Komentarz do Rodzaju 41:54

AND THE FAMINE WAS IN ALL LANDS. That is, which surrounded Egypt. Otherwise, what could the distant lands do if there was such a famine in them?¹¹⁵They would not be able to come to Egypt to ease the famine and would have perished. Thus did the Sages say in Bereshith Rabbah:¹¹⁶90:6. “The famine was in three lands: Phoenicia, Arabia and Palestine.”

ובכל ארץ מצרים היה לחם, because Joseph had stored food in the cities.

ותחילנה …כאשר אמר יוסף. The famine began just as Joseph had said. It was necessary for the Torah to repeat "as Joseph had said;" Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dream was proven true especially after the seven years of plenty were followed by the famine. Had the famine not commenced at that time, people would have said that the seven years of plenty had nothing to do with Joseph's forecast.

ובכל ארץ מצרים היה לחם, in all the countries bordering on the land of Egypt there was food seeing that everyone had amassed a private hoard. [the author may mean that the individual farmers sold their private hoards to foreigners, knowing that when they would run out they would qualify for the accumulated supply of the state, while in the meantime overcharging the people from the neighbouring countries. Ed.]

ויהי רעב בכל הארצות, “The famine was in all the countries, etc.” The Torah refers to all the countries bordering on Egypt. The famine most certainly did not spread world wide, for if it had been that widely spread, most human beings would have perished by it.

ויהי רעב בכל הארצות, “there was a famine in all the countries.” This verse contrasts the conditions in the countries surrounding Egypt with those in Egypt itself where, thanks to Joseph’s foresight, the famine was not felt by the inhabitants of the country. This is why the verse concludes with the words: “but in all of the land of Egypt there was bread (food).”

ותחילנה, “they commenced;” our author, following his interpretation of the expression ותכילנה, understands this word as derived from חולי, sickly, meaning that during the years of famine, the Egyptians began to look very sickly. (B’reshit Rabbah 90,6)

ותחילנה, from חולניות, becoming weak, sickly; when the supply of available food ran out people naturally began to lose weight and become weakened as soon as the famine started. ובכל ארץ מצרים היה לחם, “but in the whole land of Egypt there was bread. (food),” as opposed to the countries adjacent to Egypt.

Another reason for the Torah telling us the events in this manner maybe that the Torah emphasised a different aspect of Joseph's forecast. After seven years of abundant surplus it is most unusual to feel the onset of a famine immediately. The Torah therefore tells us "as Joseph had said," i.e. that the years of plenty would be completely forgotten, that people would eat but not be satisfied during the years of famine. This lack of satisfaction with the food one ate became evident already at the beginning of the first year of the famine.