John Calvin Commentary Genesis 47:5

"And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:" — Genesis 47:5 (ASV)

And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph. It is to be attributed to the favor of God that Pharaoh was not offended when they desired that a separate dwelling place might be granted to them, for we know that kings bear nothing more indignantly than the rejection of their favors. Pharaoh offers them a permanent home, but they prefer to leave him. If anyone were to attribute this to modesty, on the grounds that it would have been proud to ask for citizenship so that they might enjoy the same privileges as natives, the suggestion is indeed plausible. However, it is fallacious, for in asking to be admitted as guests and strangers, they took timely precautions so that Pharaoh would not hold them bound in the chains of servitude. The passage from Sophocles is well known:

Ὅστις δὲ πρὸς τύραννον ἐμπορεύεται,
Κείνου ἐστὶ δοῦλος, κἂν ἐλεύθερος μόλῃ.

Who refuge seeks within a tyrant’s door,
When once he enters there, is free no more.
Langhorne’s Plutarch

It was therefore important for the sons of Jacob to declare, in limine, on what condition they wished to live in Egypt. This made the cruelty exercised towards them all the more inexcusable when, in violation of this compact, they were most severely oppressed and were denied the opportunity to depart, for which they had stipulated.

Isaiah indeed says that the king of Egypt had some pretext for his conduct, because the sons of Jacob had voluntarily placed themselves under his authority (Isaiah 52:4); but he is speaking comparatively, so that he might more grievously accuse the Assyrians, who had invaded the descendants of Jacob when they were quiet in their own country, and expelled them from there by unjust violence.

Therefore, the law of hospitality was wickedly violated when the Israelites were oppressed as slaves and when the return to their own country, for which they had silently covenanted, was denied them, even though they had professed that they had come there as guests. For fidelity and humanity ought to have been shown to them by the king once they were received under his protection.

It appears, therefore, that the children of Israel took such precautions, as if in the presence of God, that they had just grounds for complaint against the Egyptians.

But seeing that the pledge given to them by the king proved of no advantage to them in worldly terms, let the faithful learn from their example to cultivate patience.

For it commonly happens that whoever enters the court of a tyrant must lay down his liberty at the door.