INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 47 This chapter gives an account of the presentation of five of Joseph's brethren, and then of his father, to Pharaoh, and of what passed between them, Genesis 47:1; of Joseph's settlement of them, according to the direction of Pharaoh, in the land of Rameses in Goshen, and... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN JOSEPH CAME AND TOLD PHARAOH,.... After he had been with his father, had had an interview with him, and had took his leave of him for a time, he came to Pharaoh's court: AND SAID, MY FATHER, AND MY BRETHREN, AND THEIR FLOCKS, AND THEIR HERDS, AND ALL THAT THEY HAVE, ARE COME OUT OF THE LAND OF... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE TOOK SOME OF HIS BRETHREN,.... Along with him, when he left his father in Goshen; the word for "some" signifies the extremity of a thing: hence some have fancied that he took some of the meanest and most abject, so Jarchi, lest if they had appeared to Pharaoh strong and robust, he should have... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PHARAOH SAID UNTO HIS BRETHREN, WHAT [IS] YOUR OCCUPATION?.... Which is the question he had told his brethren beforehand would be asked them, and prepared them to give an answer to it, Genesis 46:33; which was perhaps an usual question Pharaoh asked of persons that came to settle in his dominion... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SAID MOREOVER UNTO PHARAOH, FOR TO SOJOURN IN THE LAND ARE WE COME,.... Not to obtain possessions and inheritances, as if natives, and to abide there always, but to continue for a little time; for they kept in mind that the land of Canaan was given to them as an inheritance, and would be posses... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PHARAOH SPAKE UNTO JOSEPH,.... Who was present at the conversation that passed between him and his brethren: SAYING, THY FATHER AND THY BRETHREN ARE COME UNTO THEE; which is observed, not for Joseph's information, but to lead on to what he had to say further.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAND OF EGYPT [IS] BEFORE THEE,.... To choose what part of it he should judge most suitable and agreeable to his father and brethren: IN THE BEST OF THE LAND MAKE THY FATHER AND BRETHREN TO DWELL, IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN LET THEM DWELL; as is requested; and which was, as Pharaoh here suggests, th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSEPH BROUGHT IN JACOB HIS FATHER,.... That is, some time after he had introduced his five brethren, and had gotten the grant of Goshen for them, when he sent, for his father from thence, or he came quickly after to Tanis or Memphis, where Pharaoh's court was: AND SET HIM BEFORE PHARAOH; prese... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PHARAOH SAID UNTO JACOB, HOW OLD [ART] THOU?] Or, "how many are the days of the years of thy life?" which way of speaking Jacob takes up, and very pertinently makes use of in his answer that follows: Dr. Lightfoot m thinks Pharaoh had never seen so old a man before, so grave a head, and so grey... [ Continue Reading ]
JACOB SAID UNTO PHARAOH, THE DAYS OF THE YEARS OF MY PILGRIMAGE [ARE] AN HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS,.... He calls his life a "pilgrimage"; as every good man's is; they are not at home in their own country, they are seeking a better, even an heavenly one: Jacob's life was very emphatically and literall... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JACOB BLESSED PHARAOH, AND WENT OUT FROM BEFORE PHARAOH. When he took his leave of him, he blessed him, in like manner as when he came into his presence, by wishing all happiness to him, and giving him thanks for the honour he had done him, and the favours he had conferred on him and his.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSEPH PLACED HIS FATHER AND HIS BRETHREN, AND GAVE THEM A POSSESSION IN THE LAND OF EGYPT,.... Houses to dwell in, lands to till, and pastures to feed their flocks and herds in: IN THE BEST OF THE LAND, IN THE LAND OF RAMESES, AS PHARAOH COMMANDED; according to Jarchi and Aben Ezra, the land o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND. JOSEPH NOURISHED HIS FATHER, AND HIS BRETHREN, AND HIS FATHER'S HOUSEHOLD, WITH BREAD,.... For though there might be in Rameses pasture sufficient for their cattle, yet not corn for their families, the famine still continuing; during which time Joseph, as a dutiful and affectionate son, and as... [ Continue Reading ]
AND [THERE WAS] NO BREAD IN ALL THE LAND,.... The land of Egypt and the parts adjacent, but in Pharaoh's storehouses, all being consumed that were in private hands the first two years of the famine: FOR THE FAMINE [WAS] VERY SORE; severe, pressed very hard: SO THAT THE LAND OF EGYPT, AND [ALL] THE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSEPH GATHERED UP ALL THE MONEY,.... Not that he went about to collect it, or employed men to do it, but he gathered it, being brought to him for corn as follows: even all THAT WAS FOUND IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, AND IN THE LAND OF CANAAN, FOR THE CORN WHICH THEY BOUGHT: by which means those count... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN MONEY FAILED IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, AND IN THE LAND OF CANAAN,.... It had been all spent in the third, fourth, and fifth years of the famine; for it seems to be at the end of the fifth, or beginning of the sixth year of the famine, that this was the case, since we after read of a second or f... