Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 41:31
And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it [shall be] very grievous.
Verse 31. The plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following] As Egypt depends for its fertility on the flowing of the Nile, and this flowing is not always equal, there must be a point to which it must rise to saturate the land sufficiently, in order to produce grain sufficient for the support of its inhabitants. Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. v., cap. 9, has given us a scale by which the plenty and dearth may be ascertained; and, from what I have been able to collect from modern travellers, this scale may be yet considered as perfectly correct. Justum incrementum est cubitorum xvi. Minores aquae non omnia rigant, ampliores detinent, tardius recedendo. HAE serendi tempora absumunt, solo madente, ILLAE non dant, sitiente. Utrumque reputat provincia. In xii. cubitis famen sentit. In xiii. etiamnum esurit; xiv. cubita hilaritatem afferunt; xv. securitatem; xvi. delicias. “The ordinary height of the inundations is sixteen cubits. When the waters are lower than this standard they do not overflow the whole ground; when above this standard, they are too long in running off. In the first case the ground is not saturated: by the second, the waters are detained so long on the ground that seed-time is lost. The province marks both. If it rise only twelve cubits, a famine is the consequence. Even at thirteen cubits hunger prevails; fourteen cubits produces general rejoicing; fifteen, perfect security; and sixteen, all the luxuries of life.”
When the Nile rises to eighteen cubits it prevents the sowing of the land in due season, and as necessarily produces a famine as when it does not overflow its banks.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And the plenty shall not be known in the land, by reason of that famine following,…. That is, before it would be over; otherwise the former plenty was in some measure known by the stores of provisions laid up in the seven years of it, and which were brought forth when the famine became very pressing; but by that time, and before the seven years of it were ended, there were no traces of the foregoing plenty to be observed:
for it [shall be] very grievous; as it was both in Egypt and in all the countries round about.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
the plenty: It is well known, that in Egypt there is scarcely any rain, the country depending for its fertility upon the overflowing of the Nile; and that the fertility is in proportion to the duration and quality of the overflow, in order to saturate the land and prepare for the seed. Pliny has given a scale, by which the plenty or dearth may be ascertained; which may be considered as perfectly correct. The ordinary height of the inundations is 16 cubits. When the waters are lower than this standard, they do not overflow the whole ground; when above this standard they are too long in running off. In the first case, the ground is not saturated; by the second, the waters are detained so long on the ground that seed-time is lost. The province marks both. If it rise only 12 cubits, a famine is the consequence; at 13 hunger prevails; 14 produces general rejoicing; 15 perfect security; and 16 all the luxuries of life.
grievous: Heb. heavy, 1Sa 5:6, Isa 24:20
Reciprocal: Gen 47:13 – so that Act 11:28 – great