John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Genesis 45:1



INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 45



This chapter contains an account of Joseph's making himself known to his brethren, which was done when they were alone, Ge 45:1; when he encouraged them not to distress themselves on account of their selling him into Egypt, for God in his providence had sent him there for their good, Ge 45:5; and he ordered them to go forthwith to Canaan, and acquaint his father with all the honour and glory they saw him in, and to desire him to come thither to him, where he should be provided for during the five years of famine yet to come, in the best part of the land of Egypt, Ge 45:9; upon which he expressed the strongest affection to Benjamin, and to all his brethren, Ge 45:14; the fame of this was soon spread in the house of Pharaoh, which gave the king great pleasure, who immediately expressed his earnest desire that his father might come and settle in Egypt, and ordered provisions to be sent him, and carriages to bring him down, and all that belonged to him, Ge 45:16; and Joseph accordingly delivered to his brethren wagons and provisions for the way, and gave gifts to them, and sent a present to his father, and dismissed his brethren with an exhortation not to fall out by the way, Ge 45:21; and when they came to Canaan, they acquainted their father with all these things, who at first could not believe them; but when he saw the wagons, his spirit revived, and determined to go and see his son, Ge 45:25.



Ver. 1. Then Joseph could not refrain himself,.... That he should not weep, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; at least he could not much longer refrain from tears, such an effect Judah's speech had on his passions:



before all them that stood before him; his servants that attended him and waited upon him, the steward of his house, and others, upon whose account he put such a force upon himself, to keep in his passions from giving vent, that they might not discover the inward motions of his mind; but not being able to conceal them any longer,



and he cried; or called out with a loud voice, and an air of authority:



cause every man to go out from me; out of the room in which he and his brethren were; perhaps this order was given to the steward of the house to depart himself, and to remove every inferior officer and servant upon the spot; or other people that might be come in to hear the trial of those men, and to see how they would be dealt with:



and there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren; not that Joseph was ashamed of them, and of owning before them the relation he stood in to them; but that they might not see the confusion his brethren would be thrown into, and have knowledge of the sin they had been guilty of in selling him which could not fail of being mentioned by him, and confessed by them; and besides, it was not suitable to his grandeur and dignity to be seen in such an extreme passion he was now going into.





Genesis 45:2



Ver. 2. And he wept aloud,....; Or "gave forth his voice in weeping" {r}; as he wept he cried aloud; for having put such a violent restraint on himself, as the flood of tears was the greater, so his voice was the stronger and louder for it:



and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard; the Egyptians, that were in the room or rooms adjoining to that where Joseph was, heard his cry, and perhaps a great deal of what was said; which they soon reported to others, and it quickly reached Pharaoh's court, which might not be at any great distance.



{r} ykbb wlq ta Ntyw "et dedit vocem suam in fletu", Montanus; so Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt.





Genesis 45:3



Ver. 3. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I [am] Joseph,.... As soon as he could compose himself a little, and utter his words, the first thing he said was, that he was Joseph; that was his right name, his Hebrew name; though he was called by the Egyptians Zaphnathpaaneah, and by which name Joseph's brethren only knew him, if they knew his name at all; and it must be very startling to them to bear this sound, and to be told by himself that that was his name; and which was not all he meant and they understood, but that he was Joseph their brother as afterwards expressed:



doth my father yet live? this he knew before, for they had told him he was alive; wherefore he puts this question not through ignorance, or as doubting but to express his affliction for his father, and his joy that he was alive:



and his brethren could not answer him; they were so surprised and astonished; they were like men thunderstruck, they were not able to utter a word for awhile:



for they were troubled at his presence; the sin of selling him came fresh into their minds, the guilt of it pressed their consciences, and the circumstances that Joseph was in filled them with fear that he would avenge himself on them.





Genesis 45:4



Ver. 4. And Joseph said unto his brethren, come near to me, I pray you,.... Very probably Joseph sat in a chair of state while they were under examination, and through reverence of him they kept at a proper distance; or being frightened at what he had said, he might observe them drawing back, as Jarchi remarks, and so encourages them in a kind and tender manner to return and come nearer to him, and the rather, that they might more privately converse together without being overheard; as also that they might, by approaching him discern and call to mind some of his features still remaining, by which they might be assured he was Joseph indeed:



and they came near, and he said, I [am] Joseph your brother; not only his name was Joseph, but he was that Joseph that was their brother; he claims and owns the relation between them, which must be very affecting to them, who had used him so unkindly:



whom ye sold into Egypt: which is added, not so much to put them in mind of and upbraid them with their sin, but to assure them that he was really their brother Joseph; which he could not have related had he not been he, as well as to lead on to what he had further to say to them for their comfort.





Genesis 45:5



Ver. 5. Now therefore be not grieved,.... To an excess, so as to be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow; otherwise it became them to be grieved for their sin, and to show a godly sorrow and true repentance for it:



nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither; reflect upon themselves, and afflict themselves in an immoderate way; or break forth into anger and wrath with one another, upbraiding and blaming each other for their conduct in that affair, and so foment contentions and quarrels among themselves:



for God did send me before you to preserve life; the life of thousands of persons in Egypt, Canaan, and other countries; and particularly to preserve their lives was he sent before them into Egypt; where, by interpretation Pharaoh's dreams, by which he understood and did foretell the seven years of plenty and seven years of famine, he was to great honour and trust, and laid up a sufficiency of corn in the time of plenty to answer the exigencies of various countries in the time of famine, and, among the rest, of his own family; and therefore would have this attributed by them to the wise disposing providence of God.





Genesis 45:6



Ver. 6. For these two years [hath] the famine [been], in the land,.... In the land of Egypt and in the countries round about:



and yet [there are] five years; still remaining, which he knew by the above dreams and the interpretation of them:



in the which [there shall] neither [be] earing nor harvest; that is, no tillage of land, neither ploughing nor sowing, and so no reaping, or gathering in of the fruits of the earth, as used to be in harvest; at least, there would be very little ground tilled, only it may be on the banks of the Nile, since they had no corn to spare for seed; and besides, as the Egyptians knew by Joseph's prediction that the Nile would not overflow, it was to no purpose to attempt to plough their land, which through seven years of drought was become very difficult, or to sow, could they get the seed into the ground, since there was no likelihood of its springing up again.





Genesis 45:7



Ver. 7. And God sent me before you,.... This he repeats to impress the minds of his brethren with a sense of the good providence of God in bringing him to Egypt before them, to make provision for their future welfare, and to alleviate their grief, and prevent an excessive sorrow for their selling him into Egypt, when by the overruling hand of God it proved so salutary to them:



to preserve you a posterity in the earth; that they and theirs might not perish, which otherwise, in all human probability, must have been the case; and that the promise of the multiplication of Abraham's seed might not be made of none effect, but continue to take place, from whence the Messiah was to spring:



and to save your lives by a great deliverance; from the extreme danger they were exposed unto, through the terrible famine, and in which deliverance were to be observed the great wisdom, goodness, power, and providence of God.





Genesis 45:8



Ver. 8. So now [it was] not you [that] sent me hither, but God,.... Which is to be understood not absolutely, as if they had no concern at all in sending him thither; they sold him to the Ishmaelites, who brought him down to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, and so were instrumental in his coming to Egypt; but comparatively, it was not they so much as God that sent him; whose providence directed, disposed, and overruled all those events, to bring Joseph to this place, and to such an high station, to answer the purposes and designs of God in providing for and preserving Jacob's family in a time of distress:



and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh: to be a teacher to him, as Aben Ezra, that is, to be his counsellor, to advise him well in all things, as a father his children; or to be his partner and patron, as Jarchi, to have a share with him in power and authority, and to be reckoned as a father to him, see Ge 41:43; and to provide for him and the welfare of his kingdom, as parents do for their children: the following phrases explain it of rule and government; and the meaning is, that he was a great man, and a prince {s} in Pharaoh's court:



and lord of all his house; his prime minister, chief counsellor and courtier:



and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt; to whom all the deputies of the several provinces were subject under Pharaoh, and especially in the affair of the corn.



{s} So it is interpreted by R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 50. 1.





Genesis 45:9



Ver. 9. Haste you, and go up to my father,.... In Canaan, which lay higher than Egypt; being desirous he should know as soon as possible that he was alive, and in what circumstances he was:



and say unto him, thus saith thy son Joseph; without any title, such as the father and counsellor of Pharaoh and governor of Egypt, only Joseph his son, which would be enough to revive the heart of Jacob:



God hath made me lord over all Egypt: his exaltation to this dignity he ascribes, not to Pharaoh, but to God; civil honour and promotion to worldly grandeur and dignity are from God, and not from man:



come down unto me, tarry not; the great business on his hands not permitting him to go to his father and fetch him to Egypt, he desires that he would come to him without delay, which would be greatly to the advantage of him and his family, and to their mutual comfort.





