Genesis 41:35
And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.
Genesis 41:35 belongs to Joseph's counsel in interpreting Pharaoh's dream, through which God showed what He was about to do. Seven years of great plenty and abundance were to come before seven years of famine, and the abundance was given that preparation might be made for the famine. The dream was one, though repeated, and its repetition proved that the fulfillment was certain and near.
The seven plentiful years would bring yields of field and garden more abundant than ever before. The seven years of famine afterward would be so grievous that the plenty would not be known.
The verse directs gathering all the food of the good years and laying up corn and grain under Pharaoh's hand and control and keeping food in the cities during the good years. It was to be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine. It was instruction from God in a dream seven years before the famine to lay up large supplies for the seven years of famine to follow.
The plan called for setting a wise and discerning man over Egypt, with officers under him to collect a fifth of the produce in the plenteous years. The definite seven-year times given beforehand occurred exactly as predicted. Those events were once only a matter of prophecy limited by a given time and were fulfilled in accordance with the prediction, showing that God foretells events within given times and fulfills them accordingly.
That fulfillment proves that chronological periods in the Bible extending to the second coming of Christ are appointed times revealed by God and are entitled to serious consideration like any other Scripture. In response to the warning, wonderful provisions and large reserves were stored during the plentiful years so that food would be available during the famine that followed. When famine was severe in Canaan and in all lands, and Jacob and his sons were nearly out of food with want and starvation before them, there was corn in Egypt. All the countries journeyed there to buy corn, leading Jacob to send his sons down to buy that they might live and not die.