Genesis 47:6

_AND PHARAOH SPAKE UNTO JOSEPH, SAYING, THY FATHER AND THY BRETHREN ARE COME UNTO THEE:_ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THESE VERSES....

6._The land of Egypt_. This is recorded not only to show that Jacob was courteously received, but also, that nothing was given him by Joseph but at the command of the king. For the greater was his power, the more strictly was he bound to take care, lest, being liberal with the king’s property, he might defraud both him and his people. And I would that this moderation so prevailed among the nobles of the world, that they would conduct themselves, in their private affairs, no otherwise than if they were plebeians: but now, they seem to themselves to have no power, unless they may prove it by their license to sin. And although Joseph, by the king’s permission, places his family amidst the best pastures; yet he does not avail himself of the other portion of the royal beneficence, to make his brethren keepers of the king’s cattle; not only because this privilege would have excited the envy of...

1-6 Though Joseph was a great man, especially in Egypt, yet he owned his brethren. Let the rich and great in the world not overlook or despise poor relations. Our Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren. In answer to Pharaoh's inquiry, What is your calling? they told him that they were shepherds, adding that they were come to sojourn in the land for a time, while the famine prevailed in Canaan. Pharaoh offered to employ them as shepherds, provided they were active men. Whatever our business or employment is, we should aim to excel in it, and to prove ourselves clever and industrious....

Verse Genesis 47:6. _IN THE BEST OF THE LAND MAKE THY FATHER AND BRETHREN TO_ _dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell_] So it appears that the land of Goshen was the _best of the land of Egypt_. _MEN OF ACTIVITY_] אנשי חיל _anshey chayil, stout_ or _robust_ _men _- such as were capable of bearing fatigue, and of rendering their authority respectable. _RULERS OVER MY CATTLE._] מקנה _mikneh_ signifies not only _cattle_, but _possessions_ or _property_ of any kind; though most usually _cattle_ are intended, because in ancient times they constituted the principal part of a man's property. The word may be taken here in a more extensive sense, and the circumstances of the case seem obviously to require it. If every _shepherd_ was an abomination to the Egyptians, however we

- 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 47:1 THEN JOSEPH CAME—literally, _and Joseph went, _up to the royal presence, as he had proposed (Genesis 46:31)—AND TOLD PHARAOH, AND SAID, MY FATHER AND MY BRETHREN, AND THEIR FLOCKS, AND THEIR HERDS, AND ALL THAT THEY HAVE, ARE COME CUT OF THE LAND OF CANAAN;—as thou didst desire (Genesis 45:17, Genesis 45:18)—AND, BEHOLD, THEY ARE IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN (_vide_ Genesis 45:10)....

THE LAND OF EGYPT [IS] BEFORE THEE,.... To choose what part of it he should judge most suitable and agreeable to his father and brethren: IN THE BEST OF THE LAND MAKE THY FATHER AND BRETHREN TO DWELL, IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN LET THEM DWELL; as is requested; and which was, as Pharaoh here suggests, the best part of the land, the most fertile and fruitful, and the fittest for cattle, being full of pastures through the river Nile and the canals of it, and Goshen being the most fertile portion in the land of Rameses, as in Genesis 47:11; this, Dr. Shaw observes k, could be no other than what lay within two or three leagues at the most from the Nile, because the rest of the Egyptian Arabia, which reaches beyond the influence of this river to the eastward, is a barren inhospitable wilderness: AND IF THOU KNOWEST [ANY] MAN OF ACTIVITY AMONG THEM; strong in bod

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...

GENESIS 46:1 TO GENESIS 47:12. JACOB AND HIS DESCENDANTS GO DOWN INTO EGYPT AND SETTLE IN GOSHEN. The list in Genesis 46:8 with the introductory verses Genesis 46:6 f. is from P, as are Genesis 47:5_ a_, Genesis 46:7. The rest is JE. To E belong Genesis 46:1 (in the main) and perhaps Genesis 47:12

THE LAND OF EGYPT IS BEFORE THEE. A truly royal liberality breathes through the reply to their request in his answer through his prime minister. All that they had sought was liberty to dwell in the land of Goshen. The king ordered Joseph to assign them. dwelling place in the best part of that province. IF THOU KNOWEST MEN OF ACTIVITY... MAKE THEM RULERS OVER MY CATTLE. It is probable that the king's cattle were kept in the fine pasture land of Goshen. The Egyptians were not experts in the business of caring for flocks and herds, while the brethren of Joseph bad been trained in the business all their lives. It is likely that the king was desirous of favoring the brethren of his favorite minister and giving them remunerative employment, but the arrangement would prove mutually advantageous....