Genesis 47:6

Gen 47:6 The land of Egypt [is] before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest [any] men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

Ver. 6. If thou knowest any men of activity.] Or ability of body and mind; such as "Jeroboam, a mighty man of valour," {1Ki 11:28} and fit for the work; prudent and diligent, ingenious and industrious, that hath a dexterity and handiness to the business. Such St Paul would have all Christians to be. {Tit 3:8; Tit 3:14} "Let them that have believed in God," saith he, "be careful to maintain good works," or profess honest trades, "for necessary uses," and that therein they be their crafts masters, and excel others, Aιεν αριστευειν και υπειροχον εμμεναι αλλων. This was Cicero’s posy from his youth, as himself witnesseth. And Plutarch tells us that all his strife and drift was, all his life long, to leave others behind him, and to be the best at anything he ever undertook. {a} This should he every man’s endeavour in his place and station, as that which is "good before God, and profitable unto men," as the apostle there subjoineth. Solomon also assures us that such shall "stand before kings," and not live long in a low place. {Pro 22:29}

{a} των καλων εργων προιστασθαι. - Homer. ινα παντων κραστος τυγχανη. - Plut.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 47:6. Any man of activity — Literally, according to the Hebrew, If thou knowest, and there is among them men of strength or vigour, (חיל,) namely, of body or mind, fit for the employment. From which expression it seems rather probable that those five presented to Pharaoh were of the meaner sort of them.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph’s great modesty appeareth in that he would enterprise nothing without the king’s commandment.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 6. In the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell] So it appears that the land of Goshen was the best of the land of Egypt.

Men of activity] אנשי חיל anshey chayil, stout or robust men - such as were capable of bearing fatigue, and of rendering their authority respectable.

Rulers over my cattle.] מקנה mikneh signifies not only cattle, but possessions or property of any kind; though most usually cattle are intended, because in ancient times they constituted the principal part of a man's property. The word may be taken here in a more extensive sense, and the circumstances of the case seem obviously to require it. If every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians, however we may understand or qualify the expression, is it to be supposed that Pharaoh should desire that the brethren of his prime minister, of his chief favourite, should be employed in some of the very meanest offices in the land? We may therefore safely understand Pharaoh as expressing his will, that the brethren of Joseph should be appointed as overseers or superintendents of his domestic concerns, while Joseph superintended those of the state.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. The land of Egypt. This is recorded not only to show that Jacob was courteously received, but also, that nothing was given him by Joseph but at the command of the king. For the greater was his power, the more strictly was he bound to take care, lest, being liberal with the king’s property, he might defraud both him and his people. And I would that this moderation so prevailed among the nobles of the world, that they would conduct themselves, in their private affairs, no otherwise than if they were plebeians: but now, they seem to themselves to have no power, unless they may prove it by their license to sin. And although Joseph, by the king’s permission, places his family amidst the best pastures; yet he does not avail himself of the other portion of the royal beneficence, to make his brethren keepers of the king’s cattle; not only because this privilege would have excited the envy of many against them, but because he was unwilling to be entangled in such a snare.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

6. in the test] Cf. Exo_22:4. The land of Goshen was fertile and good for grazing: but only by Oriental courtesy could it be called “the best” land in Egypt.

able men] So LXX ἄνδρες δυνατοί. Cf. Exo_18:21; Exo_18:25. R.V. marg. men of activity as Lat. viri industrii.

rulers over my cattle] Pharaoh is ready to confer positions of authority, without further enquiry, upon the most capable of Joseph’s brothers. The mention of the royal herds shews us that the position of herdsmen was fully recognized among the Egyptians: see note on Gen_46:34.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The land of Egypt is before thee,.... To choose what part of it he should judge most suitable and agreeable to his father and brethren:

in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell, in the land of Goshen let them dwell; as is requested; and which was, as Pharaoh here suggests, the best part of the land, the most fertile and fruitful, and the fittest for cattle, being full of pastures through the river Nile and the canals of it, and Goshen being the most fertile portion in the land of Rameses, as in Gen 47:11; this, Dr. Shaw observes (k), could be no other than what lay within two or three leagues at the most from the Nile, because the rest of the Egyptian Arabia, which reaches beyond the influence of this river to the eastward, is a barren inhospitable wilderness:

and if thou knowest any man of activity among them; strong in body, and of great parts, and endowments of mind, and of great skill, and diligence, and industry in the management of flocks and herds:

then make them rulers over my cattle; or "rulers of cattle over those that are mine" (l): that is, over his shepherds, to take care that they do their work well and faithfully: from whence it appears that Pharaoh had flocks and herds and shepherds; and therefore it cannot be thought that the Egyptians in those times abstained from eating of animals, or that all shepherds, without exception, were an abomination to them, only foreign ones that lived on spoil and plunder, and made excursions into their country for such purposes: the office he assigned to men of skill and industry was like that which Doeg the Edomite was in, who was the chief of the herdsmen of Saul, Sa1 21:7.