Genesis 45:10



Ver. 10. And thou shall dwell in the land of Goshen,.... Called by Artapanus {t} Kaisan or Kessan; the Septuagint version Gesan of Arabia, as it was that part of Egypt which bordered on Arabia: it seems to be the same with the land of Rameses, see Ge 47:11; and the Heliopolitan home, which, Strabo {u} says, was reckoned to be in Arabia, and in which were both the city of Heliopolis and the city Heroopolis, according to Ptolemy {w}; for in the Septuagint version of Ge 46:28, instead of Goshen is Heroopolis, or the city of the Heroes in the land of Rameses, with which agrees Josephus {x}: wherefore Dr. Shaw {y} observes, the land of Rameses or Goshen could be no other than the Heliopolitan home, taking in that part of Arabia which lay bounded near Heliopolis by the Nile, and near Heroopolis by the correspondent part of the Red Sea. Now either before this time Joseph had got a grant of this country, of Pharaoh, to dispose of at pleasure, or he had so much power and authority of himself as to put his father into it: or it may be, it was the domains of his father in law the priest of On, since On or Onii, according to Ptolemy {z}, was the metropolis of the Heliopolitan home, and by some thought to be Heliopolis itself, and perhaps might be Joseph's own country, which he had with the daughter of the priest of On: indeed if what the Jewish writers say {a}, that Pharaoh, king of Egypt in Abraham's time, gave to Sarah the land of Goshen for an inheritance, and therefore the Israelites dwelt in it, because it was Sarah their "mother's"; it would account for Joseph's proposing to put them into the possession of it without the leave of Pharaoh; but Goshen seems to have been in the grant of Pharaoh, who agreed and confirmed what Joseph proposed, Ge 47:6;



and thou shalt be near unto me; as he would be in Goshen, if Memphis was the royal seat at this time, as some think {b}, and not Tanis or Zoan; or Heliopolis, or both, in their turn; and Artapanus {c} is express for it, that Memphis was the seat of that king of Egypt, in whose court Moses was brought up; and especially Heliopolis, nay be thought to be so, if Joseph dwelt at On or Heliopolis, where his father in law was priest or prince, which was near if not in Goshen itself: and according to Bunting {d}, On or Oni was the metropolis of Goshen; and Leo Africanus says {e}, that the sahidic province, in which was Fium, where the Israelites dwelt, see Ge 47:11, was the seat of the nobility of the ancient Egyptians:



thou and thy children, and thy children's children: for Jacob's sons had all of them children, even Benjamin the youngest, as appears from the following chapter:



and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast; and Goshen, being a place of pasturage, was fit and suitable for them; and so Josephus says {f}, of Heliopolis, which he takes to be the place where Jacob was placed, that there the king's shepherds had their pastures.



{t} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 23. p. 27. {u} Geograph. l. 17. p. 555. {w} Geograph. l. 4. c. 5. {x} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 7. sect. 5. {y} Travels, 305, 306. Ed. 2. {z} Ut supra. ({w}) {a} Pirke Eliezer, c. 26. {b} Dr. Shaw. ut supra, ({y}) p. 304, &c. Jablonski de Terra Goshen, Dissert. 4. sect. 3, 4, 5. & Sicardus in ib. Dissert. 5. sect. 1. {c} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 23, 27. {d} Travels, &c. p. 76. {e} Descriptio Africae, l. 8. p. 669. {f} Ut supra, ({x}) sect. 6.





Genesis 45:11



Ver. 11. And there will I nourish thee,.... Provide for him and his family:



for yet [there are] five years of famine; still to come, two of the seven only being past:



lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty; his whole posterity be consumed, as it would be in all probability, if he did not procure food for his family during the famine.





Genesis 45:12



Ver. 12. And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin,.... They were eyewitnesses of his being alive, having themselves seen him, and even Benjamin, who could not be suspected by his father of a fraud in imposing on him; and some of them could doubtless remember his features, and had an ocular proof of his being the very person, which they could with great evidence relate unto Jacob; as also his voice in speaking:



that [it is] my mouth that speaketh unto you; without an interpreter, as Aben Ezra, and in the Hebrew language, as the Targum and Jarchi; which might confirm them, and likewise their father upon their report, that the governor was not an Egyptian, but an Hebrew; and by that and other concurrent testimonies that he must be Joseph.





Genesis 45:13



Ver. 13. And you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt,.... His wealth and riches, his grandeur and dignity, his power and authority:



and of all that you have seen; what a magnificent house he dwelt in; what a numerous train of servants he had; in what majesty he rode in the second chariot to the king; and what authority he exercised over the people, and what reverence they gave him, and what power he had, particularly in the distribution of corn:



and ye shall haste, and bring down my father hither; for Joseph had an eager desire to see him, wherefore this is repeated.





Genesis 45:14



Ver. 14. And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept,.... On his neck first, because he was his own brother by father and mother's side; and he wept over him for joy that he had a sight of him once more: the word for "neck" is in the plural number, and being used, may signify that he fell first on one side of his neck, and then on the other, to show his great affection for him:



and Benjamin wept upon his neck; their love and the tokens of it were reciprocal.





Genesis 45:15



Ver. 15. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren,.... In their turns, to testify his real affection for them, and hearty reconciliation to them:



and wept upon them; that is, upon their necks, as he had on Benjamin's:



and after that his brethren talked with him: being emboldened by this carriage of his to them, and encouraged to believe that he really forgave them their sin against him, and was truly reconciled unto them, and had a real affection for them, and had no reason to fear he would avenge himself on them: they entered into a free conversation, and talked of their father and their family, and the concerns of it, and of what passed since the time he was separated from them.





Genesis 45:16



Ver. 16. And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house,.... The report was carried to court, and there it was told by some from Joseph's house, who had overheard what had passed, at least somewhat of it:



saying, Joseph's brethren are come; perhaps they might call him by his Egyptian name, though the historian gives him his Hebrew name, and which was his right name, and by which he was best known to the Hebrews, for whose sake chiefly he wrote:



and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants; for Joseph being greatly beloved both by the king and his courtiers, who are meant by his servants, they were glad of an opportunity of showing their further regard to him, by their respect and civilities to his relations and friends, who had been the means of providing for the welfare of the whole kingdom, and of saving all their lives; Pharaoh's expressions of pleasure on this occasion were, no doubt sincere, whatever were those of his courtiers; who might not so well affect a stranger, and one that had been in a very low estate of life, to be raised above them, and have so much trust reposed is him, and honour conferred upon him, and might dissemble in their respect to Joseph before their sovereign; though such might be the prudence and affability of Joseph, and such the sense they had of their obligations to him in point of gratitude, that they might be really pleased to hear that his brethren were come; and the rather Pharaoh and his court might be the more delighted, because that it appeared that he came of a good family in Canaan; whereas they knew no more of him than of his having been a slave in Potiphar's house, and then cast into a prison for a crime charged upon him, out of which he was taken, and made the great man he was.





Genesis 45:17



Ver. 17. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,.... Who, it is highly probable, waited upon Pharaoh to acquaint him with the coming of his brethren; for it cannot be imagined that Pharaoh should say what follows upon a bare report, without having a further account of things from Joseph, or that he would neglect giving it, but take the first opportunity to inform him, whereupon he gave him the following order:



say unto thy brethren, this do ye; give them directions and instructions to do as follows:



lade your asses: with provisions for the present necessity of their father's household in Canaan, and for their journey back to Egypt:



and go, get you into the land of Canaan; with all the haste they could make.





Genesis 45:18



Ver. 18. And take your father, and your households,.... Or families, for they were all married persons, and had children, and no doubt servants also: all were to be brought with them,



and come unto me; into his kingdom, to his metropolis, and to his palace, and into his presence:



and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt; the best things which it affords, and the best and most fruitful part of it, as he afterwards did, which was the land of Goshen:



and ye shall eat the fat of the land; the choicest fruits of the earth, such as were produced in fields and gardens; meaning that they should have the finest of the wheat for themselves, and the fattest pastures for their flocks.





Genesis 45:19



Ver. 19. Now thou art commanded, this do ye,.... Had his orders from Pharaoh; had full power and authority to do the above things, and what follows: the sense Joseph Kimchi gives of this clause is, that Joseph was ordered by Pharaoh not to let any wagons go out of Egypt with corn, lest the Egyptians should want; but now Pharaoh said to him, though thou wert thus ordered, yet bid thy brethren do as follows:



take you wagons out of the land of Egypt: and lade them with corn, as the same writer observes; the Targum of Jonathan adds, which were drawn by oxen:



for your little ones, and for your wives: the wagons were to carry the women and children in when they returned:



and bring your father, and come; in one of the carriages, or in what way was most agreeable to him in his old age.





Genesis 45:20



Ver. 20. Also regard not your stuff,.... Or "your vessels" {g}, utensils, household goods; he would not have them to be concerned if they could not bring all their goods with them, but were obliged to leave some behind, and which, because of the distance of the way and difficulty of the road, lying through sandy deserts, could not well be brought, since there was enough to be had in the land of Egypt; therefore, as it may be rendered, "let not your eye spare" {h}, or "pity": do not be grieved at it, or say it is a pity to leave these good things behind. Some render and explain the words just the reverse, "leave nothing of your household goods" {i}; bring all away with you, as if he would not have them think of returning again, but of settling and continuing in Egypt; but this does not so well agree with what follows as the former sense does:



for the good of all the land of Egypt [is] yours: whatever good things were in it, whether for food or use for themselves, their houses, or their flocks, all were at their service, and they were welcome to them; or the best or most fruitful part of the country was designed for them, and would be given to them, or was at their option.



{g} Mkylk le "vasis vestris", Fagius, Drusius, "supellectilibus vestris", Pagninus, Schmidt; "propter vestra supellectilia", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. {h} oxt la Mknye "oculus vester non parcat", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Drusius, Schmidt. {i} "Nee dimittatis quicquam de supellectili vestra", V. L. so Mercerus.





Genesis 45:21



Ver. 21. And the children of Israel did so,.... As Pharaoh commanded, and Joseph from him directed them to do:



and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh: and beasts, either horses or oxen to draw them, and these not empty, though the principal use of them was to fetch his father and his family, and their goods:



and gave them provision for the way: both going and returning, as much as would suffice for both.





Genesis 45:22



Ver. 22. To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment,.... Rich apparel, two suits of clothes, to shift and change upon occasion, such as Homer {k} calls imatia exameiba, "changeable garments"; those he gave to everyone of his brethren, partly that they might have something to show to their father and to their wives, which would cause them to give credit to the report they should give of Joseph, and his great prosperity; and partly that they might, upon their return, be provided with suitable apparel to appear before Pharaoh, and chiefly this was intended to show his great respect and affection for them, and reconciliation to them:



but to Benjamin he gave three hundred [pieces] of silver; or shekels, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, which amounted to between thirty and forty pounds of our money; the Septuagint very wrongly renders it three hundred "pieces of gold"; and besides these he gave him also



five changes of raiment; because of his greater love and affection for him.



{k} Odyss. 8.





