Genesis 47:20

_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

20._And Joseph bought all the land_. Any one might suppose it to be the height of cruel and inexplicable avarice, that Joseph should take away from the miserable husband men, the very fields, by the produce of which they nourished the kingdom. But I have before showed, that unless every kind of purchase is to be condemned, there is no reason why Joseph should be blamed. If any one should say that he abused their penury; this alone would suffice for his excuse, that no wiles of his, no circumvention, no force, no threats, had reduced the Egyptians to this necessity. He transacted the king’s business with equal fidelity and industry; and fulfilled the duties of his office, without resorting to violent edicts. When the famine became urgent, it was lawful to expose wheat to sale, as well to the rich as to the poor: afterwards it was not less lawful to buy the cattle; and now, at last, why sh...

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...

- 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

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 his family, so great was the famine; no mention is made of their houses, either because these went with their lands, or they were so mean that they were of little account, and would scarce bear any price; for as Diodorus Siculus h reports of the Egyptians, they were less careful of the structure of their houses, and exceeded all bounds in the magnificence of their sepulchres: SO THE LAND BECAME PHARAOH'S; not only with respect to dominion and government, so it was before, but with respect to property; before, every man's field, and garden, and vineyard were his own, and he was in possession t...

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...

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

JOSEPH PRESENTS HIS BRETHREN AND HIS FATHER TO PHARAOH. HE MAKES EXTENSIVE CHANGES IN THE LAND TENURE OF EGYPT 6. Rulers over my cattle] The superintendenee of the royal flocks and herds would be a position of importance....