Money and Seeds

Genesis 47:23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.”

The wisdom of Joseph which was given by God and appreciated by Pharaoh is seen in this portion of Genesis 47:13-26. This wisdom is executed in three phases when people come for food. People, in the end had sufficient food, but did not own anything. Joseph did not freely distribute food because he knew the actual problem of the people and wanted them to realize what is important. People saved money during prosperous times and did not save grain which is the actual need. In 47:15, we read the phrase “when money failed” and not “when money ran out”. The meaning and value of money was lost. The Bible warns us in many verses on how our attitude towards money should be. One important example is Mathew 11:5 where the answer to poverty is hearing the gospel and not money. As per Mathew 6:24, if we honor and love money we will start to hate God. The verse says that if we serve money, we will eventually love it and hate God and if we serve God, then we will love Him and hate money.

This is the reason why Joseph had to ensure all money comes to Pharaoh and it had to be suppressed and value lost before the next stage of development comes. God wants us to serve Him in order to live a successful life. Money given to God is always an investment but our failure comes when we give money to God. One important verse that explains about giving to preachers is Galatians 6:6 where the teacher should be given a share in all good things the person who is taught has. But the next verse wants us not to be deceived which means that we will unknowingly share money so that our money will multiply. The verse continues that God will not allow Himself to be mocked which shows how our giving to God should be. If we sow something so that we will gain wealth, we are mocking God. It is even harder for the teacher if he promotes money. Verse 8 says that if we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption.

Back in Genesis 47, we can see first people asking for grain in exchange of money and when they had lost all money, the stupidity has increased as they were buying bread from Joseph in exchange of livestock. But when they had lost their livestock also, it was time to realize their actual need and were asking for seeds. If we consider livestock as our properties, cars and things that make us proud, God wants us to lose them also so that we may live. We can see “bread for a year” in verse 17 which shows they were doing business with Joseph and not obeying. But when the livestock also is gone and there were no bread, they had now come to Joseph and said “We surrender, give us seed”. There are no terms and conditions here. Now, the same land produced and there were harvests. The only problem with all of us is that we are bad owners to ourselves and are sold to money and greed. If we know that there is no life in all materials, we would have asked for seed earlier.

We need seeds from God and not bread or grain alone and especially not money. In Mathew 17:20, Jesus says that we need faith in the size of a mustard seed and not just mustard. The primary job of a seed is to sprout and grow. If that fails, it is not a seed anymore.  There are many references to seeds and sowing in the Lord’s parables. We are not expected to consume grains from God, but let them grow up to fulfill God’s divine plan in us. Every word that is bought in the Church or by any other revelation is not food, but seeds. Now, whatever Joseph is giving to people is actually useful to them.

Next as in Mathew 13:23, the land needs a better owner that is Joseph in order to produce. The same land when in our hands was full of rocks and unmaintained. But when a good owner has come in our Monelife, the same land is producing well and profits for both the owner and the servant. This should be the role of God in our lives. The land has to be transferred to God’s hands completely if we want Him to start working. It is very hard for us to accept that we are bad owners and that self-justification is only causing us to fail indefinitely in our race. We also read that the priests had rations and did not that have this opportunity to excel. But those who gave their lands to Pharaoh could prosper. All we have to do is accept that it is safe and best in God’s hands.

Amen.