John Calvin 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)

Then Joseph said unto the people. Here Moses describes the exceptional benevolence of Joseph, which, just as it then suppressed all complaints, so now it justly dispels and refutes the slanderous accusations with which he is assailed. He reinstates the men, who were entirely destitute and, in a sense, exiles, in their possessions on the most equitable condition: that they should pay a fifth part of the produce to the king.

It is well known that formerly, in various places, kings have demanded by law the payment of a tenth; but that, in times of war, they doubled this tax. Therefore, what injury, can we say, was done to the Egyptians when Joseph burdened the land, bought for the king, with a fifth part of its income—especially since that country is so much richer than others that with less labor than elsewhere, it produces crops for the sustenance of its cultivators?

If anyone objects that the king would have acted more frankly had he taken a fifth part of the land, the answer is obvious: this was useful not only as an example but also for quieting the people by silencing the fault-finders.

And certainly this indirect method, by which Joseph introduced the tax of a fifth part, had no other object than to induce the Egyptians to cultivate their lands more eagerly, once they were convinced that by such an agreement they were treated with clemency. And their confession, which Moses recorded, was to this effect.

For:

1. They acknowledge that they owe their lives to him.
2. They do not refuse to be the servants of the king.

From this we gather that the holy man conducted himself between the two parties in such a way as to greatly enrich the king without oppressing the people with tyranny.

And I wish that all governors would practice this moderation, so that they would only pursue the advantage of kings to the extent that it could be done without harming the people.

There is a celebrated saying of Tiberius Caesar, which showed little sign of tyranny (though he appears to have been a bloodthirsty and insatiable tyrant): that it is the part of a shepherd to shear the flock, but not to tear off the skin. Today, however, kings do not believe that they rule freely unless they not only flay their subjects but entirely devour them.

For they generally do not grant authority to anyone except those who are sworn to the practice of slaughter. All the more, then, does Joseph's clemency deserve praise, who administered the affairs of Egypt in such a way as to make the king's immense gains compatible with a tolerable condition for the people.