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Commentary on Genesis 47

Whosoever Will · the Seven Threads Commentary

Genesis 47:1

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:2

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:3

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:4

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:5

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:6

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:7

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:8

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:9

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:10

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:11

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:12

Joseph presents five of his brothers to Pharaoh. They answer the occupation question honestly, shepherds, and ask for Goshen. Pharaoh grants it and offers them positions as livestock supervisors over his own herds if they are capable. The settlement is official. Then Joseph brings Jacob in. The old man stands before the most powerful ruler on earth and blesses him. Hebrews 7:7 will note that the lesser is blessed by the greater, which means Jacob, in blessing Pharaoh, is functioning as the greater. The covenant man blesses the empire's king. It is one of the quieter inversions in Genesis. Pharaoh asks Jacob's age. The answer is 130 years, and the description of those years is the most honest self-assessment in the patriarchal narratives: few and evil. Not bitterness. Accuracy. He knows what his years have held: the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the twenty-two years of grief over Joseph. He is not inflating his story for Pharaoh. He is naming it plainly. The man who spent his life grasping has arrived at the end of it empty-handed enough to tell the truth.
Jacob the patriarch stands before Pharaoh and blesses him, the lesser is blessed by the greater, and his summary of his own life is the most honest self-assessment in Genesis: few and evil, not reaching his fathers.
מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁ נֵי חַ יַּ י (meat ve-raim hayu yeme shne chayyai): few and evil have been the days of the years of my life: meat (few, small) + raim (evil, hard, difficult); not a complaint but an honest accounting; Jacob has lived 130 years and calls them few because his fathers lived longer; he calls them evil not from bitterness but from accuracy, the wrestling, the deceptions given and received, the grief over Joseph, the years in Laban's house
threads t2 · t5 · see Hebrews 7:7 · Genesis 25:7 · 1 Peter 2:11

Genesis 47:13

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:14

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:15

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:16

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:17

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:18

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:19

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:20

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:21

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:22

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:23

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:24

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:25

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:26

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:27

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:28

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:29

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:30

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22

Genesis 47:31

The famine's full severity is recorded in economic terms. Money runs out. Livestock follows. Then land. Egypt sells itself to Pharaoh through Joseph's administration, all the land except the priests' portion. Joseph reorganizes Egyptian agriculture on a twenty percent tax basis and the Egyptians are grateful for it. He has saved their lives at the cost of their independence, and they say so. While Egypt contracts, Goshen expands. Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly. The covenant people are doing in Egypt what they were commanded to do at creation and re-commanded at Sinai, be fruitful and multiply. Four centuries of this and the numbers will be enormous enough to alarm Pharaoh's successor. Jacob lives seventeen years in Egypt: exactly the age Joseph was when his brothers sold him. The symmetry is Moses's. Then Jacob calls Joseph and places the hand-under-thigh oath on him: do not bury me in Egypt. Take me to Canaan, to the cave of Machpelah. The man who has lived 147 years, whose last seventeen were the best of them, dies with his face toward the land of promise. Thread 2 holds: the covenant people do not end in Egypt. They are going back.
Israel grew and multiplied exceedingly in Goshen while Egypt sold itself to Pharaoh, and Jacob's last recorded act before his death is to place his hand-under-thigh oath on Joseph for burial in Canaan, because the land of promise is still home.
וַ יִּ רֶב וַ יִּ רְבּוּ מְאֹד (vayyirev vayyirbu meod): and grew and multiplied exceedingly: the language of the creation mandate and the Abrahamic promise; the same parats-type vocabulary as the covenant increase; Israel is fruitful in Egypt while Egypt is contracting; the covenant people expand under the conditions that diminish everyone around them
threads t2 · t5 · see Genesis 23:19 · Genesis 49:29-32 · Hebrews 11:22
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