Genesis 47:7 Commentary and Bible Study

Joseph then brings his father Jacob in to see Pharoah. The conversation between them is summarised. It is Jacob who blesses Pharaoh in spite of the fact that Pharoah is ruler over all Egypt and Jacob is the head of a household of shepherds. Yet, as Hebrews reminds us, ‘without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better’ (Hebrews 7:7); the senior blesses the junior. Jacob has such dignity and presence and humility, that he does this very naturally. Both Pharoah and Jacob accept that of the two of them, Jacob has the greater stature. This is a spiritual matter. It is not simply Jacob’s way of saying thank you to Pharoah; he seeks the blessing of God on this ruler. He does it surely at the bidding of the Lord. Jacob is probably witnessing to the greatest of earthly men that he has met in his whole life, yet his spiritual courage does not fail him. ‘How old are you?’, Pharoah asks. We may assume that Jacob has told him something of the events in his life. Jacob answers as only a believer can. His life is a pilgrimage, not because he is going back to Canaan, but because he is passing through this world on his way to heaven. This, Hebrews tells us, is how all the patriarchs saw their lives. They ‘confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth’ (Hebrews 11:13), and by saying this they showed that they sought a country, not a country on earth, but ‘a better country, that is, an heavenly’ (Hebrews 11:16). But Jacob’s life had not attained to that of his fathers – Abraham dying at 175, and Isaac at 180. Jacob is now 130 years old and he will live to 147, but he describes his years as few and evil. Jacob had many trials and sorrows in this life, even though he looked forward to eternal happiness. He presents himself in a modest way. Jacob says humbly, ‘My life has been one of hardship, not one of personal privilege, not high and mighty, but a life subject to nomadic wanderings. His dignity is obvious to Pharaoh as was Joseph’s – a man of whom Pharaoh had never known the like.Joseph freely supplies his own family with bread and all that they need, even though the Egyptians will have to pay with their lands in order to have bread. They are said to be cared for ‘according to their families’, or literally, ’according to the mouth of the infants’. Christ asks Peter on one occasion, ‘What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? ²⁶ Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free’ (Matthew 17:25-26), and so it is here with Joseph – he feeds his own freely.