Commentaire sur La Genèse 47:9
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יַעֲקֹב֙ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֔ה יְמֵי֙ שְׁנֵ֣י מְגוּרַ֔י שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָ֑ה מְעַ֣ט וְרָעִ֗ים הָיוּ֙ יְמֵי֙ שְׁנֵ֣י חַיַּ֔י וְלֹ֣א הִשִּׂ֗יגוּ אֶת־יְמֵי֙ שְׁנֵי֙ חַיֵּ֣י אֲבֹתַ֔י בִּימֵ֖י מְגוּרֵיהֶֽם׃
Et Jacob répondit à Pharaon: "Le nombre des années de mes pérégrinations, cent trente ans. Il a été court et malheureux, le temps des années de ma vie et il ne vaut pas les années de la vie de mes pères, les jours de leurs pérégrinations."
Rashi on Genesis
שני מגורי — means the days of my being a stranger. All my days I have been a stranger in other peoples’ lands.
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Ramban on Genesis
FEW AND EVIL HAVE BEEN THE DAYS OF THE YEARS OF MY LIFE. I know no reason for this comment by our aged patriarch. Is it ethical for a person to complain to the king? And what sense is there in saying, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers? He may yet possibly attain them and live even longer than they did!
It appears to me that our father Jacob had turned gray, and he appeared very old. Pharaoh wondered about his age, for most people of his time did not live very long as the lifespan of mankind had already been shortened.236See Ramban, above, 5:4. He therefore asked him, “How many are the days of the years of thy life,237Verse 8 here. as I have not seen a man as aged as you in my entire kingdom?” Then Jacob answered that he was one hundred and thirty years of age, and that he should not wonder at the years he had lived for they are few when compared with the lifespans of his fathers who had lived longer. However, on account of their having been hard years of toil and groaning, he had turned gray and he appeared extremely old.
It appears to me that our father Jacob had turned gray, and he appeared very old. Pharaoh wondered about his age, for most people of his time did not live very long as the lifespan of mankind had already been shortened.236See Ramban, above, 5:4. He therefore asked him, “How many are the days of the years of thy life,237Verse 8 here. as I have not seen a man as aged as you in my entire kingdom?” Then Jacob answered that he was one hundred and thirty years of age, and that he should not wonder at the years he had lived for they are few when compared with the lifespans of his fathers who had lived longer. However, on account of their having been hard years of toil and groaning, he had turned gray and he appeared extremely old.
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Rashbam on Genesis
מעט ורעים, seeing that Pharaoh’s question of how old he was appeared to Yaakov as being motivated by his extremely old appearance, he told him that he was not nearly as old as he might look, but that the various troubles in his life he had endured had left their mark on his appearance.
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