Bible Commentaries

And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we [be] thy servants.

Behold, we be thy servants. — Oh that God might hear such words fall from us, prostrate at his feet! How soon would he take us up and embrace us! Deus redire nos sibi, non perire, desiderat, saith Chrysologus; φοβειθαι βουλεται ου φονευσαι , saith Basil; suffundere sanguinem quam effundere, saith Tertullian. I agnized my sin, and the amends was soon made, saith David. Psalms 32:5

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And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for [am] I in the place of God?

Am I in the place of God? — q.d., Can I hurt you when God intends good to you? Is it for me to cross his decree?

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But as for you, ye thought evil against me; [but] God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as [it is] this day, to save much people alive.

But God meant it unto good. — God altereth the property, as of his people’s sufferings, which in themselves are the fruit of sin and a piece of the curse, so of their misdoings, which also he turns to the best unto them and others; according to that sweetest text, Romans 8:28 .

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Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

I will nourish you. — To requite your kindness, that consulted to starve me in the waterless pit. This was a noble way of revenging; this was heroical, and fit for Christian imitation. "If thine enemy hunger, feed him." Romans 12:20

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And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.

And Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. — Fourscore of these he lived in great wealth, and all of them, perhaps, in very good health; as Pliny Plin., lib. vii. cap. 5. reports of one Xenophilus, that he lived a hundred and five years without sickness, which yet was a rare thing, and few men’s happiness.

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And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third [generation]: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees.

Brought up upon Joseph’s knees. — Who with great joy danced and dandled them. So God is said to do his people, Deuteronomy 33:3 as some understand it. Pedibus suis inservit. Metaph. a parentibus qui filiolos suos quos charos habent, sic tractant. - Cartw., Hist. Christi. Sic Shindler. Buxtorf.

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