Commentaire de citation sur La Genèse 41:55

אם כה... כל הצאן, the word כל need not be understood literally as “all.” It means simply: “most.” We have many examples in Scripture when the word כל does not mean “all,” but “most.” A well known example is Genesis 41,55 וכל הארץ באו מצרימה, which cannot mean that everybody came to Egypt, but must mean that most people from the neighbouring countries sent representatives to Egypt to buy food there during the famine in their own land. Although in our verse onlyנקודים and עקודים are mentioned specifically, the same applies to טלאים.

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.