Genesis Chapter 47

Jacob’s family settles in Goshen and Jacob blesses Pharaoh; Joseph carries Egypt through the famine, and the dying patriarch binds Joseph to bury him in Canaan.

Genesis 47:1-6

Pharaoh Grants the Land of Goshen

Genesis 47:7-12

Jacob Blesses Pharaoh

Genesis 47:13-26

Joseph Brings Egypt Through the Famine

Genesis 47:27-31

Bury Me with My Fathers

Genesis 47:1

Joseph had promised his brothers that he would go up and speak to Pharaoh on their behalf (46:31), and the chapter opens with that promise kept. His report is carefully worded. He names “my father and my brethren,” then lists “their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have,” and ends with the place: “behold, they are in the land of Goshen.” Everything in the sentence presents the family as herdsmen who have come with their own means of living. They are not looking for posts at court or a share of the royal granaries.

The last clause does quiet diplomatic work. Pharaoh had already invited the family to take “the good of the land of Egypt” (45:18), and Joseph had told his father that Goshen would be their home (45:10). By reporting that they are already in Goshen, Joseph puts the place before the king without asking for it outright, leaving Pharaoh room to confirm what is already under way. The tact serves a larger purpose. Goshen kept the family together and apart, on the edge of the Delta near the road back to Canaan, where they could keep their own worship and identity instead of being absorbed into Egyptian life.

Joseph, second only to Pharaoh, does not hide his origins. He speaks of shepherds from Canaan as “my father and my brethren” in a court where such people were despised. The one who had been sold by those brothers now stands before the throne and calls them his own. The writer of Hebrews says of Christ that “he is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:11).

Study Links

Cross References

Genesis 46:31Genesis 45:10Genesis 45:18

Word / Phrase Notes

אֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן (’erets Goshen) — the land of Goshen

Goshen was a district in the eastern Delta, suitable for grazing and close to the routes leading toward Canaan. In the Joseph story it is the place promised to the family (45:10) and requested before Pharaoh (46:34). Later it becomes the area where Israel is set apart from Egypt’s plagues (Exodus 8:22; 9:26), a sign that God distinguishes his people even while they live in a foreign land.

Genesis 45:10