Genesis
Chapter 47
Jacob in Egypt
Joseph went and told Pharaoh:“My father and brothers with their sheep and cattle and all their possessions have come from the land of Canaan to Goshen.”
He then presented five of his brothers to Pharaoh.
Pharaoh asked: “What are your occupations?” They replied: “Your servants are shepherds as were our fathers before us.
We have come to settle in the land, for there is no longer pasture for our sheep, so severe is the famine in the land of Canaan. And now we pray you, may we stay in the land of Goshen?”
Pharaoh then spoke to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.
The land of Egypt is before you; let your father and brothers settle in the best part; let them settle in Goshen, and if among them there are capable men, put them in charge of my cattle.”
Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and presented him to Pharaoh,
then asked him:“How old are you?”
Jacob replied: “The years of my wanderings are one hundred and thirty. Brief and difficult have been the years of my life, and not as many as those of my fathers.”
Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and departed from his presence.
So Joseph settled his father and brothers, giving them property in the best part of Egypt, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
Joseph supplied food for his father, his brothers, and his father’s entire household according to the number of their dependents.
Joseph’s Agrarian Policy
Now, the famine was so severe that no bread could be found throughout the land. Both Egypt and Canaan were depleted due to the famine.
Joseph then gathered all the money that had been used to purchase bread in the lands of Egypt and Canaan. All this money Joseph brought to Pharaoh’s house.
When all the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph, saying: “Give us bread! Why must we die before your eyes for want of money?”
Joseph told them: “Give me your cattle to pay for bread since you have no money.”
So they brought their livestock, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for their horses, sheep, cattle, and even their donkeys. In that way, he supplied them with food for that year.
The following year, they came to him again and said: “We will not hide from our lord that all our money is gone and that our cattle now belong to you. All that is left to us are our persons and our land.
Why should we die while you look on, ourselves and our land? So, buy us and our land for bread; we shall be in bondage to you and Pharaoh. Give us grain that we may live and not die, and our land remain desolate.”
So Joseph acquired all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; all the Egyptians sold their fields, so cruelly hard-pressed were they by the famine. Pharaoh became the owner of the land,
and Joseph reduced the people to servitude from one end of Egypt to the other.
Only the land of the priests he did not buy because, by a decree of Pharaoh, they lived on what had been given to them by Pharaoh. For that reason, they did not sell the land that belonged to them.
Then Joseph said to the people: “Now that I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh, here is a seed for you to sow the land.
At harvest time you will give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths will be yours for seed for sowing, for food for yourselves and your families.”
They said: “You have saved our lives. If it pleases my lord, we shall be Pharaoh’s serfs.”
So Joseph introduced a statute that remains to this day, whereby a fifth of the produce goes to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.
So Israel lived in Egypt in the land of Goshen. They became the owners of this land; they had many children, and their numbers significantly increased.
Jacob lived for one hundred forty-seven years, with seventeen of those years spent in the land of Egypt.
Jacob’s Last Wishes
When his life was drawing to a close, he called for his son Joseph and said to him: “If you wish to be faithful and kind to me, place your hand under my thigh and promise me that you will not bury me in Egypt!
But when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb.” Joseph said:“I will do as you say.”
Jacob insisted: “Swear to it!” He swore to him, and Israel fell back on his pillow.
Commentaries
Jacob in Egypt.
Finally, Jacob and some of his sons chosen by Joseph are presented to Pharaoh; the questions and answers that would constitute this meeting were already announced in 46:33f, so it takes place, with the only variation being Pharaoh’s question to Jacob about his age (8). The text describes the encounter between the patriarch Jacob and the great Pharaoh. Both represent power in some way. From what we know about him, Jacob is rich, for he owns abundant livestock and is the father of numerous offspring (46:8-27); however, his “might” is demonstrated here as the possessor of divine blessing and promises. For his part, Pharaoh is the master and lord of a great empire that not only encompasses the country of Egypt but also likely reaches as far as Mesopotamia, including the present-day territories of Iran and Iraq in the Persian Gulf. The narrator’s scales are tipped in favor of Jacob/Israel, who, despite being far below Pharaoh’s power, is the one who blesses him; twice the act of blessing Pharaoh is mentioned (7b.10).
Thus ends the novel that recounts the adventures of Joseph, in which his dreams of 37:7-10 are fulfilled and which sets the scene for the experience of the Israelite people in Egypt. The other stories that follow in the rest of Genesis, although they mention Joseph again, are not part of the plot of this novel; instead, they are stories that belong to the traditions of Jacob and Joseph and have been placed here as appendices.
Joseph’s Agrarian Policy.
In reality, this section is not part of the novel’s plot about Joseph’s life. Still, it is, nevertheless, a passage that synthesizes the relationships of the Egyptian empire with other peoples of the region in an amazingly concise way. It certainly surpasses the literary level to reveal the historical reality upon which the Egyptian empire was built, along with the other empires that arose in the Near East, and ultimately, how today’s powerful countries emerge, absorbing the lives of the smaller and weaker ones.
Not because this agrarian “policy” appears in the Bible, nor because it was directed by Joseph, whose image and figure as a “minister” especially assisted by God have remained in our conscience and our minds. A reading from the perspective of the powerful and oppressors of this world indeed finds the most valid theological and biblical argument to justify the plunder and exploitation of the tangible and intangible goods of other peoples; however, a reading from the oppressed, exploited, and marginalized of this world— that is, a reading in a liberating key—immediately uncovers the critical position that the Bible establishes concerning the economic and commercial relations of the great with the small.
If we pay close attention, the impoverishment that the people endure under the guise of hunger is gradual, slow, yet practical and forceful.
The Bible subtly denounces and condemns this process of impoverishment, which becomes evident as contrary to the divine plan, in verse 25, if we read it, of course, in the context of justice. Based on the principles of justice outlined in Genesis 1-11, we can establish a clear denunciation of the impoverishing system that exploits the weak, as it distorts the concept of justice by labeling what is unjust as “salvation,” which is harmful and enslaving for both human beings and the earth itself. Is this not the same fate that thousands and thousands of people endure, being forced to feel “grateful” for the exploitation they suffer? Does this passage not reveal the most glaring antithesis to the Creator’s plan at the beginning of the book? Is this not the gateway to all the evils of the world described in the narratives of Gen 3-11?
Jacob’s Last Wishes.
Verses 27f summarize the well-being and prosperity that Jacob and his family have achieved in Egypt, which are clear signs in the Semitic mentality of divine blessing. Despite this affluence and all the good that his son has brought to the family, Jacob does not believe that this land is his final dwelling place. Therefore, through an ancient gesture of solemn oath, which involves swearing with the hand on the genitals of the one taking the oath (cf. 24:2-9), Jacob makes his son Joseph swear to ensure his burial in the tomb of his ancestors, specifically in Canaan, the land of divine promise. In effect, Joseph swears to his father that he is about to die.