Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Who owns the land?
In Genesis 47:20-22, Joseph ends up buying all of the land for Pharaoh, and the people were reduced to servitude. The priests were exempt and got to keep their land. However, as the Israelites came into the promised land, God established laws that reversed this paradigm and more accurately reflected the Israelites' relationship with God. Israelites were not permitted to permanently sell their land (Leviticus 25:23) - it belonged to God. The priestly tribe of Levi was not given an inheritance in the land (Numbers 18:20) - they relied on the offerings of the people. The Israelites were to be good stewards of that which God provided.
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2 comments:
I was also struck by *how* Joseph distributed the grain that he had collected for Pharaoh. I think a lot of us usually think of this story as Joseph and Pharaoh just freely handing out food buffet style, when in fact people were trading their possessions, their land, and even *themselves*, in return for this food (and, in essence, their lives). I would tend to think that drawing an obvious spiritual metaphor from this might be reading a little too much into the text. Still, I've been trying to understand what the purpose for the details of this exchange might be. Any thoughts?
I definitely agree that the people basically sold themselves for food. It is interesting that we are given such specific details at times, and at other times whole generations are not even mentioned.
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