Genesis 45:23



Ver. 23. And to his father he sent after this [manner],.... Or "according to" this {l}; either in like manner, as he gave his brethren change of raiment, &c. so he sent the like to him, as Aben Ezra and Ben Melech interpret it, referring it to what goes before; or rather as Jarchi, according to this account or number, even which follows: namely,



ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt: the best things the land afforded; the Targum of Jonathan says with wine, but that Egypt did not abound with; and so Jarchi, out of the Talmud, observes, that it was old wine that was sent, such as is agreeable to ancient men:



and ten she asses laden with corn; not made up into bread, next mentioned, and so distinguished from it:



and bread: ready made and baked:



and meat for his father by the way; food and fruit of various sorts; Aben Ezra reckons many, peas, beans, lentils, millet, fetches, figs, currants, and dates.



{l} tazk "sicut hoc", Pagninus, Montanus; "in hunc modum", Tigurine version.





Genesis 45:24



Ver. 24. So he sent his brethren away, and they departed,.... From Egypt to Canaan with the wagons, asses, and rich presents:



and he said unto them, see that ye fall not out by the way; the Targum of Jonathan adds, about the affair of selling me; which he had reason to fear they would, from what they, and particularly Reuben, had said in his presence, Ge 42:21; he was jealous this would be the subject of their discourse by the way, and that they would be blaming one another about it, and so fall into contentions and quarrels; that one would say it was owing to the reports of such an one concerning him, that they entertained hatred against him; that it was such an one that advised to kill him, and such an one that stripped him of his clothes, and such an one that put him into the pit, and such an one that was the cause of his being sold; and thus shifting of things from one to another, and aggravating each other's concern in this matter, they might stir up and provoke one another to wrath and anger, as the word used signifies, which might have a bad issue; to prevent which Joseph gives them this kind and good advice; and especially there was the more reason to attend to it, since he was reconciled unto them, and was desirous the whole should be buried in oblivion.





Genesis 45:25



Ver. 25. And they went up out of Egypt,.... That lying lower than the land of Canaan:



and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father; they found him alive and well.





Genesis 45:26



Ver. 26. And told him,.... What had happened to them in Egypt:



saying, Joseph [is] yet alive; who was thought by him and them to have been dead long ago:



and he [is] governor over all the land of Egypt; deputy governor, and had such power and authority that nothing was done without his order; the executive power or administration of government was put into his hands, and all the officers of the kingdom were under him, he was next to Pharaoh:



and Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not; it was too great and too good news to be true; though it was desirable, it was unexpected; it amazed him, he knew not what to think, or say or believe about it; there was such a conflict of the passions in him, that he could not compose himself, or reason with himself about it; and what might serve the more to hinder his belief of it was, that this report of theirs was contrary to what they themselves had before related of his death; and very likely upon the mention of the thing he fell into a swoon, and was not himself for a while; and when he came a little to himself, they went on with their account, as follows.





Genesis 45:27



Ver. 27. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them,.... Not concerning their selling of him, and his forgiveness of them, and reconciliation to them, which perhaps Jacob never heard of to his dying day, since he makes no mention of it, nor hints at it in his dying words to them; but of his great advancement in the court of Pharaoh, and how desirous he was to have his father and family with him, and provide for them, since there were five years of famine yet to come:



and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, and his sons wives and children, down to Egypt in; and which were so grand and magnificent, that he was easily persuaded could never have been provided by his sons, if what they had said concerning Joseph was not true: and then



the spirit of Jacob their father revived: not the Holy Spirit, or spirit of prophecy, as the Targums, which the Jews say departed from him, and had not been with him since the loss of Joseph, but now returned; but his own natural spirit, he became lively and cheerful, giving credit to the report of his sons.





Genesis 45:28



Ver. 28. And Israel said, [it is] enough, Joseph my son [is] yet alive,.... Or it is "much" or "great" {m}; he had much joy, as the Targums; this was the greatest blessing of all, and more to him than all the glory and splendour that Joseph was in; that he was alive, that was enough for Jacob, which gave him content and pleasure; not so much the news of his grandeur in Egypt, as of his being in the land of the living:



I will go and see him before I die; though his age was great, the journey long and difficult, so great was his desire of seeing Joseph, that he determines at once upon going, expecting death shortly: no doubt but this was said in submission to the will of God, and in seeking him by prayer and supplication, and in the exercise of faith, believing that God would grant him his desire, than which nothing in life could be more desirable to him, and he only wished to live to enjoy this favour. In Joseph's making himself known unto his brethren, he was a type of Christ, who manifests himself to his people alone, and as he does not unto the world, saying unto them, that he is Jesus the Saviour, their friend and brother, and whom they crucified, whose sins were the cause of his sufferings; and yet encourages them to draw nigh unto him with an humble and holy boldness, giving them abundant reason to believe that he will receive them kindly, seeing that all that were done to him were by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, and for their good, even for their eternal salvation; and that they might not perish, but have everlasting life; and to whom he now gives change of raiment, riches and honour, yea, durable riches and righteousness; and declares it to be his will, that where he is, they may be also, and behold his glory: and this is sufficient to engage them to reckon all their worldly enjoyments as mere stuff, contemptible things in comparison of the good and glories of another world they are hastening to, where there will be fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore; and therefore should not fall out by the way, as they too often do.



{m} br "multum", Montanus, Munster, Drusius, Schmidt;

mega moi estin Sept.



 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Genesis 46:1



INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 46



In this chapter we are told, that Jacob with all his family and substance took a journey to Egypt to see his son Joseph, as he determined, in which he was encouraged to proceed by a vision from God,

Ge 46:1; and an account is given of all his sons, his sons' sons and daughters that went thither with him, Ge 46:8; when he came near to Egypt he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to acquaint him of his coming, who met him at Goshen, where there was a most affectionate interview between them, Ge 46:28; and when he gave directions and instructions what answers to give to Pharaoh's questions, when they should appear before him, to whom he proposed to go and inform him of their being come into Egypt, Ge 46:31.



Ver. 1. And Israel took his journey with all that he had,.... Set forward in it immediately, as soon as possible after he had resolved to take it, and with him he took all his children and grandchildren, and all his cattle and goods; which shows that he took his journey not only to see his son Joseph, but to continue in Egypt, at least during the years of famine, as his son desired he would, otherwise there would have been no occasion of taking all along with him:



and came to Beersheba: where he and his ancestors Abraham and Isaac had formerly lived; a place where sacrifices had often been offered up, and the worship of God performed, and much communion enjoyed with him. This is said to be sixteen miles from Hebron {n}, where Jacob dwelt, and according to Musculus was six German miles from it:



and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac; which were attended with prayer and praise; with praise for hearing that his son Joseph was alive, and with prayer that he might have a good, safe, and prosperous journey.



{n} Bunting's Travels, p. 72.





Genesis 46:2



Ver. 2. And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night,.... He appeared to Jacob as he lay upon his bed in the night season, and with an articulate voice spoke to him as follows:



and said, Jacob, Jacob: not "Israel", the more honourable name he had given him, but Jacob, putting him in mind of his former low estate; and doubling this name, either out of love and affection to him, as Jarchi intimates; or rather in order to awake him, at least to stir up his attention to what he was about to say to him:



and he said, here [am] I; signifying his readiness to hearken to him in what he should say to him, and to obey him in whatsoever he should command him.





Genesis 46:3



Ver. 3. And he said, I [am] God, the God of thy father,.... His father Isaac, who was now dead, and who is the rather mentioned, because in him Abraham's seed was to be called, and in his line the promise both of the land of Canaan, and of the Messiah, ran, and from him Jacob received the blessing; and this might be a confirmation of it to him, in that Jehovah calls himself his God; he first declares himself to be his God, and so able to perform whatever he should promise him, and his father's God, who would show him favour, as he had to him:



fear not to go down into Egypt; Jacob might have many fears arise in his mind about this journey, as interpreters generally observe; as lest it should not be agreeable to the will of God, since his father Isaac was forbidden to go into Egypt, when in like circumstances with him,

Ge 26:1; as well as he, might fear it would be too great a journey for him in his old age, some evil would befall him, or he die by the way and not see his son; or lest going with his family thither, and there continuing for some time, they might be tempted with the pleasantness and fruitfulness of the land, and settle there, and forget and neglect the promised land of Canaan; and especially lest they should be drawn into the idolatry of the Egyptians, and forsake the worship of the true God; and very probably he might call to mind the prophecy delivered to Abraham, of his seed being strangers and servants, and afflicted in a land not theirs for the space of four hundred years, Ge 15:13; and Jacob might fear this step he was now taking would bring on, as indeed it did, the completion of this prediction, by which his offspring would be oppressed and diminished. The Targum of Jonathan makes this to be Jacob's principal fear;



"fear not to go down into Egypt, because of the business of the servitude decreed with Abraham;''



as also he might fear his going thither might seem to be a giving up his title to, and expectation of the promised land: to remove which fears the following is said,



for I will there make of thee a great nation: as he did; for though in process of time his seed were greatly afflicted here, yet the more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied; and their increase in Egypt was vastly greater than it had been in a like space of time before; for in the space of two hundred fifteen years before their descent into Egypt, they were become no more than seventy persons, whereas in the like number of years in Egypt, they became 600,000, besides children; see Ge 46:27 Ex 12:37.





