Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 47:23

Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, [here is] seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

Verse 23. I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh] It fully appears that the kingdom of Egypt was previously to the time of Joseph a very limited monarchy. The king had his estates; the priests had their lands; and the common people their patrimony independently of both. The land of Rameses or Goshen appears to have been the king’s land, Ge 47:11. The priests had their lands, which they did not sell to Joseph, Ge 47:22; Ge 47:26; and that the people had lands independent of the crown, is evident from the purchases Joseph made, Ge 47:19; Ge 47:20; and we may conclude from those purchases that Pharaoh had no power to levy taxes upon his subjects to increase his own revenue until he had bought the original right which each individual had in his possessions. And when Joseph bought this for the king he raised the crown an ample revenue, though he restored the lands, by obliging each to pay one fifth of the product to the king, Ge 47:24. And it is worthy of remark that the people of Egypt well understood the distinction between subjects and servants; for when they came to sell their land, they offered to sell themselves also, and said: Buy us and our land, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh, Ge 47:19.

Diodorus Siculus, lib. i., gives the same account of the ancient constitution of Egypt. “The land,” says he, “was divided into three parts:

1. One belonged to the PRIESTS, with which they provided all sacrifices, and maintained all the ministers of religion.

2. A second part was the KING’S, to support his court and family, and to supply expenses for wars if they should happen. Hence there were no taxes, the king having so ample an estate.

3. The remainder of the land belonged to the SUBJECTS, who appear (from the account of Diodorus) to have been all soldiers, a kind of standing militia, liable, at the king’s expense, to serve in all wars for the preservation of the state.”

This was a constitution something like the British; the government appears to have been mixed, and the monarchy properly limited, till Joseph, by buying the land of the people, made the king in some sort despotic. But it does not appear that any improper use was made of this, as in much later times we find it still a comparatively limited monarchy.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

For this was the last year of the famine, as was noted before.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

23-28. Joseph said, Behold,c.The lands being sold to the government (Gen 47:19Gen 47:20), seed would bedistributed for the first crop after the famine; and the people wouldoccupy them as tenants-at-will on the payment of a produce rent,almost the same rule as obtains in Egypt in the present day.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then Joseph said unto the people,…. After he had bought their land, and before the removal of them to distant parts:

behold, I have bought you this day, and your land, for Pharaoh: which he observes to them, that they might take notice of it, and confirm it, or object if they had anything to say to the contrary:

lo, [here is] seed for you, and ye shall sow the land: by which it should seem that they were not removed from the spot where they lived, but retained their own land under Pharaoh, and had seed given them to sow it with, which may seem contrary to Ge 47:21; wherefore that must be understood of a purpose and proposal to remove them, and not that it was actually done; or, as Musculus gives the sense, Joseph by a public edict called all the people from the extreme parts of Egypt to the cities nearest to them, and there proclaimed the subjection of them, and their lands to Pharaoh, but continued them to them as tenants of his; unless it should be said, that in those distant parts to which they were sent, land was put into their hands to till and manure for the king, and have seed given them to sow it with; but this seems to be said to them at the same time the bargain was made.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

