Bible Commentaries

And he took some of his brethren, [even] ^a five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.

(a) That the king might be assured that they had come, and to see what type of people they were.

The ^b land of Egypt [is] before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest [any] men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

(b) Joseph's great modesty appears in that he would attempt nothing without the king's commandment.

And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of ^c Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

(c) Which was a city in the country of Goshen, (Exodus 1:11).

And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, ^d according to [their] families.

(d) Some read that he fed them as little babies, because they could not provide for themselves against that famine.

And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and ^e Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

(e) In which he both declares his faithfulness to the king, and his freedom from covetousness.

Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our ^f land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give [us] seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate.

(f) For unless the ground is tilled and sown, it perishes and is as if it was dead.

And as for the people, he ^g removed them to cities from [one] end of the borders of Egypt even to the [other] end thereof.

(g) By this changing they signified that they had nothing of their own, but received everything from the king's generosity.

And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, [that] Pharaoh should have the fifth [part]; ^h except the land of the priests only, [which] became not Pharaoh's.

(h) Pharaoh, in providing for idolatrous priests, will be a condemnation to all those who neglect the true ministers of God's word.

But I will ⁱ lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.

(i) By this he demonstrated that he died in the faith of his fathers, teaching his children to hope for the promised land.

And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel ^k bowed himself upon the bed's head.

(k) He rejoiced that Joseph had promised him, and setting himself up on his pillows, praised God; (1 Chronicles 29:10).