Genesis 41:56

_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...

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 56. _OVER ALL THE FACE OF THE EARTH_] The original, כל פני הארץ _col peney haarets_, should be translated, _all the face of_ that land, viz., _Egypt_, as it is explained at the end of the verse....

- 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 THE FAMINE WAS OVER ALL THE FACE OF THE EARTH,.... Not over the whole world, but the land of Egypt; all the inhabitants of it were pinched with it, rich and poor; it reached all parts and all sorts of men: AND JOSEPH OPENED ALL THE STOREHOUSES; in the several cities throughout the land where he had laid up corn: AND SOLD UNTO THE EGYPTIANS; for, as he had bought it with Pharaoh's money, it was no injustice to sell it; and as it could be sold at a moderate price, and yet Pharaoh get enough by it, being bought cheap in a time of plenty, no doubt but Joseph, who was a kind and benevolent man, sold it at such a price: AND THE FAMINE WAXED SORE IN THE LAND OF EGYPT; there being no overflow of the Nile year after year, and nothing left of the old stock but what was in the storehouses....

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)....

3. _Joseph as Prime Minister of Egypt_ (Genesis 41:46 to Genesis 47:31) 46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. 48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. 49 And Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left off numbering; for it was without number. 50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, bare unto him. 51 And Joseph called the name

41:56 earth. (d-8) Or 'land.'...