And now, be not grieved, and be not angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
Joseph has kept his identity hidden while he pressed his brothers hard. Now the ruler of Egypt tells the men who sold him not to torment themselves. His reason is not that the crime was small, but that a hand higher than theirs was at work in it.
Joseph does more than pardon. He works to clear away the regret that would spoil their enjoyment of his love.
They had confessed the sin. Joseph will not only forgive them; he will also remove all lingering regrets and self-reproaches. He will assure them that behind their sin, yes, by means of their sin, God was working out His purposes of blessing. It is true that Joseph has to say, "You sold me here." But he adds, "God sent me before you to save your lives by a great deliverance." So he turns his brothers away from thinking about themselves. He engages their thoughts and affections with himself, his glories, and the blessings that flow to them through his exaltation.
The phrase "save your lives by a great deliverance" comes from verse 7 in an older translation.
There is also a simple inference his brothers could draw from the way he speaks to them.
If he did not want them to be angry with themselves, then certainly he was not angry with them. Wonderful attitude for an exalted ruler!
These words are not spoken to men who are still hiding what they did. Joseph waited until their guilt had surfaced.
But when were these words spoken? Not until the guilty brothers had felt and owned their guilt. Repentance came before the pardon... Joseph "spoke roughly" to his brothers at first. He brought them through deep waters, and made them feel and confess their guilt. But the very moment they took the place of repentance, he took the place of forgiveness.
Joseph names God as the sender without erasing what his brothers did. Both statements stand in the same sentence.
Their wrath had sold Joseph into Egypt. God used their sin to make Joseph the great organiser of the day, saving countless lives. There could be no excusing the terrible sin of Joseph's brothers against their brother. But it must have been a great comfort to their accusing hearts to find that God used the wrath of man to praise Him.
Peter's preaching holds the same two truths together. The same words fit Jesus and those who sinned against Him.
You see the same thing in the Acts of the Apostles. In Acts 2 the apostle Peter tells the convicted people that their killing of Christ had in fact been the carrying out of God's purpose, decided beforehand. The guilt of man was no less, of course... Jesus says, I know you have sinned against Me, and you have not loved Me, but see what God sent Me before you to do. To save your lives by a great deliverance.
The rescue is wider than one family's next meal. Joseph is pointing them to a plan already promised to their forefather Abraham.
Here was the true key. It was not merely the disclosure to Pharaoh and the rescue of Joseph. It was not merely the provision in general, in the unusually long plenty and the equally long famine. It was the carrying out of His plans, made known long before to Abram in Genesis 15. By those plans His ancient people would grow up from the family of Jacob in a foreign land of bondage and affliction. God would judge the nation that oppressed them, and His people would come out with great possessions.
Writers read the whole scene as a shadow of something still ahead for Israel.
This is grace indeed, setting the convicted conscience perfectly at rest. The brothers had already condemned themselves completely. So Joseph had only to pour the blessed balm into their broken hearts. This is all a beautiful picture of God's dealings with Israel in the last days, when they will look on Him whom they have pierced, and mourn.
- Sin. The brothers really did sell him. God's purpose never excuses what they did — "there could be no excusing the terrible sin."
- Confession. Joseph spoke roughly first and comforted second. Repentance came before pardon. Forgiveness met them the moment they owned their guilt.
- Grace. He removes the penalty and the self-reproach. He draws their eyes off themselves and onto himself and his glory.
- Purpose. "God sent me" names a second hand on the same event. God used the wrath of man to serve His plan. Peter later said the same of the cross.
- Life. The aim reaches past the famine. God keeps the promise made to Abraham and brings His people out of bondage with great possessions. It ends in a picture of the day Israel looks on the One they pierced.
For the famine has been these two years in the land; and yet there are five years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest.
Joseph has just told his terrified brothers who he is. Now he tells them where they stand in time: two years of famine behind them, five worse years ahead. How could he speak about years that had not yet come? And why did his brothers need to hear it now?
Joseph names the two ends of farming: the plowing that starts a crop and the harvest that gathers it. For five years neither would happen — nothing going into the ground, nothing coming out of it.
'Ploughed' and 'ploughing,' as the same Hebrew word is elsewhere translated. Gen. 45:6; Ex. 34:21; 1 Sam. 8:12.
So the sentence describes a total collapse at both ends of farming — nothing put in and nothing taken out. One writer describes how that worked out in practice, and how far it spread.
There were still five years of famine in Egypt. Though the Egyptians planted fields, they got little or nothing. Soon all lands were starving. They went to Pharaoh for help. He said, "Go to Joseph."
Joseph states the length of the famine as plainly as he states the past. He is not guessing. One writer takes that confidence as an answer to everyone who doubts that God tells the future.
What a lesson follows! It rebukes the shameless unbelief of prophecy found in this generation of people who call themselves Christians. Joseph speaks to his brothers with the calmest confidence, just as he had spoken to the king and court of Egypt. He tells them of five years of famine on top of the two that had already driven them to come for the stores of grain. The years of overflowing plenty had enabled him, by his faith, to lay up those stores against the years of want. Near or distant is alike easy to the revealing Spirit of God. Both are beyond man's power. Unbelief would explain both away.
This was hard news. The hunger that had driven them to Egypt was nowhere near its end. Yet notice what is missing from their reply.
Then he lets them know that the two years of famine they had suffered was only the beginning. There were five years to come. They must have wondered how he knew this, but they did not question his word.
Joseph could have read the same seven years as the story of what his brothers had done to him. Instead he reads them as the story of what God was doing.
