47:23-26
Joseph is implementing a system that is very much state controlled, and the people would pay one fifth of their harvest to Pharaoh. So the people are completely dependent upon the government. The people were very grateful for this, thanking the government for saving them. Moreover, these “emergency measures” became permanent! Apologies if I have couched the description in political terms, but it is very reminiscent of what we have seen in the Covid responses. One wonders what one is to make of this. My own political leanings go very much against state control, but in the situation here if Joseph had not instituted his plan then the people would have starved.
47:27-31
The Israelites prospered in the Goshen, just as Joseph had prospered in Egypt. Jacob lived in the land for seventeen years, and so reached the age of 147. It is interesting that Jacob is used in one sentence, and then immediately flips to Israel in the sentence concerning his death. Jacob calls Joseph and we have the old hand under the thigh oath making practice. Jacob insists that he be buried not in Egypt, but alongside his ancestors. Jacob knew that Egypt was only a temporary stopping place. We need to distinguish between what is permanent and what is temporary in our lives. It also indicates that Jacob sensed that death was not the end. Joseph agrees to this.
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