprivation of freedom, and even feeling like “free citizens” and grateful. Furthermore, and this can also be called the “irony of history,” the people of Egypt were already enslaved internally before the enslavement of the people of Israel living in Egypt occurred.

These are precisely the previously obscure ways of God, how He guides and shapes things so that they lead to the intended goal. In retrospect, when the result is complete, God’s measures were only logical. At that time, Egypt was the stronghold of paganism and idolatry. God never left such things unanswered, even when inhumanly long patience was involved. The ten plagues on Egypt, with the exodus of Israel as their goal, fell centuries after Joseph’s reign. The prophet Isaiah, thus repeating much later, then announced the great judgment on idolatrous Egypt (Isaiah 19).

The prophet Ezekiel also had something to say about the judgment on Egypt, the “sea monster.” In chapter 29, the prophet described the coming end of the great empire of Egypt through the invasion of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Just as things guided by God take their course.

Paganism, as practiced by the Egyptians, is a lie through and through. Doesn’t the statement “the truth will set you free” play a prominent role here?

Hand in hand – seamless transition

And with the prophecy and its fulfillment, the foundation was laid for Daniel’s further prophecy. The great tug-of-war between the northern king and the southern king in Daniel, chapter 11. At that time, a type with a literal Babylon (northern king) and a literal Egypt (southern king). And today, humanity has entered the antitype, which requires a spiritual interpretation of this prophecy on a global level (Info).

Bible always surprising

The gospel given by God to mankind contains details, patterns, structures, and connections that have not yet been fully understood. With every attempt to reread a familiar passage, new insights generally emerge. This is true both in small details, e.g., the structure of the Book of Daniel (Info), and in large details.

A simple example is the rough “2,000-year gap.” It began with God’s creation. Around 2,000 years later, the milestone of Abraham’s calling followed. Another 2,000 years later, Jesus Christ appeared as a human being in this world, a climax. Since then, another 2,000 years have passed, and all signs point to Jesus Christ already standing at the door, knocking (Revelation 3:20). That would be 6 x 1,000 years. What follows is revealed in Revelation 20: another 1,000 years of rest (“Millennium“). This would make about 7,000 years complete, like 6 days of creation and the seventh day of the week as a day of rest (Sabbath – Info).

Tutmosis III.

The historical event of Joseph in Egypt, unlike numerous confirmations on other topics, has not (yet) been documented extra-biblically. However, it is plausible that this has another historically verifiable reason. The ancient Egyptians were inclined to always present their own history in a glorious light for posterity. Anything that went seriously wrong was destroyed or “given a flowery appearance.” Prime examples are Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. Even in ancient times, the memory of both rulers was to be completely eradicated. However, this was not done thoroughly enough. Archaeologists and Egyptologists discovered them nonetheless.

As “coincidence” would have it, it is Tutmose III whose death date is given in various dates. The oldest reference (e.g., the Oxford Dictionary) describes the year 1450 BC. More recent references indicate approximately 1427 BC. Furthermore, the official mummy of this pharaoh contains the body of someone around 30 years old, not one well over 80 years old, which must have been Tutmose III. Furthermore, his successor was not the eldest son, but his second son.

Shouldn’t that be? If one calculates the birth order of the ancient Patriarchs, via Abraham and Moses, up to the Exodus of Israel from Egypt according to biblical genealogy, one obtains 1450 BC as the year of the Exodus of the people of Israel (plus or minus a few years of uncertainty). What does the Bible say about this? The 10th Plague affected the death of every firstborn in the land of Egypt. This would also have affected the eldest son, Tuthmosis III, leaving only his secondborn as his successor. The Pharaoh himself drowned in the Red Sea while pursuing the departing people of Israel and thus “disappeared.” Only a “replacement” remained for his mummy. It likely struck an unfortunate, much younger contemporary of the court.

Indirect extra-biblical evidence

At the time of Joseph’s reign in Egypt, a foreign people dominated the center of the vast empire, as Conrad Vine emphasizes in his sermon. Archaeologists are aware of the invasion of the Hyksos (or Hykussos) people from Asia. Hyksos is a Middle Egyptian word meaning “rulers of foreign lands.” They ruled Egypt for approximately 108 years, from approximately 1648 to 1550 BC. The exact dates are not definitive, as scholars are often forced to adjust their findings after new discoveries. For Egypt, this was at least a time of disgrace and shame, and therefore, according to previous discoveries, this period is not included in Egyptian records. A “no-go” for Egypt’s flowery self-promoters. However, information about it has been found in external sources.

Since Joseph’s time in Egypt coincided with the influence of the Hyksos, it is therefore very likely that records about him were also avoided or subsequently destroyed because the shame of the invaders’ rule was to remain banished from the history books.

Horses were unknown in ancient Egypt until that dynasty. However, the Bible reports in Genesis 47:17 that horses were among the currency used by the starving people who had already spent all their money. Later Egyptian records, however, clearly show that horses “suddenly” appeared in the empire. This isn’t conclusive proof, but it is nevertheless strong evidence for the veracity of the biblical account of the “case of Joseph.”

Uninhibited like a child

This reconstructing of biblical accounts against written, extra-biblical history, the field of research of archaeology with its respective confirmations, was a matter of course before the age of “Enlightenment and Reason.” The Bible was even considered an authoritative reference work and a standard for historical research at that time. To this day, it has been degraded to a fairy tale book for adults. With such an attitude, if one actually opens the Bible for reading, it is understandably very difficult, if not impossible, to recognize the astonishing connections between type and antitype, the prophecies valid for now and tomorrow.

Anyone who stumbles at the very first sentence of the Bible, “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), could anticipate the New Testament and follow a piece of advice from Jesus Christ.

A pride and even arrogance ingrained in today’s “enlightened and reasonable” people toward the written Word of God. Jesus Christ admonished this in Matthew 18:3-5:
“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.“

and in Luke 18:17:
“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.“

Sermon by Dr. Conrad Vine – “Heaven’s Reset Has Begun!”

Bible verses from King James Version (1611)

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