Chapter Overview
The famine rages on, and Joseph takes ALL of the money from the people. They need to eat to live, so Joseph offers to trade them bread for their cattle, which they do. They’re stull hungry, so Joseph then buys all the land in Egypt and enslaves the people, telling them to get farming. Jacob gets close to dying and tells Joseph to bury him in Canaan when he dies.
Additional Thoughts
Ya know… if this was Assassin’s Creed (and if there was actually evidence for Joseph to have ever lived), Joseph would make an excellent Templar…. The fact that he manages to enslave an entire country to work for his is quite in line with how they act. We also have to presume that god is ok with this because we don’t hear anything to the contrary.
Chapter 47: Joseph Enslaves Egypt
- Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.
- And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.
- And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers.
- They said morever unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.
- And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:
- The 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.
- And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
- And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?
- And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
- And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
- 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 Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
- And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.
- And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the 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 Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
- And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.
- And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail.
- And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.
- When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:
- Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our 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.
- And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s.
- And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof.
- Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.
- 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.
- And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
- And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.
- And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.
- And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.
- And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.
- And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:
- But I will 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.
- And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.
- Continues right where chapter 46 ends.
- Takes 5 of his brothers to see the pharaoh.
- Ya know, we’ve never heard what pharaoh’s name was. He’s literally just “Pharaoh” this entire time.
- They brothers say that they want to live in Goshen.
- Pharaoh comments on how Joseph has some visitors.
- And says it’s alright with him if they go live there. They gotta work for the Pharaoh though.
- Just imagine an old man walking into a room and randomly blessing you. Would you be comfortable with that?
- AKA: Dude… you look ancient
- Jacob is 130. Remember back in Genesis 6:3 when people were supposed to die at 120? It’s still not happening.
- This guy is handing out blessings left and right. Two authors again?
- You could potentially say that the pharaoh is named Ramses because of this, but it’s not stated that it is the pharaoh’s name. It’s the land of Ramses, which sounds like a predecessor when put that way.
- Joseph keeps everyone alive because man… this guy is just the greatest.
- People in Canaan are either all dead OR they are wiped out enough to not be relevant anymore.
- Seems like this would cause a return to bartering if there was truly no money for the people to use.
- Did they have inflation? Why did the money fail? Was it because all the money was at pharaoh’s treasury?
- This seems like an odd trade: Livestock for bread.
- They’re willingly going for this. It seems like Joseph is getting his dear old dad to profit off of Egypt’s (and the surrounding area’s) misfortune already.
- AKA: We have nothing left to give and yet still you want to take from us.
- What’s next, our land?
- Using all the money in Egypt, Joseph buys all of Egypt. This seems… odd.
- So… Joseph just moves people around now and possibly enslaves them?
- The priests were the only faction to be fine with not selling their land.
- Joseph lords the fact that he owns everything over the people and lays down the ground rules. They WILL farm.
- And when they finish farming, they WILL give up some of it to the pharaoh.
- And… they’re grateful for this? Yeah right.
- Any evidence of this law in Egyptian records? Anywhere? Oh just asking… ya know… no reason… just curious….
- Sounds like he’s prospering while everyone else is put into servitude.
- Jacob lived another 17 years
- And Jacob told Joseph to grab his junk
- And then swear that he’d bury him in Canaan.
- And Joseph swore.