(k) Travels, p. 306. (l) "magistros pecuariae super illos, qui sunt mihi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Schmidt and Answorth.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The land of Egypt is before thee, to view it, and take thy choice where thou pleasest, it is in thy power. See Gen 13:9.

Any man of activity, or, of strength, or vigour of body and mind, fit for the employment. By which expression it seems probable that those five presented to Pharaoh were of the meanest sort of them. See Poole on "Gen 47:2".

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. The land of Egypt is before thee — “Although they belonged to the abominated caste, all Egypt was at their disposal for Joseph’s sake.

In the land of Goshen let them dwell — Since this is your petition.

And if thou knowest any men of activity among them — Rather, men of ability, namely, for such office.

Make them rulers over my cattle — Literally, princes of (the shepherds or herdsmen of) my cattle. Not overseers of his household, (as A. Clarke,) for the word signifies only property in cattle. (Gesenius; Knobel.) Pharaoh would make Joseph’s brethren, as far as they were competent, overseers of his herdsmen and shepherds. So Doeg, the Edomite, was overseer of Saul’s herdsmen. (1Sa_21:7.)” — Newhall.

“The land where Israel was to dwell is here called Goshen, and in Gen_47:11, Rameses. In Exo_12:37, Israel is said to have set out from Rameses. This place was near the seat of government, since Joseph told his father that he would there dwell near him, (Gen_45:10,) and apparently between Palestine and Joseph’s residence, (Gen_46:28-29,) which was probably usually at Memphis, although sometimes, perhaps, at Zoan. See note on Exo_1:8. It was under the government of Egypt, and yet hardly reckoned a part of the country, and appears not to have been occupied to any great extent by the native inhabitants, as the reason assigned for settling the Israelites there is, that they might not come in contact with the Egyptians. Gen_46:33-34. Every thing thus indicates that Goshen, or Rameses, was the frontier province, nearest to Palestine, lying along the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, and stretching from thence eastward to the desert. The Israelites may have spread eastward as they multiplied, across the Pelusiac to or across the Tanitic arm. This was the best of the land for a pastoral people like Israel, although not so fertile as the country nearer the Nile; yet it was well irrigated from Egypt’s great river. It was traversed by an ancient canal, which, according to Strabo, once carried the Nile water into the Red Sea, and on the banks of which it is probable that the Israelites built the treasure-city Raamses or Rameses. Exo_1:11. This canal traversed the wadies Tumeylat and Seven Wells, which was the richest portion of Goshen, although the Israelites doubtless drove their flocks up the water-courses into fertile tracts of the desert. The present Sweet-water Canal of M. Lesseps has simply reopened the works of the Pharaohs, carrying the Nile water through these broad wadies to Lake Timsah, and thence south through the Bitter Lakes to the Red Sea at Suez.

“Robinson made careful inquiries concerning the fertility of this province at present, and found that it now ‘bears the highest valuation, yields the largest revenue,’ and that ‘there are here more flocks and herds than anywhere else in Egypt, and also more fishermen.’ — Biblical Researches, 1:54. This country now produces, according to Lane, (Modern Egyptians, 1:242,) cucumbers and melons, gourds, onions, leeks, beans, chick-peas and lupins; and the inhabitants also make use of small salted fish for food; a list of productions closely corresponding with that given in Num_11:5, where the murmuring Israelites say, ‘We remember the fish that we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.’ The opening of the Suez Canal has increased the fertility of the land since the visits of Robinson and Lane.

“Large heaps of ruins are now found south-west of Belbeis, which are called by the Arabs the hills or graves of the Jews, (Tel el Jehud, Turbeh el Jehud,) which may be memorials of the Israelitish sojourn. Many traces of ancient sites are scattered along the Wady Tumeylat. The geographical position of Goshen was such that the plagues of hail and darkness might sweep down the Nile valley, and even cover Zoan, while Goshen (on the east) was left untouched.” — Newhall.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

אנשי חיל MEN OF ACTIVITY — skilled in their occupation of tending sheep.

על אשר לי OVER THAT WHICH IS MINE — over my sheep.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

אנשי חיל, capable cattle (livestock) breeders.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.