(33) “Accordingly, let Pharaoh find a man of discernment and wisdom, and set him over the land of Egypt. (34) And let Pharaoh take steps to appoint overseers over the land, and organize the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty. (35) Let all the food of these good years that are coming be gathered, and let the grain be collected under Pharaoh’s authority as food to be stored in the cities. (36) Let that food be a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will come upon the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish in the famine.” (37) The plan pleased Pharaoh and all his courtiers. (38) And Pharaoh said to his courtiers, “Could we find another like him, a man in whom is the spirit of God?” (39) So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is none so discerning and wise as you. (40) You shall be in charge of my court, and by your command shall all my people be directed; only with respect to the throne shall I be superior to you.” (41) Pharaoh further said to Joseph, “See, I put you in charge of all the land of Egypt.”
(53) The seven years of abundance that the land of Egypt enjoyed came to an end, (54) and the seven years of famine set in, just as Joseph had foretold. There was famine in all lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread. (55) And when all the land of Egypt felt the hunger, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he tells you, you shall do.”— (56) Accordingly, when the famine became severe in the land of Egypt, Joseph laid open all that was within, and rationed out grain to the Egyptians. The famine, however, spread over the whole world.
(11) So Joseph settled his father and his brothers, giving them holdings in the choicest part of the land of Egypt, in the region of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. (12) Joseph sustained his father, and his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, down to the little ones. (13) Now there was no bread in all the world, for the famine was very severe; both the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. (14) Joseph gathered in all the money that was to be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, as payment for the rations that were being procured, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s palace. (15) And when the money gave out in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, lest we die before your very eyes; for the money is gone!” (16) And Joseph said, “Bring your livestock, and I will sell to you against your livestock, if the money is gone.” (17) So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, for the stocks of sheep and cattle, and the asses; thus he provided them with bread that year in exchange for all their livestock. (18) And when that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We cannot hide from my lord that, with all the money and animal stocks consigned to my lord, nothing is left at my lord’s disposal save our persons and our farmland. (19) Let us not perish before your eyes, both we and our land. Take us and our land in exchange for bread, and we with our land will be serfs to Pharaoh; provide the seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become a waste.” (20) So Joseph gained possession of all the farm land of Egypt for Pharaoh, every Egyptian having sold his field because the famine was too much for them; thus the land passed over to Pharaoh.
(א) קנה אתנו ואת אדמתנו הנה אמרו לו שגם גופם יקנה לעבדים לפרעה וכן אמר הן קניתי אתכם היום ואת אדמתכם אבל אמר ויקן יוסף את כל אדמת מצרים לפרעה כי מכרו מצרים איש שדהו ולא אמר שיקנה גופם רק האדמה והטעם כי הם אמרו לו שיקנה אותם לעבדים עושי מלאכת המלך כרצונו והוא לא רצה רק לקנות את האדמה והתנה עמהם שיעבדו אותה לעולם ויהיו בה אריסי בתי אבות לפרעה ואחרי כן אמר להם הן קניתי אתכם היום ואת אדמתכם לפרעה לא לעבדים כאשר אמרתם לי רק עם האדמה תהיו לו והנה ראוי שיטול המלך שהוא אדון הקרקע ארבע הידות ואתם החמישית אבל אני אתחסד עמכם שתטלו אתם חלק בעל הקרקע ופרעה יטול החלק הראוי לאריס אבל תהיו קנוים לו שלא תוכלו לעזוב את השדות וזה טעם מה שנדרו לו והאדמה לא תשם שלא תשם לעולם ולכך אמרו לו נמצא חן בעיני אדוני שהקלת עלינו ליטול ארבע הידות שנוכל לחיות בהם והיינו עבדים לפרעה כאשר נדרנו שנעבוד את האדמה לרצונו.
“Buy us and our land.” Now they said to him that he should also purchase their bodies as servants for Pharaoh, and so it says, “Now that I [Joseph] have this day bought you and your land” (verse 23). But it says, “So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. All the Egyptians sold their fields” (verse 20), but it does not say that he bought their bodies, only the land.
The explanation for this is that the Egyptians told Joseph that he should buy them as slaves, those who do the king’s labor as he desires. But Joseph wanted to buy only the land, and he stipulated with them that they should work on it forever, and become Pharaoh’s hereditary tenant farmers. Then afterward he said to them, “I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh” (verse 23)--not as slaves, as you proposed to me, but you will belong to him by way of the land. Now it is proper that the king [Joseph continued], who is [now becoming] master of the soil, take four parts, and you take the fifth, but I will be gracious to you in that you shall take the portion of the landowner [⅘], and Pharoah will take the portion of the tenant farmer [⅕]. But you will be sold to him [in the sense] that you will not be able to leave the fields.
