47:27
“Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.”
The chapter at a glance
The chapter in brief
Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh, who grants them the land of Goshen and offers them charge of his own livestock. Then Joseph brings in Jacob, and the old shepherd blesses the king of Egypt. Asked his age, Jacob answers that the days of his sojourning are 130 years, “few and evil,” short of the years of his fathers. As the famine grinds on, Joseph takes in the Egyptians’ money, then their livestock, then their land and their labor in exchange for grain and seed, and sets a fixed fifth of the harvest for Pharaoh; the people answer, “You have saved our lives.” Israel meanwhile settles in Goshen, gains possessions, and is fruitful and multiplies greatly. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt, and as death nears he makes Joseph swear, with his hand under his thigh, to bury him with his fathers.
The chapter sets two pictures side by side. Egypt survives by selling everything to Pharaoh; Israel, the guest family, flourishes in the best of the land. And the frail old man who cannot match his fathers’ years blesses the most powerful man on earth, because he carries the blessing God gave Abraham for all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:3). Jacob calls his life a sojourning, and Hebrews takes up that thought for all the patriarchs, who “acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13). So his dying oath to be carried home to Canaan is an act of faith in the promise of the land, a faith that looked beyond Canaan to “a better country, that is, a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16). That country belongs to those who are in Christ, the Seed in whom every promise to Abraham is kept (Galatians 3:16, 29).
Points for discussion
vv. 1–6
Five brothers and a request
The brothers say exactly what Joseph told them to say, that they are shepherds, and ask only to “sojourn in the land” (v. 4). They do not ask to become Egyptians. Pharaoh gives them more than they ask, the best of the land and even charge of his own herds. The despised occupation is the very thing that secures them a place of their own.
vv. 7–12
Jacob blesses Pharaoh
The narrator says it twice (vv. 7, 10): Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Hebrews says of Melchizedek and Abraham that “the inferior is blessed by the superior” (Hebrews 7:7). By that measure the bent old shepherd is the greater man in the room, because he bears God’s covenant blessing. His summary of his life is honest: “Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life” (v. 9). “Evil” here means hard and troubled. Some of Jacob’s troubles were his own doing, the deceptions and the favoritism, and some were suffered. God’s blessing was carried all the same by a flawed man, which is the only kind of man God has ever had to carry it.
For discussion
Jacob calls his 130 years “few and evil.” Is that faithless complaint or honest faith? Compare Psalm 39:12 and Psalm 90:10-12.
vv. 13–26
Joseph’s famine policy
Readers differ on how to weigh it. Many read Joseph’s measures as wise and merciful: the people themselves propose the sale (v. 19), a fifth to Pharaoh leaves four fifths to them, and they say, “You have saved our lives” (v. 25). Others find it troubling: free farmers become Pharaoh’s servants and the crown’s power swells, and some see an irony in that the same concentrated power will one day enslave Joseph’s own people (Exodus 1:8-11). The text records the policy and the people’s gratitude without a verdict. This commentary reads Joseph as acting faithfully under hard conditions, as the people’s own words suggest, while noting that Scripture describes here rather than prescribes. Nothing in it warrants slavery or the exploitation of the desperate; the law God gave Israel later protected the poor from exactly that (Leviticus 25:35-43). One textual note: in verse 21 the ESV follows ancient translations in saying Joseph “made servants of them”; the traditional Hebrew text reads that he moved the people to the cities.
vv. 27–31
Bury me with my fathers
Jacob lived seventeen years in Egypt, as many as he had Joseph at home before losing him (Genesis 37:2). He asks Joseph to swear with his hand under his thigh, the solemn oath Abraham’s servant swore (Genesis 24:2-3). Then “Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.” Hebrews says he worshiped “bowing in worship over the head of his staff” (Hebrews 11:21). The Hebrew consonants can be read as “bed” (mittah) or “staff” (matteh); the Greek translation read “staff,” and Hebrews follows it. Either way, the dying man worships, and his faith is fixed on a promise he will not see fulfilled in his lifetime.
For discussion
Why did it matter so much to Jacob where his body was buried? Compare Hebrews 11:13-16, 21-22.
Threads across the chapter
Blessing from the weak. The despised shepherd family (Genesis 46:34) is granted the best land (v. 6), blesses Pharaoh (vv. 7, 10), and flourishes (v. 27).
Two outcomes of one famine. Egypt gives up money, herds, land and labor (vv. 13-21), while Israel gains possessions and multiplies (v. 27).
Sojourners. The brothers come “to sojourn” (v. 4), Jacob counts his years as a sojourning (v. 9), and his oath (vv. 29-31) shows he never treats Egypt as home.
Life kept. “Why should we die?” (vv. 15, 19) and “You have saved our lives” (v. 25) show Joseph as the one through whom God keeps a world alive.
Key words
- 47:9
- מָגוּר magur“Sojourning”; life as a resident alien, the patriarchs’ word for their life under the promise
- 47:7, 10
- בָּרַךְ barakh“Blessed”; the covenant blessing of Genesis 12:3 reaching Pharaoh
- 47:31
- מִטָּה mittah“Bed”; the same consonants read as “staff” (matteh) in the Greek translation that Hebrews 11:21 follows
Cross-references
- Genesis 12:3In Abraham all the families of the earth shall be blessed
- Hebrews 7:7The inferior is blessed by the superior
- Hebrews 11:13-16Strangers and exiles who desire a better country
- Hebrews 11:21Jacob bowing in worship over the head of his staff
- Genesis 24:2-3The oath with a hand under the thigh
- Exodus 1:8-11A new king who did not know Joseph
- Psalm 39:12“I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers”
- 1
Why does Moses take care to say that Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and not the other way around?
- 2
Jacob sums up his life as “few and evil.” How honest can a believer be about a hard life without losing faith?
- 3
How do you weigh Joseph’s famine policy, and what in the text pushes you one way or the other?
- 4
Jacob lives in comfort in Goshen but insists on burial in Canaan. Where are we tempted to treat this world as our home?
- 5
How does the patriarchs’ life as sojourners point us to Christ and the better country He has secured?
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