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Joseph lavishly welcomes his family—Genesis 45:16-24

Joseph realizes that his brothers are genuinely sorry for what they did to him, and he is now ready to trust them. Fully forgiving his brothers, he lavishes signs of his love on them, signs that should have assured them of his love and favor (though their regrets make this understanding difficult for them; 50:15-18). Had he exposed their past deeds to Pharaoh, they would not have dared settle in Egypt, but Joseph instead secures Pharaoh’s favor for them.

Just as Joseph’s earlier counsel regarding the crops had seemed “good in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants” (41:37), so also the coming of Joseph’s brothers seems good to Pharaoh and his servants now (45:16). Happily, even in the past, Joseph had clearly never informed Pharaoh of his brothers’ past behavior! (Not that even Pharaoh’s highest officials would treat Pharaoh as a confidante, but Joseph was probably one of the people closest to him.)

Pharaoh does not let Joseph simply invite his brothers to come to Egypt, or let Joseph merely provide resources for them on his own. Pharaoh provides wagons to carry Joseph’s father and his brothers’ families (45:17-21). Twice Pharaoh repeats that all the goods of Egypt will be at their disposal (45:18, 20); therefore they may leave many things behind in Canaan, because in Egypt they will receive whatever they needed (45:20). God had given Joseph great favor with Pharaoh, a favor that Joseph by this point knows that he can count on (cf. 46:31—47:12; 50:4).

Joseph shows special favor to Benjamin, his full brother, but his brothers, who had shortly before feared that they might lose Benjamin, are now in no position to complain. Given their father’s earlier concerns for Benjamin’s safety, they were no doubt glad when he earlier received five times as much as any of them (despite the double portion normally due the firstborn; 43:33). His fivefold changes of clothes (45:22) will hardly alarm them now. After all, Genesis probably implies their earlier jealousy about Joseph’s special clothing, a jealousy that had informed their hateful behavior toward him (37:3-4, 23).

In addition to clothes, which functioned as a form of wealth in antiquity, Joseph gives Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver (45:22). Joseph’s brothers had sold him for twenty pieces of silver (37:28); now Joseph offers far more as a gift to Benjamin. Benjamin was the only brother who had not mistreated Joseph, and the brothers who had once acted from their resentment of Jacob’s favoritism toward Joseph have long since learned to regret such resentments. No doubt they also recognize that not only Jacob but God, too, has really favored Joseph, at least as an agent for preserving them all.

God’s people have had a habit of rejecting deliverers or acting jealously against those he raises up to help us, a habit of which we must beware. Certainly the history of rejecting deliverers or other agents of God, such as Joseph (Acts 7:9), Moses (7:25-29, 35, 39) and the prophets (7:52), climaxes in the rejection of Jesus (7:35, 37, 52) and continues in the rejection of true followers who speak for him (7:51, 57-60). I also suspect that some historic Christian anti-Semitism reflects not only arrogance but the tendency of jealousy against claims of chosenness (cf. Rom 11:18-21).

Whereas Joseph had sent the brothers with ten donkeys loaded with grain before, now ten donkeys will carry far more than what Jacob’s house will need for their journey to Egypt (45:23). Joseph’s signs of love do not stop with his material gifts, however. As Joseph sends his brothers away, he warns them not to quarrel en route (45:24). He had earlier urged them not to be angry with themselves for selling him (45:5); perhaps some brothers might wish to assign blame more to some of their group than to others. Joseph had certainly experienced firsthand their quarreling in the past (37:8, 11). By urging them not to quarrel, he shows his knowledge of their character but also his affectionate concern, again seeking to reassure them of his forgiveness and love. Apart from Benjamin, these were Joseph’s older brothers, but providence had now made him the one to look after them. Whatever role God places us in, we may follow Joseph’s godly example of forgiveness and love for those he has placed in our lives.

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Reconciliation—Genesis 45:5-15

Joseph has finally revealed himself to his brothers (45:1-4), because he has finally found them sufficiently trustworthy (44:33-34). (This is good for Joseph, too, because it restores his connection with his father and the rest of the promised line.) Now, however, his brothers, wary because of where their relationship had last left off (45:3), must also learn to trust him. Joseph explains that the famine will continue for five more years (45:6)—meaning that Joseph’s brothers now have no choice but to depend on him.

But this new relationship was a major part of why God had sent him ahead—to preserve their family (45:7). If Joseph’s ways of testing his brothers leads any readers to question his heart, his thorough forgiveness and benefaction toward them here should resolve it. Years later, when his brothers again fear that only his love for his father has restrained his anger against them (50:15-18), Joseph again weeps and promises to provide for them. They meant selling him for harm, but addressing that was God’s business; God had meant it for good, to save many lives (50:17, 19-21).

It is thus not Joseph, but their own shame that prevents them from trusting and embracing his love for them. Although much was restored, sin still had a consequence for their relationship, obstructing intimacy. That is not to say that it always must do so, but it did so in their case, since Joseph remained in a position far over them and they remained dependent on him. The shame of those against whom we have sinned—God and others—still can hinder our relationships with them, unless we embrace the full forgiveness that God (and some others) offer.

This reconciliation goes further and demands more than most cases of ethnic and social reconciliation today. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, an action that under normal circumstances would have led to his death by this time (cf. 42:13, 32). The brother who proposed his enslavement proves he has changed not with mere words but by offering himself to be a slave instead of their father’s new favorite son (44:33-34). Joseph’s forgiveness was generous and free, but his trust did not come cheaply. We dare not underestimate how wronging others damages relationships.

Joseph’s brothers are not the only ones shocked. His message to his father would astonish him and surely would initially seem too good to be true (45:26). Not only is Joseph alive; he holds, next to Pharaoh, the highest position in that part of the world (45:13, 26); further, he loves his father and invites him to join him in prosperous Egypt (45:9, 13). Joseph falling on his brothers’ necks and weeping over them (45:15) recalls the reunion of Esau and Jacob attesting their reconciliation (33:4). Genesis may be offering a moral or an observation: siblings may quarrel in their youth, but they often grow to appreciate one another more as the years go by and they live apart in other settings.

That “his brothers spoke with him” (45:15) might sound anticlimactic, and it probably does reflect the awkwardness of the situation for them (despite them having proved themselves by defending Benjamin). But it reverses their inability to speak to him in 45:3; the restoration of trust has, at least to some extent, begun. No less importantly, it also revisits and reverses their earlier behavior recorded in 37:4: “they were not able to speak with him in peace” (i.e., “peaceably,” NRSV, ASV, WEB; “peacefully,” ESV; “on friendly terms,” NASB; “a kind word,” NIV; “kindly,” NET).

Behind the scenes, the gracious God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has worked to restore a terribly broken family.