Perilous times often lead to consolidation with people gravitating towards their kind at the exclusion of others and unspoken law of the jungle becoming normalised. We could learn from ancient Egyptians when they faced 7 years of drought and starvation. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 28 February 2017.
The Biblical account of the story of Joseph in Genesis, tells us of an Israelite betrayed by his brothers when he was thrown in a deep well and later sold to be a slave in Egypt. Just when he thought his life was turning for the better, he was soon thrown in an Egyptian jail after being falsely accused of rape.
He did his best and became useful in jail, looking after other prisoners and interpreting their disturbing dreams. But he was soon forgotten by some of them when they were released.
His life turned for the better when he was called to interpret Pharaoh’s dream that kept him awake the entire night. There being no other confident and competent person to interpret the unforgiving, no-nonsense Pharaoh, Joseph was again thrown in the deep end, expected to interpret Pharaoh’s mysterious dream. He risked losing his life for getting it wrong. Graciously, he was blessed with the gift of interpretation.
The interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream was a prophecy about the upcoming drought to last for 7 years.
This drought was not only isolated to Egypt, but to all the surrounding regions, if not near-worldwide, for it affected many parts of the Middle East.
Nevertheless, having successfully interpreted the dream and there being no other person confident and competent enough to implement the proposed national drought management strategy, Joseph was again given the heavy burden of implementing the operational strategy. Many people’s lives depended on his success. To effect the strategy, Joseph was appointed prime minister, second in charge to Pharaoh.
Preparations resulted in an intensive extended public works programme, with storage barns built throughout strategic locations in the nation. He introduced a tax system that resulted in savings of a fifth (20%) of every national produce. The whole operation took 7 years in preparation, then drought occurred.
Not only were locals supplied from the savings, but so were nationals from faraway places. Normal trading occurred and those without legal tender liquidated their assets to buy goods. The destitute sold their capacity to those who needed it to earn income to buy much-needed supplies.
Scripture is silent on whether migrants chose to stay out drought in their lands in Egypt. But this possibility cannot be ruled out. Migration to more prosperous regions is an age-old normal activity.
But we could learn notable lessons from this story in consideration of our woes.
What we witness worldwide with populist somewhat right-wing leaders gaining popularity; migrants and minorities resented and despised owing to frustrations about lack of economic development, goes against the spirit ensconced in the lifestyle of ancient Egyptians.
It makes sense that when we experience shortage of resources, that cutbacks be set in place to stretch remaining resources further for survivors. And when more people scrounge around from the same limited resources, starvation is inevitable.
But the law of love should trump our animalistic instinctive desire to want survival at all cost even if it comes at the expense of others. If we solved our localised problems, none of us will be burdened by other’s problems. But this is easy said than done, for the statement also applies to those decrying the “invasion” of their resources and space by others. Ultimately, we are to blame for our woes. The debate takes us nowhere.
Instead of looking for scapegoats, let us rather unite in our search for solutions that could benefit us all. Let us use our abilities not looking for our differences but what we could bring and use collectively for our survival and progression.
We could learn from the story about Joseph and Egypt:
MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY SITUATION
Joseph was a slave and a prisoner, both of which imposed on him against his will. He did not wallow in his sorrows about the state of his affairs. He knew there was little at the time he could do to reverse his status. He therefore looked for something more immediate he could do to improve conditions of his life and increase his joy.
He kept himself productive and useful to others. This resulted in him unexpectedly becoming useful to the most powerful person, not only in the land but the wider region. He ultimately became second in charge and the rest is history.
We too need to find ways to fight a bigger cause by doing our best in the immediate small things we are exposed to. Scripture tells us to be content with our station (1Corinthians 7:20). This is not to say we should not oppose our oppression, but it says in doing our best, we will eventually overcome our problems.
But the breakthrough would be built on our faithfulness and competence in our accomplishment of small tasks. Scripture also tells us we should be faithful in small things so we can be trusted with much (Luke 16:10-11). This is true about many aspects of our lives. We cannot manage complexity if we cannot resolve basics.
FOSTERING DIVERSITY TO OVERCOME OUR LACK AND INCREASE OUR PROSPERITY
Pharaoh did not lament Joseph’s nationality or class to listen to him. He was focused on the problem and wanted to hear about the solution Joseph proposed. He also listened to his wine bearer’s advice. He could have easily dismissed him as non-regal, inexperienced in running or leading a country, and that he only wanted advice from fellow leaders.
Instead, Pharaoh humbled himself despite his status and standing and heeded the advice of a lowly figure, despite being surrounded by generals and many wise people.
His focus on the problem and on those giving options on the resolution of the problem enabled him to overcome and become more prosperous.
We too, should not be dwelling on our differences that keep us apart, but on our commonalities uniting us to overcome human problems and challenges.
MAKING TIME FOR EVERYTHING
There’s a time for celebrating our successes and a time to mourn our losses. All other times, we should prepare for such events.
When we experience prosperity, we should not perceive there will never be a season of drought. We would be wise to curb our wild exuberance and make provision for days of lack. If we make it a habit to save between 10% and 20% of our provisions, we would go a long way in sustaining our lives in prolonged periods of lack.
Similarly, when we are experiencing lack already, we would be wise not to destroy everything but preserve some for use when lack subsides. Destroying relationships during periods of lack may permanently harm our ability to trade with one another in periods of growth, and this might hamper our ability to prosper. We should never think we are immune to future calamities necessitating our calling for help from others, more so from people we despised when we prospered.
Let us refrain from words and actions tearing us apart, but force ourselves to be helpful to one another.
INCREASING OUR LEVERAGE AND MAINTAINING FLEXIBILITY
Everything is useful for something or someone in a given context. This is a generalisation, but usually true.
We need to apply our minds broadly to make the most of situations we are in. We may not see the results immediately, but everything counts for something ultimately.
We must leverage what we have and can control for our survival. We should avoid placing too many conditions and restrictions hindering our progress. We should be like Egyptians; those who had assets, liquidated them for goods. Those who had nothing, made themselves available to others in need of their capacity. But nothing legal was spared from being traded or placed as collateral in acquiring resources they needed for survival.
No task should be small for us to do or beneath us if we are to overcome our challenges. Pride shouldn’t stand in our way to overcome our temporary predicament for long lasting prosperity.
IN THE END
We need to take heed and emerge to be a better people. Drought and lack are not permanent, for these too shall pass and our prosperity shall be restored. We have just had good rainfall in Gauteng after many months of drought and severe water restrictions. This reminds us that goodness endures and lasts longer than hardship.
We should take heart and not lose hope to do good when we experience hardships. It’s easy to forget these principles when we are pressed from all sides. That is why we need to be reminded often and we need to institutionalise the knowledge that our diversity binds us, increasing our interdependence.
In Tata and Geely Motors Article, I referred to the spiritual, intellectual and physical forms of our existence. Without repeating the argument here, our current woes could be a way of Deity urging us to focus more and increase our interdependence and eradicate impediments to our development and advancement.
We should create or find avenues to discuss and exchange ideas, resources and abilities. We need not look far in search of audacious solutions provided by bigger inaccessible providers. We can serve one another in our multitude, diversity and scarcity of resources.