Genesis 37:5-8 (NIV) Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
Wheat became a central commodity of Joseph’s reign. Under his leadership, Egypt became the world’s primary breadbasket in a time of widespread starvation.
Genesis 41:57 (NASB) says, “Then the people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.” (Genesis 41:57) In a way, Joseph’s ministry in Egypt foreshadowed the calling God placed upon Israel from the start.
Often in the Bible, wheat and the bread it produces depict the very word of God. Deuteronomy 8:3 proclaims man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. In Jeremiah 15:16, the prophet found the word of God and ate it. In Luke 8:11, Jesus explains the Parable of the Sower, saying the seed is God’s word.
Israel became the nation of the Word, sowing God’s word around the earth. In Romans 3:1-2, Paul declares one of Israel’s main callings was to administer the oracles of God. Psalms 147:19-20 (NIV) says: “He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. 20 He has done this for no other nation…” That means the main nourishment for our spirit, soul and body came through Israel.
But there is more! Israel gave the world not only the written word of God, but the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Jesus is the living Word of God. Therefore, Jesus declares: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” (John 6:51 NIV) Truly, everything that defines our faith as Christians was given to us through Israel, including Christ. It is exactly as God told Abraham: all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:3).