The Torah devotes some fourteen verses in chapter 47 to a description of Yosef's economic stewardship of Egypt during the years of famine: he purchases tracts of land - and eventually also the people — as servants to Pharaoh, he oversees a resettlement project, etc. We could read the Torah (and in particular, the end of Sefer Bereishit) quite well without this section about Yosef; it is not regarded as a dominant element in our traditional collective perception of Sefer Bereishit and the history of Israel. What is the Torah's point in telling us this story in such painstaking detail?
Through a more thorough examination of the passage in question, against the background of its location and the adjacent sections, may lead us to a different conclusion as to the purpose of the documentation of Yosef's activities in Egypt.
The famine in Egypt, thanks to Yosef's astute analysis and planning, is actually a source of blessing for Ya'akov's family; in the wake of this period the family indeed turns into a national group: "God planned it for the good, in order to bring it about this day that the lives of many people should be saved." Yosef's actions are a central factor in this process, and thus his leadership becomes the basis for the physical creation of Am Yisrael.
