Genesis 41:36, commentary and pictures

The verse is Joseph's counsel to Pharaoh after God had shown Pharaoh what He was about to do, that stored food should be kept as a reserve for the land so that it would not perish through famine. It belongs to the account of seven years of abundance followed by seven years of severe famine, the years of plenty being given so that provisions could be prepared for the famine to follow. The seven years of plenty would be so great that field and garden would yield more abundantly than ever before, while the seven years of famine would be so grievous that the plenty would not be known in the land. The repetition of the dream proved that its fulfillment was certain and near.

The warning and preparation came through a dream given seven years before the famine. The plan required a discreet and wise man with officers over Egypt to take up the fifth part of the land in the seven plenteous years and to gather all the food of those good years, laying up corn under Pharaoh's hand and keeping food in the cities as the appointed store against the coming famine. That stored food was set aside to sustain the land during the famine so the people would not perish from hunger. The provision preserved life when famine was severe in Canaan and in all lands, so that all countries journeyed to Egypt to buy corn, and when Jacob's own supply was nearly exhausted and want and starvation stared his family in the face he sent his sons down to buy food that they might live and not die.

The seven years were once only a matter of prophecy and then came to pass in accordance with the prediction within the given time, showing that God foretold a definite period. This proves that the chronological portions of the Bible are as sure as any other portion and that predicted events often occur within a given time, so the chronological periods extending to the second coming of Christ are appointed times that God has revealed and will likewise be fulfilled.