Genesis 50:16
Ver. 16. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph,.... Not Bilhah, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, nor her sons, Dan and Naphtali, as Jarchi, grounding it on Ge 37:1 though it is not improbable that some from among themselves were deputed, who were most interested in Joseph; since it is not very likely they would commit such an affair to a stranger or to a servant; and the most proper persons to be sent on such an errand seem to be Judah and Benjamin, the latter as having had no concern in the affair of selling him, and was his own brother by father and mother's side, and very dear to him; and the former, because he saved his life, when the rest, excepting Reuben, were for shedding his blood, and had endeared himself also to Joseph, by his tender concern both for his father and his brother Benjamin; however, they thought fit first to sound Joseph by a messenger, how he stood affected to them, before they appeared in a body in person, to whom they gave a charge, as the words may be rendered, "they commanded unto Joseph" {t}; that is, they commanded those that were deputed by them to him:saying, thy father did command before he died; some think, this was no better than a lie, which their fear prompted them to; and that they framed the following story, the more to work upon the mind of Joseph, and dispose it in their favour; seeing it is a question whether Jacob ever knew anything of the affair of their ill usage to Joseph; since otherwise it would have been, in all likelihood, taken notice of in his last dying words, as well as the affair of Reuben, and that of Simeon and Levi; and besides, had he been apprised of it, he knew such was the clemency and generosity of Joseph, that he had nothing to fear from him, nor could he entertain any suspicion of a malevolent disposition in him towards his brethren, or that he would ever use them ill for former offences:saying, as follows:{t} Powy-la wwuyw "et mandaverunt ad Joseph", Montanus; "nuntio misso", Pagninus; "aliquos ad Josephum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. Genesis 50:17Ver. 17. So shall ye say unto Joseph, forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin,.... Their very great sin, and therefore more words than one are used to express it: unless this repetition should be intended, and signifies that their crime was a trespass against God, and a sin against their brother; and however they are directed to ask forgiveness for it, and urge the relation they stood in to Joseph, in order to obtain it, which they were ready to acknowledge as a very great evil, and of which they repented:and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father; they urge not only the common relation they stood in to Jacob, but what they stood in to the God of Jacob, being his servants, his worshippers, as Joseph also was; and therefore, being his brethren not only in nature but in religion and grace, they hoped he would forgive their trespass:and Joseph wept when they spake unto him; by their messenger; being troubled that they should be in such anxiety and distress of mind, which he had a fellow feeling with, and that they should have no better opinion of him, but entertain such distrust of him, notwithstanding all the kindness he had shown them, as to imagine that he should ever deal hardly with them for their former ill usage of him, which was forgiven and forgotten by him long ago. Genesis 50:18Ver. 18. And his brethren also went,.... The messengers being returned to them, and acquainting them with what Joseph had said, they took courage and went from Goshen to Joseph's house or palace, be it where it may:and fell down before his face; in an humble suppliant manner:and they said, behold, we be thy servants; they were content to be so, would he but forgive their sin, and not resent their ill behaviour to him; thus they further fulfilled his dream of the eleven stars making obeisance to him, Ge 37:9. Genesis 50:19Ver. 19. And Joseph said unto them, fear not,.... That any hurt would be done by him to them, or that he would use them ill for their treatment of him:for am I in the place of God? to receive such homage from you, that you should be my servants, as Saadiah Gaon gives the sense; or rather to take vengeance for injury done, which belongs to God alone: or, "am I not under God" {u}? subject to him, a servant of his, and why should you be mine? nor is it in my power, if I had a will to it, to change his purposes, to alter his providences, or contradict his will, and do hurt to those whom God hath blessed; and so may have regard to the late patriarchal benediction of his father, under the direction of the Holy Spirit: or, "am I in the place of God?" and under him a father of them, as he had been a provider for them, and a supporter of them, and still would be.{u} yna Myhla txth "annon enim sub Deo sum?" Vatablus. Genesis 50:20Ver. 20. But as for you, ye thought evil against me,.... That must be said and owned, that their intentions were bad; they thought to have contradicted his dreams, and made them of none effect, to have token away his life, or however to have made him a slave all his days:[but] God meant it unto good; he designed good should come by it, and he brought good out of it: this shows that this action, which was sinful in itself, fell under the decree of God, or was the object of it, and that there was a concourse of providence in it; not that God was the author of sin, which neither his decree about it, nor the concourse of providence with the action as such supposes; he leaving the sinner wholly to his own will in it, and having no concern in the ataxy or disorder of it, but in the issue, through his infinite wisdom, causes it to work for good, as follows:to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive; the nation of the Egyptians and the neighbouring nations, as the Canaanites and others, and particularly his father's family: thus the sin of the Jews in crucifying Christ, which, notwithstanding the determinate counsel of God, they most freely performed, was what wrought about the greatest good, the salvation of men. Genesis 50:21Ver. 21. Now therefore, fear ye not,.... Which, is repeated to dispossess them of every fear they might entertain of him on any account whatever:I will nourish you, and your little ones; provide food for them, and their families, not only for themselves and their sons, now grown up, but their grandchildren and even the youngest and latest of their families should share in his favours:and he comforted them, and spake kindly to them; even "to their heart" {w}; such things as were quite pleasing and agreeable to them, served to banish their fears, revive their spirits, and afford comfort to them. Just so God and Christ do with backsliding sinners, and would have done with his own people by his servants; see Isa 40:1.