Genesis chapter 47
1. Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in the land of Goshen.” 46:28 2. And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. Acts 7:13
Joseph appears to the Pharaoh first, ahead of his own father and his family. he Lets the Pharaoh know that they are already in the land of Goshen, for the Pharaoh told Joseph earlier that he would give them the good of the land; At this time Goshen was the best of the land, so this is where Joseph took them in hopes that the Pharaoh would let them stay there, but he still needs the Pharaoh s approval. Goshen is located in the Northeastern nile delta area of Egypt, it was also known as “The Land of Rameses” this was a very fertile land perfect for crops and livestock. We do not know what brothers Joseph presented to the Pharaoh, but they are to be representatives of the family, so one would assume that they were the brothers who could best represent the family in a good light to the Pharaoh.
3. Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh,”Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers” 46:33, 34 4. And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”
Just as Joseph suspected the Pharaoh inquires of the brothers of their occupation, and the brothers answer as Joseph instructed them, albeit not word for word (Gen. 46: 33,34), and they ask for the Pharaohs permission to live in the land of Goshen. Joseph has yet to present his father Jacob to the Pharaoh.
5. Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6. “The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”
Pharaoh Accepts the brothers request to live in Goshen. He even says to the brothers, “The land of Egypt is before you” as if to say if you like you may settle wherever you want in Egypt not just Goshen. Again, as Joseph the Pharaoh tells Joseph if any of his brothers are competent, that he should put them in charge of his Livestock. Now the Pharaoh did not live in Goshen, I say this because we keep seeing that Joseph, the Pharaoh, and even the brothers all keep saying, “in the land of Goshen” speaking of a region of Egypt they were not in at this time. If they were in Goshen while being presented to the Pharaoh, they would have said something like we are here in Goshen, or just we are already here in Goshen. If Joseph had made some of his family administrators over the Pharaohs livestock this would have separated them from the family, and fearfully from the Almighty God of their forefathers eventually. This said, in my opinion Joseph did not make any of his brothers chief herdsmen over the Pharaohs livestock.
7. Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
the Patriarch of the family is now being presented to the Pharaoh. These two men are probably the most important men in Joseph’s life up to this point. Pharaoh cannot replace Joseph s true father, but he has been the only father like figure in his life for the past twenty two years. these two probably have great respect for one another at this time: Since the Pharaoh described Joseph as a man who has the spirit of God, with wisdom that surpasses all the wisest in Egypt (Gen. 41:39), he must esteem Jacob to have this same spirit of God in him. Jacob on the other hand looks to the Pharaoh with great appreciation that God would put such a man of all people (The king/ God of Egypt), to watch over his son all these years. We read that Jacob blesses the Pharaoh, but does not tell us how he blessed him: “And without all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.” (Heb. 7:7), by all accounts such blessing as this would seem disrespectful to someone like the Pharaoh who is considered a god to his people, but because of who his son is, and because the Pharaoh looks upon Jacob and Joseph as men who have the Spirit of God with them this blessing would be appropriate. As we read the account of Jacob s death in chapter fifty, we see there was a great mourning for him, not only by all his descendants but also by the people of Egypt. The Egyptians mourned Jacob s death for seventy days, and then afterwards The Pharaoh himself sends elders of not only his house but of all of Egypt with Joseph and his family to the land of Canaan to bury his father. Moses writes (Inspired by God), The mourning was a great and very sore lamentation the people of canaan described it as a “grievous mourning to the Egyptians.” Think not that the blessing Jacob gives to Pharaoh is received with distaste or disregard, on the contrary it is received with honor and respect.
8. Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?” 9. And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ” The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” 25:7; 35:28 10. So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. v.7
“Few and evil have been the days of my life,” Jacob s grandfather Abraham lived to the ripe old age of one hundred and seventy five years, and Jacob’s Father Isaac lived to one hundred eighty years old. Jacob has not reached the age of his fathers, and the years of his life have been filled with evil for the most part. Some of the evil he has brought on himself, from the stealing of the birthright of his brother Esau thru trickery and deceit, to also deceiving his own father in his old age; this time to steal the blessings of his brother Esau from their father Isaac (Gen 25: 29-34, 27:1-36). Then Evil was brought up Jacob by his mom s brother: Laban the Syrian, who gave Jacob a taste of his own medicine, in which he tricked Jacob through deception, for the marriage of his daughter Rachel (the woman he loved the most), Jacob ended up spending twenty years of his life serving Laban the Syrian because of his love for Rachel, when he should have only served Laban seven years for her hand in marriage (Gen. 29:18-25, 31: 38-41). Then there was the evil that was brought upon him by his own sons, Rueben his firstborn who defiled his bed by sleeping with Jacob’s concubine Bilhah (Gen. 35:22), His next two oldest sons brought shame upon the name of Israel by their own deceit, and the blood which they spilled, once again through trickery and deceit, by the killing of Hamor, and his son Shechem (Gen. 34: 25, 26, 30), Jacob had to flee the land for fear that his whole family would be killed because of the actions of Simeon and Levi. Then, finally, probably the worst deceit his sons could have done to their father: The selling of Joseph to the Midianites because of their jealousy of their brother, and then telling their father Jacob that Joseph had been killed by a wild beast. Yes, few and evil have been the days of Jacob’s life, yet thru it all God was with him every step of the way, encouraging him, protecting him, blessing him with all he had, and all the while humbling him. It is when we are humbled before God that He can truly work with us. Humility is the beginning of building a relationship with our Creator God, in the depths of our humility, when we have nowhere, or no one to turn to, we will come to God in that humility with an obedient heart, ready to succumb to His will. when we search out His will, we start to understand who He is. In this understanding our faith grows stronger every day, knowing that He will be there for us thru thick and thin, He will never forsake us, He is always near, even though we cant see Him, He watches over us from above, leading us into the light of truth, sincerity, and love, for He is Love, His whole being His existence is Love. Jacob once made a promise to the Lord, that if He would feed, clothe, protect him, and return him to his father in peace, then the Lord would be his God (Gen. 28:20, 21), The Lord never answered Jacob that night, but He did all that Jacob asked, yet it wasn’t until God humbled Jacob to the point that he was willing to obey Him, that he became a servant of God and a follower. And at the resurrection God will say to Jacob, and to all His children, “Welcome child, thy true and faithful servant, come into the kingdom, and I will give you rest.”
11. And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12. Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.
God sent Joseph ahead of Israel so that he could prepare a place for them, for this particular moment in time to preserve and save their lives (Gen. 45:5-7), Thus saith the Lord, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2, 3), Joseph being a type of Jesus has prepared a place for his people, and will be the provider of the bread of life, in this temporary place for which they are strangers in a land that is not theirs, but the bread Joseph offers can only sustain man for a little while, for “as it is appointed to men once to die,” (Heb 9:27), and not of the spirit, but a foreshadow of better things to come: The One whom the Father will send down from Heaven, this will be the bread of life, and whoever eats of this bread will never die, but have everlasting life ( John. 6:50, 51), and He will take us (His elect). out of this world in which we are strangers in, and we will be with Him and the Father in a place that was prepared for us by the Lamb of God, no longer a stranger, but like a child at home.
13. Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. 41:30, 54, 57 14. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land in Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 41:56
By this time the famine has been in the land for at least five years, with two years left before the end of the seven year famine. If we read the following verses 15-19 we are told that the first year after the money ran out, they came back the second year (The sixth year), and sold all their livestock. At the end of that year is when Joseph bought up all the land of Egypt, moved the people into the cities, and gave them seed to sow the fields. So the famine had to be coming into the end of its seven years, otherwise they would not be able to sow seed for the harvest.
15. So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.” 16. Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” 17. So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.
Verse fifteen tells us that when all the money in Egypt and Canaan the Egyptians came to Joseph. There is no mention that the Canaanites also came to Joseph. the reason for this is because the Canaanites do not fit the narrative of the biblical story when it does not relate to the nation of Israel, and the people therein. The bible (God’s word), is a story about the promised seed in which all nations of the earth are blessed, which began in the garden when God told Satan that Eve’s seed would bruise his head (satan), and he would bruise his heel (Meaning Jesus s heel), This is the final time we see mention of the Canaanites during the time of famine. Only the Egyptians give their livestock to Joseph in exchange for bread. As far as Joseph taking the livestock of the Egyptians in exchange for bread on the surface appears to be very draconian, but as we go deeper into our understanding as to why Joseph dealt with the Egyptians the way he did, we see that his intention was to preserve life, just as he understood why he was sold into slavery to begin with (Gen. 45:5): The Egyptians were told of the famine that was to come to the land after the seven years of plenty, and Joseph advised them to store up enough bread during the seven years of plenty to sustain them during the seven years of famine. As we read here the people either did not store up enough bread due to mismanagement, or because they did not take Joseph and the Pharaoh seriously. If they had they wouldn’t have to come to him now for bread. understanding this, he knew that the people would not take care of the livestock and hoard the bread for themselves. Then when the famine ended they would have no livestock to till the land, fertilize it, or transport the harvest. And since Joseph comes from a family whose livelihood is raising livestock, they have the expertise and enough people to take care of such an enormous task of tending to all the livestock of Egypt, besides their own livestock. And remember the Pharaoh told Joseph that if there were any in his family that were capable, to put them in charge of his own livestock (Gen. 47:6), I am reminded of the account of Jacob himself; how he made his father in law Laban profit tremendously when he took care of his sheep, and when he a separated his sheep and goats from Laban’s sheeps and goats, and his flocks doubled in size and were without blemish (Gen. 30:27-30, 35-43), this same man raised his children and taught them all he knew about the life of a shepherd.
