FAMINE (faml'n), (Heb. 4-11, raw-awb' ). We have an account of at least eight fami:.es in Pales tine and the neighboring countries.
They were among the judgments of God for na tional sins, and were often prophetically an nounced. Two famines occurred in the lifetimes of Abraham and Isaac (Gen. xii :to; xxvi:t); another in Jacob's time (Gen. xli :56).
The first mention of a famine which occurs in Scripture is in Gen. xii:io, where we read that so early as the days of the patriarch Abraham 'there was a famine in the land,' which is described as so grievous as to compel the father of the faithful to quit Canaan. The country to which he resorted was, as we might expect, the land of Egypt, the early and lasting fertility of which is a well known historical fact. In Gen. xxvi :1 this famine is designated as 'the first,' that is, the first known, or of which there was any record. The same passage informs us of another famine, as stated above, which afflicted 'the land' in the days of Isaac, who seems to have contemplated a descent into Egypt; but who, being instructed of God, re tnoved to a part of Arabia Petrxa (Gen. xxvi :17), named Gerar, a city of the Philistines, whose mon arch's name was Abimelech.
The famine in Egypt while Joseph was gov ernor lasted seven years. The ordinary cause of dearth in Egypt is connected with the annual overflow of the Nile. If the rise of the waters is in any year below a certain standard, the country affords scanty supplies of food, and may for the greater part remain a desert. But more than lo cal causes must have been in operation in the case before us; for we are told that 'the famine was sore in all lands,' that 'the famine was over all the face of the earth.' By the foresight and wis
dom of Joseph, however, proyision against the evil had been made in Egypt, while other coun tries were left to suffer the unmitigated conse quences of their neglect. The provision made by Joseph must have been of a most abundant na ture, since the period during which the dearth lasted was no less than seven years, and the peo ple of other parts sought and received supplies in Egypt—'all countries came in to Egypt to buy corn.' Among other lands, Canaan suffered from the famine: which was the immediate occasion of Jacob sending his sons down into Egypt, of the discovery which they made of their lost brother, and of the settlement in that land of the descend ants of Abraham, an event of the highest conse quence in the sequel, and serving to illustrate the benignity and wisdom of Divine Providence in the evils with which, under its influence, the world is afflicted.
This famine was made by Joseph the occasion of one of thc greatest social revolutions which history records. The details may be found in the book of Genesis; and it is enough to say here that, as the special administrator of the affairs of the country, Joseph got into his hands all the property of the kingdom, including the land, ex cepting that which belonged to the priests, and gave the same back to the people as tenants at will, on condition of their paying to the king 'the fifth,' probably of the annual produce. (See JO