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSEPH SAID, GIVE YOUR CATTLE,.... Oxen, sheep, horses, asses, as follows: AND I WILL GIVE YOU FOR YOUR CATTLE, IF MONEY FAIL; that is, corn for cattle, if they had no money to give.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY BROUGHT THEIR CATTLE UNTO JOSEPH,.... Which they might the more readily do, since there was scarce any grass to feed them with; and though some of them were creatures used for food, yet might be so lean and poor for want of grass, as not to be fit to eat; and besides, they could do better w... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE YEAR WAS ENDED, THEY CAME UNTO HIM THE SECOND YEAR,.... Which seems to be the seventh and last year of the years of famine; not the second year of the famine, as Jarchi, but the second year of their great distress, when having spent all their money they parted with their cattle; for it cann... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE SHALL WE DIE BEFORE THINE EYES, BOTH WE AND OUR LAND?.... Beholding their miserable condition, and not helping them; die they must unless they had bread to eat, and their land die also if they had not seed to sow; that is, would become desolate, as the Septuagint version renders it; so Ben... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSEPH BOUGHT ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT FOR PHARAOH,.... Not for himself, nor did he entail it on his posterity, but for Pharaoh, who became sole proprietor of it: FOR THE EGYPTIANS SOLD EVERY MAN HIS FIELD, BECAUSE THE FAMINE PREVAILED OVER THEM; everyone that had a field sold it to buy bread for... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS FOR THE PEOPLE, HE REMOVED THEM,.... From the places where they dwelt, that it might appear they had no more property there, and might forget it, and be more willing to pay rent elsewhere; and their posterity hereafter could have no notion of its being theirs, or plead prescription; and besid... [ Continue Reading ]
ONLY THE LAND OF THE PRIESTS BOUGHT HE NOT,.... Not from any special affection for them, or any superstitious veneration of them, which can never be thought of so good a man, but for a reason following, which shows they had no need to sell them: FOR THE PRIESTS HAD A PORTION [ASSIGNED THEM], BY PHA... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN JOSEPH SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE,.... After he had bought their land, and before the removal of them to distant parts: BEHOLD, I HAVE BOUGHT YOU THIS DAY, AND YOUR LAND, FOR PHARAOH: which he observes to them, that they might take notice of it, and confirm it, or object if they had anything to say... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, IN THE INCREASE,.... When the land shall produce an increase, and it shall be gathered in: THAT YOU SHALL GIVE THE FIFTH [PART] UNTO PHARAOH; a fifth part of the increase: AND FOUR PARTS SHALL BE YOUR OWN; for the following uses, one part FOR SEED OF THE FIELD: to sow a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAID, THOU HAST SAVED OUR LIVES,.... Preserved them from death through famine, by laying up stores of corn, which he had sold out to them for their money, cattle, and land, or otherwise they must have perished, they and theirs, and this favour they thankfully acknowledge: LET US FIND GRACE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JOSEPH MADE IT A LAW OVER THE LAND OF EGYPT UNTO THIS DAY,.... With the consent of Pharaoh, his nobles, and all the people of the land, who readily came into it; and so it became, a fundamental law of their constitution, and which continued to the times of Moses, the writer of this history: [TH... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ISRAEL DWELT IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, IN THE COUNTRY OF GOSHEN,.... The historian returns to the account of the Israelites, having before observed the placing of them in Goshen by Joseph, at the direction of Pharaoh, in compliance with their own request; and here they continued until they were grow... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JACOB LIVED IN THE LAND OF EGYPT SEVENTEEN YEARS,.... He lived just the same term of years with Joseph in Egypt as he had lived with him in Syria and Canaan, Genesis 37:2; about two hours' walk from Fium are now to be seen the ruins of an ancient town, which the Coptics say was inhabited by the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE TIME DREW NIGH THAT ISRAEL MUST DIE,.... As all men must, by the appointment of God, even good men, the Israel of God; though they shall not die a spiritual death, nor an eternal one, yet a corporeal one, which is for their good, and is a blessing to them; the sting being removed, and so not... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I WILL LIE WITH MY FATHERS,.... Abraham and Isaac, whose bodies lay in the land of Canaan, where Jacob desired to be buried; partly to express his faith in the promised land, that it should be the inheritance of his posterity; and partly to draw off their minds from a continuance in Egypt, and t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, SWEAR UNTO ME,.... This he required, not from any distrust of Joseph, but to show his own eagerness, and the intenseness of his mind about this thing, how much he was set upon it, and what an important thing it was with him; as also, that if he should have any objections made to it, or... [ Continue Reading ]