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Ch. 45 (E (J).) Joseph reveals himself

  1–15.  Joseph makes himself known to his brethren.

  16–28.  Joseph’s brethren bring the news to Jacob.

The chapter, except for harmonizing insertions, e.g. in Genesis 45:4-5, is from E.

1–15. Joseph makes himself known to his Brethren

1. refrain himself] As in Genesis 43:31. The vehemence of Joseph’s emotion forms a trait in his character and a feature in the narrative. Cf. Genesis 45:2; Genesis 45:14-15; Genesis 42:24; Genesis 43:30; Genesis 46:29.

2. wept aloud] Heb. gave forth his voice in weeping.

heard] We must make allowance for an Oriental hyperbole of speech, by which it is intended to convey the rapidity with which the sound of Joseph’s broken exclamations, and the news of the recognition of his brethren, were heard and reported.

3. doth my father yet live?] This question has seemed to some a strange one after the interviews which Joseph has already had (Genesis 43:27-28). But the thought of his father is uppermost in his mind, and in the agitation of the moment the turn which he gives to this first question seems to imply a desire to forget the last occasion on which they had met as brothers. He does not wait for an answer, or expect one.

they were troubled, &c.] Cf. Genesis 50:15-21. No wonder that confusion and consternation made them speechless.

4. whom ye sold] The narrative of J is here, as in Genesis 45:5, followed, according to which Joseph was sold by his brethren.

5. nor angry with yourselves] The Heb. is “let there not be burning in your eyes,” “do not look angry, or vexed,” i.e. with yourselves.

to preserve life] i.e. to preserve the life both of his brethren and father, and also of the people of Egypt. The word is rendered “reviving” in Ezra 9:8-9. LXX εἰς ζωήν; Lat. Proverbs salute vestra. Joseph, with warm-hearted impetuosity, urges them not to take to heart their share in the past. God had overruled it all for good. Cf. Psalm 105:17, “he sent a man before them.”

6. yet five years] Cf. Genesis 41:30.

neither plowing nor harvest] A general phrase for agricultural operations, as in Exodus 34:21; Deuteronomy 21:4; 1 Samuel 8:12. There was not even corn enough for sowing purposes. The drought made the ground too hard for ploughing. A.V. has the Old English “earing” = “plowing.” Cf. A.V. Exodus 34:21, “in earing time and in harvest.” “Let them go to ear the land,” Shakespeare, Rich. II, iii. 2.

7. to preserve you a remnant] Lit. “to set for you a remnant,” i.e. descendants; cf. Jeremiah 44:7.

by a great deliverance] R.V. marg. to be a great company that escape. The two clauses are very nearly identical. In the first the emphasis is on the fact of survival; in the second, on the act of preservation.