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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 41:46 - 41:52
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The Seven Years of Plenty
v. 46. And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He had thus been in the country for thirteen years, a number of which he had spent in disgrace in prison. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. He made a formal tour of inspection in order to perfect his plans, especially for the storing of the grain which would be demanded as a tax extraordinary.
v. 47. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls, the fields yielded crops in big bundles, enormous harvests being gathered every year.
v. 48. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. The fifth part of every year's crop Joseph gathered in such a manner that the grain from every district was brought to the store-house, or granary, in the chief city of that district.
v. 49. And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number. He gave orders to the officers in the various store-houses to discontinue entering the amounts delivered in special lists, since the supply was beyond figures.
v. 50. And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On, bare unto him.
v. 51. And Joseph called the name of the first-born Manasseh (forgetting, or: one that causes to forget): for God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. His grief and sorrow had probably often been excessive, and his longing for his father's house had amounted to a passion, but now the Lord, as Luther remarks, had taught him to place all his confidence in God alone. Joseph must gradually hare gained the impression that Jehovah had permitted his slavery in Egypt for a definite purpose, and he yielded to the will of God in simple humility.
v. 52. And the name of the second called he Ephraim (double fruitfulness); for God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. In spite of his exaltation Egypt remained to Joseph the land of his affliction, and he longed for the Land of Promise. Thus do the believers, no matter how richly they are blessed by the Lord with the riches and honors of this world, ever long for the home above.