Chapter Forty-Seven
Jacob and Family Allowed to Settle in Goshen
47:1 So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.” 2 And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. 3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.” 4 They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.” 5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”
It seems that even though Joseph was technically second in authority and power over all of Egypt, he desired Pharaoh’s approval of the allocation of the land for his family. Perhaps he felt Goshen was too big or too fertile to allow the settlement of a foreign tribe. There is no explanation as to why he sought Pharaoh’s permission. To convince him, Joseph brought five of his brothers to appear in front of Pharaoh. He first told him that his family and all their possessions (including their flocks and herds, undoubtedly to emphasize the fact that they were shepherds) had arrived from the land of Canaan. He also informed Pharaoh that they were currently in Goshen.
When Joseph introduced his brothers to Pharaoh, he asked them about their occupation, perhaps to see how they could contribute to Egypt. Before they answer Pharaoh’s question, they say they have come to sojourn in the land because there were no pastures for their flocks due to the famine, making it clear that they are not requesting a permanent place to settle. Then they answered, just as Joseph had coached them to respond, saying that they were shepherds, just as their fathers had always been shepherds, followed by a request to stay in the land of Goshen.
Turning to Joseph, Pharaoh recognized that his father and family have come to him and proclaims that the land of Egypt was open to him and his family, and then gave approval for them to inhabit the land of Goshen, if they desired. Even though the Egyptians did not think highly of shepherds (remember Genesis 46:34), Pharaoh apparently had may herds of cattle of his own. He offered the position of shepherding his livestock to them, but only if Joseph thought his brothers would be able to handle that level of responsibility.
47:7 Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 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 sojourning.” 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.
After receiving approval for the family to settle in the land of Goshen, Joseph arranges for his father to meet Pharaoh. Here we see the most influential, rich, and powerful king meeting the man chosen by God to lead His people. But which one was greater? The text clearly states that, “Jacob blessed Pharaoh.” Just as Melchizedek blessed Abraham after defeating the invading kings showing his ‘superiority’ over Abraham (see Genesis 14:19, see also Considerations after Genesis 14:19-24, regarding the concept of ‘blessing’), Jacob would be considered the superior in this encounter. We are not given a lot of details of this conversation exception for one inquiry from Pharaoh about Jacob’s age. In his response to Pharaoh, Jacob refers to his life’s journey as few (Hebrew word ‘me’ǎṭ’,[1] meaning a short time), possibly comparing his life to his father’s or grandfather’s longer lives (see Genesis 25:7; 35:28); and evil (Hebrew word ‘rā·îm’,[2] meaning bad or evil) possibly referring to his life as being disagreeable and destructive. We should not consider Jacob’s response as a complaint, he was undoubtedly reflecting on the time he spent in mourning of Rachel, Joseph, and perhaps some of his time working for Laban. The meeting concluded with another blessing of Pharaoh.
47:11 Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents.
Having received Pharaoh’s formal approval, Joseph officially settles his family in what is described here as the best land in Egypt, in a region known as Rameses (a location in lower Egypt, where they will later build a city and storehouse as slaves, see Exodus 1:11). Joseph was able to provide for them, but since the famine would be continuing for several more years, the food was allocated based on the number of mouths they had to feed (the Hebrew word translated here as ‘dependents’, is ‘ṭāp’,[3] most often used to refer to younger children).
The Famine Continues
47:13 Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. 14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15 And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” 16 And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. 18 And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.” 20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s. 21 As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other.
With the joyous reunion of Joseph and his father, readers could easily forget that the conditions at this time were severe. The narrative returns to the harsh reality of the famine. For most Egyptians, their ability to obtain food became harder as they ran out of money and then ran out of things to barter. Soon they had only their properties and their lives remaining. At that point, Joseph agreed to their terms and bought their land on behalf of Pharaoh, and each became his servants. The word translated here as ‘servants’ (verse 21), is the Hebrew word, ‘hě·’ěḇîr’,[4] meaning to pass through or over, which is why this verse is often translated to refer to Pharaoh moving people from all over Egypt to cities. For example, the New King James Version renders the verse: “And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end.” (Genesis 47:21, NKJV) Soon all the land of Egypt and its people, belonged to Pharaoh.
47:22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.
Since life in Egypt was largely influenced by its religious beliefs, the priests were probably more than likely part of what we might call today a “state religion,” making them exempt from having to buy their food, so they did not need to sell their land. It is interesting to note that Pharaoh allocated food for the priests, not Joseph. Some believe that indicates that he did not agree with the arrangement, but it is more probable that Pharaoh retained jurisdiction over affairs of state. Besides, Joseph probably didn’t want anything to do with them anyway.
47:23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” 25 And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” 26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.
Regarding the rest of the Egyptians, Joseph fulfilled his part of the agreement with them (see verse 19) by allowing them to stay and work their own land, while he provided seed to plant and food for their families. Since the land belonged to Pharaoh, they were to give him one-fifth (20%) of all they harvested. They recognized that Joseph was the one responsible for saving their lives and were grateful to be servants of Pharaoh. This time the Hebrew word ‘ǎḇā·ḏîm’ (ě’·ḇěḏ’ singular), the normal word for slave or servant is used in the text.[5] Apparently this form of taxation was still in effect during Moses’ time, when the book of Genesis was written.
Israel Near Death
47:27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years. 29 And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place.” He answered, “I will do as you have said.” 31 And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.
The only thing recorded following years leading up to Jacob’s death, was that Israel continued to gain possessions and were fruitful and greatly multiplied in number. Jacob and his family came into Egypt a little more than two years after the famine had begun (see Genesis 45:11). They were there in Egypt for the last five years of the famine and approximately twelve years of plentiful water and fertile soil, before Jacob called Joseph to his bed, nearing his death.
Jacob asked Joseph to promise that he would one day have his bones transported back to Canaan and rebury him, where his parents and grandparents were buried. This request was so important to Jacob that he insisted on Joseph put his hand under his thigh while making this promise[6].
After Joseph promised that he would indeed do as his father asked, Israel, who may have been sitting up in bed, bowed himself in worship towards the head of the bed, giving thanks to God. The author of Hebrews records this act of faith as “bowing in worship over the head of his staff.” (Hebrews 11:21b, reflecting the same terminology found in the Septuagint). Jacob may have supported himself by both his staff and bed.
Considerations
Greatly Blessed and Multiplied
Israel’s numbers increased rapidly, as they had already become a family of around 100 people at the time when they entered Egypt (counting the seventy mentioned in Genesis 46:27, plus the wives of the sons and grandsons not mentioned who accompanied them into Egypt). Later, shortly after leaving Egypt, their numbers were counted to be over 600,000 men who were the age of twenty or older (see Numbers 1:46). Then add all the women and children, the total number is believed to be well over two million. One might say the Israelites were truly blessed and greatly multiplied.
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[1] Strong’s Hebrew 4592.
[2] Strong’s Hebrew 7451.
[3] Strong’s Hebrew 2945.
[4] Strong’s Hebrew 5674.
[5] See Considerations after Genesis 9:28 regarding this word under the heading of slavery.
[6] See commentary for Genesis 24:1-4 regarding this type of oath.