Which Bible Hero was a Socialist?

Which beloved Bible character and Sunday School flannel-graph hero was a socialist, as least by modern definitions?
 Some hints:

• He had the position of Prime Minister under a pagan King.
• He levied a 20% tax on a basic commodity and then sold that commodity back to the people when it became scarce. 
• When the people used up all their money buying this commodity, he took payment in their livestock and eventually in their land so that everything in the land eventually belonged to the State. 
• The people were allowed to work their (former) land as sharecroppers, keeping 80% but paying the state 20%. 

The people acclaimed him as the one who had saved them and scripture says that God planned all of this and used it to save many people, both those who were God followers but also the pagan nations around.

Still guessing? 
His name was Zaphenath-paneah, but you know him by another name: Joseph, next in line after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.


Check the story out in Genesis, specifically chapters 41, 47 and 50. Joseph was sold by his brothers into Egypt as a slave. He was in Potiphar's house and then falsely accused and thrown in prison.
Eventually he was called out of prison to help interpret Pharoah's dream (Genesis 41). Pharoah had dreamed of seven years of abundant harvest followed by seven years of devastating famine.  Joseph suggested that he find a wise man to be in charge of Egypt and that they should collect 1/5 of the crops for seven years to use during the  coming years of famine. (41: 21-35)

Pharoah liked the plan so much he picked Joseph to be his number two man. He gave him that funky name, Zaphenath-paneah. Joseph collected 1/5 of the grain and stored it away. This was a tax but also took resources for the state to manage. Storehouses had to be built and people employed to transport it,  guard it and distribute it.

Then comes the beautiful story of Joseph's brothers coming for grain and Joseph testing them and then revealing himself to them and forgiving them.
Chapter 47 carries on with the broader context in vs 13. The starving Egyptians came and bought grain the first year of the famine. When their money was gone, the paid with their livestock. Then when all of that was gone, they sold themselves into slavery and sold their land.
Rather than let them die, Joseph provided them seed to plant and instituted a 20% tax on all that they grew. Sharecropping. Indentured Servitude.
AND the people thanked him for saving their lives. (47:25).  

Later Joseph reveals that all that happened - him being sold into slavery, put into prison, being made Prime Minister and the plan for the state to provide for everyone's needs - ALL of that was something that God intended for good to save the lives of many people. (Genesis 50:20). 
OKAY, so was this really socialism? Wikipedia says that

Socialism is an economic system characterised by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy. "Social ownership" may refer to ... state ownership
A socialist economic system would consist of a system of production and distribution organized to directly satisfy economic demands and human needs, so that goods and services would be produced directly for use instead of for private profit.

So in the Joseph story we have state ownership of large sectors of the economy. High taxation. Government handouts. If the sandal fits. . .

I guess the question is why did God choose to work this way and call it "good", whereas so many will argue that there are better systems than socialism and taxation and people living off the State? In this story, the entire nation of Egypt was made slaves to their Pharaoh and that doesn't seem acceptable today.

I really don't know why God chose this means to accomplish His will. Certainly Pharoah gave Joseph free reign. He could have

• proposed a system of capitalism with companies or farmer co-ops set up to manage and profit from the grain harvest, so that the profit from this went back to the people. If the people had kept their 20%, wouldn't this have produced wealth they could use later to buy grain?

• Or Joseph could have set up some sort of participatory democracy, but then Pharaoh might have been much less favorable to the plan.

• A modern-day Joseph might have set up some sort of Foundation or NGO or govt agency to manage this and then provide the grain as free aid to the people in Egypt in neighboring countries rather than enslaving them.

• Certainly the individual Egyptians could have simply saved their own grain, but then how easy is it to encourage personal savings?

In the end, the Egyptian State was likely the only actor with the wherewithal and will to put into place a plan to save everyone. God could easily have instituted a plan to save just the 70 members of Jacob's family but he was (and is) still concerned with the basic needs of everyone!

I think the most likely explanation is that God chose to work through the existing system, adapting it gradually and pushing out the boundaries as we often seem him doing throughout history, expanding our understanding, moving from law to grace.

It is comforting to see God working through, and even in spite of our different human structures. There are lots of different ways the Church chooses to organize herself locally and at higher levels. There are different structures possible for mission organizations and different sorts of relief agencies.  Some use democratic processes. Others use more top-down leadership with elders and boards and God chooses to work through them all. And throughout history, He has chosen to work through various governmental systems - Pharoah, Caesar, Prophets, Judges, Kings, Socialism, Capitalism, Democracy, Monarchies. Some systems obviously make it easier on Him, but thankfully He is sovereign and will carry out his purposes.