NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible | Page 89
Genesis 45:15 | 93
44:21 j Ge 42:15
44:22 k Ge 37:35
44:23 l Ge 43:5
44:25 m Ge 43:2
44:27 n Ge 46:19
44:28 o Ge 37:33
44:29 p Ge 42:38
44:30 q 1Sa 18:1
44:32 r Ge 43:9
44:33 s Ge 43:18
t Jn 15:13
44:34 u Est 8:6
45:1 v Ge 43:31
45:2 w Ge 29:11
x ver 16; Ge 46:29
45:3 y Ac 7:13 z ver 15
45:4 a Ge 37:28
45:5 b Ge 42:21
c Ge 42:22 d ver 7-8;
Ge 50:20; Ps 105:17
45:7 e 2Ki 19:4, 30, 31;
Isa 10:20, 21; Mic 4:7;
Zep 2:7 f Ex 15:2;
Est 4:14; Isa 25:9
45:8 g Jdg 17:10
h Ge 41:41
45:9 i Ge 43:10
45:10 j Ge 46:28, 34;
47:1
45:11 k Ge 47:12
l
45:13 Ac 7:14
45:15 m Lk 15:20
n ver 3
21 “Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’ j
22 And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will
die.’ k 23 But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you,
you will not see my face a
gain.’ l 24 When we went back to your servant my father, we told
him what my lord had said.
25 “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’ m 26 But we said, ‘We cannot
go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the m
an’s face
unless our youngest brother is with us.’
27 “Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. n 28 One
of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” o And I have
not seen him since. 29 If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will
bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.’ p
30 “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my
father, whose life is closely b
ound up with the b
oy’s life, q 31 sees that the boy i sn’t there, he
will die. Your servants will b
ring the gray head of our father down to the g
rave in sorrow.
32 Your servant guaranteed the b
oy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back
to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’ r
33 “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s s lave s in p
lace of the boy, t
and let the boy return with his brothers. 34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not
with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.” u
Joseph Makes Himself Known
45
Then Joseph could no longer control himself v before all his attendants, and he c ried
out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he
made himself k
nown to his brothers. 2 And he wept w so loudly that the Egyptians h
eard
him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it. x
3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” y But his brothers
were not able to answer him, z because they were terrified at his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said,
“I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! a 5 And now, do not be distressed b
and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, c because it was to save l ives that
God sent me a
head of you. d 6 For two years now t here has been famine in the land, and for
the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me a
head of you
to preserve for you a remnant e on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. a f
8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father g to Pharaoh,
lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. h 9 Now hurry back to my father and say
to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down
to me; don’t delay. i 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen j and be near me — you, your
children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for
you there, k because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your house
hold and all who belong to you will become destitute.’
12 “You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who
am speaking to you. 13 Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and a
bout
everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly. l ”
14 Then he t hrew his arms a
round his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin em
braced him, weeping. 15 And he kissed m all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his
n
brothers talked with him.
a 7 Or
save you as a great band of survivors
45:1 – 28 Joseph Makes Himself Known. Al-
though Joseph has successfully concealed
his identity from his brothers, Judah’s speech
changes everything. Joseph can no longer
hold back his feelings. With tears, he discloses
his true identity to his brothers. In doing so,
he refrains from condemning them, pointing
rather to the providential nature of all that has
occurred. In spite of all that he has suffered,
Joseph can see God at work in everything
that has happened. Building on this, he urges
his brothers to return to Canaan in order that
Jacob’s whole family may migrate to Egypt
to avoid the five years of famine that remain.
45:1 – 3 While Joseph dismisses his Egyptian
attendants, they cannot but overhear their
distraught and emotional master as he re-
veals his identity to his brothers. With good
reason, Joseph’s brothers are both speechless
and fearful.
45:4 – 8 Joseph does his utmost to calm his
fearful brothers. While he could have with jus-
tification pointed to their cruelty and deceit,
he concentrates rather on how God trans-
formed his tragic personal circumstances into
an opportunity to help others. Twice in these
verses Joseph refers to the concept of saving
the lives of others. While this has a physi-
cal dimension, Joseph’s actions foreshadow
the greater salvation that will come through
Jesus Christ, the one in whom is fulfilled ev-
erything associated with the divine promises
linked to a royal descendant of Abraham.
45:8 father to Pharaoh. Joseph’s descrip-
tion of himself recalls how God previously
covenanted with Abraham that he would be
the “father of many nations” (17:4 – 5). Since
Jacob gave Joseph the status of “firstborn”
in place of Reuben (see 1 Chr 5:1 – 2), Joseph is
heir to the special covenant God established
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
45:9 – 13 Joseph gives instructions for the rest
of his family to move to Egypt so that they
may avoid the hardship of the famine that
will last for five more years.
45:10 Goshen. Although its exact location is
uncertain, it possibly lay in the eastern delta
region of the Nile River, close to the city of
Rowaty, which later became known as Avaris
and then Pi-Rameses (see 47:11).