{w} Mbl le "ad cor eorum", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, &c. Genesis 50:22Ver. 22. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house,.... Comfortably, quietly, and in great prosperity, not only he, but his brethren and their families, as long as he lived:and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years; and all but seventeen of them in Egypt, for at that age it was when he was brought thither: thirteen years he lived in Potiphar's house, and in prison, for he was thirty years of age when he was brought to Pharaoh, and stood before him, and fourscore years he lived in the greatest honour and prosperity that a man could well wish for. Genesis 50:23Ver. 23. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation,.... His great grandchildren's children; and which shows, as most interpreters observe, that Jacob's prediction, that Ephraim should be the greatest and most numerous, very early began to take place:and the children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up upon Joseph's knees; Machir had but one son by his first wife, whose name was Gilead; but marrying a second wife, he had two sons, Peresh and Sheresh; see 1Ch 7:14 who might be born before the death of Joseph, and be said to be brought up upon his knees, being educated by him, and often took up in his lap, and dandled on his knees, as grandfathers, being fond of their grandchildren, are apt to do. Genesis 50:24Ver. 24. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die,.... Some time before his death he called them together, and observed to them, that he expected to die in a little time, as all must:and God will surely visit you; not in a way of wrath and vindictive justice, as he sometimes does, but in a way of love, grace, and mercy:and bring you out of this land; the land of Egypt, in which they then dwelt:unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; meaning the land of Canaan, which he swore to those patriarchs that he would give to their posterity. Genesis 50:25Ver. 25. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel,.... Not of his brethren only, but of their posterity, as many of them as were now grown up, that so it might be communicated from one to another, and become well known to that generation which should depart out of Egypt:saying, God will surely visit you; which he repeats for the certainty of it, and that it might be observed:and ye shall carry up my bones from hence; when they should go from thence to Canaan's land; he did not desire them to carry him thither when he should die, which he knew would give umbrage to the Egyptians, and they would not be so able to obtain leave to do it as he had for his father. This was accordingly done; when Israel went out of Egypt, Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, and they were buried in Shechem; see Ex 13:19. Genesis 50:26Ver. 26. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old,.... The exact age assigned him by Polyhistor {x}, from Demetrius an Heathen. The Jewish writers {y} say, that he died the first of the twelve patriarchs, though he was the youngest of them; he died, according to Bishop Usher {z}, in the year of the world 2369, and before Christ 1635:and they embalmed him; his servants, the physicians, according to the manner of the Egyptians, and as his father Jacob had been embalmed,See Gill on "Ge 50:2",and he was put into a coffin in Egypt; in an ark or chest, very probably into such an one in which the Egyptians had used to put dead bodies when embalmed; which Herodotus {a} calls a yhka, or chest, and which they set up against a wall: in what part of Egypt this coffin was put is not certain, it was most likely in Goshen, and in the care and custody of some of Joseph's posterity; so Leo Africanus says {b}, that he was buried in Fioum, the same with the Heracleotic nome, supposed to be Goshen; See Gill on "Ge 47:11", and was dug up by Moses, when the children of Israel departed. The Targum of Jonathan says, it was sunk in the midst of the Nile of Egypt; and an Arabic writer {c} says, the corpse of Joseph was put into a marble coffin, and cast into the Nile: the same thing is said in the Talmud {d}, from whence the story seems to be taken, and where the coffin is said to be a molten one, either of iron or brass; which might arise, as Bishop Patrick observes, from a mistake of the place where such bodies were laid; which were let down into deep wells or vaults, and put into a cave at the bottom of those wells, some of which were not far from the river Nile; and such places have been searched for mummies in late times, where they have been found, and the coffins and clothes sound and incorrupt. And so some of the Jewish writers say {e} he was buried on the banks of the river Sihor, that is, the Nile; but others {f} say he was buried in the sepulchre of the kings, which is much more likely.{x} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 21. p. 425. {y} Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 4. 1. & T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 13. 2. {z} Annalea Vet. Test. A. M. 2369. {a} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 86, 91. {b} Descriptio Africae, l. 8. p. 722. {c} Patricides, p. 24. apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. c. 8. p. 379. {d} T. Bab. Sotah, c. 1. fol. 13. 1. {e} Sepher Hajaschar, p. 118. apud Wagenseil Sotah, p. 300. {f} In T. Bab. Sotah, ut supra. (c. 1. fol. 13.1.)