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. read more
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, Deuteronomy 17:16 , and... read more
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... read more
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... read more
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... read more
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... read more
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 F9 Euterpe, sive, l. 2.... read more
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... read more
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 ... read more
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John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 47:15
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... read more