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Genesis 47 · a question people ask

Was Joseph right to buy the Egyptians' land for Pharaoh?

Interpretation

Genesis tells what Joseph did but doesn't say whether it was right. The Egyptians themselves ask, "Buy us and our land for bread" (47:19), and afterward say, "You have saved our lives!" (47:25). By the end, "the land became Pharaoh’s" (47:20), except the land of the priests (47:22, 26), and a fifth of every harvest went to Pharaoh (47:24, 26). The text gives no verdict, and readers weigh it in two main ways.

How Christians read it

Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.

Care that kept Egypt alive

Those who hold this view stress that the people asked for it and thanked him (47:19, 25), that they kept four parts of every harvest (47:24), and that a fifth was what Joseph had advised taking in the good years too (41:34). They read it as how Egypt was kept alive through the famine.

Genesis 47:19 · Genesis 47:24-25 · Genesis 41:34

A record, not a model

Those who hold this view note that the people and all their land end as Pharaoh's (47:19-20, 23, 25), and that Genesis records this without praise or blame. They read it as a report of what happened, not a pattern to copy.

Genesis 47:19-20 · Genesis 47:23 · Genesis 47:25

From Favor's study of Genesis 47

Genesis 47: The years of my pilgrimage

Pharaoh settled Jacob's family in Goshen, and the old shepherd blessed the king: "The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years." Through the famine Egypt gave Joseph its money, livestock and land, and said, "You have saved our lives!" Jacob made Joseph swear: "Don’t bury me in Egypt."

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions