XLV. JOSEPH IS RECONCILED TO HIS BRETHREN, AND ENCOURAGES THEM AND HIS FATHER TO MAKE EGYPT THEIR HOME. (1) JOSEPH COULD NOT REFRAIN HIMSELF. — The picture which Judah had drawn of his father’s love for Benjamin, the thought that by separating them he might have made his father die of grief, and th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE EGYPTIANS AND THE HOUSE OF PHARAOH HEARD. — Not the sound of Joseph’s weeping, but the news that his brethren had come, as in Genesis 45:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM JOSEPH YOUR BROTHER. — There is much force in the assurance that he was still their brother. For they stood speechless in terrified surprise at finding that the hated dreamer, upon the anguish of whose soul they had looked unmoved, was now the ruler of a mighty empire. But with magnanimous gent... [ Continue Reading ]
EARING. — An old English word for ploughing, derived from the Latin _arare,_ Anglo-Saxon _erian,_ to plough.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO PRESERVE YOU A POSTERITY IN THE EARTH. — Heb., _To put for you a remnant in the land,_ that is, to preserve a remainder for you, as the word is translated in 2 Samuel 14:7. During the seven years’ famine many races probably dwindled away, and the Hebrews, as mere sojourners in Canaan, would have... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT GOD. — Heb., _but the God._ The article is. rarely found with Elohim in the history of Joseph, but wherever it is added it is a sign of deep feeling on the speaker’s part. (Comp. Genesis 48:15.) It was _the Elohim,_ who had been the object of the worship of their race, that had now interposed to... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAND OF GOSHEN. — This land, also called “the laud of Rameses” (Genesis 47:11), probably from the city “Raamses,” which the Israelites were compelled to build there (Exodus 1:11), was situated on the eastern bank of the Nile, and apparently commencing a little to the north of Memphis extended to... [ Continue Reading ]
THY HOUSEHOLD. — As the famine had lasted only two years, and as Jacob had preserved his flocks and herds, so probably he had lost few or none of the large number of men-servants and women-servants who belonged to him. He would thus go down to Egypt as head of a large tribe, who would be called Isra... [ Continue Reading ]
IT PLEASED PHARAOH... — It was of great importance, as regards the future position of the Israelites in Egypt, that they should go thither, not as men who had forced themselves on the country. but as invited guests. Hence the information that the arrival of Joseph’s brethren was a thing pleasing to... [ Continue Reading ]
WAGONS. — Egypt being a flat country and carefully cultivated was adapted for the use of vehicles, and consequently they were brought into use there at an early period. Those depicted on the monuments had two wheels, and were drawn by oxen. The chariots of Pharaoh and Joseph were probably drawn by h... [ Continue Reading ]
REGARD NOT YOUR STUFF. — Heb., _and let not your eye have pity_ (Jonah 4:10) _upon your vessels,_ that is, upon your implements and household furniture.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHANGES OF RAIMENT. — Gifts of clothing were marks of special favour in the East (Genesis 41:42). Joseph’s brethren would thus show by their very apparel how honourable had been their treatment.... [ Continue Reading ]
MEAT. — Heb., _food, victual,_ the usual meaning of _meat_ in our version.... [ Continue Reading ]
SEE THAT YE FALL NOT OUT BY THE WAY. — Heb., _do not get angry on the journey._ Joseph feared that they might reproach one another for their treatment of him, and try to throw the blame on the one or two chiefly guilty, and that so quarrels might ensue. This is the meaning given to the passage in al... [ Continue Reading ]
JACOB’S HEART FAINTED. — Heb., _grew cold._ This was not the effect of incredulity or suspicion, but of surprise. Jacob, crushed by the loss of the child who had taken the place of his beloved Rachel in his heart, had nothing left to interest him except Benjamin. When, therefore, the news come that... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ISRAEL SAID. — We must not lay too much stress upon this change of name, as though it were a title appropriate to the patriarch only in his happier and triumphant hours; for in Genesis 45:6 it-is given him in the midst of his distress. It rather shows that the names were long both in use as rega... [ Continue Reading ]