“¹²Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.

 ¹³Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.”

– Genesis 47:12-13 (NKJV)

“Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread , according to the number in their families. Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe , so that the land of Egypt and  the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.”

(Let us recognise here the frank juxtaposition of those now with bread and those without; bread throughout the Scriptures always being symbolic of The Word of God we are instructed to eat and be nourished by, the very Body of Christ Himself, for He IS The Word of God. We again see here a beautiful picture of Joseph as a Christ-type providing the bread, nay, multiplying the bread [Selah 😮], the very means of salvation “to the Jew first and then the gentile”, from whence it can then be exponentially multiplied to all those across the land as The Good News of The One True God can be heard and received by all 🤲🏽. There is also a very real sense in which Joseph laid down his life, for it is through his suffering that God invaded Egypt and all are now able to eat and live; therein in a most astonishing manner even the symbolism of ‘the breaking of the body’ is upheld.

Phrases such as “no bread” and “the famine was very severe ” remind us also of the desperate condition of man: the languishing, the deep spiritual hunger & need in those who were created by The One True God but know only the false, counterfeit spirituality of paganism and idolatry [“the land of Egypt”], or those who must follow after The Christ from a distant land, here represented in Joseph, in order to draw near to God and be fed – even, despite carrying the mark of the Old Covenant in their flesh – and are called God’s People [“the land of Canaan”].)“