What Does Genesis 47:27 Mean?

Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. The family's experience in Egypt is presented in stark contrast to the fate of the surrounding Egyptian population in verses 13 to 26. While the Egyptians were losing their silver, livestock, land, and freedom in the famine, "Israel settled... gained possessions... were fruitful and multiplied greatly." The covenant family in Goshen is thriving while the non-covenant population around them is depleted. The differential outcome reflects both Joseph's administrative provision for the family (verse 12) and God's blessing at Beersheba (Genesis 46:3: "I will make you a great nation").

"Gained possessions in it" (Hebrew: wayye'achazu: they took possession, they acquired holdings): the same root as the "holding" (achuzah) Joseph gave them in verse 11. The family is growing in property and material goods in Goshen even as the surrounding population is being stripped of its holdings by the famine. The settlement that began as refuge from famine becomes prosperity: the first stage of the "great nation" formation that God promised Jacob at Beersheba.

"Were fruitful and multiplied greatly": the language echoes God's creation blessing and the patriarchal promises. "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28, 9:1) is the founding human vocation; "I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars" is the patriarchal promise. The fulfillment of both in Goshen: "multiplied greatly": is the beginning of the Exodus narrative's demographic explosion: "the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong" (Exodus 1:7). Genesis 47:27 and Exodus 1:7 together form the arch of the family-becoming-nation trajectory.