Genesis 46:4



Ver. 4. I will go down with thee into Egypt,.... Which was enough to silence all his fears; for if the presence of God went with him to protect and defend hide, to bless and prosper him, and to direct, support, and comfort, he had nothing to fear from any quarter:



and I will also surely bring thee up [again]: Jarchi takes this to be a promise that he should be buried in the land of Canaan, which had its fulfilment, when his corpse was carried out of Egypt to Machpelah, and there interred; but rather this refers to the bringing up of his posterity from thence in due time, for which Jacob might be most solicitous, and so the Targum of Jonathan,



"and I will bring up thy children from thence:''



and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes: and so close them when he was dead; this, as Aben Ezra says, was a custom of the living to the dead, and it used to be done by the nearest relations and friends, though now with us commonly by strangers, or those that are not akin: this was a custom among the Greeks and Romans, as appears from Homer {o}, Virgil {p}, Ovid {q}, and other writers {r}; and so, among the Jews, Tobias is said to shut the eyes of his wife's father and mother, and to bury them honourably,



"Where he became old with honour, and he buried his father and mother in law honourably, and he inherited their substance, and his father Tobit's.'' (Tobit 14:13)



Of the Vulgate Latin version: Maimonides {s} reckons this of closing the eyes of the dead, among the rites used towards them, and so in the Talmud {t}: now by this expression Jacob was assured that Joseph was alive, and that he should live to see him, and that Joseph would outlive him, and do this last office for him; and, as Ben Melech observes, by this he had the good news told him that Joseph should remain behind him, to sustain and support his sons, and his sons' sons, all the years that he should live after him.



{o} Odyss. 11. {p} Aeneid. l. 9. {q} Trist. l. 1. Eleg. 2. {r} Vid. Kirchman, de Funer. Rom. l. 1. c. 6. & Kipping. Rom. Antiqu. l. 4. c. 6. {s} Hilchot Ebel, l. 4. sect. 1. {t} T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 151. 2.





Genesis 46:5



Ver. 5. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba,.... In high spirits, and proceeded on in his journey, being encouraged and animated by the promises of God now made unto him:



and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him; it may be wondered at that Joseph did not send his chariot to fetch his father; it could not be for want of due respect and honour to him, but it may be such a carriage was not fit for so long a journey, and especially to travel in, in some parts of the road through which they went: no mention being made of Jacob's wives, it may be presumed they were all now dead; it is certain Rachel was, see Ge 35:19; and it is more than probable that Leah died before this time, since Jacob says he buried her himself in Machpelah in Canaan, Ge 49:31; and it is very likely also that his two concubine wives Bilhah and Zilpah were also dead, since no notice is taken of them.





Genesis 46:6



Ver. 6. And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan,.... Some interpreters add, by way of explanation, and in Mesopotamia; much of Jacob's substance being yet there, though the greatest part was got in Canaan, and so that is put for the whole; and Jarchi supposes that Jacob gave all that he got in Padanaram to Esau for his part in the cave of Machpelah, and therefore mention is only made of his substance in Canaan; but there is no need of any such additions or suppositions, since the text only speaks of the substance of Jacob's sons, and what they had was only gotten in Canaan, into which they came very young; all which they brought with them as being their property, and not obliged to leave it behind to strangers; though they were bid not to regard their stuff, yet they were not willing to live upon others, but upon their own, and as much as they could independent of others; and that they might not be upbraided hereafter that they came into Egypt poor and destitute of everything:



and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him; safe and well.





Genesis 46:7



Ver. 7. His sons, and his sons' sons with him,.... His eleven sons, and their sons, his grandchildren:



and his daughters; his own daughter Dinah, and his daughters in law, the wives of his sons; for these came with him into Egypt, as appears from Ge 46:5; though the plural may be put for the singular, as in

Ge 46:23:



and his sons' daughters; and mention is made of Sarah the daughter of Asher, Ge 46:17; Jarchi adds, Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, but it is certain she was born in Egypt, Nu 26:59:



and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt; left none behind him in Canaan, son or daughter; no mention is made of servants, though no doubt many came along with him: the design of the historian is to give an account of Jacob's children, who they were, and their number, when they came into Egypt, that the increase of them might be observed.





Genesis 46:8



Ver. 8. And these [are] the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt,.... Not meaning precisely Jacob's seed and offspring, but the body of the people of Israel, as they were when they went into Egypt, including Jacob himself:



Jacob and his sons; for he went with them to Egypt, and was the head and principal of them:



Reuben, Jacob's firstborn; see Ge 29:32.





Genesis 46:9



Ver. 9. And the sons of Reuben, Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. From whom came the families named after them, of which they were the heads, Nu 26:5.





Genesis 46:10



Ver. 10. And the sons of Simeon,.... Who was the second son of Jacob:



Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar; the first of these is called Nemuel, Nu 26:12; the third, Ohad, is omitted in the places referred to, he dying without children, as may be supposed, and so was not the head of any family; and the fourth, Jachin, is called Jarib, 1Ch 4:24; and the fifth is called Zerah, in the above place, by a transposition of letters:



and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman; whom Simeon married, very probably after the death of his first wife, by whom he had the above five sons, or she was his concubine: many Jewish writers {u} say, this was Dinah, married to a Canaanite, but this is impossible: according to the Targum of Jonathan, this Shaul was Zimri, who did the work of the Canaanites at Shittim, Nu 25:14, which is not at all likely, the distance of time will not admit of it.



{u} Jarchi in loc. Bereshit Rabba, sect. 80. fol. 70. 3. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 3. 2.





Genesis 46:11



Ver. 11. And the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. From these sprung the priests and Levites, see Nu 3:1.





Genesis 46:12



Ver. 12. And the sons of Judah, Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez,

and Zarah,.... Five of them:



but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan; and so did not go with Jacob into Egypt; and which is observed that they might not be reckoned among them, though it was proper to take notice of them in the genealogy:



and the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul; some think that these could not be born in Canaan, but in Egypt; and that they are mentioned among those that went down to Egypt, because they went there in the loins of their father, and to supply the places of Er and Onan, who died before, and have the honour to be here named, because they might be the first of Jacob's great grandchildren born there; though others suppose that Pharez was at this time fourteen years of age, and instances are given of some, who before that age have been fathers of children; the difficulty is not easily solved: the Targum of Jonathan expressly says,



"Shelah and Zarah did not beget children in Canaan, but there were two sons of Pharez who went down into Egypt, Hezron and Hamul.''





Genesis 46:13



Ver. 13. And the sons of Issachar, Tola, and Phuvah; and Job, and Shimron. The first of these was the father of a numerous race in the days of David, their number was 22,600; See Gill on "1Ch 7:2"; the second is called Puah, and the third Jashub, and the fourth Shimrom, 1Ch 7:1; and were all the heads of families, as appears from the places referred to.





Genesis 46:14



Ver. 14. And the sons of Zebulun, Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. Whose names are the same in Nu 26:26.





Genesis 46:15



Ver. 15. These are the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram,.... Which must be restrained to the six sons only, who were properly Leah's, and not to their sons' sons, for they were not born in Padanaram, but in Canaan:



with his daughter Dinah; who also was by Leah:



all the souls of his sons and daughters [were] thirty and three; that is, together with himself, or otherwise it will be difficult to give the exact number; if all before mentioned are to be reckoned there will be thirty four, wherefore some are for excluding Dinah; but she is not only expressly mentioned, but is the only one intended by his daughters here, the plural being put for the singular; and there is as much reason for retaining her here, as Sarah the daughter of Asher hereafter: some think Er and Onan are to be excluded, as indeed they are, because they died in the land of Canaan, and then there will be but thirty two; wherefore some are for adding Jochebed the daughter of Levi, but she is neither mentioned in the genealogy, nor did she go with Jacob into Egypt, but was born in Egypt long after: it seems best therefore to take Jacob himself into the account, as several Jewish writers do {w}, and who is expressly named and set at the head of this account, Ge 46:8, which will make thirty three.



{w} Aben Ezra, Gersom, & Abarbinel.





Genesis 46:16



Ver. 16. And the sons of Gad,.... A son of Jacob by Zilpah, Leah's maid; for the historian, before he proceeds to give an account of his sons by Rachel, finishes the account of all his sons by Leah and her maid;



Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, and Eri, and Arodi, and Areli; in all seven; the same number is given, and in the same order,

Nu 26:15.





Genesis 46:17



Ver. 17. And the sons of Asher,.... Another son of Jacob by Leah's maid Zilpah, whose sons were,



Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister; who is called Sarah, Nu 26:46, and by the Septuagint here. She seems to have been a person of some note, being so particularly remarked in both places:



and the sons of Beriah, Heber and Malchiel; this Beriah seems to be the youngest son of Asher, and yet had two sons; who, as the Targum of Jonathan adds, went down into Egypt; he must marry, and have sons when very young; the thing is not impossible: See Gill on "Ge 46:12";





Genesis 46:18



Ver. 18. These [are] the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter,.... To be her maid, when she was married to Jacob, by whom he had Gad and Asher:



and these she bare unto Jacob, [even] sixteen souls; not that Zilpah bare sixteen children to Jacob, for she bore but two; but the children and grandchildren of these two with them made sixteen.





Genesis 46:19



Ver. 19. The sons Rachel, Jacob's wife,.... The wife of his affection and choice, his principal wife, yea, his only lawful wife; Zilpah and Bilhah were his concubines, and as for Leah, she was imposed and forced upon him:



Joseph and Benjamin; the first was in Egypt already, the other now went down with Jacob.





Genesis 46:20



Ver. 20. And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim,.... And therefore not to be reckoned with those that went down with Jacob thither; for which reason the clause, "in the land of Egypt", is inserted, see Ge 41:50;



which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, bare unto him; here again the Targum of Jonathan makes Asenath to be the daughter of Dinah, who it says was educated in the house of Potipherah prince of Tanis; See Gill on "Ge 41:50".





Genesis 46:21



Ver. 21. And the sons of Benjamin,.... The second son of Jacob by his wife Rachel; whose sons



[were] Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh,

Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard; in all one hundred and ten. It is a difficulty to account for it, that Benjamin, Jacob's youngest son, often called a lad at this time, and generally supposed to be about twenty three or four years of age, should have so many sons: some think he had more wives than one, which is not likely, since we never read of any of Jacob's sons that had more than one at a time; and others, that his sons were born twins, and so had them in a little time, which is a much better solution of the difficulty: but others are of opinion, that though the greater part of them might be born in Canaan, yet others might be born in Egypt; and being denominated from the greater part, and that being put for the whole, may be reckoned among the descendants into Egypt; and even those that were in Egypt, being born while Jacob was alive, might be said to descend there in his loins; which may be the best of the ways proposed for removing this difficulty: though I should rather think they were all born before the descent into Egypt, the whole narrative seems to require this of them all; for otherwise many more might be, said to descend in the loins of Jacob, or in the loins of his sons, which would greatly increase the number of those said to go down with him, after mentioned: to which it may be added, that Benjamin was at least thirty two years of age, and so may very well be thought to have had these children before he went to Egypt.





