(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. (21) As for the people, he transferred them to the cities (Hebrew: וְאֶ֨ת־הָעָ֔ם הֶעֱבִ֥יר אֹת֖וֹ לֶעָרִ֑ים, Greek LXX: καὶ τὸν λαὸν κατεδουλώσατο αὐτῷ εἰς παῖδας = “As for the people, he made them serve as slaves”) (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) 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.
“We with our land will become slaves to Pharaoh.” We will be enslaved to him, and our land will be taxed for him.
(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]. And therefore they said to him, “May we find favor with my lord” (verse 25), [meaning to say] since you have lightened our burden, given that we may take four portions, so that we will be able to live through them. And we will be slaves to Pharaoh, just as we vowed, and will work the land as he desires.
“So Joseph bought all the land, etc.” Ramban has already written that he did not buy them [as owned slaves]. And we shall present how this may be deduced from the Text. And the explanation is that this is how he [Joseph] understood what would benefit the king’s reign, for if they were slaves of the king, then the kingdom would be responsible to provide for their livelihood, even if they did not labor for them very much. But now this would not be the case: each one would labor [and make a livelihood] on their own.
Moreover, [if Joseph’s intent was] to benefit Israel, he only needed to displace them [the Egyptians] from their holdings so that he would have the power to clear out the land of Goshen without committing any injustice. But regarding the [Egyptian] people, it was good for Israel that the former be free, for if someone wanted to buy a slave he could get one more easily than if he needed to buy from the royal treasury. But this would not be so regarding the fields, since Israel did not buy them anywhere in Egypt since they only resided in Goshen. And the Text detailed this whole matter in order to teach us clearly how much divine providence endeavored to arrange things in preparation for Israel’s coming to Egypt.
(א) ואת העם העביר יוֹסֵף מֵעִיר לְעִיר לְזִכָּרוֹן, שֶׁאֵין לָהֶם עוֹד חֵלֶק בָּאָרֶץ, וְהוֹשִׁיב שֶׁל עִיר זוֹ בַחֲבֶרְתָּהּ, וְלֹא הֻצְרַךְ הַכָּתוּב לִכְתּוֹב זֹאת אֶלָּא לְהוֹדִיעֲךָ שִׁבְחוֹ שֶׁל יוֹסֵף שֶׁנִּתְכַּוֵּן לְהָסִיר חֶרְפָּה מֵעַל אֶחָיו, שֶׁלֹא יִהְיוּ קוֹרִין אוֹתָם גּוֹלִים (חולין ס'):
“As for the people, he transferred them.” Joseph transferred them from city to city as a reminder that they no longer had any claim to the land. He settled the people of one city in another one. And the Text had no need to write this except to let you know about the praise of Joseph, that he intended to remove shame from his brothers in that they [the Egyptians] would not call them people who are wandering in exile.
“As for the people, he transferred them.” And some say that the Text is referring to the city-dwellers of Egypt, that he transferred them from the city to the [outlying] towns in order to work the land.
Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis, USA, (2003), pp. 571-572
A global catastrophe and only one source of hope: Joseph and his stuffed granaries. Joseph the Egyptian is in the position of savior of life on earth, but he will not dispense his bounty freely. Selling with prices no doubt shaped by the facts of monopoly and extreme scarcity, Joseph is saving life by making Pharaoh rich and, soon, all-powerful. While we may applaud Joseph’s forethought, we are rightly made uneasy by this man who profits from exercising his god-like power over life and death.
As we see in the immediate sequel, it is a power than Joseph enjoys exercising. He is the center of the world stage. He alone has the authority and the power to command events. All peoples from all lands come and do as he directs. Once Joseph had dreamt of precisely such mastery. Now he no longer has need for cheering dreams. Joseph no doubt agrees with Winston Churchill, who, after years in the political wilderness, finally gained the authority to direct events during a still greater world crisis: “Facts are better than dreams.” But whereas Churchill used his political authority to preserve human freedom against the threat of foulest tyranny, Joseph uses his administrative authority to advance the despotic power of his master. Joseph’s rise to full Egyptian power is, to say the least, highly problematic, both in itself and in its implications for the future of the Israelite way.