Genesis 45

Cuarp. XLV. Ver. 1—28. Joseph makes himself known, and sends for his father.—‘‘ The close of Judah’s speech must have been succeeded by a solemn pause. Every heart is full, but every tongue is silent. The audience, if tatty understood the language, would be all in tears. The ten brethren, viewing the whole as the righteous judgment of God upon them, would be full of fearful amazement as to the issue. Benjamin would feel both for his dear father and his beloved brother, who had offered to give himself for him! But what saith the judge? How does he stand affected? I have no doubt but that he must have covered his face during the greater part of the time in which Judah had been pleading; and now this will not suffice.

The fire burns within him, and it must have vent. ‘Cause every man (said he) to depart from me! and then breaks out into a loud weeping, so that the Egyptians from without heard him. Their minds, no doubt, must be filled with amazement, and desire to know the cause of this strange affair; while the parties within would be still more confounded, to witness such a burst of sorrow from him who, but a while before, was all sternness and severity. But now the mystery is at once revealed, and that in a few words—‘I am Joseph! Doth my father yet live?’ If they had been struck with an electrical shock, or the most tremendous peal of thunder had instantly been heard over their heads, its effect had been nothing in comparison of that which these words must have produced.

They are all struck dumb, and, as it were, petrified with terror. If he had been actually dead, and had risen and appeared to them, they could not have felt greatly different. ‘The flood of thoughts which would at once rush in upon their minds is past description. No words could better express the general effect than those which are used: ‘They could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence,’ ” —(Fuller.) converses freely with his brethren; and finding them deeply affected with grief and self-reproach, endeavours to guard them against being overwhelmed therewith. He saw them truly humbled, but wishes to caution them against despair. “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves: for God did send me before you to preserve life.”

Not that they should forget their sin, and abuse the doctrine of Providence; but that they should trace the hand of God in all his dispensations. ‘So now (said he) it was not you that sent me hither, but God.” Yet they were not to comfort themselves, and say, it was a good thing that they had sold their brother into Egypt; for all the good that arose out of it was from God, and to him they must give the praise. Thus is it in the doctrine of the cross. Nothing can be more glorious than the salvation arising from it, no act more ruinous than the crucifixion. ‘‘Him, (Christ,) being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,” saith St. Peter, ‘ye, by wicked hands, have crucified and slain.”

(Acts li. 23.) The remainder of this chapter is a scene of great activity and bustle. Joseph rouses the energy of his brethren to go and hasten his father to come down into Egypt to reside; and they are no less ready to communicate the glad tidings to their anxious parent, who had doubtless counted the days and hours since their departure, and watched for their return with every rising and setting sun. At length they arrive, Simeon and Benjamin among the rest, and the eyes of the aged Patriarch glisten with joy at their approach; but without giving room for his inquiries, they altogether exclaim, ‘‘Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt!” It is surely no wonder that Jacob’s heart fainted, and that he believed them not.

What a mass of incredibility is here! “Joseph alive! and did you not bring me his garment stained with blood?’ And did I not weep over it and cry “He is torn, is torn to pieces by a ravenous beast? Joseph the ruler over 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 changes of raiment; and did you not tell me of his roughness and severity? The dead alive! My gentle Joseph severe and harsh! O, im- “But here are the asses laden with provisions, and with all the good things of Egypt; here are the changes of raiment, and the 300 pieces of silver for thy son Benjamin!” “It is enough!” said the good old man; his spirit revived and he added, “Joseph my son is yet alive: and I will go and see him before I die!”

Notes on the verses

Now, though it is not probable that Joseph practised divination, yet according to the superstition of those times, supernatural influence might be attributed to his cup; and as the whole transaction was intended to deceive his brethren, he might as well affect divination by the cup as affect that they had stolen it.]—Bagster. Chap., XLV. Ver. 1. Joseph could not refrain.—‘The word Hitkaphek is very emphatic; it signifies, to force one’s self to do something against nature; to do violence to one’s self. Joseph could no longer constrain himself to act a feigned part.”"—Dr. Clarke. Ver 2. And he wept aloud.—Hebrew, “Sent forth his voice in weeping.” {“This,” says Sir J. Chardin, “is exactly the genius of the people of Asia; their sentiments of joy or grief are properly transports, and their transports are ungoverned, excessive, and truly outrageous.

When any one returns from a long journey or dies, his family bursts into cries that may be heard 50 doors off; and this is renewed at different times, and continues many days according to the vigour of the passion.—Sometimes they cease all at once, and then begin as suddenly, with a greater shrillness and loudness than one could easily imagine.”]—Bagster. Ver. 5. Nor angry with yourselves.—Hebrew, “Neither let there be anger in your eyes.” The Hebrew, Charah properly signifies the heat, or inflammation of the eyes, either from excessive grief or anger. See Exposition of (Genesis 4:6). Also (Jonah 4:9). Ver. 6. Neither earing.—‘‘Earing” is ploughing; from the Anglo-Saxon, Erian.—Dr. Clarke.

