Scripture Daily

Context No. 128 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 45:1-15: in context

1Then Joseph couldn’t control himself before all those who stood before him, and he called out, “Cause everyone to go out from me!” No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Does my father still live?” His brothers couldn’t answer him; for they were terrified at his presence. 4Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” They came near. He said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be no plowing and no harvest. 7God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. 8So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t wait. 10You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children’s children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11There I will provide for you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have.”’ 12Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here.” 14He fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. 15He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

Joseph, sold into Egypt by his brothers, is now the man who controls the grain in a famine. His brothers have come to buy food and have not recognized him. He has tested them through two visits, and this passage is the moment he stops.

He orders every Egyptian out of the room. He weeps so loudly that the household hears it and word reaches Pharaoh's house. Then five words: I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? And his brothers cannot answer him, because they are terrified. It is the honest reaction. The man with power over their lives is the boy they threw into a pit.

What he does next is the substance of the scene. He tells them to come close. He says it again, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt, refusing to soften what they did. Then: do not be distressed or angry with yourselves, God sent me before you to preserve life. He names the crime accurately and declines to hold it against them, in the same breath. He is not saying it did not happen. He is saying he has decided what it will be used for. What have I got a full and accurate account of, that I still get to decide what to do with?

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