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Genesis 47:21
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19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may alive and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”  
20 Then Joseph abought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s.  
21 And as for the people, he1 moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end.  
22 aOnly the land of the bpriests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.  
23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.
24 And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”
25 So they said, “You have saved aour lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”  
26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, aexcept for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.  

Joseph’s Vow to Jacob

27 So Israel adwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and bgrew and multiplied exceedingly.  
28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years.
Commentaries:
Forerunner Commentary
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<< Genesis 47:20   Genesis 47:22 >>

What Does Genesis 47:21 Mean?



Genesis 47:21-26

Before God instituted this great tribulation in Egypt, the people were a relatively free people, living where they wished and enjoying the private ownership of land. They also owned the means of production; in this case, the livestock. Egypt was not, at this time, a socialist state. Yet, as a result of this great distress that they were suffering, the money supply dried up, and the people became serfs. They became slaves to the government.

They were relocated at the will of the government that owned them. Their basically capitalistic system—capitalistic because capitalism is connected with the ownership of land—gave way to a far more limiting and inefficient means of allocating goods and services called "feudalism." The people became serfs, sharecroppers. All of this in seven years!

What happened in Egypt can only be described as a time of social and economic revolution. It was indeed a great tribulation.

Charles Whitaker
The Other Great Tribulation

Related Topics: Capitalism | Economic Revolution | Economic Serfs | Economic Slaves | Feudalism | Great Tribulation, The | Slaves to the Government | Socialism | Tribulation


 
<< Genesis 47:20   Genesis 47:22 >>

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