FRAMEWORKS:
Genesis 47: Joseph settles the Family & Rules the Nation
v.1-4
Pharaoh meets some of the family
v.5-10
Pharaoh meets Jacob
v.11,12
The family are settled in the land
v.13,14
Joseph collects the money for Pharaoh
v.15-17
Joseph buys up the livestock of the land
v.18-22
Joseph buys up the land for Pharaoh
v.23-26
Joseph collected a fifth of the harvest produce for Pharaoh
v.27-31
Israel lives out his time in Egypt
v.1-4
Pharaoh meets some of the family
v.1
Joseph
went and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers, with their flocks
and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of
Canaan and are now in Goshen.”
v.2
He
chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.
v.3
Pharaoh
asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?”
“Your
servants are shepherds,” they replied to Pharaoh, “just as our
fathers were.”
v.4
They
also said to him, “We have come to live here for a while, because
the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants' flocks have
no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen.”
[Notes:
Joseph takes five of the brothers to meet Pharaoh and
they rather ungraciously fail to heed Joseph's counsel and simply
say they are shepherds, when they have been told the Egyptians
dislike shepherds.]
v.5-10
Pharaoh meets Jacob
v.5,6
Pharaoh
said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you,
and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your
brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen.
And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them
in charge of my own livestock.”
v.7
Then
Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh.
After Jacob blessed Pharaoh,
v.8
Pharaoh
asked him, “How old are you?”
v.9
And
Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred
and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do
not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.”
v.10
Then
Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.
[Notes:
Pharaoh graciously invites Joseph to let any of his
brothers who are good with livestock take charge of his own animals.
When Jacob is brought to meet Pharaoh, Jacob blesses him. Such
is the authority of Jacob now that he blesses the king, not the
other way round.]
v.11,12
The family are settled in the land
v.11
So
Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them
property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses,
as Pharaoh directed.
v.12
Joseph
also provided his father and his brothers and all his father's
household with food, according to the number of their children.
[Notes:
Joseph establishes his family in a good part of the
land as instructed by Pharaoh.]
v.13,14
Joseph collects the money for Pharaoh
v.13
There
was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was
severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine.
v.14
Joseph
collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan
in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to
Pharaoh's palace.
[Notes:
Joseph, in charge of the whole process, collects all
the money paid for food and brings it to the palace.]
v.15-17
Joseph buys up the livestock of the land
v.15
When
the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt
came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before
your eyes? Our money is all gone.”
v.16
“Then
bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange
for your livestock, since your money is gone.”
v.17
So
they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food
in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle
and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in
exchange for all their livestock.
[Notes:
When the people of the land run out of food again, Joseph
takes their livestock as payment until he owns, on Pharaoh's behalf,
all the livestock in the land.]
v.18-22
Joseph buys up the land for Pharaoh
v.18
When
that year was over, they came to him the following year and said,
“We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is
gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for
our lord except our bodies and our land.
v.19
Why
should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy
us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will
be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and
not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”
v.20
So
Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians,
one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe
for them. The land became Pharaoh's,
v.21
and
Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt
to the other.
v.22
However,
he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received
a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the
allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their
land.
[Notes:
When the food runs out again, Joseph does the same thing
but this time requires the people to buy the food with their land.]
v.23-26
Joseph collected a fifth of the harvest produce for Pharaoh
v.23
Joseph
said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land
today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground.
v.24
But
when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other
four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for
yourselves and your households and your children.”
v.25
“You
have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes
of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”
v.26
So
Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—still
in force today—that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh.
It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh's.
[Notes:
Having bought all the land, he hands out seed to be
sown on the basis that the people will hand over to Pharaoh a
fifth of their harvests. In these ways, while enabling the people
of the land to survive, he puts all the wealth in Pharaoh's hands.
He has served Pharaoh well while enabling the people to carry
on growing their own crops. Rather a mixed blessing from an outside
view.]
v.27-31
Israel lives out his time in Egypt
v.27
Now
the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They
acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly
in number.
v.28
Jacob
lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were
a hundred and forty-seven.
v.29,30
When
the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph
and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your
hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness
and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt, but when I rest with
my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.”
“I
will do as you say,” he said.
v.31
“Swear
to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped
as he leaned on the top of his staff.
[Notes:
The family of Israel flourish in Goshen. As Israel realises
he is nearing the end of his life, he gets Joseph to promise that
he will take his body back to Canaan to be buried. He holds firmly
to the end to God's word that that land will be his land and the
land of his descendants.]