---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Genesis 47"
description: "CHAPTER 47   :-. JOSEPH"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/genesis/47"
---

![Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible](/images/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible.jpg)

 The Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
 
Include 66 books
 
Denomination: calvinism
 
 GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong Of SolomonIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation 1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950 

CHAPTER 47

. JOSEPH'S
PRESENTATION AT COURT.

**1. 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.

**2. he took some of his
brethren**—probably the five eldest brothers: seniority being the
least invidious principle of selection.

**4. For to sojourn . . . are we
come**—The royal conversation took the course which Joseph had
anticipated ([Genesis 46:33](../../../kjv/genesis/46/33)), and
they answered according to previous instructions—manifesting,
however, in their determination to return to Canaan, a faith and
piety which affords a hopeful symptom of their having become all, or
most of them, religious men.

**7. 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 [Hebrews 7:7](../../../kjv/hebrews/7/7)).

**8. Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old
art thou?**—The question was put from the deep and impressive
interest which the appearance of the old patriarch had created in the
minds of Pharaoh and his court. In the low-lying land of Egypt and
from the artificial habits of its society, the age of man was far
shorter among the inhabitants of that country than it had yet become
in the pure bracing climate and among the simple mountaineers of
Canaan. The Hebrews, at least, still attained a protracted longevity.

**9. The days of the years of my
pilgrimage,** &c.—Though a hundred thirty years, he reckons
by days (compare [Psalms 90:12](../../../kjv/psalms/90/12)),
which he calls *few,* as they appeared in retrospect, and *evil,*
because his life had been one almost unbroken series of trouble. The
answer is remarkable, considering the comparative darkness of the
patriarchal age (compare [2 Timothy 1:10](../../../kjv/2-timothy/1/10)).

**11. Joseph placed his father and his
brethren . . . in the best of the land**—best *pasture* land
in lower Egypt. Goshen, "the land of verdure," lay along
the Pelusiac or eastern branch of the Nile. It included a part of the
district of Heliopolis, or "On," the capital, and on the
east stretched out a considerable length into the desert. The ground
included within these boundaries was a rich and fertile extent of
natural meadow, and admirably adapted for the purposes of the Hebrew
shepherds (compare [Genesis 49:24](../../../kjv/genesis/49/24);
[Psalms 34:10](../../../kjv/psalms/34/10); [Psalms 78:72](../../../kjv/psalms/78/72)).

**13-15. there was no bread in all the
land**—This probably refers to the second year of the famine () when any little stores of individuals or families were
exhausted and when the people had become universally dependent on the
government. At first they obtained supplies for payment. Before long
money failed.

**16. And Joseph said, Give your
cattle**—"This was the wisest course that could be adopted
for the preservation both of the people and the cattle, which, being
bought by Joseph, was supported at the royal expense, and very likely
returned to the people at the end of the famine, to enable them to
resume their agricultural labors."

**21. as for the people, he removed
them to cities**—obviously for the convenience of the country
people, who were doing nothing, to the cities where the corn stores
were situated.

**22. Only the land of the priests
bought he not**—These lands were inalienable, being endowments by
which the temples were supported. The priests for themselves received
an annual allowance of provision from the state, and it would
evidently have been the height of cruelty to withhold that allowance
when their lands were incapable of being tilled.

**23-28. Joseph said, Behold,**
c.—The lands being sold to the government ([Genesis 47:19](../../../kjv/genesis/47/19)
[Genesis 47:20](../../../kjv/genesis/47/20)), seed would be
distributed for the first crop after the famine; and the people would
occupy them as tenants-at-will on the payment of a produce rent,
almost the same rule as obtains in Egypt in the present day.

**29-31. the time drew nigh that
Israel must die**—One only of his dying arrangements is recorded;
but that one reveals his whole character. It was the disposal of his
remains, which were to be carried to Canaan, not from a mere romantic
attachment to his native soil, nor, like his modern descendants, from
a superstitious feeling for the soil of the Holy Land, but from faith
in the promises. His address to Joseph—"if now I have found
grace in thy sight," that is, as the vizier of Egypt—his
exacting a solemn oath that his wishes would be fulfilled and the
peculiar form of that oath, all pointed significantly to the promise
and showed the intensity of his desire to enjoy its blessings
(compare [Numbers 10:29](../../../kjv/numbers/10/29)).

**31. Israel bowed himself upon the
bed's head**—Oriental beds are mere mats, having no head, and the
translation should be "the top of his staff," as the
apostle renders it ([Hebrews 11:21](../../../kjv/hebrews/11/21)).

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