Genesis 47:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 47:11
And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
brethren
אֶחָיו֒'e.Chav
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
gave
וַיִּתֵּ֨ןvai.yi.Ten
H5414
to give · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
possession
אֲחֻזָּה֙'a.chu.Zah
H272
something seized · noun, common feminine singular absolute
land
בְּאֶ֣רֶץbe.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Egypt
מִצְרַ֔יִםmitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name
best
בְּמֵיטַ֥בbe.mei.Tav
H4315
the best part · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
land
הָאָ֖רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
land
בְּאֶ֣רֶץbe.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Rameses
רַעְמְסֵ֑סra'.me.Ses
H7486
Rameses or Raamses · proper noun, a place name
Pharaoh
פַרְעֹֽהfar.'Oh
H6547
Paroh · noun, masculine singular absolute
commanded
צִוָּ֥הtzi.Vah
H6680
(intensively) to constitute · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 47:6 The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and i…
Exodus 1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raam…
Exodus 12:37 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more a…
John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make…
John 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 47:1-12
Here is, I. The respect which Joseph, as a subject, showed to his prince. Though he was his favourite, and prime-minister of state, and had had particular orders from him to send for his father down to Egypt, yet he would not suffer him to settle till he had given notice of it to Pharaoh, Gen 47:1. Christ, our Joseph, disposes of his followers in his kingdom as it is prepared of his Father, saying, It is not mine to give, Mat 20:23.
II. The respect which Joseph, as a brother, showed to his brethren, notwithstanding all the unkindness he had formerly received from them.
1. Though he was a great man, and they were comparatively mean and despicable, especially in Egypt, yet he owned them. Let t…
Joseph placed his father and his brethren . . . in the best of the land--best pasture land in lower Egypt. Goshen, "the land of verdure," lay along the Pelusiac or eastern branch of the Nile. It included a part of the district of Heliopolis, or "On," the capital, and on the east stretched out a considerable length into the desert. The ground included within these boundaries was a rich and fertile extent of natural meadow, and admirably adapted for the purposes of the Hebrew shepherds (compare Gen 49:24; Psa 34:10; Psa 78:72).
Adam Clarke on Genesis 47:9
The days of the years of my pilgrimage - מגורי megurai, of my sojourning or wandering. Jacob had always lived a migratory or wandering life, in different parts of Canaan, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, scarcely ever at rest; and in the places where he lived longest, always exposed to the fatigues of the field and the desert. Our word pilgrim comes from the French pelerin and pelegrin, which are corrupted from the Latin peregrinus, an alien, stranger, or foreigner, from the adverb peregre, abroad, not at home. The pilgrim was a person who took a journey, long or short, on some religious account, submitting during the time to many hardships and privations. A more appropriate term could not be conceiv…
IS THE COUNTRY OF RAMESSES THE SAME AS THAT OF GESSEN? — And he gave them possession in the best part of the land, in the land of Rameses, as the Pharaoh had commanded . We should investigate whether the land of Ramses is the same as that of Gesen. Because they had gone there, and Pharaoh had commanded them to be given that land. [
And to that we also add that Joseph together with Benjamin was recognized by his brothers who had arrived, and he admitted them to his dining table, as I have just said. However, he did not give them any gift but ordered them to leave again in order that they bring to him the father, I mean, Jacob. After he came down and Joseph saw him there together with his children and family, he gave them the best parts of his land. This narrative is a clear sign that the Israelites themselves, by coming back in the latter times of the world, will be received by Christ, that is, when they will be in accord with the new people, that is symbolized, as I have said, by Benjamin. In addition, the inheritance we hope for will be given to us only by the holy fathers. As those who died in the faith, as the wise Paul says, "did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect," so we wait for the fathers, so that we will not be made perfect apart from them. In the same manner and together with the holy fathers of the first, the second and the last people we will receive the very good inheritance of the heavenly kingdom that is not made by human hands in Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to God the Father with the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
City — The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain (Gen. 4:17). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12). Next, we have…
Goshen — (1.) A district in Egypt where Jacob and his family settled, and in which they remained till the Exodus (Gen. 45:10; 46:28, 29, 31, etc.). It is called “the land of Goshen” (47:27), and also simply…
Levi — Adhesion. (1.) The third son of Jacob by Leah. The origin of the name is found in Leah’s words (Gen. 29:34), “This time will my husband be joined [Heb. yillaveh] unto me.” He is mentioned as taking a…
Rameses — “the land of” (Gen. 47:11), was probably “the land of Goshen” (q.v.) 45:10. After the Hebrews had built Rameses, one of the “treasure cities,” it came to be known as the “land” in which that city was…
Rameses, Or Raamses — (child of the sun), a city and district of lower Egypt. (Genesis 47:11; Exodus 12:37; Numbers 33:3,5) This land of Rameses either corresponds to the land of Goshen or was a district of it, more…
Egypt · History of Israel in: Israel placed in the land of Goshen — History of Israel in: Israel placed in the land of Goshen
Hospitality · .Pharaoh to Jacob — .Pharaoh to Jacob
Nepotism · Of Joseph — Of Joseph
Rameses · The district in Egypt which was inhabited by the Israelites — The district in Egypt which was inhabited by the Israelites
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Genesis 47:11
And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt,.... Houses to dwell in, lands to till, and pastures to feed their flocks and herds in:
in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh commanded; according to Jarchi and Aben Ezra, the land of Rameses was a part of the land of Goshen: Jerom (o) says, that Rameses was a city the children of Israel built in Egypt, and that the province was formerly so called in which Jacob and his sons dwelt; but if it is the same with the city which was built by them, it is here called so by anticipation: but Aben Ezra is of opinion that it is not the same, and indeed the names are differently pointed…
Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been. Jacob may here seem to complain that he had lived but a little while, and that, in this short space of time, he had endured many and grievous afflictions. Why does he not rather recount the great and manifold favors of God which formed an abundant compensation for every kind of evil? Besides, his complaint respecting the shortness of life seems unworthy of him; for why did he not deem a whole century and a third part of another sufficient for him? But if any one will rightly weigh his words, he rather expresses his own gratitude, in celebrating the goodness of God towards his fathers. For he does not so much deplore his own decrepitude…
Joseph assigned to his father and his brethren, according to Pharaoh's command, a possession (אחזּה) for a dwelling-place in the best part of Egypt, the land of Ramses, and provided them with bread, "according to the mouth of the little ones," i.e., according to the necessities of each family, answering to the larger or smaller number of their children. כּלכּל with a double accusative (Ges. 139). The settlement of the Israelites is called the land of Ramses (רעמסס, in pause רעמסס Exo 1:11), instead of Goshen, either because the province of Goshen (Γεσέμ, lxx) is indicated by the name of its former capital Ramses (i.e., Heroopolis, on the site or in the immediate neighbourhood of the modern…
When Jacob entered Pharaoh’s court and when he left, he blessed Pharaoh, an indication of Jacob’s position as God’s representative (see Heb 7:7). God had promised that he would bless those who blessed Abraham’s family (Gen 12:2-3), so he now blessed Pharaoh and Egypt.
