What Does Genesis 47:7 Mean?

Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. The patriarch stands before the king. The man who wrestled with God, who received the covenant promises renewed across three generations, the father of the twelve who are the progenitors of the twelve tribes: Jacob stands before Pharaoh in the court of Egypt. And Jacob "blessed Pharaoh." The one who blesses is acting as a person of spiritual authority; the blessing of someone of lower social status is unexpected in a court setting. Jacob blesses the king of Egypt as a patriarch exercises his covenantal function.

The blessing of Pharaoh by Jacob is one of the most theologically loaded brief phrases in Genesis. The covenant promise to Abraham specified: "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). Jacob's blessing of Pharaoh is the patriarchal covenant blessing being extended to the nation that has provided refuge and grain for the covenant family. Pharaoh has been an instrument of God's provision (unknowingly, through Joseph's dream interpretation and administrative work); Jacob's blessing of Pharaoh acknowledges this with the patriarchal authority that carries the covenant promise.

The Hebrew text uses "blessed" (vayvare'kh) for Jacob's action twice in this encounter: verse 7 when he enters, and verse 10 when he exits. The double blessing of Pharaoh brackets the conversation about age that occupies verse 8 to 9. Jacob arrives blessing and leaves blessing; Pharaoh is the recipient of the covenant patriarch's double invocation of divine favor. The king of Egypt, the most powerful man in the world, is on the receiving end of the blessing of the patriarch of the covenant family. The exchange shows the underlying theological reality beneath the social reality: the family of promise carries a spiritual authority that transcends earthly rank.