Genesis 41:34

Let Pharaoh do [this],.... Appoint such a person; who as a sovereign prince could do it of himself: and let him appoint officers over the land; not Pharaoh, but the wise and discreet governor he

Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. Appoint officers over the land - overseers, equivalent to the beys of modern Egypt.

Not by force or violence, for Joseph would never be the author of such unrighteous counsels; but by purchase at the common price, which was like to be very low in that case, and therefore might easily be compassed by that rich and mighty prince. Quest. Why the fifth part, and not half, seeing the years of famine were as many as the years of plenty? Answ. Because, 1. Men would and should live more sparingly in times of famine. 2. It was likely that very many men would lay up great quantities of corn in those years, partly because they could not spend it all, and partly in expectation of a scarcer and dearer time, when they might either use it themselves, or sell it to their advantage. 3. The fifth part of those years of great plenty might be more than the half, yea, equal to the whole crop of ordinary years.

Genesis 41:34 Let Pharaoh do [this], and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years.Ver. 34. And take up the fifth part of the land.] For so much money as it is worth. The Egyptians might well spare it, and the king might as well buy it, since he should sell it again for very good profit. Neither would Joseph advise, nor Pharaoh be advised, to take his subjects’ goods by violence. When Samuel tells the people that their king, whom they called for, would take their fields and vineyards, the best of them, and give them to his servants, &c., loquitur non tam de iure quam de more, he speaks not of the right of kings, as if all were theirs, and no man had anything of his own, but of the manner, and illimited power that some kings take over their subjects’ goods; as in Turkey, Persia, &c. Let it be the voice of a Nero, whensoever he put any one in office, Scis quid mihi opus sit, et hoc agamus, nequis quicquam habeat: of a Seleucus, to proclaim that the king’ s pleasure is the only law; as if it were not enough to be above men, but above mankind: as those princes would be, saith our English chronicler, that would have their will to be law. Melancthon tells us of a certain prince in those parts, that extorted money from his miserable subjects, by knocking out their teeth. First he knocked out one tooth, threatening to do so by the rest, unless they brought him in such a sum, by such a time, as he demanded. The same author elsewhere relates, that he was at a sermon on the birthday of our Saviour. The preacher took his text out of Luk 2:1, "There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed." And whereas the audience expected that the preacher should have discoursed of Christ’ s nativity, of the hypostatical union, &c., he spent his whole hour (the weather being extremely cold) in this subject, that obedience must be yielded to the higher powers; that they must have as much money given them as they call for; with a great deal of such like stuff, little to the purpose, but much to the pleasure of some princes then and there present. Such court parasites many times do much mischief in a state; as well by seducing good princes, qui essent alii, si essent apud alios, as by stickling against them, when the world doth not favour them. When Edward II, surnamed Carnarvan, was pursued by his Queen and son, the Bishop of Hereford being to preach before her at Oxford, and to deliver the cause of her proceeding, took for his text, "My head acheth, my head acheth"; and concluded most undivinely, that an aching and sick head of a kingdom, was, of necessity, to be taken off, and no otherwise cured. Sueton., in Nerone. Dικαιονειναιτοπροςβασιλεωςοριζομενον.

(34) Take up the fifth part of the land.—Heb., let him fifth the land, that is, exact a fifth part of the produce. It has been supposed that it had been usual in Egypt to pay to the king a tithe of the crop, and the doubling of the impost would not press very heavily on the people in these years of extraordinary abundance. As the reason of the enactment would be made known, it would also induce all careful people to store up a portion of their own superabundance for future need. Subsequently, a fifth of the produce was fixed by Joseph permanently as the king’s rent.

Verse 34. Let him appoint officers] פקדים pekidim, visiters, overseers: translated by Ainsworth, bishops; see Genesis 39:1. Take up the fifth part of the land] What is still called the meery, or that part of the produce which is claimed by the king by way of tax. It is probable that in Joseph's time it was not so much as a fifth part, most likely a tenth: but as this was an extraordinary occasion, and the earth brought forth by handfuls, Genesis 41:47, the king would be justified in requiring a fifth; and from the great abundance, the people could pay this increased tax without feeling it to be oppressive.

34. Let Pharaoh do this] Joseph’s advice is (1) to appoint a “grain administrator,” praefectus rei frumentariae; (2) to appoint local officers, “over-seers,” LXX τοπάρχαι, for the various districts of Egypt; (3) to exact for the crown 20 per cent., “the fifth part,” of the grain of the country. Some think an inconsistency is involved in the recommendation of one supreme officer (Genesis 41:33) and the recommendation of local overseers (Genesis 41:34). The two, however, are practically inseparable elements in a sound administrative scheme. take up the fifth part of the land] Lit. “let him fifth the land,” i.e. secure for the crown one-fifth of the annual grain produce of Egypt during the seven years of fertility. In this passage from E, the imposition of a 20 per cent. duty is a special regulation proposed by Joseph to meet the exigencies of the impending famine. In Genesis 47:24, from J, it appears as a permanent Egyptian usage, owing its origin to the initiation of Joseph.

34. Take up the fifth part — Hebrews, let him fifth the land of Egypt.