Chapter 47

Joseph tells Pharoah that his family from Canaan are now settled in Goshen.  Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharoah, who asks their occupations.  

3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What is your occupation?" And they said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were." [Gen 47:3 ESV]  Why in the world would they do something like this after what Joseph had told them???  Pharoah, though, does not react to that.  Instead, he tells Joseph to settle them in the best of the land of Egypt, and to let those who are capable tend Pharoah's livestock.

Israel is taken to meet Pharoah, though he is introduced as Jacob.  Jacob blesses Pharoah, and Pharoah asks his age.  Israel is 130 at this time, and says he is younger than his father's were when they died. 

The famine remains.  Joseph sells grain to all Egypt and Canaan until Pharoah has all the money that there is in those places. The next year, Joseph sells grain in exchange for the people's land, and buys the people themselves so they become Pharoah's slaves.  So all the money, all the property, and all the people - except the priests - belong to Pharoah.  He owns all there is to own. 

2023 - These verses:  20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh's. 21 As for the people, he made servants of them from one end of Egypt to the other. [Gen 47:20-21 ESV].  In 21b, there is a note in the TCR that says that the Samaritan, Septuagint, Vulgate, Hebrew texts all say that "he removed them to the cities", rather than "he made servants of them".  So if we go with that, it means Joseph brought them all into the cities where the storehouses were that he had set up, making food distribution efficient and quick.  They were Pharoah's servants in the sense that he was the only thing keeping him alive.  They had become 100% dependent on their government.  They did not own the means of production, even of agricultural production, because Pharoah owned it all.  He officially also owned them AS IF THEY WERE HIS SLAVES.  Since this arrangement came from God through Joseph, we see that perhaps there IS a time when pure socialism works, and that is when poverty is rampant and there is NO possibility of private survival, because the government has sucked up everything during a crisis.  In this case, because a "good" government was prepared for the severest of situations, this kind of setup worked to save many from starvation.  Then afterward, as agriculture came back, it is likely that the people "bought back" themselves, their land, and their goods, enriching the government still further, but restoring private ownership.  Maybe that's how it worked.  We really don't know what happened after the famine was over, and during the remainder of the 400 years in Egypt.

2023 - Ahh...it goes on.  What really happened is that as the famine ended, Joseph gave seed to those going back out to restart agriculture.  They all became sharecroppers, giving 20% of their produce to Pharoah from then on.  A permanent 20% tax off the top.  At this rate, Pharoah - the government - owned them all, and they worked for the benefit of Pharoah.  Wow.

Jacob dies in Egypt at the age of 147.  Jacob makes Joseph swear to take his bones from Egypt when they leave, and bury his bones with those of his fathers.