Joseph couldn’t control his emotions in front of his brothers and he cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” No one stayed with him when he made himself known to his brothers, and he wept so loud that the Egyptians and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” His brothers couldn’t answer because they were dismayed at his presence. Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please, I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” Joseph fell on Benjamin’s neck and wept, they all wept. Pharaoh and his servants were pleased that Joseph’s brothers came, and he said to Joseph to bring his family. Israel/Jacob’s sons did. The brothers went back to Canaan to their father, and they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” The text then describes, “[Israel’s] heart became numb, for he did not believe them.” After they told him what Joseph said, and after he saw the wagons, Jacob’s spirit revived and he said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” What is it that grounds Joseph in the face of the deep emotions connected to his experience? A trust in God’s sovereignty! He attributes everything to God:
- Vs. 5 – “you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”
- Vs. 7 – “And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.
- Vs. 8a – “it was not you who sent me here, but God.”
- Vs. 8b – “He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”