In the first installment of this series we looked at Abraham, now we will finish off the Book of Genesis.
We saw how Abraham gave a tithe (or “tenth”) of the plunder to Melchizedek in Genesis 15; in Genesis 28 we have another reference to the tithe. After Jacob sees a ladder up to heaven at Bethel, he vows,
If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.(Genesis 28:20-22)
This appears to be a one-off tithe of all Jacob's possessions at a future unspecified date, but he is essentially tithing his increase in wealth.
Indeed, Jacob accumulates wealth in a significant way while he stays with his uncle (and father-in-law) Laban. We have here the first references in the Bible to wages (Genesis 29:16): Jacob works for Laban in exchange for the privilege of marrying his daughter(s), and then continues to serve him (Genesis 30:28) in exchange for every spotted and speckled animal (Genesis 30:32). Jacob accumulates flocks, but this is due to God's blessing rather than Jacob's cleverness (Genesis 31:12). Jacob says that Laban “changed my wages ten times” (Genesis 31:7), and Laban is portrayed negatively on this basis. Thus, one common manifestation of dishonesty and theft is not paying the wage that was agreed upon. This is something we also see in the New Testament:
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
(James 5:4)
In the story of Joseph, we have a great example of financial planning: Joseph urges Pharoah to store grain during the seven years of plenty so that there is enough to eat in the seven years of famine.
This story also has the first occurrence of taxation in the Bible. In fact, Joseph twice taxes the Egyptians on Pharaoh's behalf. During the years of plenty, the Egyptians are required to give 20% of their grain to Pharaoh's storehouses:
“Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.”
(Genesis 41:34-35)
During the famine when the Egyptians run out of grain, Joseph buys both the people and their land on Pharaoh's behalf, in exchange for food. He then leases the land back to them in perpetuity in exchange for 20% of its yield:
Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.”
(Genesis 47:23-24)
We can also note that there is a money shortage in Egypt as a result of the famine (and Joseph's policies):
And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.”
(Genesis 47:15)
Also, the Egyptians are very happy to go into slavery in exchange for food. They appreciate the security that Joseph's government provides:
And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.”
(Genesis 47:25)
Joseph doesn't give free handouts, even to Egyptian citizens: he sells the grain to them. Joseph controls the flow of money, and the Egyptians are forced to trade long-term value (their land) for short-term relief.
What are we to make of Joseph's hunger relief program? Does this justify governments today acting in a similar way? Of course, Joseph's policy is quite different to that of modern governments. He doesn't borrow his way out of a recession, nor does he make stimulus payments. Quite the opposite, in fact: he sells grain to hungry people.
Throughout the narrative, Joseph is portrayed as a wise man. (More than a thousand years later his life will be mirrored by Daniel.) Therefore, the narrator must be seen to approve of his policy decisions. It simply will not do to conclude that Joseph's dreams are accurate but that his advice is poor.
However, we must also realize that Joseph's policies are driven by special revelation. There are a number of aspects of the story that present it as a unique occurrence, and so we need to be careful in the way we apply it to governments today. It is both an emergency situation, and something which was revealed beforehand.