Genesis 47:22 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 47:22
Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.
soil (from its general redness) · noun, common feminine singular construct
priests
הַכֹּהֲנִ֖יםha.ko.ha.Nim
H3548
literally one officiating · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
he
קָנָ֑הka.Nah
H7069
to erect · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
priests
לַכֹּהֲנִ֜יםla.ko.ha.Nim
H3548
literally one officiating · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
portion
חֹ֨קchok
H2706
an enactment · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Pharaoh
פַּרְעֹ֗הpar.'Oh
H6547
Paroh · noun, masculine singular absolute
eat
וְאָֽכְל֤וּve.'a.khe.Lu
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
portion
חֻקָּם֙chu.Kam
H2706
an enactment · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Pharaoh
פַּרְעֹ֔הpar.'Oh
H6547
Paroh · noun, masculine singular absolute
gave
נָתַ֤ןna.Tan
H5414
to give · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sold
מָכְר֖וּma.khe.Ru
H4376
to sell · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
lands
אַדְמָתָֽם'ad.ma.Tam
H127
soil (from its general redness) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
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
Ezra 7:24 Also we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, or ministers of this house of God, it shall…
Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
Genesis 41:45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On. And Joseph went…
Genesis 41:50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto him.
Deuteronomy 12:19 Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth.
Joshua 21:1-45 Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fa…
2 Samuel 8:18 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over both the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief rulers.
Nehemiah 13:10 And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled ever…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 47:13-26
Care being taken of Jacob and his family, the preservation of which was especially designed by Providence in Joseph's advancement, an account is now given of the saving of the kingdom of Egypt too from ruin; for God is King of nations as well as King of saints, and provideth food for all flesh. Joseph now returns to the management of that great trust which Pharaoh had lodged in his hand. It would have been pleasing enough to him to have gone and lived with his father and brethren in Goshen; but his employment would not permit it. When he had seen his father, and seen him well settled, he applied himself as closely as ever to the execution of his office. Note, Even natural affection must give…
Only the land of the priests bought he not--These lands were inalienable, being endowments by which the temples were supported. The priests for themselves received an annual allowance of provision from the state, and it would evidently have been the height of cruelty to withhold that allowance when their lands were incapable of being tilled.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 47:22
The land of the priests bought he not - From this verse it is natural to infer that whatever the religion of Egypt was, it was established by law and supported by the state. Hence when Joseph bought all the lands of the Egyptians for Pharaoh, he bought not the land of the priests, for that was a portion assigned them by Pharaoh; and they did eat - did live on, that portion. This is the earliest account we have of an established religion supported by the state.
John Gill on Genesis 47:22
Only the land of the priests bought he not,.... Not from any special affection for them, or any superstitious veneration of them, which can never be thought of so good a man, but for a reason following, which shows they had no need to sell them:
for the priests had a portion assigned them, by Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them; they had a certain allowance by the day of provision granted them, on which they lived; so Herodotus says (i) of the priests of Egypt, that they spend nothing of their own, but sacred food is provided for them, and great plenty of the flesh of geese and oxen is given daily to everyone of them. And this was a delicate affair, which Joseph could…
The Church Fathers
It is indeed reported in what follows that the land of the priests of the Egyptians was not reduced into servitude to Pharaoh, nor did they sell themselves along with the other Egyptians, but that they received from outside either grain or gifts not from Joseph, but from Pharaoh himself, and "for this reason," as being more intimate than the rest, "they did not sell their land" to Pharaoh. But by this they are shown to be worse than the rest, who, on account of the excessive intimacy which they have with Pharaoh, receive no change, but remain in an evil possession; and just as to those who had advanced in faith and holiness the Lord says: "now I no longer call you servants, but friends," so Pharaoh too says to these, as to those who have ascended to the highest degree of wickedness and to the priesthood of perdition: "now I no longer call you servants, but friends." Finally, do you wish to know what is the difference between the priests of God and the priests of Pharaoh? Pharaoh grants lands to his priests; but the Lord grants his priests no portion in the land, but says to them: "I am your portion." Observe therefore, you who read these things, all you priests of the Lord, and see what the difference of priests is, lest perchance those who have a portion in the land and are occupied with earthly cultivations and pursuits should seem to be priests not so much of the Lord as of Pharaoh. For it is he who wishes his priests to have possessions of lands and to exercise the cultivation of the field, not of the soul, to give their labor to the country and not to the law; but let us hear what Christ our Lord enjoins upon his priests. "He who does not," he says, "renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple." I tremble as I say these things. For first of all my own — mine, I say — I stand forth as my own accuser, I speak my own condemnations. Christ denies that he is his disciple whom he shall have seen possessing anything, and him who does not "renounce all that he possesses." And what are we doing? How do we either read these things ourselves or expound them to the peoples, we who not only do not renounce those things which we possess, but even wish to acquire those things which we never had before we came to Christ? Can it be that, because our conscience convicts us, we are able to conceal and not bring forth the things that are written? I do not wish to…
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
Egypt · .Priests of — .Priests of
Extortion · (grain) — (grain)
Land · Priests’ part in — Priests’ part in
Monopoly · By Pharaoh — By Pharaoh
Property · .Priests exempt from taxes — .Priests exempt from taxes
Statecraft · .Joseph — .Joseph
Usurpation · and per — and per
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).
Only the land of the priests. The priests were exempted from the common law, because the king granted them a maintenance. It is, indeed, doubtful, whether this was a supply for their present necessity, or whether he was accustomed to nourish them at his own expense. But seeing that Moses makes mention of their lands, I rattler incline to the conjecture, that, whereas they had before been rich, and this dearth had deprived them of their income, the king conferred this privilege upon them; and hence it arose that their lands remained unto them free. [187] The ancient historians, however, injudiciously invent many fables concerning the state of that land. I know not whether the statement that t…
To make the extent of the benefit conferred by Joseph upon his family, in providing them with the necessary supplies during the years of famine, all the more apparent, a description is given of the distress into which the inhabitants of Egypt and Canaan were plunged by the continuance of the famine.
Gen 47:13
The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were exhausted with hunger. - ותּלהּ: from להה = לאה, to languish, to be exhausted, only occurring again in Pro 26:18, Hithp. in a secondary sense.
Gen 47:14
All the money in both countries was paid in to Joseph for the purchase of corn, and deposited by him in Pharaoh's house, i.e., the royal treasury.
Gen 47:15-17
When the money was exhausted,…
he made them all slaves: In Hebrew script, the difference is very slight between slaves (Hebrew ‘abadim) and towns (Hebrew ‘arim). Moving the people into the towns doesn’t fit the context very well, so most translations select slaves as the reading that makes the most sense (cp. 47:20).
Rashi on Genesis 47:22
הכהנים mean THE PRIESTS. The term כהן always means one who ministers to Deity except in those cases where it denotes one of high rank, e.g. (Exodus 2:16) “Jethro the chief of (כהן) Midian” and (Genesis 41:45) “the chief of (כהן) On”).
חק לכהנים [FOR] THE PRIESTS HAD A PORTION — an assigned portion of a definite quantity of bread daily.
