Genesis 47:7 Kommentar

In this chapter we have instances, I. Of Joseph's kindness and affection to his relations, presenting his brethren first and then his father to Pharaoh (Gen 47:1-10), settling them in Goshen, and providing for them there (Gen 47:11, Gen 47:12), and paying his respects to his father when he sent for him (Gen 47:27-31). II. Of Joseph's justice between prince and people in a very critical affair, selling Pharaoh's corn to his subjects with reasonable profits to Pharaoh, and yet without any wrong to them (Gen 47:13, etc.). Thus he approved himself wise and good, both in his private and in his public capacity.

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, Gen 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, Gen 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, Gen 47:13; of his giving them seed to sow with, on condition of Pharaoh's having a fifth part of the produce, Gen 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, Gen 47:27.

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.''

Joseph informs Pharaoh that his father and brethren are arrived in Goshen, Gen 47:1. He presents five of his brethren before the king, Gen 47:2, who questions them concerning their occupation; they inform him that they are shepherds, and request permission to dwell in the land of Goshen, Gen 47:3, Gen 47:4. Pharaoh consents, and desires that some of the most active of them should be made rulers over his cattle, Gen 47:5, Gen 47:6. Joseph presents his father to Pharaoh, Gen 47:7, who questions him concerning his age, Gen 47:8, to which Jacob returns an affecting answer, and blesses Pharaoh, Gen 47:9, Gen 47:10. Joseph places his father and family in the land of Rameses, (Goshen), and furnishes them with provisions, Gen 47:11, Gen 47:12. The famine prevailing in the land, the Egyptians deliver up all their money to Joseph to get food, Gen 47:13-15. The next year they bring their cattle, Gen 47:16, Gen 47:17. The third, their lands and their persons, Gen 47:18-21. The land of the priests Joseph does not buy, as it was a royal grant to them from Pharaoh, Gen 47:22. The people receive seed to sow the land on condition that they shall give a fifth part of the produce to the king, Gen 47:23, Gen 47:24. The people agree, and Joseph makes it a law all over Egypt, Gen 47:25, Gen 47:26. The Israelites multiply exceedingly, Gen 47:27. Jacob, having lived seventeen years in Goshen, and being one hundred and forty-seven years old, Gen 47:28, makes Joseph promise not to bury him in Egypt, but in Canaan, Gen 47:29, Gen 47:30. Joseph promises and confirms it with an oath, Gen 47:31.

Jacob blessed Pharaoh - Saluted him on his entrance with Peace be unto thee, or some such expression of respect and good will. For the meaning of the term to bless, as applied to God and man, See Clarke on Gen 2:3 (note).

JOSEPH'S PRESENTATION AT COURT. (Gen. 47:1-31) Joseph . . . told Pharaoh, My father and my brethren--Joseph furnishes a beautiful example of a man who could bear equally well the extremes of prosperity and adversity. High as he was, he did not forget that he had a superior. Dearly as he loved his father and anxiously as he desired to provide for the whole family, he would not go into the arrangements he had planned for their stay in Goshen until he had obtained the sanction of his royal master.

Joseph brought in Jacob his father--There is a pathetic and most affecting interest attending this interview with royalty; and when, with all the simplicity and dignified solemnity of a man of God, Jacob signalized his entrance by imploring the divine blessing on the royal head, it may easily be imagined what a striking impression the scene would produce (compare Heb 7:7).

When Joseph had announced to Pharaoh the arrival of his relations in Goshen, he presented five out of the whole number of his brethren (אחיו מקצה; on קצה see Gen 19:4) to the king.

Joseph then presented his father to Pharaoh, but not till after the audience of his brothers had been followed by the royal permission to settle, for which the old man, who was bowed down with age, was not in a condition to sue. The patriarch saluted the king with a blessing, and replied to his inquiry as to his age, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years; few and sorrowful are the days of my life's years, and have not reached (the perfect in the presentiment of his approaching end) the days of the life's years of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." Jacob called his own life and that of his fathers a pilgrimage (מגוּרים), because they had not come into actual possession of the promised land, but had been obliged all their life long to wander about, unsettled and homeless, in the land promised to them for an inheritance, as in a strange land. This pilgrimage was at the same time a figurative representation of the inconstancy and weariness of the earthly life, in which man does not attain to that true rest of peace with God and blessedness in His fellowship, for which he was created, and for which therefore his soul is continually longing (cf. Psa 39:13; Psa 119:19, Psa 119:54; Ch1 29:15). The apostle, therefore, could justly regard these words as a declaration of the longing of the patriarchs for the eternal rest of their heavenly fatherland (Heb 11:13-16). So also Jacob's life was little (מעט) and evil (i.e., full of toil and trouble) in comparison with the life of his fathers. For Abraham lived to be 175 years old, and Isaac 180; and neither of them had led a life so agitated, so full of distress and dangers, of tribulation and anguish, as Jacob had from his first flight to Haran up to the time of his removal to Egypt.