Genèse 47:14

14 Joseph recueillit tout l'argent qui se trouvait dans le pays d'Egypte et dans le pays de Canaan, contre le blé qu'on achetait; et il fit entrer cet argent dans la maison de Pharaon.

Genèse 47:14 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 47:14

And Joseph gathered up all the money
Not that he went about to collect it, or employed men to do it, but he gathered it, being brought to him for corn as follows: even all that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for
the corn which they bought:
by which means those countries became as bare of money as of provisions: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house:
into his repository, as the Targum of Jonathan, into his treasury, not into his own house or coffers, in which he acted the faithful part to Pharaoh; for it was with his money he bought the corn, built storehouses, kept men to look after them to sell the corn; wherefore the money arising from thence belonged to him; nor did he do any injury to the people: they sold their corn in the time of plenty freely; he gave them a price for it, it then bore, and he sold it out again to them, at a price according to the season; nor was it ever complained of, that it was an exorbitant one; it was highly just and necessary it should be at a greater price than when it was bought in, considering the great expense in the collection, preservation, and distribution of it: it must be a vast sum of money he amassed together, and Dr. Hammond F5 thinks it probable that this Pharaoh, who, by Joseph's advice, got all this wealth, is the same with Remphis, of whom Diodorus Siculus F6 says, that he spent his time in minding the taxes and heaping up riches from all quarters, and left more behind him than any of the kings that reigned before, even in silver and gold four million talents, the same that Herodotus F7 calls Rhampsinitus, who, he says, had the greatest quantity of money of any of the kings of Egypt.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 Annotat. on Acts vii. 43.
F6 Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 56.
F7 Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 121.

Genèse 47:14 In-Context

12 Joseph fournit du pain à son père et à ses frères, et à toute la famille de son père, selon le nombre des enfants.
13 Il n'y avait plus de pain dans tout le pays, car la famine était très grande; le pays d'Egypte et le pays de Canaan languissaient, à cause de la famine.
14 Joseph recueillit tout l'argent qui se trouvait dans le pays d'Egypte et dans le pays de Canaan, contre le blé qu'on achetait; et il fit entrer cet argent dans la maison de Pharaon.
15 Quand l'argent du pays d'Egypte et du pays de Canaan fut épuisé, tous les Egyptiens vinrent à Joseph, en disant: Donne-nous du pain! Pourquoi mourrions-nous en ta présence? car l'argent manque.
16 Joseph dit: Donnez vos troupeaux, et je vous donnerai du pain contre vos troupeaux, si l'argent manque.
The Louis Segond 1910 is in the public domain.