Commentary for Genesis 41:56

על כל פני הארץ OVER ALL THE FACE OF THE EARTH — Who are the face of the earth? the well-to-do people (Genesis Rabbah 91:5).

AND HE SOLD GRAIN UNTO THE EGYPTIANS, AND THE FAMINE WAS SEVERE IN THE LAND OF EGYPT. The verse states that Joseph did not throw open the contents of the storehouses until the famine had become severe in the land, but not as soon as they cried to Pharaoh,¹¹⁷Verse 55 here. as people would cry even when they have a small amount of sustenance, and it was his desire that nothing remain to them before he opened the granaries. This is the meaning of the verse, And the famine was over all the face of the earth, meaning that before he had opened his storehouses the famine was over the entire face of the earth, and then the verse proceeds to explain that he did not sell them food until the famine had become severe upon them. Perhaps it is possible that the verse is magnifying the famine by stating that it was a “famine accompanied by panic.”¹¹⁸See Aboth V, 8.

וישבר, a term used for trading in food and drink, as we know already from Yaakov having said to his sons, לכו שברו לנו מעט אכל. We also find the expression including the dealing in liquids in Isaiah 55,1 ולכו שברו בלא כסף ובלא מחיר יין וחלב, “come for water, even if you have no money, come buy food and eat, buy food without money, wine and milk without cost.”