Jacob meets Pharaoh
47
📚Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, saying, “My father and my brothers, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, have come from the land of Canaan, and now are in the land of Goshen”.2 📚And he took five men from among his brothers, and presented them to Pharaoh.
3 📚And Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers”.
4 📚They also said to Pharaoh, “We have come to stay in the land for a time, for your servants had no pasture for their flocks, because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Therefore, please let your servants stay now in the land of Goshen 📖”.
5 And 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 live in the best of the land. Have them live in the land of Goshen, and if you know any men of ability 📖 among them, then put them in charge of my livestock”.
7 📚And Joseph brought in his father Jacob, and placed him before Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed 📖 Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”
9 📚And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and difficult 📖, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers 📖 in the days of their pilgrimage 📖”. 10 📚And Jacob blessed 📖 Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.
11 📚And 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.
47:11 Gen 45:18. Joseph did more than make promises. He did what many do not do – he fulfilled them.⚜
12 📚And Joseph provided bread for his father and his brothers, and all his father’s household, according to their families.
Joseph’s acts as prime minister
13 📚And there was no bread in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the whole land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 14 📚And Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought. And Joseph brought the money to Pharaoh’s house. 15 📚And when there was no more money 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 is gone”.
16 📚And Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you grain for your cattle, since your money is gone”. 17 📚And they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses and for the flocks and for the herds of livestock, and for the donkeys. And that year he fed them with bread for all their livestock.
18 📚When that year was over, they came to him the second year, and said to him, “We will not hide it from my lord, that our money is spent. 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 📚So shall we perish before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed grain so that we can live and not die, so that the land will not be desolate”.
20 And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. For each one of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine had overcome them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. 21 📚And as for the people, he moved them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt to its other end. 22 📚But he did not buy the land of the priests, because the priests had an allotment assigned to them by Pharaoh, and ate their allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they did not sell their lands.
23 📚Then Joseph said to the people, “Look, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. See, here is seed for you, and you must sow the land. 24 📚And it must be that you give a fifth part of the crop to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own as seed for the field, and for your food, and for those of your households, and for food for your little ones”.
25 📚And they said, “You have saved our lives. Let us find favour in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants”.
26 📚And Joseph made it a law in the land of Egypt, in force to this day, that Pharaoh would have the fifth part of all crops, except for the land of the priests, which did not become Pharaoh’s.
47:13-26 Under Joseph the power of the state increased enormously. All the land and then all the people became Pharaoh’s property. Perhaps this was best to meet the crisis of that time of terrible famine. But it is very doubtful whether it worked for the future prosperity of Egypt. When the state owns everything, personal liberties and initiative are stifled and the people as a whole will suffer. But what happened in Egypt is a picture of a certain important spiritual truth later made clear to the people of Israel. God told them that all the land of Israel and all the people belonged to Him, and He was responsible for their welfare as long as they kept His covenant – Ex 7:4; 19:5; Lev 25:23; Deut 7:6. In the same way now believers together with all they have belong to God, being purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ – 1 Cor 6:19-20.⚜
27 📚And Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen, and they had possessions there, and grew, and greatly increased in number.
28 📚And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, so the total age of Jacob was a hundred and forty-seven years. 29 📚And the time drew near for Israel to die, and he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favour in your sight, please place your hand under my thigh 📖, and deal kindly and faithfully with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, 30 📚but when I rest with my fathers, you must carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burial site”.
And he said, “I will do as you say”.
31 📚And he said, “Swear to me”. And he swore to him. And Israel bowed down 📖 at the head of the bed.