CHAPTER 45

(1707 B.C.)

JOSEPH

¹Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them who 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 brothers (Zechariah the Prophet said, and speaking of a coming day: And they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced, of which this scene of Joseph and his brothers is a type [Zech. 12:10]).

²And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard (the Egyptians, who had just left the room, could not help but overhear his loud sobbing; they reported these happenings to Pharaoh).

³And Joseph said unto his brothers, I am Joseph (the effect of this announcement can be better imagined than described; hitherto he had been known to his brothers as Zaphnath-paaneah; he evidently now speaks to them in Hebrew); does my father yet live? And his brothers could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. (What will Israels reaction be when Christ says to them at the Second Coming, I am Jesus?)

⁴And Joseph said unto his brothers, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. (The Text indicates that they dont know what to do. Quite possibly, he wondered if they understood when he first said, I am Joseph. So now he identifies himself in such a way that there can be no misunderstanding. He is the brother whom they sold as a slave.)

⁵Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. (Josephs heart beat true to God and to his brothers. He kept pressing upon them that it was God Who had taken him out of the pit and placed him upon the Throne. The way he says all of this leads them to feel that it was against God that they had sinned, rather than against himself, which actually was true, and made the sin even worse.)

⁶For these two years has the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.

⁷And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the Earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. (Joseph attempts to lessen their grief and sorrow by showing them that whatever it was they intended, God overruled it, and turned it around for good. Only God can take that which is wrong and make it right.)

⁸So now it was not you who sent me hither, but God: and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. (In fact, only God could have done this. Men rule, but God overrules!)

JACOB

⁹Make haste, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not (now Joseph gives instructions as to his father Jacob; but with that, the brothers now have another problem; theyre going to have to confess to Jacob as to what happened with Joseph those long years before):

¹⁰And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen (the richest part of Egypt), and you shall be near unto me, you, and your children, and your childrens children, and your flocks, and your herds, and all that you have:

¹¹And there will I nourish you; for yet there are five years of famine; lest you, and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty (this is typical of Israel in the coming Great Tribulation, when God will sustain them [Rev. 12:6]).

¹²And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks unto you (Joseph is telling his brothers to inspect him closely, and they will see, even beyond the shadow of a doubt, that it is truly Joseph who is speaking to them).

¹³And you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall haste and bring down my father hither (this is a type of Israel, when, at a coming glad day, they [Israel] shall declare My Glory [of Christ] among the Gentiles [Isa. 66:19]).

¹⁴And he fell upon his brother Benjamins neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.

¹⁵Moreover he kissed all his brothers, and wept upon them: and after that his brothers talked with him. (This scene is typical of the coming day when Israel will recognize Christ, which will be at the Second Coming [Zech. 12:10]. Joseph kissing all of his brothers portrays the seal of recognition, of reconciliation, and of Salvation.)

PHARAOHS INVITATION

¹⁶And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaohs house, saying, Josephs brothers are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.

¹⁷And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto your brothers, This do you; load your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;

¹⁸And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land. (Josephs grace in covering up their sin before they confessed it, in hiding it from Pharaoh, and in hasting to acknowledge them before Pharaoh as his brothers, illustrate the richer Grace of Him Who says, Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more [Heb. 10:17].)

¹⁹Now you are commanded, this do you; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.

²⁰Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. (And so will it be that of Israel in a coming glad day, when they finally accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Messiah.)

JOSEPH

²¹And the Children of Israel did so (the Holy Spirit referring here to Jacob as Israel signifies the fact that it is the Will of God for Jacob to come into Egypt): and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

²²To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment (spiritually speaking, Israel, in a coming glad day, will have a change of raiment, i.e., the robe of Righteousness); but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. (Silver speaks of Redemption and what will transpire with Israel. Five speaks of Grace, and speaks of the fact that the Grace of God will award Israel a robe of Righteousness, which, in effect, is the Righteousness of Christ, and which can only be given by Grace [Eph. 2:8-9].)

²³And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses loaded with corn (grain) and bread and meat for his father by the way (the famine will touch them no longer [Jer. 30:7]).

²⁴So he sent his brothers away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that you fall not out by the way (dont be delayed).

²⁵And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father (the implication is, they will not only give him this most wonderful news, the most wonderful that Jacob will have ever heard, but, as well, they will have to tell him the truth concerning what they did to Joseph so many years before),

²⁶And told him (meaning that they told him everything), saying, Joseph is yet alive (for some 20 years, Jacob has suffered; the suffering is now over; Joseph is yet alive; Christ is alive! What more can we say!), and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacobs heart fainted, for he believed them not. (The scene with Joseph revealing himself to his brothers was, in fact, one of the most, if not the most, poignant in history; then the scene with the brothers before their father Jacob had to be a close second.)

²⁷And 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 (the Patriarch knew that his sons personally had no way to obtain such wagons; he now knows that they are telling him the truth):

²⁸And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die (it is noteworthy that Jacob is again referred to in this Verse as Israel; it refers to his Faith, as feeble as it was, being rewarded, and rewarded grandly, Joseph is yet alive!).