Pharaoh Welcome Jacob;The Land Becomes Pharaoh; Israel Settles in Goshen; Genesis Chapter 47:1-31

Pharaoh Welcomes Jacob

Genesis 47:1-12 describes how Joseph's family officially arrived as landowners in Egypt. They are given the fertile region Goshen. At court, Joseph's brothers formally request permission to settle there, and Jacob blesses Pharaoh twice. Joseph's brothers are being interviewed by the Pharaoh of Egypt. He has already invited Jacob's large family to relocate to Egypt with all they own to survive the famine in the land (Genesis45:16-20).And Jacob said to Pharaoh," The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my father."

The Land Becomes Pharaoh's

Joseph brought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh. The Egyptians called their country Kemet, literally the "Black Land" (Kem meant "black" in ancient Egyptian). The name derived from the color of the rich and fertile black soil which was due to the annually occurring Nile induction. So, Kemet was the cultivate area along the Nile valley.

Israel Settles in Goshen

Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. But it is also implied to be somewhat set apart from the rest of Egypt, because Joseph tells his family to present themselves to the pharaoh as keepers of livestock, "in order that you may settle in the land of Goshen, because all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians." "Goshen" means "draw near." By positioning Jacob's family in Goshen, Pharaoh allowed them to draw near Jacob. The Land of Goshen was also far enough away from the center of Egyptian cultural life that these immigrant Jews would be unlikely to comptete with Egyptians.