“Genesis 45:1-8”

Friday, April 17, 2020

“Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, ‘Have everyone go out from me.’ So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it. Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Please come closer to me.’ And they came closer. And he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”

---End of Scripture verses---

“Then Joseph could not control himself…” (verse 1) Joseph had mostly kept his composure in the presence of his Egyptian attendants and his estranged brothers. He hid his face and wept when he heard Reuben chastising his brothers before he imprisoned Simeon (Genesis 42:24), and he needed to bolt from the banquet hall and weep privately in his room when Benjamin was brought before him (Genesis 43:30), still he had held it together pretty well all things considered. But after listening to Judah’s heart-rending pleas for mercy, Joseph could take it no more and he erupted in an outburst of emotions. He chased everybody but his brothers from the room, and still “he wept so loudly that the Egyptians” could hear him wailing through the walls (verse 2). The word spread quickly to Pharaoh’s household that his second in command had been reduced to a blubbering mess by a family of Hebrews!

“Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?’” (verse 3) “The statements follow in rapid succession with no pause between them. Judah could not have known it, but more than anything, it was the repeated mention of the aged father—no less than fourteen times—that shook Joseph and brought his self-restraint to an end. No wonder, then, that Joseph’s first thought is for the welfare of his father. True, he had already sought and obtained the information he wanted (43:27f.), yet the terrifying picture Judah has painted makes Joseph cry out in such a way that his words are more an exclamation than an inquiry. That is why there is no reply and Joseph does not press the point.” (Nahum Sarna)

“But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.” (verse 3) Joseph’s brothers were rendered speechless. They could not believe their ears and could not properly process his words. Could this powerful man standing before them really be the brother they had so bitterly hated and treated and sold into slavery all those years ago?! Joseph urged them to “come closer” (verse 4) to get a better look and see that it was true! “Be not afraid of me, but come nearer to me with cheerfulness and confidence, that you may be assured that I am he, and that we may more freely and privately discourse together, so as none others may hear. It is probable that Joseph sat in state, and that they hitherto kept a due distance from him.” (Matthew Poole’s Commentary)

“And he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. “ (verse 4) “At once a reassurance and a rebuke: I shall behave as a brother should even though you were unbrotherly” (Nahum Sarna) “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” (verse 5) The Lord had taken an evil exploit and made good come from of it as only He can do. “The brothers had indeed acted with evil intent; yet behind it all had been the hidden, guiding hand of Divine Providence investing the base deeds of men with meaning and benign purpose. Joseph reiterates that conviction to his brothers after his father dies (50:20).” (Nahum Sarna)

“For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.” (verse 6) Joseph informed his brothers that if they thought the going had been rough for them so far, they hadn’t seen the half of it yet. The famine still had five additional years to run its full course, and the Lord had placed him in his current position in order to preserve their lives (verse 7), and further his plan of salvation for the world. And he knew this to be true because God, of course, had revealed it to him through a dream! Not his own dream, but a dream none the less! More than two decades early they had sneered: “Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!” (Genesis 37:20). Joseph’s way with dreams had taken him all the way to the top!

“Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.” (verse 8) For the third time Joseph attributed his presence in the land Egypt to the hand, the will and the power of the Lord. Joseph was in a sense “a father to Pharaoh,” “to advise him, and to provide for him, as fathers do for their children, and to have the authority, respect, and power of a father with him.” (Matthew Poole’s Commentary)

Please read Genesis 45:9-15 for tomorrow.

Have a wonderful day!

-Louie Taylor

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