Gen. 45:1 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.
Gen. 45:2 And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.
Joseph could control himself no longer. He sent everyone away except his brothers. He began weeping so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, even Pharaoh’s household heard, indicating their living quarters were in close proximity.
Gen. 45:3 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.
Gen. 45:4 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.
Gen. 45:5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen. 45:6 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.
Gen. 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen. 45:8 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.
Joseph finally told his brothers who he was and asked them again if his father was still living. They were so terrified that they couldn’t speak. Joseph called his brothers closer and told them not to worry about the past because it was God that had sent him to Egypt to deliver His people, their families, from this very famine in a wonderful way. He told them that the famine would last five more years. (Joseph is 39. See notes at 42:1-5.) Again, he emphasized that it was God that sent him to Egypt and put him in this position of power.
This is another one of those instances that demonstrate how God with His foreknowledge uses the choices of men to accomplish His purposes. Though Joseph in grace and mercy seemed to be absolving his brothers of guilt, we know that before God, however, they were guilty. Joseph was lovingly willing to look beyond their sin to God’s purpose.
I liked Guzik’s thought: “Their dismay was a preview, a prophecy of what will happen when the Jewish people again see Jesus and see Him for who He is: And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn (Zechariah 12:10).”
Smith: “And Joseph as we pointed out before is a beautiful type of Christ. A type of Christ being sold, rejected by his brothers. They refused him. They rejected him and sold him into slavery. But now at their second coming, he makes himself known to them. He"s revealed at the second coming who he really is. And as He is revealed unto them, He has great mercy upon them.”
Henry (v4): “When Christ manifests himself to his people, he encourages them to draw near to him with a true heart.”
Gen. 45:9 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:
Gen. 45:10 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:
Gen. 45:11 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.
Gen. 45:12 And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.
Gen. 45:13 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.
Gen. 45:14 And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
Gen. 45:15 Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.
They were to go home and tell Jacob that God had made Joseph ruler over all of Egypt. He wanted his father to come with all his sons and all his household to live in the land of Egypt in the area called Goshen to be near him. Joseph would provide for them all during the next five years of famine. They could see with their own eyes that he was Joseph. He wanted his brother to emphasize to Jacob that Joseph had great authority and power in Egypt, so he shouldn’t be afraid to come. Then he hugged Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin hugged him and wept. Then he kissed all of his brothers, still weeping, and they talked. (Wouldn’t you have liked to have overheard that conversation!)
Constable: “Goshen (a Semitic rather than an Egyptian name) was the most fertile part of Egypt. It lay in the delta region northeast of the Egyptian capital, Memphis.”
Gen. 45:16 And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
Gen. 45:17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;
Gen. 45:18 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.
Gen. 45:19 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.
Gen. 45:20 Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
Gen. 45:21 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.
Gen. 45:22 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.
Gen. 45:23 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.
Gen. 45:24 So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.
News reached Pharaoh and his officials that Joseph’s brothers had come, and they were happy for him. Pharaoh told Joseph to tell his brothers to go to Canaan and get their father and their families and come back. He would give them Egypt’s best. He told them to take some carts to transport their families and not to worry about their belongings, because he would give them the best that Egypt had to offer. So Joseph gave them new carts and new clothing per Pharaoh’s command. All of the brothers were given a new set of clothes, but Benjamin was given 300 pieces of silver and five new sets of clothes. He sent his father ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other things for his journey. Then he sent his brothers on their way with a reminder not to quarrel along the way.
Gen. 45:25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father,
Gen. 45:26 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.
Gen. 45:27 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:
Gen. 45:28 And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.
When they got home, they told Jacob that Joseph was alive and was ruler over all Egypt. He didn’t believe them at first. When they showed him the carts and told him all that Joseph had said, he believed. He got a new lease on life. He decided to go and see his son before he died.
The closest I can get to relating to Israel is knowing the relief and wonder I felt when I really believed that my son had turned his life around. The road has been full of bumps, but I know God is going to use him in a special way. Maybe not as a ruler in this world—but maybe as a source of strength to his loved ones in times of need.
Gen. 46:1 And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.
Gen. 46:2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
Gen. 46:3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:
Gen. 46:4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.
Israel (Jacob) sets out for Egypt with everything that was his. When he reached Beersheba (on the southern border of Canaan), he offered sacrifices to “the God of his father Isaac.”
It’s always interesting to me how God refers to Himself as the “God of __________’s father.” Why does He not just say “Jacob’s God” or “your God.” I guess at this early point in the history of the people of Israel it probably served as a reminder that God’s promise to them was established with the early patriarchs. Thing is—this was written for us as well as them. Maybe we are the ones that need the constant reminder that God has had a plan from the beginning, a plan to provide a Redeemer for us all through His people Israel. Just my brain running in circles again.