This is the explanation for what they vowed to him, “And that the land may not become desolate” (verse 19)--that it should never be desolate [i.e., barren of people working on it].
(21) And he removed the population town by town, from one end of Egypt’s border to the other.
העביר אותו לערים, a stratagem also employed by Sancheriv when he conquered the northern Kingdom of Israel and forcibly exchanged the populations of that kingdom with people from the north. (compare Kings II 18,32). The purpose behind this was to prevent uprisings by populations who had no roots in their countries and therefore had no good reason to start a rebellion.
The explanation of "to the cities" is not that they transferred individuals to disparate cities, rather the population of each city was sent to another city so that they would not lose touch with their social group.
Similarly, a difficult verse describes Joseph’s treatment of the Egyptians: “And as for the people, he removed them city by city” (Genesis 47:21). What is the practical difference of this information? It teaches Joseph’s love for his brothers, as he transferred the entire Egyptian population so that they would not call his brothers exiles.
(22) Only the land of the priests he did not take over, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived off the allotment which Pharaoh had made to them; therefore they did not sell their land.
(23) The Levites shall perform the services of the Tent of Meeting, it is the law for all time throughout the ages. But they shall have no territorial share among the Israelites; (24) for it is the tithes set aside by the Israelites as a gift to the LORD that I give to the Levites as their share. Therefore I have said concerning them: They shall have no territorial share among the Israelites.
(כב) לְחוֹד אַרְעָא דְכוּמְרְנַיָא לָא זַבָּן מִן בִּגְלַל דְחָמוּן לֵיהּ זְכוּתָא בִּזְמַן דִבְעָא רִבּוֹנֵיהּ לְמִקְטְלֵיהּ וְשֵׁיזְבוּהִי מִן דִין קְטוֹל וּבְרַם אֲרוּם חוּלְקָא אָמַר לְמִיתְיַהֲבָא לְהוֹם מִלְוַות פַּרְעה וְאָכְלִין יַת חוּלַקְהוֹן דִיהַב לְהוֹן פַּרְעה בְּגִין כֵּן לָא זַבִּינוּ יַת אַרְעֲהוֹן
(22) Only the land of the priests he bought not because they had considered him innocent at the time when his master was seeking to put him to death, and they had delivered him from the judgment of death: and besides he had said that a portion should be given them from Pharoh. So they ate the portion which Pharoh gave them, and sold not their land.
(א) רק אדמת הכהנים. ... וי"מ מפני שדנו אותו כשצעקה אשת פוטיפר עליו שבא לאונסה ואמרו אם הקרע הוא לפנים אז הדין עמה שהוא קרעו ואם הוא לאחוריו אז הדין עמו ונמצא לאחוריו. ולא יקשה עליך מה שכתוב כי חוק לכהנים מאת פרעה כי על ידי יוסף הי' להם החוק מפרעה. וי"מ כהנים השרים כמו ובני דוד כהנים היו:
(1) רק אדמת הכהנים, “only the land-holdings of the priests, etc.” ... Other commentators attribute Joseph’s showing preference to the priests to the tradition that it had been the priests who had to sit in judgment deciding if the accusation of Potiphar’s wife that Joseph had attempted to rape her was true or not had ruled in Joseph’s favour basing themselves on the manner in which his garments had been torn. Had the tears occurred in the frontal part of the garments this would have been incriminating. The fact that the tears were in the rear indicated to them that Joseph had fled from her and not vice versa. ...
(23) Then Joseph said to the people, “Whereas I have this day acquired you and your land for Pharaoh, here is seed for you to sow the land. (24) And when harvest comes, you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be yours as seed for the fields and as food for you and those in your households, and as nourishment for your children.” (25) And they said, “You have saved our lives! We are grateful to my lord, and we shall be serfs to Pharaoh.” (26) And Joseph made it into a land law in Egypt, which is still valid, that a fifth should be Pharaoh’s; only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s. (27) Thus Israel settled in the country of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; they acquired holdings in it, and were fertile and increased greatly.
(8) A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. (9) And he said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. (10) Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.” (11) So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.
§ The Gemara proceeds to discuss the sojourn of the Jewish people in Egypt. The verse states: “And there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). Rav and Shmuel disagree about the interpretation of this verse. One says that this means he was actually a new king, and one says that this means that his decrees were transformed as if he were a new king. The one who says that he was actually a new king holds that it is because it is written “new.” And the one who says that his decrees were transformed holds that it is because it is not written: “And the previous king of Egypt died and a new king reigned.” This indicates that the same king remained. According to this interpretation, the words: “Who knew not Joseph” (Exodus 1:8), mean that he was like someone who did not know him at all. Although he certainly knew Joseph and his accomplishments, he acted as if he didn’t.