Genesis 41:48

48 During those years, Joseph gathered all the crops grown in Egypt and stored the grain from the surrounding fields in the cities.

Genesis 41:48 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 41:48

And he gathered up all the food of the seven years
That is, of plenty; not all the fruits of the earth, or all that was eatable, but the corn, as in ( Genesis 41:49 ) ; and not all of that the earth produced, but the fifth part of it, as he proposed, which he bought with Pharaoh's money, and therefore: had a right to sell it again as he did: which were in the land of Egypt;
in which only he had a concern, and where only was this plenty: and laid up the food in the cities;
in places built for that purpose, and whither the people round about could easily bring it, and fetch it, when it was wanted: the food of the field, which [was] round about every city, laid he up
in the same;
which was very wisely done, for present carriage, and for the convenience of the people in time of famine. At this day, at old Cairo, is an edifice the most considerable in it, called Joseph's granary; it occupies a square, surrounded by a wall, and has divers partitions contrived within it, where is deposited the corn, that is paid as a tax to the Gram Seignior, brought from different parts of Egypt ^F15.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Norden's Travels in Egypt vol. 1. p. 72.

Genesis 41:48 In-Context

46 He was thirty years old when he began serving in the court of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And when Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence, he inspected the entire land of Egypt.

47 As predicted, for seven years the land produced bumper crops.

48 During those years, Joseph gathered all the crops grown in Egypt and stored the grain from the surrounding fields in the cities.

49 He piled up huge amounts of grain like sand on the seashore. Finally, he stopped keeping records because there was too much to measure.

50 During this time, before the first of the famine years, two sons were born to Joseph and his wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On.