From the Beginning: A Devotional Commentary on the Book of Genesis (XIX)

In Genesis 47:13ff, there's this little, passing, almost throw-away line describing how the people of Egypt indenture themselves and their land to Pharaoh, under Joseph's direction because the famine is severe and otherwise they'd starve. Joseph says, basically, "become Pharaoh's indentured servants, and I'll give you food so you don't die." The whole thing gets me scratching my head because, on the one hand, Joseph is not himself Egyptian--he's a Hebrew--and on the other hand, under the terms of God's covenant with Abraham (Joseph's grandfather), Joseph should be a blessing to the people, treating them with compassion, not, essentially, brokering their slavery to Pharaoh. The head scratching gets worse because, of course, the next book of the Bible (Exodus) opens with the Hebrew people themselves in slavery to Pharaoh. It all makes you think: could their slavery actually be the result of the system of slavery that Joseph is instituting here? Or put differently: if Joseph had treated the Egyptians with compassion here, perhaps his own people would not have become Pharaoh's slaves, in the next chapter of the story. From all that head scratching comes this thought: could it be that when God's people fail to sow the seeds of compassion today, those fields we neglect will be overgrown with the weeds of bondage, that we ourselves have to struggle with, tomorrow?