Genesis 41:36

36 "The grain should be stored up for the country to use later. It will be needed during the seven years when there isn't enough food in Egypt. Then the country won't be destroyed just because it doesn't have enough food."

Genesis 41:36 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 41:36

And that food shall be for store to the land
A deposit in the said cities, to be brought forth and used in a time of public distress; the Targum of Jonathan is, it

``shall be hidden in a cave in the earth:''

against the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt:
and so be a supply to the inhabitants of the land, when they should be sore pressed with a famine, and know not what to do, nor where to go for food: that the land perish not through the famine;
that is, that the people of the land perish not, as the above Targum, which, without such a provision, they would have been in great danger of perishing. Justin, an Heathen writer ^F17, confirms this account of the advice of Joseph, of whom he says, that

``he was exceeding sagacious of things wonderful, and first found out the meaning of dreams; and nothing of right, divine or human, seemed unknown to him, so that he could foresee the barrenness of land many years beforehand; and all Egypt would have perished with the famine, if the king, by his advice, had not commanded an edict, that the fruits of the earth, for many years, should be preserved.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 E. Trogo, l. 36. c. 32.

Genesis 41:36 In-Context

34 "Pharaoh should appoint officials to be in charge of the land. They should take a fifth of the harvest in Egypt during the seven years when there's plenty of food.

35 They should collect all of the extra food of the good years that are coming. Pharaoh should give them authority to store up the grain. They should keep it in the cities for food.

36 "The grain should be stored up for the country to use later. It will be needed during the seven years when there isn't enough food in Egypt. Then the country won't be destroyed just because it doesn't have enough food."

37 The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and all of his officials.

38 So Pharaoh said to them, "The spirit of God is in this man. We can't find anyone else like him, can we?"