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Genesis 45

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Joseph Reveals His Identity 1–15

1
Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. ​
2
And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. ​
3
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. ​
4
And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. ​
5
Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. ​
6
For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. ​
7
And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ​
8
So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. ​
9
Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not: ​
10
And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: ​
11
And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.
12
And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. ​
13
And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither.
14
And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
15
Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.

Pharaoh Confirms the Invitation 16–24

16
And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. ​
17
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;
18
And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.
19
Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. ​
20
Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
21
And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. ​
22
To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. ​
23
And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.
24
So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way. ​

Jacob Hears the News and Is Revived 25–28

25
And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father,
26
And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not. ​
27
And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: ​
28
And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 45

Verse 1

Cause every man to go out from me — Joseph 'could not refrain himself' (aphaq, to restrain oneself). He had held back before, 'and refrained himself' (Gen 43:31). Now no Egyptian stands by while he 'made himself known' (yada) to his brethren.

Verse 2

he wept aloud — Literally he gave out his voice in weeping (qol, voice; beki, weeping). The sound reached 'the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh', and in v.16 'the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house'.

Verse 3

I am Joseph — The brothers were 'troubled' (bahal, to be alarmed, dismayed). Stephen cites the scene: 'at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren' (Acts 7:13). Christ likewise to Saul, 'I am Jesus whom thou persecutest' (Acts 9:5), and to troubled disciples, 'it is I; be not afraid' (Matt 14:27).

Verse 4

whom ye sold into Egypt — Makar, to sell, names the deed of Gen 37:28, when Joseph was sold 'for twenty pieces of silver'. Joseph says it plainly after bidding them 'Come near' (nagash). Stephen recounts it: 'the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him' (Acts 7:9).

Verse 5

God did send me before you — Shalach, to send; 'to preserve life' renders michyah, sustenance. The sale is set under God's purpose, as Joseph says again at the end: 'ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good' (Gen 50:20). Peter joins 'wicked hands' with 'the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God' (Acts 2:23).

Verse 6

neither be earing nor harvest — 'Earing' is charish, ploughing; to 'ear' is to plough, as in 'to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest' (1 Sam 8:12). Two years of the seven foretold in Pharaoh's dream have passed; 'the seven years of dearth began to come' (Gen 41:54).

Verse 7

a posterity in the earth — Sheerith, a remainder, remnant; 'great deliverance' is peletah, an escape. Joseph speaks of the family as the portion kept alive through the famine. 'Save your lives' is chayah, to keep alive, the verb used of Jacob's spirit in v.27.

Verse 8

a father to Pharaoh — 'Father' (ab) is here a title of honour for the king's counsellor. The psalm sums up the office: 'He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance' (Ps 105:21). 'Lord' is adon and 'ruler' mashal; Joseph gives God, not the brothers, as the one who set him there.

Verse 9

God hath made me lord of all Egypt — Joseph's message to Jacob ascribes his rank to God. Canaan is 'go up' (alah), Egypt 'come down' (yarad), and the urgency is repeated: 'Haste ye' (mahar) and 'tarry not'. The same charge returns in v.13, 'ye shall haste and bring down my father hither'.

Verse 10

the land of Goshen — Chosen for 'thy flocks, and thy herds'; Joseph later tells the brothers to give their trade as cattle-keeping so that they 'may dwell in the land of Goshen' (Gen 46:34). It stayed distinct: 'the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell' (Ex 8:22).

Verse 12

it is my mouth that speaketh unto you — Joseph had spoken to them 'by an interpreter' (Gen 42:23); now he speaks directly, mouth to ears, with no interpreter between. Benjamin is named as a second witness. So the risen Christ offers proof: 'Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself' (Luke 24:39).

Verse 16

it pleased Pharaoh well — Literally, it was good in Pharaoh's eyes (yatab, ayin). 'Fame' is qol, voice, the same word as 'aloud' in v.2: the report that the brothers had come reaches Pharaoh's house after the weeping its household heard, and the king's welcome follows.

Verse 19

take you wagons — Agalah, a wheeled vehicle, here provided by Pharaoh's command (tsavah) for the little ones, the wives and Jacob himself. Jacob's sons later carried him 'in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent' (Gen 46:5), and the sight of them revived him (v.27).

Verse 21

the children of Israel — Here Jacob's sons, bearing his new name; the father is called Israel in v.28. Joseph gives wagons 'according to the commandment of Pharaoh' (literally 'the mouth', peh) and 'provision for the way' (tsedah, food for a journey), so the king's word is carried out by Joseph's hand.

Verse 22

three hundred pieces of silver — Benjamin receives five changes of raiment (chaliphah) as well as the silver, beyond the 'changes of raiment' given to each of the others, as at the meal where 'Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs' (Gen 43:34). The sum is far above the 'twenty pieces of silver' for which Joseph himself was sold (Gen 37:28).

Verse 24

fall not out by the way — Ragaz, to quiver with strong feeling, anger or fear. The warning rests on vv.4–8, where Joseph set the sale under God's purpose, so that the brothers have no cause to blame one another; compare 'how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity' (Ps 133:1).

Verse 26

he is governor over all the land of Egypt — 'Governor' is mashal, to rule. 'Fainted' is puag, to grow numb or slack; 'believed' is aman. Jacob had said 'Joseph is not' (Gen 42:36). Of the women's Easter report to the apostles: 'their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not' (Luke 24:11).

Verse 27

the spirit of Jacob their father revived — Chayah, to live, the same verb as 'save your lives' in v.7. 'Spirit' is ruach. Joseph's words are not enough; the revival comes 'when he saw the wagons', the pledge promised in v.19 and used in Gen 46:5.

Verse 28

It is enough — Rab, much, abundant: for Jacob, now called 'Israel', the one fact that Joseph is alive suffices. 'I will go and see him before I die' is met in Gen 46:30: 'Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.'