Genesis 41:34

_LET PHARAOH DO THIS, AND LET HIM APPOINT OFFICERS OVER THE LAND, AND TAKE UP THE FIFTH PART OF THE LAND OF EGYPT IN THE SEVEN PLENTEOUS YEARS._ Appoint officers over the land - overseers, equivalent to the beys of modern Egypt. TAKE UP THE FIFTH PART OF THE LAND - i:e., of the land produce to be purchased or levied as a tax and stored by government, instead, of being sold to foreign grain merchants....

33-45 Joseph gave good advice to Pharaoh. Fair warning should always be followed by good counsel. God has in his word told us of a day of trial before us, when we shall need all the grace we can have. Now, therefore, provide accordingly. Pharaoh gave Joseph an honourable testimony. He is a man in whom the spirit of God is; and such men ought to be valued. Pharaoh puts upon Joseph marks of honour. He gave him such a name as spoke the value he had for him, Zaphnath-paaneah, "a revealer of secrets." This preferment of Joseph encourages all to trust in God. Some translate Joseph's new name, "the saviour of the world." The brightest glories, even of the upper world, are put upon Christ, the highest trust lodged in his hand, and all power given him, both in heaven and earth....

Verse Genesis 41:34. _LET HIM APPOINT OFFICERS_] פקדים _pekidim_, visiters, overseers: translated by Ainsworth, _bishops_; see Genesis 39:1. _TAKE UP THE FIFTH PART OF THE LAND_] What is still called the _meery_, or that part of the _produce_ which is claimed by the king _by way of tax_. It is probable that in Joseph's time it was not so much as a _fifth_ part, most likely a _tenth_: but as this was an extraordinary occasion, and the earth brought forth by handfuls, Genesis 41:47, the king would be justified in requiring a _fifth_; and from the great _abundance_, the people could pay this increased tax without feeling it to be oppressive....

- Joseph Was Exalted 1. יאר _y__e__'or_, “river, canal,” mostly applied to the Nile. Some suppose the word to be Coptic. 2. אחוּ _'āchû_, “sedge, reed-grass, marsh-grass.” This word is probably Coptic. 8. חרטמים _charṭumı̂ym_, ἐξηγηταὶ _exēgētai_, ἱερογραμματεῖς _hierogrammateis_, “sacred scribes, hieroglyphs.” חרט _chereṭ_ “stylus,” a graving tool. 43. אברך _'abrēk_ “bend the knee.” In this sense it is put for הברך _habrēk_ imperative hiphil of...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 41:1 AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THE END OF TWO FULL YEARS (literally, _two years of _days, _i.e._ two complete years from the commencement of Joseph's incarceration, or more probably after the butler's liberation), THAT PHARAOH—on the import of the term _vide _Genesis 12:15. Under what particular monarch Joseph came to Egypt is a question of much perplexity, and has been variously resolved by modern Egyptologists in favor of— 1. Osirtasen I; the founder of the twelfth dynasty, a prosperous and successful sore-reign, whose name appears on a granite obelisk at Heliopolis. 2. Assa, or Assis, the fifth king of the fifteenth dynasty of Shepherd

LET PHARAOH DO [THIS],.... Appoint such a person; who as a sovereign prince could do it of himself: AND LET HIM APPOINT OFFICERS OVER THE LAND; not Pharaoh, but the wise and discreet governor he should set over the land, who should have a power of appointing officers or overseers under him to manage things according to his direction: AND TAKE UP THE FIFTH PART OF THE LAND OF EGYPT IN THE SEVEN PLENTEOUS YEARS; not the officers appointed, but the appointer of them, the chief governor under Pharaoh, for the word is singular; it is proposed that he should, in Pharaoh's name, and by his order, take a fifth part of all the corn in the land of Egypt during seven years of plenty; not by force, which so good a man as Joseph would never advise to, whatever power Pharaoh might have, and could exercise if he pleased; but by making a purchase of it, which in such time of plenty would be bought che...

CHAPTER 41 JOSEPH'S EXALTATION _ 1. Pharaoh's dreams (Genesis 41:1)_ 2. Joseph brought from the prison (Genesis 41:8) 3. Joseph's humility (Genesis 41:16) 4. The revealer of secrets (Genesis 41:17) 5. Joseph's wise counsel (Genesis 41:33) 6. Pharaoh's answer (Genesis 41:37) 7. Joseph's exaltation and marriage (Genesis 4

GENESIS 41. JOSEPH INTERPRETS PHARAOH'S DREAMS AND IS MADE VICEROY OF EGYPT. This is mainly from E, Genesis 41:1 apart from Genesis 41:15_ b_, and perhaps Genesis 41:9_ b_ entirely so. But J has been used as well in the later part. It is not worth while to attempt analysis since the two narratives must have been closely parallel. Genesis 41:46_ a_ belongs to P. The two dreams are modelled on the same lines, and mean the same thing (_cf. Genesis 37:5_ and Peter's triple vision,...

Joseph's Counsel 33. _let Pharaoh_, &c. Joseph leaves the office of interpreter, and takes upon himself to give political counsel to the king of Egypt....

OFFICERS, &C.— The Hebrew signifies, literally, _overseers._ The Hebrew פקיד _pekid,_ as the Greek επισκοπος, whence we have formed our English word _bishop,_ is a man who has a charge or office, for any business, civil, military, or ecclesiastic. _FIFTH PART OF THE LAND_— That is, the fifth part of the fruits of the earth, or rather of the corn, which grew during the years of plenty. It has been asked, why a fifth part? why not half, since there were to be as many years of famine as of abundance? To which it may be replied, that in time of famine men live more frugally; that many persons, after the king's example, might fill their own granaries; that even, in those years of greatest famine, something might be sown, at least near the banks of the Nile; that a fifth part of the extraordinary abundance in those seven years, might be equal to a half of the ordinary produce; and that a tenth...