Pharaohs Who Know Not Joseph

The Bible tells us that at some point Egypt got a “new Pharaoh who did not know Joseph”. He forgot the history of how Joseph had saved the Egyptians from starvation. So…

This forgetful Pharaoh made the Jews his slaves and in the end he lost them all and even lost his own son. All because he failed to remember Joseph.

The story is repeated straight up to this morning. It is called "loss of institutional memory". Others call it forgetting one’s roots. Still others find it demeaning to admit that they stand on another’s shoulders. Some talk blithely about that was then, this is now and it is time to move on - now!

I just returned from my annual family reunion. My niece and her family orchestrated it wonderfully. She was determined to be a female Pharaoh who remembered Joseph and Joseph’s queen and so our parents were recalled in gratitude and appreciation.

On the other hand, I have seen schools and congregations currently led by Pharaohs who do not remember anyone named Joseph. There is no acknowledgment of those who have gone before. That is why (even before I was in my 80”s) I believed in celebrating the anniversaries of institutions. The early Josephs and their female counterparts not only deserve to be remembered but also they are forgotten at the peril of the current power wielders.

Citizens can all too easily enjoy the freedoms, life style and opportunities of the present while all too off-handedly dismissing those who whose efforts, sacrifice and even life blood makes it possible for them to have the blessings currently enjoyed. Of course I read Kibrahn’s “The Prophet” and agree with him that “life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday”. However, I cringe at the all too true joke that the most commonly passed resolution at the annual meeting of the congregation at which I grew up was the one that ended with “therefore be it resolved that we stick with the old!” Of course we move on. But we also remember Joseph and if he is around we consult with him and his sisters, we stand on those shoulders and then see new vistas and dream new dreams and even celebrate new paradigms.

Now I must run and have a long talk with an elderly friend names Joseph!