9 And Jacob H3290 said H559 unto Pharaoh, H6547 The days H3117 of the years H8141 of my pilgrimage H4033 are an hundred H3967 and thirty H7970 years: H8141 few H4592 and evil H7451 have the days H3117 of the years H8141 of my life H2416 been, and have not attained H5381 unto the days H3117 of the years H8141 of the life H2416 of my fathers H1 in the days H3117 of their pilgrimage. H4033
After H310 this lived H2421 Job H347 an hundred H3967 and forty H705 years, H8141 and saw H7200 his sons, H1121 and his sons' H1121 sons, H1121 even four H702 generations. H1755 So Job H347 died, H4191 being old H2205 and full H7649 of days. H3117
By faith G4102 he sojourned G3939 in G1519 the land G1093 of promise, G1860 as G5613 in a strange country, G245 dwelling G2730 in G1722 tabernacles G4633 with G3326 Isaac G2464 and G2532 Jacob, G2384 the heirs with him G4789 of the same G846 promise: G1860 For G1063 he looked for G1551 a city G4172 which hath G2192 foundations, G2310 whose G3739 builder G5079 and G2532 maker G1217 is God. G2316 Through faith G4102 also G2532 Sara G4564 herself G846 received G2983 strength G1411 to G1519 conceive G2602 seed, G4690 and G2532 was delivered of a child G5088 when she was past G3844 age, G2540 G2244 because G1893 she judged G2233 him faithful G4103 who had promised. G1861 Therefore G1352 sprang there G1080 even G2532 of G575 one, G1520 and G2532 him G5023 as good as dead, G3499 so many as G2531 the stars G798 of the sky G3772 in multitude, G4128 and G2532 as G5616 the sand G285 which G3588 is by G3844 the sea G2281 shore G5491 innumerable. G382 These G3778 all G3956 died G599 in G2596 faith, G4102 not G3361 having received G2983 the promises, G1860 but G235 having seen G1492 them G846 afar off, G4207 and G2532 were persuaded of G3982 them, and G2532 embraced G782 them, and G2532 confessed G3670 that G3754 they were G1526 strangers G3581 and G2532 pilgrims G3927 on G1909 the earth. G1093 For G1063 they that say G3004 such things G5108 declare plainly G1718 that G3754 they seek G1934 a country. G3968 And G2532 truly, G3303 if G1487 they had been mindful G3421 of that G1565 country from G575 whence G3739 they came out, G1831 they might G302 have had G2192 opportunity G2540 to have returned. G344 But G1161 now G3570 they desire G3713 a better G2909 country, that is, G5123 an heavenly: G2032 wherefore G1352 God G2316 is G1870 not G3756 ashamed G1870 G846 to be called G1941 their G846 God: G2316 for G1063 he hath prepared G2090 for them G846 a city. G4172
Thou turnest H7725 man H582 to destruction; H1793 and sayest, H559 Return, H7725 ye children H1121 of men. H120 For a thousand H505 years H8141 in thy sight H5869 are but as H3117 yesterday H865 when it is past, H5674 and as a watch H821 in the night. H3915 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; H2229 they are as a sleep: H8142 in the morning H1242 they are like grass H2682 which groweth up. H2498 In the morning H1242 it flourisheth, H6692 and groweth up; H2498 in the evening H6153 it is cut down, H4135 and withereth. H3001 For we are consumed H3615 by thine anger, H639 and by thy wrath H2534 are we troubled. H926 Thou hast set H7896 our iniquities H5771 before thee, our secret H5956 sins in the light H3974 of thy countenance. H6440 For all our days H3117 are passed away H6437 in thy wrath: H5678 we spend H3615 our years H8141 as a tale H1899 that is told. The days H3117 of our years H8141 are threescore H7657 years H8141 and ten; H7657 and if by reason of strength H1369 they be fourscore H8084 years, H8141 yet is their strength H7296 labour H5999 and sorrow; H205 for it is soon H2440 cut off, H1468 and we fly away. H5774 Who knoweth H3045 the power H5797 of thine anger? H639 even according to thy fear, H3374 so is thy wrath. H5678 So teach H3045 us to number H4487 our days, H3117 that we may apply H935 our hearts H3824 unto wisdom. H2451
Remember H2142 how short H2465 my time is: wherefore hast thou made H1254 all men H1121 H120 in vain? H7723 What man H1397 is he that liveth, H2421 and shall not see H7200 death? H4194 shall he deliver H4422 his soul H5315 from the hand H3027 of the grave? H7585 Selah. H5542
For enquire, H7592 I pray thee, of the former H7223 H7223 age, H1755 and prepare H3559 thyself to the search H2714 of their fathers: H1 (For we are but of yesterday, H8543 and know H3045 nothing, because our days H3117 upon earth H776 are a shadow:) H6738
Now Barzillai H1271 was a very H3966 aged H2204 man, even fourscore H8084 years H8141 old: H1121 and he had provided the king H4428 of sustenance H3557 while he lay H7871 at Mahanaim; H4266 for he was a very H3966 great H1419 man. H376 And the king H4428 said H559 unto Barzillai, H1271 Come thou over H5674 with me, and I will feed H3557 thee with me in Jerusalem. H3389 And Barzillai H1271 said H559 unto the king, H4428 How long H3117 have I to live, H8141 H2416 that I should go up H5927 with the king H4428 unto Jerusalem? H3389 I am this day H3117 fourscore H8084 years H8141 old: H1121 and can I discern H3045 between good H2896 and evil? H7451 can thy servant H5650 taste H2938 what H834 I eat H398 or what H834 I drink? H8354 can I hear H8085 any more the voice H6963 of singing men H7891 and singing women? H7891 wherefore then should thy servant H5650 be yet a burden H4853 unto my lord H113 the king? H4428
And these are the days H3117 of the years H8141 of Abraham's H85 life H2416 which he lived, H2425 an hundred H3967 H8141 threescore and fifteen H7657 H8141 H2568 years. H8141 Then Abraham H85 gave up the ghost, H1478 and died H4191 in a good H2896 old age, H7872 an old man, H2205 and full H7649 of years; and was gathered H622 to his people. H5971
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Genesis 47
Commentary on Genesis 47 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 47
Ge 47:1-31. Joseph's Presentation at Court.
