John Gill Commentary Genesis 47

Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh
After he had been with his father, had had an interview with him, and had taken his leave of him for a time, he came to Pharaoh's court:

and said, my father, and my brethren, and their flocks, and their
herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan ;
Pharaoh had desired they might come, and Joseph now acquaints him they were come; not being willing it should be said that they were come in a private manner, and without his knowledge; nor to dispose of them himself without the direction and approbation of Pharaoh, who was superior to him; and he makes mention of their flocks and herds, and other substance, partly to show that they were not a mean beggarly family that came to live upon him, and partly that a proper place of pasturage for their cattle might be appointed to them:

and behold, they [are] in the land of Goshen ;
they are stopped at present, until they should have further directions and orders where to settle; and this is the rather mentioned, because it was the place Joseph proposed with himself to fix them in, if Pharaoh approved of it.

And he took some of his brethren
Along with him, when he left his father in Goshen. The word for "some" signifies the extremity of a thing; hence some have fancied that he took some of the meanest and most abject, so Jarchi, lest if they had appeared to Pharaoh strong and robust, he should have made soldiers of them.

Others on the contrary think he took those that excelled most in strength of body, and endowments of mind, to make the better figure; others, that he took of both sorts, or some at both ends, the first and last, elder and younger; but it may be, he made no choice at all, but took some that offered next.

[even] five men :
whom the Targum of Jonathan names as follows, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher; but Jarchi will have them to be Reuben, Simeon and Levi, Issachar and Benjamin; but no dependence is to be placed on these accounts.

and presented them, to Pharaoh ;
introduced them into his presence, that he might converse with them, and ask them what questions he thought fit.

And Pharaoh said to his brethren, what is your occupation ?
&c.] Which is the question he had told his brethren beforehand would be asked them, and prepared them to give an answer to it, (Genesis 46:33Genesis 46:34); which was perhaps an usual question Pharaoh asked of persons that came to settle in his dominions, that he might have no idle vagrants there, and that he might know of what advantage they were like to be of in his kingdom, and might dispose of them accordingly:

and they said to Pharaoh, your servants are shepherds, both we
and also our fathers ;
see (Genesis 46:34) .

They said moreover unto Pharaoh, for to sojourn in the land
are we come
Not to obtain possessions and inheritances, as if natives, and to abide there always, but to continue for a little time; for they kept in mind that the land of Canaan was given to them as an inheritance, and would be possessed by then, in due time, and therefore had no thought for the present of continuing here long:

for your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine [is]
sore in the land of Canaan :
they say nothing of the want of corn for themselves, because they could have it from Egypt, fetching it, and paying a price for it, but of pasture for their cattle; for the land of Canaan lying higher, was so scorched with the heat of the sun, and parched with drought, that scarce any grass grew upon it; whereas Egypt, and especially the land of Goshen, lying lower, and being marshy and fenny places, near the Nile, had some grass growing on it, even when the Nile did not overflow to make it so fruitful as it sometimes was:

now therefore, we pray you, let your servants dwell in the land of
Goshen :
which request Joseph, no doubt, directed them to make, it being the spot he had chosen for them in his own mind, and even had promised it to his father; and which his brethren, by their short stay in it as they came along, saw would be very convenient for them, and was the true reason why Joseph instructed them to be particular in the account of their trade and business, that Pharaoh might be inclined of himself to propose it to them or however to grant it when requested.

And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph
Who was present at the conversation that passed between him and his brethren:

saying, your father and your brethren are come to you ;
which is observed, not for Joseph's information, but to lead on to what he had to say further.