And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s.
So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians sold him every field they owned because the famine was so severe and they desperately needed food. This is how all the land became Pharaoh's property.
This verse shows how Joseph used Egypt's food storage system during the famine to acquire all private land for Pharaoh, fundamentally changing Egypt's economy and land ownership.
📚 Historical Context
This occurred during the seven years of severe famine that Joseph had predicted through Pharaoh's dreams. Joseph had stored grain during the seven years of plenty, and now during the famine, people exhausted their money and livestock trying to buy food. When they had nothing left, they sold their land to survive, creating a centralized land ownership system under Pharaoh.
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