Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and became lord of Egypt.

Joseph is an example Scripture gives to us of the wise ruler; he listed to what God told him and followed through with it.God showed him that in the time of prosperity, he was to work to increase Egypt’s savings. Grain was not to be saved for the sake of being rich. It was to serve a purpose: to help the needy in a time of  famine. That is, in a time of decline, he was shown that he must “spend” the saving and engage in deficits for the welfare of people everywhere (and not just Egypt). The grain he saved was to be given out and sold (equitably); the savings in a time of prosperity was to be used as a kind welfare program in a time of hardship.

I wonder what people would say if our government followed Joseph’s example today? Would they complain and suggest he was a socialist? Would they ask how he dare use up all the government’s resources when there is a major deficit going on? Would they tell him he should consider putting the poor to work if they want to live? Oh, that last one was indeed what many of the Egyptians felt, and they would make sure the poor Hebrews got such jobs soon enough! And since they were given living wages, why did they complain? Their bosses were generous in giving them work to do so they could live.