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.
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 your's.
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.
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.
1. Joseph reveals himself to his brothers.
2. Joseph sends his brothers back to Canaan to retrieve their father and the rest of the family.
Verses 1–8. The most dramatic stories are real-life stories! These are always the best stories, because God is the great architect of history. His stories will always turn out to be the most creative and the most meaningful. While unbelieving skeptics will look at coincidental meetings as random events in an impersonal, chance universe, the godly will see the hand of an all-determining, personal God behind it all. That is the message of Genesis chapter 45.
Everything came out in this chapter. The pretenses dissolved. The brothers were reunited. Forgiveness flowed. Unquestionably, the leading figure in this story, the man who brought the pieces back together, was Joseph. As he heard his brothers plead for the life of young Benjamin, his heart burst with genuine love and compassion for his brothers. Possessing a heart that was aching to forgive and to reconcile, Joseph broke into a wailing cry as he revealed himself to his brothers.
The brothers were petrified. To their horror, they realized that the second most powerful man in Egypt was their brother whom they had persecuted twenty years earlier! They knew he was capable of executing them all then and there. But Joseph turned the whole situation on its ear. What was shaping up to be the worst day in their lives became the best day. Joseph was nothing but magnanimous and gracious in his grand revelation. He was honest and forthright with them concerning their sin, but he was also quick to comfort them. “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.” Three times in his explanation, Joseph insisted that it was God who sent him to Egypt. Now how did God do that? As you may recall, the story began with Jacob sending his son to search for his brothers. A stranger wandering through Shechem directed Joseph to the plains of Dothan, where he found his brothers.
But then it was his brothers who sold him into slavery, and Reuben was the one who assuaged their murderous intent. Then there were the traveling Ishmaelites who happened to come upon the scene. So, how exactly did God send Joseph into Egypt? We must conclude that God was working through Jacob, Joseph, the stranger at Shechem, the brothers, Reuben, and the Ishmaelites in order that He might bring this grand scheme about. Of course, this is something that we cannot do. How could any of us have made sure that the brothers would have followed through with the act or that the Ishmaelites would meet them at exactly the right time and place to make the exchange? We could have coerced Jacob to send his son to the brothers, and we could have forced the brothers to sell Joseph into slavery under threat of imminent harm. But God is able to coordinate all of these decisions and actions without violating the free choices made by the men involved. This is only something that a sovereign God can execute. None of us can predestine the free actions of men. We can hardly comprehend the idea itself!
God’s intentions in these events are also revealed here. Joseph told his brothers that God intended to preserve life, to redeem a posterity, and to save lives by a great deliverance. Now, these intentions of Yahweh were much different than the intentions of the dark, evil hearts of ten brothers consumed by jealousy. This marks the difference between God’s will and the human will which work simultaneously in these events. God did not commit the sin because His intentions and purposes are always pure and holy, just and good. While the brothers acted out of hatred, God acted out of a desire to see His people preserved and His promises held sacrosanct. So you see, God is sovereign even over the sinful acts of men. At the same time, He is immune from the sinfulness of those acts.
In verse 8, Joseph intensified the point concerning God’s sovereignty even more when he said, “So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God.” Of course, if we had been standing by that pit twenty years earlier, we would have been pretty sure that it was the ten brothers who sent this young man down to Egypt in the care of the Ishmaelite slave traders. But Joseph insisted that God’s cause was primary and preeminent, so much so that the brother’s intentions were negligible. Moreover, in the following verses, he acknowledged that it was God who made him a father-like figure to Pharaoh and promoted him to his powerful position in the Egyptian empire. Above all, Joseph understood God to be central and sovereign in man’s reality.
Verses 9–24. Joseph invited the family to live in Egypt for protection and provision during the remaining years of the severe famine. In those days, raiding bands of warriors and would-be empire builders were wiping small tribes like Jacob’s little family off the map, or they were absorbing them into their own kingdoms. By the careful, all-wise providence of Almighty God, the large empire of Egypt provided sufficient protection for this insignificant little group of people who bore the mark of His covenant. Throughout the history of this world’s empires, God raised up important figures like Joseph, Daniel, and Esther, who wandered into the middle of these powerful states. The grand purpose of history is hardly about these great empires that come and go. What really matters is the people of God who are covenanted to Him through Abraham and his seed by faith.
Before his brothers left to retrieve the rest of the family, Joseph showered them with more gifts, further sealing his commitment to reconciliation. Always the consummate peacemaker, he encouraged them not to fall into strife on the way home. This was no time for further contention. It was a time of forgiveness, reconciliation, and family unity.
Verses 25–28. These final verses contain the best part of the story. It would be hard to imagine the effect this stunning news had on Jacob, the old Patriarch! God was good to the aged father. Over the years, Jacob’s family had been hurt repeatedly by polygamy, strife, jealousy, treachery, and sin. Tragedy marked practically every chapter in his life. In a single moment, all of this changed as God brought His grand purpose to fruition. What joy must have swept through Jacob’s entire being to hear that Joseph was alive! Finally, God brought about reconciliation to a divided family. This is a good Old Testament representation of God’s work of reconciliation. As He restores His relationship with us in the vertical sense, he restores our relationships with brothers and sisters in the horizontal sense. This story also makes for a great illustration of Romans 8:28: “All things work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
1. What was shaping up to be the worst day of these brothers’ lives, turned out to be the best day. But everything hinged on Joseph’s willingness to show mercy. This Old Testament picture reminds us of the mercy shown to us through Jesus Christ. It is at our lowest moments that God turns to us in mercy. At the final judgment, many sinners will experience the worst day in all of human existence. But for those of us who are in Christ, the very worst day will turn into our best day! After casting the lawless into the lake of fire, the Judge will turn to us, and say, “Enter thou into the presence of thy Lord!”
2. Everything that happens to us, whether it be good or evil, is all part of God’s plan. We must believe that everything that happens to us is for our good and His glory! This does not excuse our sin, or relieve us of the responsibility to obey Him in all the situations into which He puts us. We will still suffer consequences for our sins. But rather than fretting over the bad things that happen to us, we should spend our time far more profitably by repenting of our rebellion, trusting in His sovereignty, and praising God for weaving a beautiful fabric out of the broken threads of our lives. Instead of focusing on the evil things that men are doing to you or to others, think on the things that God is doing through all of it. This was Joseph’s perspective.
3. This passage also teaches us to maintain a forgiving heart towards those that have offended us. Even if they have yet to apologize, we should follow the example of Joseph. His heart was fairly bursting with readiness to forgive and reconcile with his brothers who had sinned against him.
1. What are the themes of Chapters 1 through 45?
2. How do we see Joseph’s big heart in this story?
3. Who was responsible for Joseph being sold to slave traders and who made sure that he had a free ride to Egypt?
4. What did God intend to happen when He ordained the evil actions that were taken against Joseph 20 years earlier?
5. What were the brothers’ motives and intentions in selling Joseph to the slave traders? Contrast their motives and intentions with God’s motives and intentions.
1. What are some of the most difficult trials that we have faced as a family? Can we say that God will work these out for good? Can we be sure that our story will end as well as it did for Jacob and his sons?
2. What do we consider to be the chief causes in the events that occur in our lives? What do we generally think of as the most important cause—man, God, or chance? Do we acknowledge the all-controlling sovereignty of God in all the events of our lives, or do we refer more to chance and luck?