jan 1, 1730 BC - Beginning of Famine in Egypt

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The seven-year famine that came upon Egypt while Joseph served as prime minister and food administrator evidently reached far beyond the boundaries of Egypt, for “people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy [food] from Joseph.”​—Ge 41:54-57.

While the Egyptian inscriptions scrupulously avoid any reference to Israel’s sojourn in Egypt, there are ancient Egyptian texts that describe periods of famine due to insufficient rising of the Nile River. One text describes a period of seven years of low Nile risings and the resulting famine. According to the account, certain portions of land were granted to the priesthood when relief from the famine came. Although the question is raised as to whether the document is “a priestly forgery of some late period, justifying their claim to territorial privileges,” at least we see reflected a tradition of a period of seven lean years.​—Ancient Near Eastern Texts, edited by J. Pritchard, 1974, p. 31.

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