Genesis 46:22



Ver. 22. These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob,.... That is, sons and grandsons:



all the souls [were] fourteen; two sons, Joseph and Benjamin; twelve grandsons, two of Joseph's, and ten of Benjamin's.





Genesis 46:23



Ver. 23. And the sons of Dan, Hushim. He had but one son, wherefore the plural is put for the singular, see Ge 46:7; Aben Ezra thinks he had two sons, and that one of them was dead, and therefore not mentioned; but the other way best accounts for the expression; though, as Schmidt observes, the plural may be indefinitely put, and the sense be this, as for the sons of Dan, there was only one, whose name was Hushim. Dan was a son of Jacob by Bilhah, Rachel's maid, as the following was another.





Genesis 46:24



Ver. 24. And the sons of Naphtali, Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem. The last is called Shallum in 1Ch 7:13.





Genesis 46:25



Ver. 25. These [are] the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter,.... To be her maid, when she was married to Jacob:



and she bare these unto Jacob, all the souls [were] seven; not that she bare seven sons to Jacob, she bore but two, Dan and Naphtali; but the children of these with them made seven, one of Dan's, and four of Naphtali's, who went down with Jacob into Egypt.





Genesis 46:26



Ver. 26. All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt,.... These are in parcels before mentioned, but here they are brought to a sum total; and by this phrase are excluded those that died before, as Er and Onan, and those that were in Egypt before, as Joseph and his two sons; and I should think also all that were born in Egypt afterwards, even while Jacob was living: those reckoned are only such,



which came out of his loins: such as were his seed and offspring. This is observed for the sake of what follows, and to exclude them:



besides Jacob's sons' wives; these do not come into the account, because they did not spring from him:



all the souls [were] threescore and six; thirty two of Leah's, leaving out Er and Onan, sixteen of Zilpah's, fourteen of Rachel's, and seven of Bilhah's, make sixty nine; take out of them Joseph and his two sons, who were in Egypt before, and you have the exact number of sixty six.





Genesis 46:27



Ver. 27. And the sons of Joseph, which were born in Egypt, [were] two souls,.... Ephraim and Manasseh; which is observed to show that they do not come into the above reckoning, but are to be taken into another that follows:



all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, [were] threescore and ten; here it may be observed, the phrase is varied; it is not said, "all the souls which came out of the loins of Jacob", but "all the souls of the house" or family of Jacob; all that that consisted of, and takes in Jacob himself, the head of his house or family; nor is it said, "which came with Jacob into Egypt", as before, but "which came into Egypt"; not which came with him thither, but yet were there by some means or another, as Joseph and his two sons; Joseph by being brought down, and sold there, and his two sons by being born there; if therefore Jacob, Joseph, and his two sons, are added to the above number of sixty six, it will make seventy; as for the account of Stephen, making the number seventy five, See Gill on "Ac 7:14".





Genesis 46:28



Ver. 28. And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph,.... Who was the more honourable of his sons, and in greater esteem with Jacob than his elder brethren were, Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, who by their conduct had greatly displeased him: moreover, he was a man of a polite address, and had endeared himself to Joseph by his speech to him, in which he discovered so much affection both to his father, and his brother Benjamin, and was upon all accounts the fittest person to be sent to Joseph:



to direct his face unto Goshen; to inform Joseph of his father's coming, that a place might be prepared for him to dwell in, as both the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem paraphrase it; and particularly to direct what place in Goshen he would have him come to, and meet him at:



and they came into the land of Goshen; which was the first part of the land of Egypt that lay nearest to Canaan: the Greek version of the whole verse is,



"he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to meet him at Heroopolis, or the city of the heroes, in the land of Rameses,''



which is confirmed by Josephus {x}; See Gill on "Ge 45:10".



{x} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 7. sect. 5.





Genesis 46:29



Ver. 29. And Joseph made ready his chariot,.... Or "bound" {y} it, fastened the horses to it, harnessed them, and put them to; this he did not himself, as Jarchi thinks, for the honour of his father; but rather, as Aben Ezra, by ordering his servants to do it:



and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen; that being higher than the other part of Egypt, as it must be, if it was in Thebes, or upper Egypt, as some Jewish writers say {z}; and Fium, supposed to be the place the Israelites dwelt in, see Ge 47:11, stood very high {a}:



and presented himself unto him; alighted from his chariot, and came up to his father, and stood before him, and showed himself to him, declaring who he was:



and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while: either Jacob fell on the neck of Joseph, and wept over him a good while before he could speak to him, as the father of the prodigal son fell on his neck and kissed him, Lu 15:20; or, as Jarchi, Joseph fell on his father's neck, as he had done upon his brethren before, but wept over him longer; their embraces were no doubt mutual and extremely affectionate, that for a while they were not able to speak a word to each other.



{y} roayw "et ligavit", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus; "tum alligavit", Schmidt. {z} Hieron. Quaestion. in Genesim, fol. 72. M. tom. 3. {a} Leo. African. Descriptio Africae, l. 8. p. 722.





Genesis 46:30



Ver. 30. And Israel said unto Joseph,.... He broke silence first:



now let me die, since I have seen thy face; not that he was impatient to die, and not desirous to live any longer; for it could not but yield pleasure to him, and make the remainder of his life more comfortable to live with such a son, his darling, and now in so much honour and grandeur; but this he said to express his great satisfaction at the sight of him, that he could now be content to die, having all his heart could wish for, an interview with his beloved son:



because thou [art] yet alive; whom he had looked upon as dead, and the receiving him now was as life from the dead, and could not but fill him with the greatest joy, see Lu 15:23; Jacob lived after this seventeen years, Ge 47:28.





Genesis 46:31



Ver. 31. And Joseph said unto his brethren, and to his father's house,.... To them and their families, after he had paid his filial respects to his father, in honour, reverence, and affection:



I will go up and shew Pharaoh; acquaint him that his father and all his family were come to Egypt; he says, "I will go up"; which same phrase is used of him, Ge 46:29; when he came, and carries some difficulty in it how to account for it, that he should be said to go up when he came, and to go up when he returned. Some have thought of upper Egypt, others of the upper part of the Nile, and others, that Pharaoh's palace was situated on an eminence; but then, as it is to be supposed he went the same road he came, it would have been said, that when he came, he came down; what Ben Melech suggests seems most agreeable, I will go up to my chariot, mount that, and return to Pharaoh, and give him an account of his father's arrival, which it was very proper, prudent, and politic to do:



and say unto him, my brethren, and my father's house, which [were] in the land of Canaan, are come unto me; not merely to pay him a visit, but to continue there.





Genesis 46:32



Ver. 32. And the men [are] shepherds,.... That was their occupation and employment, by which they got their livelihood. Joseph was not ashamed of the business his father and brethren followed, even though mean; and besides, such men were an abomination to the Egyptians: this he thought proper to tell Pharaoh, lest he should think of putting them into some offices of the court or army, which would expose them to the envy of the Egyptians, and might endanger the corruption of their religion and manners, as well as be the means of separating them one from another, which he was careful to guard against, as Josephus {b} the historian suggests:



for their trade hath been to feed cattle; this was what they were brought up to from their youth, and were always employed in, and for which only they were fit:



and they have brought their flocks and their herds, and all that they have; in order to carry on the same business, and lead the same course of life.



{b} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 2. c. 7. sect. 5.)





Genesis 46:33



Ver. 33. And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you,.... Order them to come before him, to see them, and have some conversation with them:



and shall say, what [is] your occupation? or your works {c}, their business and employment, whether they exercised any manufacture or handicraft, and what it was.



{c} Mkyvem "opus vestrum", Pagninus, Montanus, "opera vestra", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius.





Genesis 46:34



Ver. 34. That ye shall say, thy servants' trade hath been about cattle,.... Breeding, feeding, and selling them:



from our youth, even until now: this had been their constant employment, they never followed any other:



both we, [and] also our fathers; their father, grandfather, and great grandfather, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were all of the same occupation:



that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; Joseph instructed his brethren to be very particular in the account of their occupation to Pharaoh, that it might be a direction to him how to dispose of them, and where to settle them, namely, in the land of Goshen; which was a country that abounded with good pasture, and so the fittest place for them to be fixed in: and besides this, Joseph had some other reasons for placing them there, as that they might be near to him, who might dwell at On or Heliopolis, to which place, or province, Goshen belonged; and that being also the nearest part of the land to Canaan, they might the more easily and sooner get away when there was an occasion for it; as well as he was desirous they should not be brought into the heart of the land, lest they should be corrupted with the superstition, and idolatry, and vices of the people; and being afar off, both from the court, and the body of the people, might be less subject to their contempt and insults, since it follows:



for every shepherd [is] an abomination unto the Egyptians; not because shepherds ate of the milk and flesh of the creatures they fed, which the Egyptians abstained from; for the Egyptians in those times did eat the flesh of slain beasts, see Ge 43:16; nor because they fed, and slew, and ate those creatures, which the Egyptians worshipped as gods, as Jarchi; for it does not appear that the Egyptians were so early worshippers of such creatures; nor is this phrase, "every shepherd", to be understood of any other than foreign shepherds; for one of the three sorts of the people of Egypt, as distinct from, and under the king, priests, and soldiers, according to Diodorus Siculus {d}, were shepherds, and were not despised on that account; for, as the same writer says, all the Egyptians were reckoned equally noble and honourable {e}; and such it is plain there were in Egypt, in the times of Joseph, see Ge 47:6; and goat herds were had in esteem and honour by those about Mendes, though swine herds were not {f}: wherefore this must be understood of foreign shepherds, the Egyptians having been greatly distressed by such, who either came out of Ethiopia, and lived by plunder and robbery {g}, or out of Phoenicia or Arabia; for, according to Manetho {h}, it was said that they were Arabians or Phoenicians who entered into Egypt, burnt their cities, &c. and set up kings of their own, called their Hycsi, or pastor kings: and therefore Joseph might the rather fear his brethren and father's family would be the more contemptible in that they came from Canaan, which was near to Arabia and Phoenicia; but Dr. Lightfoot {i} is of opinion, that the Egyptians, being plagued for Abraham's and Sarah's sake, made a law, that for the future none should converse with Hebrews, nor with foreign shepherds, so familiarly as to eat or drink with them.



