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And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.

Let us find grace. — That is, Do us the favour to intercede for us to Pharaoh, that we may be his perpetual farmers, and hold of him. It seems that Pharaoh was no proper name, but common to the kings of Egypt; as Caesar, to the emperors of Rome; a title of honour, as His Majesty amongst us. Otherwise these poor people had been too bold with his name.

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And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, [that] Pharaoh should have the fifth [part]; except the land of the priests only, [which] became not Pharaoh’s.

Except the land of the priests only. — See Trapp on " Genesis 47:22 "

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And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.

Grew and multiplied exceedingly. — Here that promise in Genesis 46:3 began to be accomplished. God dies not in any man’s debt.

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And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.

Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. — So long he had nourished Joseph; and so long Joseph nourished him; paying his αντιθρεπτηρια to the utmost penny. These were the sweetest days that ever Jacob saw. God reserved his best to the last. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for," be his beginning and his middle never so troublesome, "the end of that man is peace." Psalms 37:37 A Goshen he shall have, either here or in heaven.

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And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:

Bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. — This he requested, partly to testify his faith concerning the Promised Land, heaven, and the resurrection; partly to confirm his family in the same faith; and that they might not be glued to the pleasures of Egypt, but wait for their return to Canaan; and partly also to declare his love to his ancestors, together with the felicity he took in the communion of saints.

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But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.

Bury me in their burying place. — That he might keep possession, at least by his dead body, of the Promised Land. There they would be buried, not pompously, but reverently, that they might rise again with Christ. Some of the fathers think that these patriarchs were those that rose corporally with him. Matthew 27:53

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And it came to pass after these things, that [one] told Joseph, Behold, thy father [is] sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

Behold, thy father is sick. — And yet it was "Jacob have I loved." So, "Behold, he whom thou lovest is sick." John 11:3 Si amatur, quomodo infirmatur? saith a father. Very well, may we say. The best, before they come to the very gates of death, pass oft through a very strait, long, heavy lane of sickness; and this in mercy, that they may learn more of God and depart with more ease out of the world. Such as must have a member cut off, willingly yield to have it bound, though it be painful; because, when it is mortified and deadened with strait binding, they shall the better endure the cutting of it off: so here, when the body is weakened and wasted with much sickness, that it cannot so bustle, we die more easily. Happy is he, saith a reverend writer, Dr Hall, Contemp. that after due preparation is passed through the gates of death ere he be aware; happy is he that, by the holy use of long sickness, is taught to see the gates of death afar off, and addresseth for a resolute passage. The one dies like Enoch and Elijah; the other like Jacob and Elisha; both blessedly.

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And [one] told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

And Israel strengthened himself. — Ipse aspectus viri boni delectat, saith Seneca; sure it is that the sight of a dear friend reviveth the sick. One man, for comfort and counsel, may be an angel to another; nay, as God himself. Such was Nathan to David; Bishop Ridley to King Edward VI; and that poor priest to Edward III, who, when all the king’s friends and favourites forsook him in his last agony, leaving his chamber quite empty, called upon him to remember his Saviour, and to ask mercy for his sins. This none before him would do, every one putting him still in hope of life, though they knew death was upon him. But now, stirred up by the voice of this priest, he showed all signs of contrition; and, at his last breath, expresses the name of Jesus. Dan., Hist. of Engl., 255.

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