Genesis Chapter 45

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.

Joseph was such a powerful man that he could have exacted a cruel revenge on his brothers had he chosen to do so, but Joseph clearly loved his brothers and forgave them for what they did to him. That doesn’t mean he instantly trusted them…he didn’t know where their heart was and if they had learned their lesson. He tested them to see how they handled Benjamin and this showed Joseph what he needed to know, his brothers had repented for what they did, and it changed them into better men.

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.

Imagine his 11 brothers standing there looking at him, this powerful ruler over Egypt… they think they’ve been brought before him because the cup was found with Benjamin. They’re scared they won’t be able to take Benjamin back to their father…. and the powerful man who holds their future in his hands begins to weep so loudly the people in the house of Pharaoh heard it. He claims to be their lost brother Joseph, and he’s asking them if his father is alive…they don’t know what to say to him… they don’t recognize him.

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.

When Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, there was no hint of a famine. God, who sees the past the present and the future in a single glance knew however and already, years before the famine, he was planning their salvation from starvation. He was planning this even as they were treating their brother poorly because of their hateful jealousy.
Romans 5:8 ⁸ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
I’ve seen this type of love from God in my own life. Long before my husband needed deliverance from a situation, God was at work setting things up so that when the time came, he could not only deliver my husband, but free our lives completely from the bondage we were in. It doesn’t matter what the enemy was trying to do with our lives, God had a greater plan.

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.

Joseph gives God praise for everything that happened and tells his brothers that even in selling him to be a slave, it was God’s plan in action to enact a deliverance for this time of famine they were currently in. Joseph is humble, he knows everything that is happening on their behalf is because of God and his mercy. This is true humility. Joseph doesn’t seek any of the glory for their 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.

Joseph states clearly he is in this position because God put him there to save his family.

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.

Pharaoh was so happy that Joseph found his family that he sent a moving caravan to go out to get them and bring them to Egypt.

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.

Joseph showered his brothers and father with gifts, especially his whole brother, Benjamin.

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.

Imagine the joy of seeing your estranged son after thinking they were dead all these years! No matter what, you never stop loving your child…even when they are gone from your life, you carry that love in your heart. I understand Jacob’s hope to see his son again before he dies.