{d} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 67. {e} lbid. p. 83. {f} Herodot. Euterpe, sive, l. 2. p. 46, 47. {g} Gaulmin. Not. in Dfore Hayamim, p. 267. {h} Apud Joseph. contr. Apion. l. 1. sect. 14. {i} Works: vol. 1. p. 694.



 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Genesis 47:1



INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 47



This chapter gives an account of the presentation of five of Joseph's brethren, and then of his father, to Pharaoh, and of what passed between them, Ge 47:1; of Joseph's settlement of them, according to the direction of Pharaoh, in the land of Rameses in Goshen, and of his provision for them there, Ge 47:11; of his getting into his hands, for Pharaoh, the money, cattle, and lands, of the Egyptians, excepting the lands belonging to the priests, for corn he had supplied them with,

Ge 47:13; of his giving them seed to sow with, on condition of Pharaoh's having a fifth part of the produce, Ge 47:23, of the increase of Jacob's substance in Egypt, and that of his children; of the time of his living there, and his approaching death, when he called Joseph to him, and obliged him by an oath to bury him in the burying place of his fathers, Ge 47:27.



Ver. 1. Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh,.... After he had been with his father, had had an interview with him, and had took his leave of him for a time, he came to Pharaoh's court:



and said, my father, and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; Pharaoh had desired they might come, and Joseph now acquaints him they were come; not being willing it should be said that they were come in a private manner, and without his knowledge; nor to dispose of them himself without the direction and approbation of Pharaoh, who was superior to him; and he makes mention of their flocks and herds, and other substance, partly to show that they were not a mean beggarly family that came to live upon him, and partly that a proper place of pasturage for their cattle might be appointed to them:



and behold, they [are] in the land of Goshen; they are stopped at present, until they should have further directions and orders where to settle; and this is the rather mentioned, because it was the place Joseph proposed with himself to fix them in, if Pharaoh approved of it.





Genesis 47:2



Ver. 2. And he took some of his brethren,.... Along with him, when he left his father in Goshen; the word for "some" signifies the extremity of a thing: hence some have fancied that he took some of the meanest and most abject, so Jarchi, lest if they had appeared to Pharaoh strong and robust, he should have made soldiers of them; others on the contrary think he took those that excelled most in strength of body, and endowments of mind, to make the better figure; others, that he took of both sorts, or some at both ends, the first and last, elder and younger; but it may be, he made no choice at all, but took some that offered next:



[even] five men: whom the Targum of Jonathan names as follow, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher; but Jarchi will have them to be Reuben, Simeon and Levi, Issachar and Benjamin; but on these accounts no dependence is to be had:



and presented them, unto Pharaoh; introduced them into his presence, that he might converse with them, and ask them what questions he thought fit.





Genesis 47:3



Ver. 3. And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, what [is] your occupation?.... Which is the question he had told his brethren beforehand would be asked them, and prepared them to give an answer to it, Ge 46:33; which was perhaps an usual question Pharaoh asked of persons that came to settle in his dominions, that he might have no idle vagrants there, and that he might know of what advantage they were like to be of in his kingdom, and might dispose of them accordingly:



and they said unto Pharaoh, thy servants [are] shepherds, both we [and] also our fathers; see Ge 46:34.





Genesis 47:4



Ver. 4. They said moreover unto Pharaoh, for to sojourn in the land are we come,.... Not to obtain possessions and inheritances, as if natives, and to abide there always, but to continue for a little time; for they kept in mind that the land of Canaan was given to them as an inheritance, and would be possessed by then, in due time, and therefore had no thought for the present of continuing here long:



for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine [is] sore in the land of Canaan: they say nothing of the want of corn for themselves, because they could have it from Egypt, fetching it, and paying a price for it, but of pasture for their cattle; for the land of Canaan lying higher, was so scorched with the heat of the sun, and parched with drought, that scarce any grass grew upon it; whereas Egypt, and especially the land of Goshen, lying lower, and being marshy and fenny places, near the Nile, had some grass growing on it, even when the Nile did not overflow to make it so fruitful as it sometimes was:



now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen: which request Joseph, no doubt, directed them to make, it being the spot he had chosen for them in his own mind, and even had promised it to his father; and which his brethren, by their short stay in it as they came along, saw would be very convenient for them, and was the true reason why Joseph instructed them to be particular in the account of their trade and business, that Pharaoh might be inclined of himself to propose it to them or however to grant it when requested.





Genesis 47:5



Ver. 5. And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph,.... Who was present at the conversation that passed between him and his brethren:



saying, thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee; which is observed, not for Joseph's information, but to lead on to what he had to say further.





Genesis 47:6



Ver. 6. 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 Ge 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 body, and of great parts, and endowments of mind, and of great skill, and diligence, and industry in the management of flocks and herds:



then make them rulers over my cattle; or "rulers of cattle over those that are mine" {l}: that is, over his shepherds, to take care that they do their work well and faithfully: from whence it appears that Pharaoh had flocks and herds and shepherds; and therefore it cannot be thought that the Egyptians in those times abstained from eating of animals, or that all shepherds, without exception, were an abomination to them, only foreign ones that lived on spoil and plunder, and made excursions into their country for such purposes: the office he assigned to men of skill and industry was like that which Doeg the Edomite was in, who was the chief of the herdsmen of Saul, 1Sa 21:7.



{k} Travels, p. 306. {l} yl rva le hnqm yrv "magistros pecuariae super illos, qui sunt mihi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Schmidt and Answorth.





Genesis 47:7



Ver. 7. And Joseph brought in Jacob his father,.... That is, some time after he had introduced his five brethren, and had gotten the grant of Goshen for them, when he sent, for his father from thence, or he came quickly after to Tanis or Memphis, where Pharaoh's court was:



and set him before Pharaoh; presented Jacob to him, and placed his father right before Pharaoh, perhaps in a chair, or on a seat, by Pharaoh's order, because of his age, and in honour to him:



and Jacob blessed Pharaoh; wished him health and happiness, prayed for his welfare, and gave him thanks for all his kindness to him and his; and he blessed him not only in a way of civility, as was usual when men came into the presence of princes, but in an authoritative way, as a prophet and patriarch, a man divinely inspired of God, and who had great power in prayer with him: the Targum of Jonathan gives us his prayer thus,



"may it be the pleasure (i.e. of God) that the waters of the Nile may be filled, and that the famine may remove from the world in thy days.''





Genesis 47:8



Ver. 8. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, how old [art] thou?] Or, "how many are the days of the years of thy life?" which way of speaking Jacob takes up, and very pertinently makes use of in his answer that follows: Dr. Lightfoot {m} thinks Pharaoh had never seen so old a man before, so grave a head, and so grey a beard, and in admiration asked this question.



{m} Works, vol. 1. p. 667.





Genesis 47:9



Ver. 9. Jacob said unto Pharaoh, the days of the years of my pilgrimage [are] an hundred and thirty years,.... He calls his life a "pilgrimage"; as every good man's is; they are not at home in their own country, they are seeking a better, even an heavenly one: Jacob's life was very emphatically and literally a pilgrimage; he first dwelt in Canaan, from thence he removed to Padanaram, and sojourned there awhile, and then came to Canaan again; for some time he dwelt at Succoth, and then at Shechem, and after that at Hebron, and now he was come down to Egypt, and he had spent one hundred and thirty years of his life in this way: and with this perfectly agrees the account of Polyhistor from Demetrius {n}, an Heathen writer, who makes the age of Jacob when he came into Egypt one hundred and thirty, and that year to be the third year of the famine, agreeably to Ge 45:6;



few and evil have the days of the years of my life been; see

Job 14:1; he calls his days but "few", in comparison of the long lives of the patriarchs in former times, and especially in comparison of the days of eternity: and "evil", because of the many afflictions he had met with; as from Esau, from whose face he was obliged to flee lest he should kill him, Ge 27:41; and in Laban's house, where he served for a wife fourteen years, and endured great hardships, Ge 31:41; and at Shechem, where his daughter was ravished, Ge 34:2, and his sons made that slaughter of the Shechemites, Ge 34:25, which he feared would cause his name to stink, Ge 34:30; and at Ephrath, where he buried his beloved Rachel, Ge 35:16; and at Hebron, where his sons brought him such an account as if they believed his beloved son Joseph was destroyed by a wild beast, Ge 37:32;



and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage; his grandfather Abraham lived to be one hundred amnd seventy five years of age, Ge 25:7, and his father Isaac lived to the age of one hundred and eighty, Ge 35:28.



{n} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. p. 21. p. 425.





Genesis 47:10



Ver. 10. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. When he took his leave of him, he blessed him, in like manner as when he came into his presence, by wishing all happiness to him, and giving him thanks for the honour he had done him, and the favours he had conferred on him and his.