18. When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. 19. “Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate. 43:8
Another year has passed since the Egyptians sold all their cattle to Joseph for the Pharaoh. We are now in the final year of the famine, and the Egyptians ask Joseph to give them seed that they may live and not die. There would be no need to ask for seed to grow crops unless the time of the famine is coming to an end, and the rains will return to irrigate the land. The Egyptians have run out of money, and livestock to purchase bread from Joseph, so they offer all they have left: their land and their own bodies for a years worth of food.
20. Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s 21. And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. 22. only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands. Ezra 7:24
Joseph buys the land and the people, which became Pharaoh’s. What Joseph does with the people is to move them out of the countryside and into the cities. If the people are gathered closer together it will be easier to take care of and manage them since all the grain that is stored up is in the cities. Notice the priests of Egypt have never come to Joseph for bread during the whole famine. The religion of the Egyptians during this time were a precursor to the Levitical preisthood in many ways. According to the Ancient History Encyclopedia The Pharaoh himself is considered a god and a high priest to all the gods of Egypt, and part of his duties were to build temples for the many gods the Egyptians worshipped, he would decide how the priest were to worship this god or that god with their rituals and ceremonies. The priests sole duty was to carry out the many daily activities of caring for the temple, in rituals, ceremonies, cleansing of the gods, changing and purifying the clothes of the god, This according to the Albany institute of history and art. Because of this the priest were allotted their rations of food by the Pharaoh, and they in a sense did not own the land because the land was used to build a temple for their gods.
23. Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24. “And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one fifth to Pharaoh. Four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.” 25. So they said, “You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, as we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” 26. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one fifth, except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s
It appears that before the famine the people of Egypt owned their land outright (probably thru inheritance), the priest also had their own lands as well as did the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh however did allot the priest their portion of food for their service to the temples. Up until Joseph s time there seems to be no kind of taxation levied upon the Egyptians that was paid to the Pharaoh or the priest. Joseph did not forcibly take the lands from the people, nor did he put them in bondage as slaves. The Egyptians offered sell themselves as servants not subjects, And their land willingly for food. After the famine ended Joseph let the people move back to their lands only asking that one fifth of their harvest be given to Pharaoh, and they were able to keep the other four fifths for themselves and their family. In my opinion Joseph is fair and just in the way he treated the Egyptians throughout this time of famine. We never see mentioned that the people of Egypt felt they were treated badly by Joseph, on the contrary they praised him for saving their lives, and by all accounts he was well loved by the Egyptians. Just look at how they paid respect to Jacob upon his death in
Egypt, this is a testament to how much Joseph meant to the people of Egypt.
27. So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly. 28. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. vv. 8, 9 29. When the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Now if I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, 24:2; 49:29-32 30. “but let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.” 31. Then he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. So Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.
Joseph took great care of his father, and brothers and all their children, and their children’s children. It is never mentioned that they ever had to sell their livestock or property or anything to survive the famine, or even to give a fifth of their harvest to the Pharaoh after the famine. Joseph holds no grudges upon his brothers for how they treated him when he was younger, he saw the remorse in their hearts when he tested them when they would come and buy food from him when they didn’t know who he was. If he ever had any bitterness towards his brothers I think Judah’s plea to him, (not knowing who Joseph was), showed great remorse on Judah s part, and overhearing the brothers speak amongst themselves, how they were saying that God was punishing them for what they did to Joseph, displayed that ever since they sold their brother into slavery haunted them the whole time leading up to the famine Gen. 42: 21-23, 44:16-34). In verse twenty nine when Jacob’s time to die drew near he states to Joseph, “If I have found favor in your sight’ put your hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truly with me’ and bury me in the burial place of my fathers.” after Joseph swore this we read in verse thirty one that Jacob bowed himself at the head of the bed, leading me to believe that this was the fulfillment of Joseph’s dream back when he was seventeen that Jacob would bow to Joseph(Gen. 37:9,10). Jacob was one hundred thirty seven years old when he entered into Egypt. He lived in Egypt for seventeen years until his death.