There follows a paragraph (47''-* J), describing a permanent change in the Egyptian system of land-tenure, which was attributed to Joseph. The famine continuing in Egypt, the people first gave away all their money for com, then they gave away their cattle, finally they offered them selves and their land. The result was that all the land in Egypt, except that of the priests (who received a fixed revenue in kind from the crown, and thus had no occasion to sell their possessions for food), became the property of the Pharaoh, the previous owners becoming tenants of the king, paying him, as it were, an annual rent of \ of the produce.
According to P (47"**"^) Jacob lived witn Joseph in Egypt 17 years. As the time drew near for him to die, Josepli hearing of his sickness, brought in his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim to see him. Upon hearing that they were there, the aged patriarch blessed them, giWng E])liraim, the younger, against their father's desire, the first place, in view of the future greatness of the tribe descended from him (vv.'-'-*^*" JE), at the same time (vv.-'' ''- E) conferring upon Joseph, as a special gift, 'one shoulder — or mountain-slope — above his brethren ' (with allusion to Shechem ; see Jacob, p. 5.32). A parallel text of P (48»-'') describes Jacob's adoption of his two grandsons, in virtue of which he places each on the same level with his own sons.
.\fter Jacob's death, Joseph, as was natural, made suitable provision for his burial (50'""- '* JE, probably J ; 50"-" P). His brethren fear now that he will exact retribution for their past treat- ment of him, and send aecordinrrly to crave hia forgiveness. He replies generously that he is not in God's place, viz. to exact vengeance for actions which, however intende<l, have been overruled by God's providence for good ('to save much people alive'), and that he will continue to make pro- vision for their nourishment and welfare (60""" E).§ He lived, we read, to the age of 110, surviving oven the birth of his great-grandchildren. II Before
• Except the clausea In vv.*- 6 rvferring to Joeoph'e having heen told bv hia brethren ; T.io aa tar aa Gottun ; and perhaps v.«.
t The aeiiuonce in 47^ * Is much better In l^XX than In the Ueti, text.
! Tlie expression Is thus proleptlo, even if It b« not actually an nnadirouiKm.
% The l4'nni( of t.v^ (cf. 471*), and the expression, 'as it is this day,' ill v.>^. necm to sliow Uiat the writer pictured the famine Bs'^til] coiitiiniini; (cf. 46>>X B must have placed Jacob's death .arller th.in r(4f-»).
I V.s ' the sons of Machir, son of Manasseh,* ar« specified, on account of Uie iui}tortanc« attaching later to tlie ourrespond- \n% clans of the tribe of Manasseh, on the K. of Jordan (sss
770
JOSEPH
JOSEPH
his (lo.ilh he expressed his assunince tliat (mmI would ultiiuately bring up the cliiMron of Ismul out of K^'ypt, and gave solemn directions for his bones to he brouj,'ht up with ihera (50-'-'' E). The fuUilment of this iniunction is described in Ex 13'", Jos 2-J^''.(both h); in the hitter place it is added that Joseph's bones were buried hnally in Shechem, in the plot of ground bought there by Jacob (Gn 33") in the centre of the territory owned bj' his descendants, the 'children of Ephraini.'
The character of Josepli is one that is singularly amiable and free from faults. He is the true sou, the true brother, the true servant. Loyal and faithful, disinterested and sincere, modest and considerate, he wins the esteem of all right- minded persons with whom he has to do. lie is obedient to dutj' in whatever position he linds himself — whether feeding his father's sheep, or attending to his master's house, or acting for the keeper of the prison, or invested by Pharaoh with authority over Egypt. 'J" was with him' is the signilicant phrase by which the n.arrator in- dicates the Divine approval of his conduct (31J-'- '• "'■-'). In misfortune he is resigned, and does not complain. He resists temptation. In his eleva- tion he neither presumes upon his position nor forgets his humbler relations : in spite of their cruel treatment of him, he bears his brethren no grudge; even after his father's death he is as
generous and magnanimous as before (50""^'). He as deep and true att'ection : his younger brother and his father are ever foremost in his thoughts.* His attitude towards his other brethren, and the humiliation which he imposes on them, are, of course, dictated by the desire to prove them, and liring them to acknowledge their sin ; as soon as they have done this (cf. 42-'- -- 44"), and he is satisfied that they are treating his father and Benjamin with genuine att'ection, he discloses him- self, excuses them for what they had done (45'""), and, to assure them of his forgiveness and good- will, makes provision for their residence near himself in Egypt. He has a lively sense of de- pendence upon God and of his duty towards Him (3!t'' 41'" 50-*). He is conscious that he is in God's hands, who overrules evil that good may come, and effects His purposes even though it may be without the knowledge and against the wishes of the actual agents (50-", cf. 45'-'-*). As a righteous man, persecuted and sold by his brethren, wrong- fully accused and humiliated, hut afterwards exalted, and using his position for the good of others, submissive, forgiving, and tender-hearted, it is not surprising that he should often have been regarded as a type of Christ. Only the measures adopted by Joseph for the relief of the famine might be thought to strike a discordant note in his character. To appropriate the surplus produce of the seven years of plenty, and then to compel the Egyptians to buy back, even to their own impoverishment, what they had themselves pre- viously given up, does not seem consistent with our ideas of justice and equity. It must, however, be remembered, that, in this respect, Joseph was not, and could not be expected to be, in advance of the public morality of his a^e. The economic condi- tions of Egypt are, and always have been, peculiar. The feitility of the soil is dependent upon a system of irrigation, which can only be kept in proper order by the central government ; and the cultivator falls