Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 45:2 (Fall 1983)
Article: Jacob’s Blessing on Pharaoh: An Interpretation of Gen 46:31-47:26
Author: Brian Alexander McKenzie

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WTJ 45:2 (Fall 1983) p. 385

Jacob’s Blessing on Pharaoh:
An Interpretation of Gen 46:31-47:26

Brian Alexander McKenzie

Claus Westermann has done a great service for biblical studies by calling attention to the long-neglected concept of blessing in OT theology. Salvation consists of blessing as well as deliverance. God not only rescues man from oppression, danger, and evil; he also bestows positive benefits of many kinds.1 Westermann correctly observes that blessing is an important theme in three of the four major divisions of Genesis. The primeval history (Genesis 1–11), which begins by introducing the concept of blessing at the climax of its first chapter (1:28), repeatedly notes that God continues to bless man.2 The Abrahamic cycle (chaps. 12–26) centers on the promise of blessing and its fulfilment in the birth of Isaac; the Jacob-Esau cycle (chaps. 27–36) treats the “procedure of blessing and its consequences.”3 Although Westermann is aware that Genesis concludes with two lengthy blessing passages (chaps. 48 and 49), surprisingly he gives no indication that blessing plays an important role throughout the Joseph cycle (chaps. 37–50).4

WTJ 45:2 (Fall 1983) p. 386

A study of Gen 46:31–47:26 will demonstrate that the theme of blessing has an important function in the Joseph cycle. This study will also show how the theme of blessing explains a number of perplexing aspects of Gen 46:31–47:26. First, it will explain why the author of Genesis included a report of Jacob’s audience with Pharaoh, a report which does not contribute to the Joseph story’s function of bridging the gap between Genesis 12–36 (set primarily in Canaan) and Exodus (which begins with an Egyptian setting).5 Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, this study will explain why the account of Joseph’s agrarian reforms is included and given great prominence.

Before examining our passage, it is important to be aware of one aspect of the theme of blessing as it is developed in the long patriarchal section of Genesis. In the blessing of Abraham (

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