Genesis 41:55

_AND THE SEVEN YEARS OF PLENTEOUSNESS, THAT WAS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, WERE ENDED._ The seven years of plenteousness ... ended. Over and above the proportion purchased for the government during the years of plenty, the people could still have husbanded much for future use. But improvident as men commonly are in the time of prosperity, they found themselves in want, and must have starved in thousands, had not Joseph anticipated and provided for the protracted calamity. The overflowing of the Nile being nature's substitute for rain in Egypt, has rendered the system of agriculture pursued special; and when the river is low, the irrigation is continued by artificial means. The Nile begins to rise about the summer solstice, and the overflow commences two months after. Its greatest height is reached about the autumnal equinox, after which it gradually decreases, lasting in all three months. A...

55._Go unto Joseph_. It is by no means unusual for kings, while their subjects are oppressed by extreme sufferings, to give themselves up to pleasures. But Moses here means something else; for Pharaoh does not exonerate himself from the trouble of distributing corn, because he wishes to enjoy a repose free from all inconvenience; but because he hassuch confidence in holy Joseph, that he willingly leaves all things to him, and does not allow him to be disturbed in the discharge of the office which he had undertaken....

46-57 In the names of his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph owned the Divine providence. 1. He was made to forget his misery. 2. He was made fruitful in the land of his affliction. The seven plenteous years came, and were ended. We ought to look forward to the end of the days, both of our prosperity and of our opportunity. We must not be secure in prosperity, nor slothful in making good use of opportunity. Years of plenty will end; what thy hand finds to do, do it; and gather in gathering time. The dearth came, and the famine was not only in Egypt, but in other lands. Joseph was diligent in laying up, while the plenty lasted. He was prudent and careful in giving out, when the famine came. Joseph was engaged in useful and important labours. Yet it was in the midst of this his activity that his father Jacob said, Joseph is not! What a large portion of our troubles would be done away...

Verse 55. _WHEN ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT WAS FAMISHED_] As Pharaoh, by the advice of Joseph, had exacted a _fifth part_ of all the grain during the seven years of plenty, it is very likely that no more was left than what was merely necessary to supply the ordinary demand both in the way of home consumption, and for the purpose of _barter_ or _sale_ to neighbouring countries....

- 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 41:46 AND JOSEPH WAS THIRTY YEARS OLD WHEN HE STOOD BEFORE PHARAOH KING OF EGYPT—literally, _a son of thirty years in his standing before Pharaoh_._ _If, therefore, he had been three years in prison (Genesis 40:4; Genesis 41:1), he must have served for ten years in the house of Potiphar. AND JOSEPH WENT OUT FROM THE PRESENCE OF PHARAOH (in the performance of his official duties), AND WENT THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT—super-intending the district overseers. GENESIS 41:47,...

AND WHEN ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT WAS FAMISHED,.... Their old stock and store eaten up, and the inhabitants ready to starve with hunger: THE PEOPLE CRIED TO PHARAOH FOR BREAD; as their common father, and knowing that he had stores of provision laid up in all cities against this time: AND PHARAOH SAID TO THE EGYPTIANS, GO UNTO JOSEPH; whom he had appointed over this business of providing and laying up corn against this time, and of distributing it: WHAT HE SAITH TO YOU, DO; give the price for the corn he fixes or requires; for this was the principal thing they had to do with him, to get corn for their money....

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,...

The Years of Famine 54. _all lands_ Cf. Genesis 41:57. The famine is represented as afflicting not only Egypt, but all the neighbouring lands which constituted the known world of the Israelites. Cf. Genesis 43:1. For a similar hyperbole, cf. "all the world" (Luke 2:1; John 21:25); "a great famine over all the world" (Acts 11:28)....

WHEN ALL THE LAND OF AEGYPT WAS FAMISHED— The people of AEgypt soon consumed their substance; avarice, most probably, inciting them, at first, to export much of their corn to other nations; or, certainly, as Joseph exacted only a fifth part, they had enough left to have maintained them much longer than the famine lasted, had they managed prudently. However, in their necessity they apply to Pharaoh, who commands them to repair to Joseph, in terms which seem to imply arbitrary power; and indeed Josephus informs us, in his book against Appian, that the AEgyptians do not appear to have enjoyed their liberty, in any passages, for one single day; no, not under their own princes. All nations in the first formation of governments were subject, it is thought, to the arbitrary rule of princes. So says Justin, lib. I. cap. 1. _Principio rerum populus nullis legibus tenebatur, arbitria principum pro...