Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 47:23

"Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land." — Genesis 47:23 (ASV)

Lo, here is seed for you. —As Joseph would give them seed with which to sow their fields only when the famine was nearly over, these arrangements seem to have been completed shortly before the end of the seventh year; and then, with seed it would also be necessary to supply them with oxen to plow the soil, and swine with which to trample in the seed (Rawlinson, Egypt, i. 76). A fifth part of the produce would be a very moderate rent, especially as there were no rates or taxes to be paid. The whole expenses of the State had to be defrayed from this rent.