46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. 47 During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, 48 and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. 49 And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

50 Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. 51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” 52 The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Genesis 41:46-52 (ESV)

Young ruler

Joseph, now 30, was 17 when his brothers sold him into slavery. He probably spent thirteen years working as a slave for Potiphar then three in prison. Now he’s ruling Egypt. The first thing he did was a survey of the land so he knew where to set up grain storage sites; possibly to show all the Egyptians he would care for all of them equally – none would be left out.

Preparations

It took some faith to put Joseph’s plan into action and it came at a cost. He taxed the people during the 7 years of abundance. Thankfully, those 7 years made it less burdensome since they had more than previous years. He ended up storing so much grain that they had too much to count. “It gives a striking idea of the exuberant fertility of this land, that, from the superabundance of the seven plenteous years, corn enough was laid up for the subsistence, not only of its home population, but of the neighboring countries, during the seven years of dearth.” (JFB Commentary)

Sons of thankfulness

God gave Joseph two sons through his Egyptian wife. He named them to reflect his attitude of thankfulness to the Lord in the midst of his trials. “MANASSEH, menashsheh, signifies forgetfulness, from nashah, to forget; and EPHRAIM, ephrayim, fruitfulness, from parah, to be fruitful; and he called his sons by these names, because God had enabled him to forget all his toil, disgrace, and affliction, and had made him fruitful in the very land in which he had suffered the greatest misfortune and indignities.” (Clarke’s commentary)

RЯeflection

• When God blesses us in the midst of our trials, do we intentionally give thanks in a meaningful way? Joseph would always be reminded whenever he called his sons. Let’s remember God’s goodness and count our blessings.