23. Then Joseph said unto the people. Here Moses describes the singular humanity of Joseph, which, as it then repressed all complaints, so, at this time, it justly dispels and refutes the calumnies with which he is assailed. The men, who were entirely destitute, and, in a sense, exiles, he reinstates in their possessions, on the most equitable condition, that they should pay a fifth part of the produce to the king. It is well known that formerly, in various places, kings have demanded by law the payment of tenths; but that, in the time of war, they doubled this tax. Therefore, what injury, can we say, was done to the Egyptians, when Joseph burdened the land, bought for the king, with a fifth part of its income; especially seeing that country is so much richer than others, that with less labor than elsewhere, it brings forth fruit for the maintenance of its cultivators? Should any one object that the king would have acted more frankly had he taken the fifth part of the land; the answer is obvious, that this was useful not only as an example, but also, for the purpose of quieting the people, by shutting the mouths of the captious. And certainly this indirect method, by which Joseph introduced the tax of a fifth part, had no other object than that of inducing the Egyptians to cultivate their lands with more alacrity, when they were convinced that, by such a compact, they were treated with clemency. And to this effect was their confession, which is recorded by Moses, expressed. For, first, they acknowledge that they owe their lives to him; secondly, they do not refuse to be the servants of the king. Whence we gather, that the holy man so conducted himself between the two parties, as greatly to enrich the king, without oppressing the people by tyranny. And I wish that all governors would practice this moderation, that they would only so far study the advantage of kings, as could be done without injury to the people. There is a celebrated saying of Tiberius Caesar, which savored little of tyranny, though he appears to have been a sanguinary and insatiable tyrant, that it is the part of a shepherd to shear the flock, but not to tear off the skin. At this day, however, kings do not believe that they rule freely, unless they not only flay their subjects, but entirely devour them. For they do not generally invest any with authority, except those who are sworn to the practice of slaughter. So much the more does the clemency of Joseph deserve praise, who so administered the affairs of Egypt, as to render the immense gains of the king compatible with a tolerable condition of the people.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(23) Lo, here is seed for you.As Joseph would give them seed wherewith to sow their fields only when the famine was nearly over, these arrangements seem to have been completed shortly before the end of the seventh year; and then, with seed it would be necessary also to supply them with oxen to plough the soil, and swine wherewith to trample in the seed (Rawlinson, Egypt, i. 76). A fifth part of the produce would be a very moderate rent, especially as there were no rates or taxes to be paid. The whole expenses of the State had to be defrayed from this rent.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

23. I have bought you This fact gave him the opportunity to dictate the future policy of the kingdom as to the royal revenue; a policy which the people were probably now prepared to see the wisdom of, and to which they readily acceded . Gen 47:25.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Then Joseph said, “Behold I have bought you this day, and your land, for Pharaoh. Look here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land, and it shall be that at the ingatherings you shall give one fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food and for those of your households and for food for your little ones.” ’

The famine is now approaching its end and Joseph declares their new position. From now on they are debtors to Pharaoh for one fifth of their produce, and on these terms he provides them with seed for sowing. This is not onerous. It may well be that they had already been paying this amount in taxes. And to receive seed at the end of a famine was luxury indeed. This has ever been the problem of a famine, that the seed has been consumed and little is left for sowing.

“This day.” This clearly is not intended to mean that the transaction from start to finish took place on that day. These transactions took place over fairly long periods. ‘This day’ refers to the end position. He is really saying, ‘this day I declare to you that —’ and from this day they must fulfil the responsibility of the fifth.

We can compare with this how later Israel would have to give one tenth to Yahweh as well as many sacrifices and offerings. One fifth is a typically Egyptian proportion.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Gen 47:23-25. Then Joseph said, &c. These three verses confirm all that we have said of the wisdom and humanity of Joseph. A wise minister of state, but, at the same time, generous, tender, and compassionate, he acquired for his king all that his subjects possessed; yet, instead of rigorously insisting upon the bargain they had made, he returns them their estates, and only lays a tax upon them for the better support of his prince’s crown and government, at the rate of four shillings in the pound, or a fifth part; which he found by trial, from what was taken up in the seven years of plenty, AEgypt could well spare; a favour, which we see the people acknowledge with the utmost gratitude, confessing, that he had been the very saviour of their lives. Thou hast saved our lives; let us find grace in the sight of my lord; we thankfully accept the generous grant, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants, i.e.. hold our lands of him, and pay him the fifth part of the produce: which words of the people evidently prove their high satisfaction with Joseph, and sufficiently exculpate him from any of that blame wherewith modern infidelity has laboured to blacken his reputation.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

It is somewhat remarkable that Jacob lost Joseph at the age of seventeen: and now the LORD grants the same number of years for them to be together. The intermediate space of Joseph’s life, the LORD had other employment for him.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Gen 47:23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, [here is] seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

Ver. 23. Lo, seed for you, and ye shall sow. ] This was the last of the seven years of famine: they might therefore sow “in hope.” 1Co 9:10 Spes alit agricolas.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)