Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 47:25

"And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh`s servants." — Genesis 47:25 (ASV)

Thou hast saved our lives. —The people were more than satisfied with Joseph’s regulations; and if he had made them dependent upon the Pharaoh, apparently he had broken the yoke of the smaller lords, the hereditary princes of the districts into which Egypt was parcelled out; and they were more likely to be well-treated by the ruler of the whole land than by men of inferior rank. On these hereditary principalities at the period of the twelfth dynasty, see Maspero, Hist. Anc, p. 121.