בראשית, פרק מ״ז, פסוק ט״ו

The severe famine consuming the region reaches a critical threshold as the local economies completely collapse. After exhausting their surplus crops and draining their life savings, the desperate population is forced to confront their ruler, pleading that they should not be allowed to perish right before his eyes [שד״ל, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The financial ruin is absolute, with every last penny spent [ביאור יש״ר], though some suggest the funds were not entirely destroyed but merely unavailable, tied up in distant investments [אור החיים]. Normally, the poor run out of money before the wealthy, and this moment marks the point when even the richest citizens are left with nothing. However, a midrashic perspective suggests a more miraculous synchronization: Joseph utilized divine inspiration to price the grain individually, charging the wealthy exorbitant rates while selling cheaply to the poor, ensuring that the entire nation's wealth was depleted at the exact same moment [הטור הארוך]. Approaching Joseph, the Egyptians insisted they were completely out of cash [ביאור שטיינזלץ] and swore they were not concealing any hidden fortunes [העמק דבר].

The financial ruin extended beyond Egypt into Canaan, yet only the Egyptians are recorded arriving before Joseph. The Canaanites may have simply sought sustenance in other regions [רד״ק]. Alternatively, a geographical distinction explains their absence: Canaan still possessed animal fodder that humans could consume in an emergency, meaning only the wealthy and pampered bothered traveling to Egypt. In Egypt, however, the land was entirely barren [העמק דבר]. The primary approach among commentators is that the Egyptians actually used the financial collapse of Canaan as a bargaining chip. They argued to Joseph that since the Canaanites were broke and could no longer purchase food, the royal grain reserves would simply rot without buyers. Therefore, it made practical sense to distribute the food to the Egyptians rather than letting them die in vain [רמב״ן, הטור הארוך].

Reduced to begging, the Egyptians no longer requested high-quality food. Accustomed to the crushing hardship of the famine, they pleaded for any bread at all [העמק דבר]. They reasoned that a lack of liquid assets should not be a death sentence when they could barter with their livestock. Joseph agreed to accept their animals, but only upon confirming their money was truly gone. This was a calculated move to deliberately impoverish the nation. By forcing them to spend their last resources feeding themselves and their animals, Joseph ensured that by the time his own brothers arrived in Egypt, the local population would be completely destitute, causing his family to appear wealthy and distinguished by contrast. Alternatively, Joseph suspected the Egyptians still had foreign investments, so he seized their livestock merely as collateral until they could produce the actual payment [אור החיים].

On a broader historical scale, the systematic draining of Egyptian wealth was orchestrated by God. Stripping the Egyptians of their financial power prevented them from legally purchasing the Israelites as slaves or engaging in binding commerce with them. Had the Israelites been bought with full payment, securing their freedom during the Exodus would have been significantly more complicated [שפתי כהן]. Chronologically, these events unfolded during the sixth year of the famine, when livestock was traded, leading into the seventh year when the people would trade their land. This timeline, however, presents a challenge against a well-known tradition asserting that the famine abruptly ended and the Nile miraculously overflowed the moment Jacob arrived in Egypt. If the famine had indeed ceased early due to Jacob's blessing, it remains difficult to reconcile how this prolonged, multi-year process of liquidating livestock and real estate could have taken place [רד״ק, שפתי כהן].