בראשית, פרק מ״ז, פסוק י״ט

As the famine in Egypt reaches its devastating peak, the people find themselves completely stripped of their money and livestock. In a final, desperate bid for survival, they approach Joseph, arguing that even though he now controls all their wealth, it is not right to simply let them starve [ספורנו]. They plead for both their own lives and the life of their land. Uncultivated soil that lacks human hands to plow it and produces no fruit is essentially dead, as its natural power of growth is completely halted [רד״ק, בכור שור, הכתב והקבלה, חזקוני]. Therefore, their request is that the fields should not remain empty, unworked wastelands [רש״י, אבן עזרא, רלב״ג]. They offer a total surrender, asking Joseph to buy both them and their land. Their goal is to be taken as actual slaves, knowing that a master like Pharaoh would be permanently obligated to feed and sustain them. At this point, their only hope is survival, even if it requires the absolute loss of their freedom [העמק דבר].

The primary approach among commentators is that Joseph refused to purchase their bodies for actual slavery. Instead, he bought only the land and established the Egyptians as tenant farmers. He also acted with remarkable kindness regarding their financial arrangement. While it was customary for a king who owned the land to take four-fifths of the crop and leave only one-fifth for the worker, Joseph reversed this standard. The people were allowed to keep four parts for their own sustenance, giving only one-fifth to Pharaoh. Becoming servants to Pharaoh did not mean bodily slavery, but rather an attachment to the land and an obligation to pay a fixed tax, without the freedom to abandon their fields [רמב״ן, הטור הארוך, ביאור יש״ר]. To prevent future disputes and ensure the people would not eventually claim ownership of these territories, Joseph relocated them from city to city, effectively severing their historical ties to their ancestral lands [צאינה וראינה, בעלי ברית אברם].

Alongside their surrender, the people ask for seed, not for food, but to replant the earth [רש״י, מזרחי]. This raises an immediate difficulty, as Joseph had prophesied a seven-year famine, and five years still remained. However, when Jacob arrived in Egypt, a profound blessing came with him. The Egyptians actually witnessed the waters of the Nile rising to greet Jacob, making it clear that his presence brought an early end to the famine, allowing the land to be sown once again [רש״י, אבן עזרא, צאינה וראינה]. To ensure Joseph's original prophecy did not appear false, this miraculous relief was confined entirely to the borders of Egypt. Throughout the rest of the world, the severe famine continued exactly as Joseph had foretold [שפתי חכמים, דברי דוד]. Furthermore, the Egyptians specifically wanted Joseph himself to provide the seed. They believed that anything his hands touched was infused with blessing, ensuring that the ground would finally bring forth its fruit despite the years of drought [בעלי ברית אברם].