Ver. 7. To preserve you a posterity.—Hebrew, “To put for you a remnant.” Our translators give the true sense. Ver. 8. He hath made me a father unto Pharaoh.—So even in modern times, the Grand Vizier bears that title; and the name of Lala, by which the Sultan generally addresses him, signifies foster-father.—Orient. Lit. Ver. 10. Land of Goshen.—[Goshen was the most eastern district of Lower Egypt and the frontier of that country and Arabia, not far from the Arabian gulf, and lying next to Canaan; for Jacob went directly thither when he came into Egypt, from which it was about eighty miles distant, though Hebron was distant from the Egyptian capital about 300 miles. The Septuagint calls it here, ‘‘Gesem of Arabia: which is correct, as the country east of the Nile appears to have been called Arabia, in contradistinction from the western shore, which was referred to Libya.

]—Bagster, Ver. 12. It is my mouth that speaketh.—That is, without an interpreter, (which is another man’s mouth, (Exodus 4:16).) The Chaldee saith, ‘In your tongue (Hebrew) I speak with you’—Ainsworth. Ver. 16. It pleased Pharaoh.—Hebrew, “It was good in the eyes of Pharaoh.” Compare (Genesis 41:37). Ver. 20. Regard not your stuff.—Hebrew, “Let not your eyes spare,” or pity your stuff, so as to grieve at leaving it behind. See (Ezekiel 7:4, 9). Ver. 22. To all of them changes of raiment.—“Presenting garments is one of the modes of complimenting persons in the East.”—Orient. Lit. It should seem, from the various instances there cited, that these garments were intended for them to appear at court in, on their return.

Ver. 23. Meat for his father.—[As mazon is derived from mazan, to prepare, provide, Dr. Clarke thinks it may mean here, prepared meat—some made-up dish, delicacies, confectionaries, &c. In Asiatic countries they have several curious methods of preserving flesh by potting, by which it may be kept, for any length of time, sweet and wholesome. Some delicacy, similar to the savoury meat which Isaac loved, may be here intended; sent to Jacob in consideration of his age, and to testify the respect of his son; for of other kinds of meat he could have no need, as he had large flocks and herds, and could kill a lamb, kid, &c. when he pleased.]—Bagster. Chap. XLVI. Ver. 4. Put his hand upon thine eyes.

—To have a child, or a dear friend, to close our eyes in death, hath been, in all ages and countries, considered as a privilege and a blessing. Among the Jews, Tobias is said to have closed the eyes of his wife’s parents.—Tobit xiv. 15. And Maimonides mentions it as a customary rite among the Jews. There are also evidences of it among the Greeks and Romans; according to Homer, Ulysses thus expressed himself on the death of Socus:— “Alas wretch! no father shall thy corpse compose, Thy dying lips no tender mother let pass.” Ver. 20. On bare unto him.—Where the Septuagint adds, “These were the sons of Manasseh, whom his Syrian concubine bore unto him; Machir: and Machir begat Galead. The sons of Ephraim, Manasseh’s brother; Sutalaam and Taam: and the sons of Sutalaam, Edem.”]—Bagster.

Ver. 26, 27. All the souls, &c.—Dr. Hales thus reckons them 3; Jacob’s eleven sons and one daughter, (Dinah,) 12; the children of his eleven sons 54; these make the issue of his own loins, which came with him into Egypt, 66: (ver. 26.) add to these Jacob himself, Joseph, and his two sons, these made his house 70; but add to the former number, nine of the wives of Jacob’s sons, (some being dead, and we have 75; the number mentioned by Stephen, (Acts 7:14). “All his kindred,” who were sent for to Egypt. Ver. 28. To direct his face unto Goshen.—That is, probably, ‘‘to request Joseph would meet him there.” So Boothroyd. (Goshen seems to have been a city, after which the land of Goshen was called.

The LXX. render it by Heroonpolis, ‘‘city of Heroon;” which by some writers is simply called Heroum, and is by the ancient geographers placed in the eastern part of Egypt, not far from the Arabian Gulf.|—Bagster. Ver. 34, Every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.—Several reasons have been given for this; but the principal seems to have been, that they sacrificed the animals which the Egyptians held sacred. So Tacitus complained afterwards of the Jews; ‘‘They sacrifice the ram, in order to insult Jupiter Ammon; and the ox, which the Egyptians worship under the name of Apis.”—Dr. Clarke. See (Genesis 43:32).

From the fragments of Manetho, preserved in Josephus and Africanus, it appears that Egypt had been invaded by a colony of Nomades, or shepherds, descended from Cush.

After many wars between them and the Egyptians.