Genesis 47:18

_AND THERE WAS NO BREAD IN ALL THE LAND; FOR THE FAMINE WAS VERY SORE, SO THAT THE LAND OF EGYPT AND ALL THE LAND OF CANAAN FAINTED BY REASON OF THE FAMINE._ There was no bread ... This probably refers to the second year of the famine (Genesis 45:6), when any little stores of individuals or families were exhausted, and when the people had become universally dependent on the government. At first they obtained supplies for payment. Before long the money failed. Verse 16. AND JOSEPH ... GIVE YOUR CATTLE. 'This was the wisest course that could be adopted for the preservation both of the people and the cattle, which, being bought by Joseph, were supported at the royal expense, and very likely returned to the people at the end of the famine, to enable them to resume their agricultural labours.' Verse 20. THE LAND BECAME PHARAOH'S. The people parted with

18._They came to him the second year_. Moses does not reckon the second year from the date of the famine, but from the time when the money had failed. But since they knew, from the oracle, that the termination of the dearth was drawing near, they desired not only that corn should be given them for food, but also for seed. Whence it appears that they had become wise too late, and had neglected the useful admonition of God, at the time when they ought to have made provision for the future. Moreover, when they declare that their money and cattle had failed, they do it, not for the purpose of expostulating with Joseph, as if they had been unjustly deprived of these things by him; but for the purpose of showing that the only thing remaining for them was to purchase food and seed at the price of their lands, and that they could not otherwise be preserved, unless Joseph would enter into this co...

13-26 Care being taken of Jacob and his family, which mercy was especially designed by Providence in Joseph's advancement, an account is given of the saving the kingdom of Egypt from ruin. There was no bread, and the people were ready to die. See how we depend upon God's providence. All our wealth would not keep us from starving, if rain were withheld for two or three years. See how much we are at God's mercy, and let us keep ourselves always in his love. Also see how much we smart by our own want of care. If all the Egyptians had laid up corn for themselves in the seven years of plenty, they had not been in these straits; but they regarded not the warning. Silver and gold would not feed them: they must have corn. All that a man hath will he give for his life. We cannot judge this matter by modern rules. It is plain that the Egyptians regarded Joseph as a public benefactor. The whole is...

Verse Genesis 47:18. _WHEN THAT YEAR WAS ENDED_] The sixth year of the famine, _they came unto him the second year_, which was the _last_ or _seventh_ year of the famine, in which it was necessary to sow the land that there might be a crop the succeeding year; for Joseph, on whose prediction they _relied_, had foretold that the famine should continue only _seven years_, and consequently they expected the _eighth_ year to be a fruitful year provided the land was _sowed_, without which, though the inundation of the land by the Nile might amount to the sixteen requisite cubits, there could be no crop....

- Jacob in Goshen 11. רעמסס _ra‛m__e__sês_, Ra‘meses “son of the sun.” 31. מטה _mı̂ṭṭāh_, “bed.” מטה _maṭṭeh_ “staff.” Arrangements are now made for the settlement of Israel in Goshen. The administration of Joseph during the remaining years of the famine is then recorded. For the whole of this period his father and brothers are subject to him, as their political superior, according to the reading of his early dreams. We then approach to the death-bed of Jacob, and hear him binding Joseph by an oath to bury him in the grave of his fathers. Genesis 47:1 Joseph announces to Pharaoh the arriv

EXPOSITION GENESIS 47:11 AND JOSEPH PLACED HIS FATHER AND HIS BRETHREN (_i.e._ gave them a settlement, the import of which the next clause explains), AND GAVE THEM A POSSESSION (_i.e._ allowed them to acquire property) IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, IN THE BEST OF THE LAND, IN THE LAND OF RAMESES,—either that district of Goshen in which Jacob and his family first settled (Michaelis, Rosenmüller), or, what seems more probable, the land of Goshen itself (LXX; Keil, Hengstenberg, Kalisch, _et alii_)_, _being so named proleptically from the town Rameses, which was subsequently built (Exodus 1:11), or, if the town existed in the time of Joseph, and was only afterwards fortified by the Israel

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 cannot be thought that they should be drained of their money and cattle too in one year: AND SAID UNTO HIM, WE WILL NOT HIDE [IT] FROM MY LORD, HOW THAT OUR MONEY IS SPENT; MY LORD ALSO HATH OUR HERDS OF CATTLE; both these were well known to Joseph, and therefore cannot be the things which they say they would not hide: Musculus thinks it should be rendered in the past tense, "we have not hid"; this they told him the last year, that their money was gone, and he knew he had their cattle for their last year's provision: the sense seems to be this, that seeing their money was spent, and their cattle...

CHAPTER 47 THE SETTLEMENT IN GOSHEN _ 1. Before Pharaoh (Genesis 47:1)_ 2. The settlement (Genesis 47:11) 3. Joseph's wise administration (Genesis 47:13) 4. Jacob's request (Genesis 47:27) Jacob and some of his sons were presented to Pharaoh, who received them graciously, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. The great and powerful monarch of the great land of Egypt was blessed by the poor old Jacob. He is more than blessed, but a blesser, a type of what Israel is yet to be for the nations of the earth. There is no discrepancy in...

JOSEPH TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE FAMINE TO SECURE FOR THE CROWN THE MONEY, THE CATTLE, AND THE LANDS OF THE EGYPTIANS. If this belongs to one of the main documents, J is the most probable. But it may be an independent piece. It is an æ tiological story (p. 134). The system of land tenure in Egypt must have struck the Hebrews as strange; they accounted for it in this way. The system is not attested in the inscriptions, but there is confirmatory evidence, and it probably existed much as represented. Apparently the events described belong to the closing years of the famine, for the distribution of seed was of no avail till the seven years of famine were drawing to an end (Genesis 45:6). The money presumably lasted for about five years, the cattle paid for corn in the sixth, in the seventh year they sold their land and became serfs, on their own suggestion, the need was so desperate. The priest...

WHEN THAT YEAR WAS ENDED— The sixth year of the famine; _they came the second year, i.e._. the next year after the sale of their cattle, which was the last of the famine, as appears from the next verse, compared with Genesis 47:23....