XLVII JOSEPH PRESENTS HIS FATHER AND BRETHREN TO PHARAOH. (1) BEHOLD, THEY ARE IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN. — Though Joseph had all along wished this to be the dwelling-place of his brethren, yet it was necessary to obtain Pharaoh’s permission; and at present Joseph only mentions that they had halted the... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN FIVE MEN. — As the number “five” appears again and again in this narrative (Genesis 43:34; Genesis 45:22), it may have had some special importance among the Egyptians, like the number seven among the Jews.... [ Continue Reading ]
ALSO OUR FATHERS. — Joseph had instructed them to add this (Genesis 46:34), because occupations were hereditary among the Egyptians, and thus Pharaoh would conclude that in their case also no change was possible in their mode of life.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO SOJOURN. — Joseph’s brethren ask for permission only for a temporary stay. Apparently, too, in spite of the famine, there was pasture for cattle in Goshen. They had been able hitherto to keep them alive even in Canaan; and probably the Nile, though it did not overflow, yet on reaching the delta l... [ Continue Reading ]
JACOB BLESSED PHARAOH. — The presentation of Jacob to Pharaoh seems to have been a much more solemn matter than that of Joseph’s brethren. Pharaoh looks upon them with interest as the brothers of his vizier, grants their request for leave to dwell in Goshen, and even empowers Joseph to make the able... [ Continue Reading ]
MY PILGRIMAGE. — Heb., _my sojournings;_ and so at end of verse. The idea of a pilgrimage is a modern one. Even in 1 Peter 2:11 “pilgrim” means in the Greek a stranger who has settled in a country of which he is not a native. So, too, here Jacob was not a pilgrim, for he was no traveller bound for r... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO THEIR FAMILIES. — Heb., _according to the_ “_taf”_ This, as we have seen above, means “according to the clan or body of dependants possessed by each one.” Dan, with his one child, would have been starved to death if the allowance for himself and his household had depended upon the numbe... [ Continue Reading ]
JOSEPH’S POLICY IN EGYPT. (16) GIVE YOUR CATTLE. — As the people were in want of food, and their land incapable of cultivation as long as the Nile ceased to overflow, this was a merciful arrangement, by which the owners were delivered from a burden, and also a portion of the cattle saved for the ti... [ Continue Reading ]
HORSES... FLOCKS... HERDS... ASSES. — The mention of horses is a most important fact in settling the much-debated question as to the dynasty under which Joseph became governor of Egypt. When Abram went there, horses do not seem as yet to have been known (see Note on Genesis 12:16), but oxen and asse... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SECOND YEAR. — Not the second year of the famine, but the year following that in which they had given up their cattle.... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE LAND BECAME PHARAOH’S. — Joseph has been accused of reducing a free people to slavery by his policy. Undoubtedly he did vastly increase the royal power; but from what we read of the vassalage under which the Egyptians lived to a multitude of petty sovereigns, and also to their wives, their pr... [ Continue Reading ]
HE REMOVED THEM TO CITIES. — Joseph’s object in this measure was most merciful. As the corn was stored up in the cities, the people would be sure of nourishment only if they were in the immediate neighbourhood of the food. As a consequence, possibly, of Joseph’s policy, the number of cities in the V... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PRIESTS HAD A PORTION ASSIGNED TO THEM OF PHARAOH. — Herodotus (ii. 37) mentions that it was still the custom in Egypt for the priests to have a daily allowance of’ cooked food. Very probably this usage began in Joseph’s time; but it is not here ascribed to him, but to the king himself. Being th... [ Continue Reading ]
LO, HERE IS SEED FOR YOU. — As Joseph would give them seed wherewith to sow their fields only when the famine was nearly over, these arrangements seem to have been completed shortly before the end of the seventh year; and then, with seed it would be necessary also to supply them with oxen to plough... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST SAVED OUR LIVES. — The people were more than satisfied with Joseph’s regulations; and if he had made them dependent upon the Pharaoh, apparently he had broken the yoke of the smaller lords, the hereditary princes of the districts into which Egypt was parcelled out; and they were more likel... [ Continue Reading ]
ISRAEL IN EGYPT. (29) THE TIME DREW NIGH THAT ISRAEL MUST DIE — For seventeen years Jacob lived in Egypt, and saw the growing prosperity of his race under the fostering hand of Joseph. Placed at the entrance of Egypt, on the side of Arabia and Palestine, the clans of his sons would daily grow in num... [ Continue Reading ]
ISRAEL BOWED HIMSELF UPON THE BED’S HEAD. — The LXX., followed by the Epistle to the Hebrews (Genesis 11:21) and the Syriac, read, “on the top of his staff.” The word in the Hebrew, without vowels, may mean either _bed_ or _staff,_ and as we have mentioned above (Genesis 22:14), the points indicatin... [ Continue Reading ]