God speaks to Israel in a vision at night. He hears God call his name (Jacob), and he replies that he hears Him and is there. Then God reminds him that He is God, THE GOD, the God of his father. God tells him not to fear going to Egypt because He was going to make him into a great nation there. He promises to bring him back home (to Canaan) and that he, Jacob, would be with Joseph when he died.
To put one’s hand upon one’s eyes is a reference to closing them at death.
God had communicated with Abraham (chapter 22), Isaac (26:23-24) and now Jacob at Beersheba.
Guzik: “As Jacob led his family into this foreign land, he did not know what the future held. At the same time, he knew the future was in God’s hands.”
Gen. 46:5 And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
Gen. 46:6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him:
Gen. 46:7 His sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.
So Jacob and all of his sons and wives, daughters, grandchildren, livestock and possessions went to Egypt. They used the carts that Pharaoh had sent them to carry Jacob, the children, and their wives.
Gen. 46:8 And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.
Gen. 46:9 And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.
Gen. 46:10 And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.
Gen. 46:11 And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
Gen. 46:12 And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zerah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.
Gen. 46:13 And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron.
Gen. 46:14 And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.
Gen. 46:15 These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three.
Gen. 46:16 And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli.
Gen. 46:17 And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel.
Gen. 46:18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.
Gen. 46:19 The sons of Rachel Jacob’s wife; Joseph, and Benjamin.
Gen. 46:20 And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him.
Gen. 46:21 And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.
Gen. 46:22 These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.
Gen. 46:23 And the sons of Dan; Hushim.
Gen. 46:24 And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem.
Gen. 46:25 These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven.
Gen. 46:26 All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six;
Gen. 46:27 And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.
These verses are a listing of all the children and grandchildren born to Jacob through his wives and their handmaidens. At the end of the list we are told that it equaled 66 direct descendants of Israel plus Joseph and his two sons and Jacob himself, I presume, to total 70. The cross reference to Acts 7:14 says there were 75 in all. I’m sure some would call this a contradiction; but we don’t have the full listing in Acts from which to reference the count. I know that it is a difference in the definition/perspective/resource of the author. Acts does not specify “direct descendants.” It may have included wives minus Joseph and his sons.
Leah:
Reuben with four sons.
Simeon with six sons.
Levi with three sons.
Judah with three sons and two grandsons.
Issachar with four sons.
Zebulun with three sons.
Dinah Total 33
Zilpah:
Gad with seven sons
Asher with four sons, one daughter, and two grandsons
Total 17
The text references 16; Maybe Zilpah was dead or she didn’t count since her children were considered as Leah’s.
Rachel (deceased):
Joseph with two sons
Benjamin with ten sons Total 14
Bilhah:
Dan with one son
Naphtali with four sons Total 8
Again, the text references 7; Bilhah was dead or she didn’t count since her children were considered as Rachel’s.
Grand total = 70 (without Zilpah and Bilhah)
Minus Jacob and Joseph and Ephraim and Manasseh = 66
Guzik: “In Acts 7:14, Stephen said that there were 75 who went into Egypt. This is because Stephen quoted from the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, which says 75. The number in the Septuagint is not wrong, just arrived at in a different way, specifically adding five more sons (or grandsons) of Joseph born in Egypt.”
Clarke: ""In this statement the wives of Jacob's sons, who formed part of the household, are omitted; but they amounted to nine, for of the twelve wives of the twelve sons of Jacob, Judah's wife was dead, Genesis 38:12, and Simeon's also, as we may collect from his youngest son Shaul by a Canannitess, Genesis 46:10, and Joseph's wife was already in Egypt. These nine wives, therefore, added to the sixty-six, give seventy-five souls the whole amount of Jacob's household that went down with him to Egypt….”
Constable: “It can hardly go without notice that the number of nations in Genesis 10 is also "seventy." Just as the "seventy nations" represent all the descendants of Adam, so now the "seventy sons" represent all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-the children of Israel.”s
Gen. 46:28 And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.
Gen. 46:29 And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.
Gen. 46:30 And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.
Jacob sent Judah ahead to get directions to Goshen from Joseph. Joseph immediately got in his chariot and went to meet his father. Upon seeing his father, Joseph threw his arms around him and cried for a long time. Jacob felt that he could die in peace after seeing his son again.
Gen. 46:31 And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me;
Gen. 46:32 And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.
Gen. 46:33 And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation?
Gen. 46:34 That ye shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
Joseph told them that he would let Pharaoh know that they had arrived with all of their livestock and that they were shepherds. He told them that when Pharaoh called them in and asked their occupation, they should tell him that they had tended livestock from their youth just as their fathers before them. He would then allow them to settle in Goshen, separate from the rest of the Egyptians, because shepherds were detestable to the Egyptians.
Several commentators note that this separation allowed the people to grow as a nation without threat of intermarriage as would have been more likely had they remained in Canaan.