בראשית, פרק מ״ה, פסוק ו׳

In a moment of profound revelation, a brother once sold into slavery unveils the divine architecture behind his suffering. By outlining the stark economic and existential reality of the region, he seeks to calm his brothers' fears, uproot their guilt, and explain the urgent necessity of his mission to save their family.

The primary approach among commentators is that two years have already passed out of a pre-decreed period of starvation. Until this moment, the brothers likely knew nothing of Pharaoh's dreams. They may have assumed this was a random, passing hardship, much like the one experienced during the days of Abraham. Now, they are told that they are facing a divine plan consisting of seven consecutive years of famine [ביאור יש"ר, ביאור שטיינזלץ, משכיל לדוד]. Mentioning the two years that have already passed serves to illustrate the sheer severity of their situation. During this relatively short time, the family has already depleted all their food and money, while the price of grain has skyrocketed. The logical conclusion is terrifying: if this level of devastation occurred in just two years, they will have absolutely no means of survival during the remaining five. Without intervention, their large families would soon reach the gates of death [רמב"ן, הטור הארוך, ביאור יש"ר]. With this grim reality established, the true purpose of the current events becomes clear. God sent a member of their own family ahead to Egypt as a saving angel, ensuring they would receive grain for free and guaranteeing that a remnant of their family would survive in the land [מלבי"ם, ביאור יש"ר].

The impending years will bring a complete halt to agricultural labor, specifically the acts of plowing and harvesting. The emphasis on these particular actions, rather than stating that planting itself will cease, is highly deliberate. A declaration that planting would stop entirely might seem to contradict God's ancient promise after the great flood that planting and harvesting would never cease. In truth, the natural ability to plant seeds remains intact. However, a crushing sense of despair will take hold. Believing they will not live to see the crops mature, people will simply give up and refrain from working their fields [קיצור בעל הטורים].

Other perspectives highlight regional differences in agriculture to explain this halt in labor. One approach suggests that the land of Canaan specifically suffered from a lack of crops that require plowing. Because the famine is so severe, not even a meager amount of wild, uncultivated grain will grow for them to harvest [העמק דבר]. Conversely, another viewpoint explains that mentioning both plowing and harvesting together is meant to encompass all types of agricultural lands. This includes places where the soil does not require any plowing at all and only needs to be harvested, such as the land of Egypt, which is naturally irrigated by the waters of the Nile River [ריב"א].