1. Joseph … told Pharaoh, My father and my brethren—Joseph furnishes a beautiful example of a man who could bear equally well the extremes of prosperity and adversity. High as he was, he did not forget that he had a superior. Dearly as he loved his father and anxiously as he desired to provide for the whole family, he would not go into the arrangements he had planned for their stay in Goshen until he had obtained the sanction of his royal master.
2. he took some of his brethren—probably the five eldest brothers: seniority being the least invidious principle of selection.
4. For to sojourn … are we come—The royal conversation took the course which Joseph had anticipated (Ge 46:33), and they answered according to previous instructions—manifesting, however, in their determination to return to Canaan, a faith and piety which affords a hopeful symptom of their having become all, or most of them, religious men.
7. Joseph brought in Jacob his father—There is a pathetic and most affecting interest attending this interview with royalty; and when, with all the simplicity and dignified solemnity of a man of God, Jacob signalized his entrance by imploring the divine blessing on the royal head, it may easily be imagined what a striking impression the scene would produce (compare Heb 7:7).
8. Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou?—The question was put from the deep and impressive interest which the appearance of the old patriarch had created in the minds of Pharaoh and his court. In the low-lying land of Egypt and from the artificial habits of its society, the age of man was far shorter among the inhabitants of that country than it had yet become in the pure bracing climate and among the simple mountaineers of Canaan. The Hebrews, at least, still attained a protracted longevity.
9. The days of the years of my pilgrimage, &c.—Though a hundred thirty years, he reckons by days (compare Ps 90:12), which he calls few, as they appeared in retrospect, and evil, because his life had been one almost unbroken series of trouble. The answer is remarkable, considering the comparative darkness of the patriarchal age (compare 2Ti 1:10).
11. Joseph placed his father and his brethren … in the best of the land—best pasture land in lower Egypt. Goshen, "the land of verdure," lay along the Pelusiac or eastern branch of the Nile. It included a part of the district of Heliopolis, or "On," the capital, and on the east stretched out a considerable length into the desert. The ground included within these boundaries was a rich and fertile extent of natural meadow, and admirably adapted for the purposes of the Hebrew shepherds (compare Ge 49:24; Ps 34:10; 78:72).
13-15. there was no bread in all the land—This probably refers to the second year of the famine (Ge 45:6) when any little stores of individuals or families were exhausted and when the people had become universally dependent on the government. At first they obtained supplies for payment. Before long money failed.
16. And Joseph said, Give your cattle—"This was the wisest course that could be adopted for the preservation both of the people and the cattle, which, being bought by Joseph, was supported at the royal expense, and very likely returned to the people at the end of the famine, to enable them to resume their agricultural labors."
21. as for the people, he removed them to cities—obviously for the convenience of the country people, who were doing nothing, to the cities where the corn stores were situated.
22. Only the land of the priests bought he not—These lands were inalienable, being endowments by which the temples were supported. The priests for themselves received an annual allowance of provision from the state, and it would evidently have been the height of cruelty to withhold that allowance when their lands were incapable of being tilled.
23-28. Joseph said, Behold, &c.—The lands being sold to the government (Ge 47:19, 20), seed would be distributed for the first crop after the famine; and the people would occupy them as tenants-at-will on the payment of a produce rent, almost the same rule as obtains in Egypt in the present day.
29-31. the time drew nigh that Israel must die—One only of his dying arrangements is recorded; but that one reveals his whole character. It was the disposal of his remains, which were to be carried to Canaan, not from a mere romantic attachment to his native soil, nor, like his modern descendants, from a superstitious feeling for the soil of the Holy Land, but from faith in the promises. His address to Joseph—"if now I have found grace in thy sight," that is, as the vizier of Egypt—his exacting a solemn oath that his wishes would be fulfilled and the peculiar form of that oath, all pointed significantly to the promise and showed the intensity of his desire to enjoy its blessings (compare Nu 10:29).
31. Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head—Oriental beds are mere mats, having no head, and the translation should be "the top of his staff," as the apostle renders it (Heb 11:21).