Genesis 47:11



Ver. 11. And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt,.... Houses to dwell in, lands to till, and pastures to feed their flocks and herds in:



in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh commanded; according to Jarchi and Aben Ezra, the land of Rameses was a part of the land of Goshen: Jerom {o} says, that Rameses was a city the children of Israel built in Egypt, and that the province was formerly so called in which Jacob and his sons dwelt; but if it is the same with the city which was built by them, it is here called so by anticipation: but Aben Ezra is of opinion that it is not the same, and indeed the names are differently pointed and pronounced; that built by the Israelites is Raamses, and was one of the treasure cities of Pharaoh, and never inhabited by the Israelites; the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call this land the land of Pelusium; but this part of the country lay not in the Pelusiac, but rather in the Heliopolitan home: Sir John Marsham is of opinion {p} that Rameses is the name of Pharaoh, the then present king of Egypt, as there were several of the kings of Egypt of that name; and therefore he thinks this land was the king's land, the land of King Rameses, which Joseph placed his father and brethren in by the order of Pharaoh: but it seems rather to be the name of a place, and is thought by Dr. Shaw {q} to be the same with Cairo: a very learned man {r} takes this to be the name of the land of Goshen, after the coming of the Israelites into it, and observes, that, in the Egyptian language, "Remsosch" signifies men that live a pastoral life, and so this country was called Ramses or Remsosch, as being the country of the shepherds; and the same learned writer {s} is of opinion, that the land of Goshen is the same with the Heracleotic nome, or district, which lies in the great island the Nile makes above Memphis, and which is now called by the Arabs Fioum, it being the best and most fruitful part of all Egypt; which is confirmed by the testimony of Strabo, who says {t} it excels all the rest of the nomes, or districts; that it is the only one that produces olives, large and perfect, with fine fruit, which, if well gathered, make good oil, but all the rest of Egypt is without oil; moreover it produces wine not a little (whereas Herodotus says {u} vines were wanting in Egypt, i.e. in other parts of it), also corn and pulse, and other seeds: and that Fioum, as it is now called, is the most fruitful, and is the most pleasant part of all Egypt, having vines, olives, figs, and fruits of all sorts, the most excellent, and some of which are not to be found in other parts of the country, the same, writer proves from various travellers and historians {w}; particularly Leo Africanus says {x}, that the Sahidic nome, in which he places Fium, excels all the other parts of Egypt in plenty of pulse, as peas, beans, &c. and of animals and linen, though all Egypt is very fruitful: and Vansleb {y} says, the province of Fium has been always esteemed one of the most excellent in all Egypt, because of its fruitful fields, its great riches, and pleasant gardens,--all that grows here is of a better taste than in other provinces: here are fields full of rose trees, and woods of fig trees, which are not in other parts of Egypt; the gardens are full of all manner of trees, pears, oranges, lemons, peaches, plums, and apricots:--in Fium only, says he, of all the provinces of Egypt, are vineyards--nor is any province so much cut into channels as this: they all proceed from Joseph's river, and have bridges over them, made with burnt bricks very strong; and tradition says they were built in the days of the Pharaohs; and it is the opinion of the Coptics, that these kings employed the Israelites in making: bricks for those bridges, which is very probable, from the infinite number of men needful to make such a prodigious quantity: this part of Egypt where Israel dwelt, by all relations, being so excellent, the impudence of Celsus {z} the Heathen is very surprising, when he affirms that the nation of the Jews, becoming numerous in Egypt, were ordered to dwell apart as sojourners, and to feed their flocks in places vile and despicable.



{o} De locis Heb. fol. 94. A. {p} Canon. Chron. Aegypt, &c. p. 90. {q} Travels, p. 307. Ed. 2. {r} Jablonski de Terra Goshen, Dissert. 4. sect. 7. {s} Ib. Dissert. 3. sect. 2. {t} Geograph. l. 17. p. 556. {u} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 77. {w} Paulus Lucas, Wilhelm. Tyrius, &c. apud Jablonski, ibid. sect. 7. {x} Descriptio Africae, l. 8. p. 666, 669. {y} Relation of a Voyage to Egypt, p. 148, 154, 155. {z} Apud Origen. contr. Cels. l. 4. p. 195.





Genesis 47:12



Ver. 12. And. Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and his father's household, with bread,.... For though there might be in Rameses pasture sufficient for their cattle, yet not corn for their families, the famine still continuing; during which time Joseph, as a dutiful and affectionate son, and as a kind brother, supplied them with all necessary provision, signified by bread:



according to [their] families; according to the number of them, some of his brethren having more and others less in their families; and in proportion to their number he distributed food unto them, so that there was no want: or "according to the mouth of an infant" {a}; he nourished them like infants, he put as it were the bread into their mouths, and fed them with as much care and tenderness as infants are fed; and they had no more care to provide food for themselves than children have, such a full and constant supply was handed forth to them: in this Joseph was an eminent type of Christ, who supplies the wants of his people.



{a} Pjh ypl "ad os parvuli", Montanus, Schmidt.





Genesis 47:13



Ver. 13. And [there was] no bread in all the land,.... The land of Egypt and the parts adjacent, but in Pharaoh's storehouses, all being consumed that were in private hands the first two years of the famine:



for the famine [was] very sore; severe, pressed very hard:



so that the land of Egypt, and [all] the land of Canaan, fainted by reason of the famine; that is, the inhabitants of both countries, their spirits sunk, as well as their flesh failed for want of food: or "raged" {b}; became furious, and were like madmen, as the word signifies; according to Kimchi {c}, they were at their wits' end, knew not what to do, as Aben Ezra interprets it, and became tumultuous; it is much they had not in a violent manner broke open the storehouses of corn, and took it away by force; that they did not must be owing to the providence of God, which restrained them, and to the care and prudence of Joseph as a means, who, doubtless, had well fortified the granaries; and very probably there were a body of soldiers placed everywhere, who were one of the three parts or states of the kingdom of Egypt, as Diodorus Siculus {d} relates; to which may be added, the mild and gentle address of Joseph to the people, speaking kindly to them, giving them hopes of a supply during the famine, and readily relieving them upon terms they could not object to.



{b} hlt "insanivit vel acta fuit in rahiem", Vatablus; "furebat", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. {c} In Sepher Shorash rad hhl; so Ben Melech in loc. {d} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 67.





Genesis 47:14



Ver. 14. And Joseph gathered up all the money,.... Not that he went about to collect it, or employed men to do it, but he gathered it, being brought to him for corn as follows: even all



that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: by which means those countries became as bare of money as of provisions:



and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house: into his repository, as the Targum of Jonathan, into his treasury, not into his own house or coffers, in which he acted the faithful part to Pharaoh; for it was with his money he bought the corn, built storehouses, kept men to look after them to sell the corn; wherefore the money arising from thence belonged to him; nor did he do any injury to the people: they sold their corn in the time of plenty freely; he gave them a price for it, it then bore, and he sold it out again to them, at a price according to the season; nor was it ever complained of, that it was an exorbitant one; it was highly just and necessary it should be at a greater price than when it was bought in, considering the great expense in the collection, preservation, and distribution of it: it must be a vast sum of money he amassed together, and Dr. Hammond {e} thinks it probable that this Pharaoh, who, by Joseph's advice, got all this wealth, is the same with Remphis, of whom Diodorus Siculus {f} says, that he spent his time in minding the taxes and heaping up riches from all quarters, and left more behind him than any of the kings that reigned before, even in silver and gold four million talents, the same that Herodotus {g} calls Rhampsinitus, who, he says, had the greatest quantity of money of any of the kings of Egypt.



{e} Annotat. on Acts vii. 43. {f} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 56. {g} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 121.





Genesis 47:15



Ver. 15. And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan,.... It had been all spent in the third, fourth, and fifth years of the famine; for it seems to be at the end of the fifth, or beginning of the sixth year of the famine, that this was the case, since we after read of a second or following year, which was very plainly the last, since seed was given them to sow the land with, which shows the time of drought to be near at an end:



all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, give us bread; freely, for nothing, since they had no money to buy any with: no mention is made of the Canaanites, who could not presume to come and ask for corn on such a footing:



for why should we die in thy presence? before his eyes, he not relieving them when it was in his power to do it; they knew such an argument as this would work upon a mind so humane, tender, and generous as was Joseph's:



for the money faileth; all was gone, they had none left to purchase corn with; or they suggest they should not have desired to have had it at free cost.





Genesis 47:16



Ver. 16. And Joseph said, give your cattle,.... Oxen, sheep, horses, asses, as follows:



and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail; that is, corn for cattle, if they had no money to give.





Genesis 47:17



Ver. 17. And they brought their cattle unto Joseph,.... Which they might the more readily do, since there was scarce any grass to feed them with; and though some of them were creatures used for food, yet might be so lean and poor for want of grass, as not to be fit to eat; and besides, they could do better without flesh than without bread:



and Joseph gave them bread [in exchange] for horses; with which Egypt abounded, to which many places of Scripture have respect, De 17:16;



and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds; the sheep and the oxen; which shows that these creatures were bred and fed by them, and were, no doubt, slain, and used for food:



and for the asses; which were used for carrying burdens:



and he fed them with bread for all their cattle, for that year; which seems to be the sixth year of the famine: one would wonder what Joseph should do with all their cattle, where put them, and feed them, in such a time of drought; though it is probable the number was not exceeding large, since they only fetched one year's provision of bread.





Genesis 47:18



Ver. 18. When the year was ended, they came unto him the second year,.... Which seems to be the seventh and last year of the years of famine; not the second year of the famine, as Jarchi, but the second year of their great distress, when having spent all their money they parted with their cattle; for it cannot be thought that they should be drained of their money and cattle too in one year:



and said unto him, we will not hide [it] from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; both these were well known to Joseph, and therefore cannot be the things which they say they would not hide: Musculus thinks it should be rendered in the past tense, "we have not hid"; this they told him the last year, that their money was gone, and he knew he had their cattle for their last year's provision: the sense seems to be this, that seeing their money was spent, and their cattle were in the hands of Joseph, they would not, and could not conceal from him what follows:



there is not enough left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies and our lands; and the one were starving and the other desolate.





