“the money has failed”

 

Often lost in the story of Joseph’s reunification with his brethren who sold him into slavery is this chilling and sobering portion of the narrative:

Genesis 47: ¹⁵ And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth. ¹⁶ And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. ¹⁷ And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. ¹⁸ When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: ¹⁹ Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. ²⁰ And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹ And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.

Because the Egyptians were unprepared for hard times- runaway inflation and a money shortage caused them to first liquidate all their assets to buy food, and then they had to sell their homes and become indentured servants to  Pharaoh to survive.

They were then sent to live in government housing.

Have you ever heard that expression “there is nothing new under the sun?”

Ecclesiastes 1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

During the Great Depression there was no money, no jobs, no food. It was a global event and lasted for nearly a decade. The thing that has been before, will be again.

“Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero.” – Voltaire

There is no new thing under the sun.