The Law · Chapter 45 of 50

Genesis 45

Joseph can no longer hold back. He sends the Egyptians out and reveals himself to his terrified brothers, weeping aloud. Rather than accuse them, he tells them God sent him ahead to preserve life during the famine. He urges them to bring their father Jacob down to Goshen. Pharaoh welcomes the news, and the brothers return to Canaan with wagons and word that Joseph lives.

What happens in Genesis 45

Overcome with emotion, Joseph clears the room and declares, I am Joseph, asking whether his father still lives (Genesis 45:3). His brothers stand speechless and afraid, remembering how they sold him. Joseph gently calls them near and reframes their crime: it was God who sent him ahead to preserve a remnant and to save lives by a great deliverance (Genesis 45:7). He instructs them to hurry to Jacob with the message that Joseph is lord of all Egypt, and to settle in Goshen where he will provide for them through the remaining five years of famine.

He embraces Benjamin and weeps on all his brothers. Pharaoh, hearing the news, is pleased and offers wagons and the best of the land. Joseph sends them off with provisions, garments, and silver for Benjamin, warning them not to quarrel on the way. Jacob, at first unbelieving, revives when he sees the wagons.

Genesis 45 in context

This chapter completes the long Joseph narrative that began in Genesis 37, where his brothers sold him into slavery out of jealousy. Years of servitude, false accusation, and imprisonment in Egypt have led, through God's providence, to Joseph's rise as second only to Pharaoh.

The reconciliation here sets the stage for Israel's migration to Egypt, fulfilling the earlier word to Abraham that his descendants would sojourn in a land not their own.

Main themes of Genesis 45

Genesis 45 (KJV)

1Then 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. 2And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3And 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. 4And 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. 5Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 6For 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. 7And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8So 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. 9Haste 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: 10And 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: 11And 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. 12And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. 13And 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. 14And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him. 16And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. 17And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan; 18And 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. 19Now 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. 20Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. 21And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 22To 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. 23And 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. 24So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way. 25And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, 26And 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. 27And 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: 28And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.

Verses to carry from Genesis 45

“Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.”Genesis 45:5

“And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”Genesis 45:7

“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.”Genesis 45:8

Reflection

Think of a betrayal you still carry, whether one done to you or one you fear cannot be forgiven. Joseph's tears show that reconciliation often costs the wounded party the most. Where might God be asking you to run ahead of an apology, or to trust that even old harm can be woven into life?

A prayer from Genesis 45