Genesis 47:19



Ver. 19. Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land?.... Beholding their miserable condition, and not helping them; die they must unless they had bread to eat, and their land die also if they had not seed to sow; that is, would become desolate, as the Septuagint version renders it; so Ben Melech observes, that land which is desolate is as if it was dead, because it produces neither grass nor fruit, whereas when it does it looks lively and cheerful:



buy us and our land for bread; they were willing to sell themselves and their land too for bread to support their lives, nothing being dearer to a man than life:



and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh; both should be his; they would hold their land of him, and be tenants to him:



and give [us] seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land may not be desolate; entirely so; some parts of it they could sow a little upon, as on the banks of the Nile, or perhaps that river might begin to overflow, or they had some hopes of it, especially from Joseph's prediction they knew this was the last year of famine, and therefore it was proper to sow the ground some time in this, that they might have a crop for the provision of the next year; and they had no seed to sow, and if they were not furnished with it, the famine must unavoidably continue, notwithstanding the flow of the Nile.





Genesis 47:20



Ver. 20. 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 thereof for his own use, but now being sold, were Pharaoh's; and they held them of him, and paid a rent for them in a manner hereafter directed by a law.



{h} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 47.





Genesis 47:21



Ver. 21. And as for the people, he removed them,.... From the places where they dwelt, that it might appear they had no more property there, and might forget it, and be more willing to pay rent elsewhere; and their posterity hereafter could have no notion of its being theirs, or plead prescription; and besides, by such a removal and separation of the inhabitants of cities, some to one place, and some to another, sedition and mutiny might be prevented: he had them



to cities, from [one] end of the borders of Egypt, even unto the [other] end thereof; according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, those that dwelt in provinces, or in country towns and villages, he removed to cities, and those that dwelt in cities he removed into provinces, and placed them at the utmost distance from their former habitations, for the reasons before given; and the above Targums suggest another reason, to teach the Egyptians not to reproach the Israelites with being exiles and strangers, when they were all of them removed from their native places, and were strangers, where they were.





Genesis 47:22



Ver. 22. Only the land of the priests bought he not,.... Not from any special affection for them, or any superstitious veneration of them, which can never be thought of so good a man, but for a reason following, which shows they had no need to sell them:



for the priests had a portion [assigned them], by Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them; they had a certain allowance by the day of provision granted them, on which they lived; so Herodotus says {i} of the priests of Egypt, that they spend nothing of their own, but sacred food is provided for them, and great plenty of the flesh of geese and oxen is given daily to everyone of them. And this was a delicate affair, which Joseph could not intermeddle with, but in prudence must leave it as he found it, and do as had been used to be done; this depending on the will and pleasure of Pharaoh, if not upon the constitution of the land, as it seems to be from Diodorus Siculus {k}, who divides Egypt into three parts; and the first part he assigns to the priests, who, according to him, were maintained out of their own revenues. Some understand this of "princes" {l}, the word sometimes being used of them, and interpret it of the officers and courtiers of Pharaoh, his nobles, that dwelt in his palace, and had their portion of food from him; but the former sense seems best:



wherefore they sold not their lands; they were not obliged to it, having provision from the king's table, or by his appointment.



{i} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 37. {k} Ut supra, (Bibliothec. l. 1.) p. 66. {l} Mynhkh tmda "agros praesidum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





Genesis 47:23



Ver. 23. Then Joseph said unto the people,.... After he had bought their land, and before the removal of them to distant parts:



behold, I have bought you this day, and your land, for Pharaoh: which he observes to them, that they might take notice of it, and confirm it, or object if they had anything to say to the contrary:



lo, [here is] seed for you, and ye shall sow the land: by which it should seem that they were not removed from the spot where they lived, but retained their own land under Pharaoh, and had seed given them to sow it with, which may seem contrary to Ge 47:21; wherefore that must be understood of a purpose and proposal to remove them, and not that it was actually done; or, as Musculus gives the sense, Joseph by a public edict called all the people from the extreme parts of Egypt to the cities nearest to them, and there proclaimed the subjection of them, and their lands to Pharaoh, but continued them to them as tenants of his; unless it should be said, that in those distant parts to which they were sent, land was put into their hands to till and manure for the king, and have seed given them to sow it with; but this seems to be said to them at the same time the bargain was made.





Genesis 47:24



Ver. 24. And it shall come to pass, in the increase,.... When the land shall produce an increase, and it shall be gathered in:



that you shall give the fifth [part] unto Pharaoh; a fifth part of the increase:



and four parts shall be your own; for the following uses, one part



for seed of the field: to sow again with for the next year: a second part



for your food; for food for themselves: a third part



for them of your household; their servants and maids: and the fourth part



for food for your little ones; for their children, be they young or old; or however four parts of five he proposed they should have for their own use, and for the maintenance of their families, which was a kind and generous proposal, when all might have been demanded, and they and theirs treated as slaves.





Genesis 47:25



Ver. 25. And they said, thou hast saved our lives,.... Preserved them from death through famine, by laying up stores of corn, which he had sold out to them for their money, cattle, and land, or otherwise they must have perished, they and theirs, and this favour they thankfully acknowledge:



let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants; signifying, that they esteemed it a great favour to be so on the foot of the bargain made with them, and they desired a continuance in it.





Genesis 47:26



Ver. 26. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day,.... With the consent of Pharaoh, his nobles, and all the people of the land, who readily came into it; and so it became, a fundamental law of their constitution, and which continued to the times of Moses, the writer of this history:



[that] Pharaoh should have the fifth [part]; that is, of the increase the whole land of Egypt produced:



except the land of the priests only, [which] became not Pharaoh's; it not being bought by him; so Diodorus Siculus {m}, as he assigns the first part of the land to the priests, so he says they were free from all taxes and tribute, and next to the king were possessed of honour and authority.



{m} Ut supra. (Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 47.)





Genesis 47:27



Ver. 27. And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen,.... The historian returns to the account of the Israelites, having before observed the placing of them in Goshen by Joseph, at the direction of Pharaoh, in compliance with their own request; and here they continued until they were grown more numerous, when they were obliged to spread themselves further in this same country:



and they had possessions therein; fields and vineyards, as the Targum of Jonathan; all the land was Pharaoh's, and they rented of him as his people did, it may be supposed:



and grew, and multiplied exceedingly; even in Jacob's lifetime they grew rich and numerous.





Genesis 47:28



Ver. 28. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years,.... He lived just the same term of years with Joseph in Egypt as he had lived with him in Syria and Canaan, Ge 37:2; about two hours' walk from Fium are now to be seen the ruins of an ancient town, which the Coptics say was inhabited by the patriarch Jacob, and for this cause they name it, yet, Modsellet Jacub, or the tabernacle of Jacob {n}, which place is supposed to be in the land of Goshen, see Ge 47:11;



so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years; he was one hundred and thirty when he stood before Pharaoh, Ge 47:9; and now had lived in Egypt seventeen years, as in the above clause, which together make up the sum; and this exact time of the years of his life is given by Polyhistor from Demetrius, an Heathen writer {o}.



{n} Vansleb's Relation of a Voyage to Egypt, p. 167. {o} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 21. p. 425.





Genesis 47:29



Ver. 29. And the time drew nigh that Israel must die,.... As all men must, by the appointment of God, even good men, the Israel of God; though they shall not die a spiritual death, nor an eternal one, yet a corporeal one, which is for their good, and is a blessing to them; the sting being removed, and so not a penal evil, which is owing to Christ's dying for them, who has abolished death as such; and there is a time fixed for their death, beyond which they must not live, and before which they must not die, but when the time comes there is no avoiding it; the time of Jacob's death was drawing on, as he perceived by the great decline of his natural strength, and perhaps by a divine impulse on his mind:



and he called his son Joseph; sent for him, by a messenger, to come to him:



and said unto him; when he was come:



if now I have found grace in thy sight; which is not spoken in a way of submission, as from an inferior to a superior, as the phrase is sometimes used; or as signifying what would be esteemed as a favour should it be granted, but it is as if he should say, if thou hast any filial affection for me as a parent, and art willing to show love and respect to me, do as follows:



put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: a gesture in swearing, as Jarchi observes, Ge 24:2; adding, for explanation's sake,



and deal kindly and truly with me; "kindly", by promising and swearing to do what he after desires; and "truly", by observing his oath, and fulfilling his promise:



bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt; not choosing to lie among idolaters at death, with whom he cared not to have any fellowship in life.





Genesis 47:30



Ver. 30. But I will lie with my fathers,.... Abraham and Isaac, whose bodies lay in the land of Canaan, where Jacob desired to be buried; partly to express his faith in the promised land, that it should be the inheritance of his posterity; and partly to draw off their minds from a continuance in Egypt, and to incline them to think of removing thither at a proper time, and to confirm them in the belief of their enjoyment of it; as well as to intimate his desire after, and faith in the heavenly glory he was going to, of which Canaan was a type:



and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt; into the land of Canaan:



and bury me in their burying place; in the burying place of his fathers, in the cave of Machpelah, near Hebron; see Ge 49:30;



and he said, I will do as thou hast said; Joseph promised his father to fulfil his request, and do as he had desired of him.





Genesis 47:31



Ver. 31. And he said, swear unto me,.... This he required, not from any distrust of Joseph, but to show his own eagerness, and the intenseness of his mind about this thing, how much he was set upon it, and what an important thing it was with him; as also, that if he should have any objections made to it, or arguments used with him to divert him from it, by Pharaoh or his court, he would be able to say his father had bound him by an oath to do it, which would at once stop their mouths, and be judged a sufficient reason for what he did, see

Ge 50:5:



and he sware unto him; not only gave his promise, but confirmed it with an oath:



and Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head: not in a way of civil respect to Joseph, giving him thanks for the assurance he had given him, that he would bury him, not in Egypt, but in Canaan; but in a religious way to God, giving thanks to him that he had lived to see his son Joseph, who, according to the promise, would close his eyes, and that he had inclined his heart to fulfil his request; though some think that no more is meant, than that after Jacob had spent himself in discoursing with Joseph, he sunk down and reclined on his pillow at his bed's head, to take some rest; for as for what the apostle says in

Heb 11:21; that refers to another thing at another time;

See Gill on "Heb 11:21".



 

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