One more thing marked Joseph out, as we see in verses 5-8. His eye rested on God, not on circumstances, however hard they had been. The evil actions of his brothers had faded into insignificance in his mind. He recognized that God had been behind all they had done. God had worked it in as part of His plan for salvation and deliverance. We are reminded of the prayer of the early church. They acknowledged that Herod, Pilate, Gentiles and Jews gathered together against the Lord Jesus, and yet only did "whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place" (Acts 4:28). Joseph brought about "a great deliverance." Yet it was very small compared with the deliverance won by the death and resurrection of Christ.
The famine did more than ruin crops. It drove everyone, family and foreigner alike, to the feet of the man they had ignored.
During the days of plenty the world paid little attention to Joseph. We hear nothing of his brothers; they were completely indifferent to him. But when the famine set in, need wakes up… The need calls out a cry for bread. So the Gentiles have to learn, and the brothers discover, that no one can meet the need except the man they once scorned and rejected.
Commentators read Joseph's place in Egypt as a picture of something larger. One writer sees in it God preserving Israel through the long centuries while their Messiah is rejected.
In the same way, it is the Lord Jesus by whom God has in fact preserved Israel. He did it by means of the rejected and exalted One being among the Gentiles, as He has been all through this present age of grace, for many centuries now. Yet Israel has not known the glory of their rejected Messiah.
- Famine. Five years remained with no plowing and no harvest. Nothing would go into the ground and nothing would come out, until every land was starving.
- Forewarning. Joseph named the future as surely as the past. "Near or distant is alike easy to the revealing Spirit of God," so the verse stands against unbelief in prophecy.
- Faith. His brothers "must have wondered how he knew this, but they did not question his word." They could not check the news, but they trusted the man who gave it.
- Focus. Joseph's eye rested on God, not on circumstances or on his brothers' crime. He saw the seven years as part of God's plan for deliverance — a small picture of the far greater deliverance won by Christ.
- Funnel. The years of want awakened need. Need drove family and nations alike to the one man they had scorned — a pattern commentators trace forward to Christ.
So God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.
Joseph traces the whole story — the sale into Egypt, the years of famine — back to one thing: God sent him ahead so that a remnant would survive. The question the verse forces is how one act can be both their crime and God's sending.
Joseph does not soften what they did. He names it, then places it inside a larger purpose so that their guilt cannot keep torturing them.
As to the past, Joseph cannot allow any regrets to rise up and spoil their enjoyment of his love. "Now therefore," says Joseph, "do not be grieved or angry with yourselves that you sold me here" (verse 5). The sin had been confessed, and Joseph will not only forgive; he will remove every lingering regret and self-reproach. He assures them that behind their sin — yes, by means of their sin — God was working out His purposes of blessing. It is true, "You sold me here," Joseph has to say, but he adds, "God sent me before you to save your lives by a great deliverance." So he frees his brothers from being taken up with themselves. He engages their thoughts and affections with himself, with his glories, and with the blessings that flow to them through his exaltation.
The purpose of God never cancels what the guilty did. Another writer puts both truths side by side without blurring either:
You have been guilty, Joseph says, but God had a purpose in it.
Joseph had kept his identity hidden through the events of Genesis 44 and 45. Comfort comes only after conviction.
So it was in that deeply moving scene between Joseph and his brothers recorded in Genesis 44 and 45. The guilty brothers must pass through deep and painful searching of heart. At last they stand in the presence of the brother they wronged, with the arrow of conviction piercing their inmost soul. Then, but not until then, these soothing words fall on their ears: "God sent me before you to preserve life… So it was not you that sent me here, but God."
Joseph points his brothers to a promise made to Abraham long before any of them were born. (The writers quote an older translation: "a posterity in the earth" and "save your lives by a great deliverance," where the ESV has "a remnant on earth" and "keep alive for you many survivors.")
"And God sent me before you to establish for you a remnant on the earth, and to preserve your lives by a great deliverance." Here was the true key. It was not merely the disclosure to Pharaoh and the rescue of Joseph, nor the general provision through the long plenty and the equally long famine. It was the carrying out of God's plans, revealed long before to Abram in Genesis 15. His ancient people would grow up out of the family of Jacob in a foreign land of bondage and affliction. The oppressing nation would be judged, and they themselves would come out with great wealth.
The line God kept alive reached further than Joseph could see.
Also, God had sent Joseph down into Egypt to preserve on earth a posterity for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He knew what Joseph can hardly have known. Many centuries later, by human descent, the Christ would come from that family line — He who is over all, God blessed forever. Wherever we turn in Scripture, Christ is always before the mind of God. At this point Joseph was the instrument God used to preserve the line of descent that would in the end lead to Him.
Commentators read Joseph here as a picture of Christ.
Joseph was the great saviour of Old Testament days, one of the chief pictures of our Lord Jesus. The name Pharaoh gave him, when he raised him to be lord of all Egypt, carries the meaning of "the Saviour." When he made himself known to his brothers, he worked hard to assure them that God had raised him up to save them: "God sent me… to save your lives by a great deliverance" (Gen. 45:7). By the wisdom God gave him he became the source and centre of salvation to the whole world. At once Acts 4:12 comes to mind: "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Being saved by Joseph did not mean knowing Joseph.
Joseph had saved their lives with a great deliverance (Gen. 45:7); he had put them in possession of "the best of the land" of Egypt, and he had fed them with bread (Gen. 47:12). For seventeen years they had received Joseph's generosity. They had been the special objects of his loving care. Yet when a crisis comes, it becomes clear that they have no personal knowledge of Joseph. They know something of his greatness and glory. They know the great work he has done. They know every blessing they enjoy comes from his position and work. But they had no personal acquaintance with his mind and heart.
- Sin. They sold him; that is never denied. God worked behind their sin, and even by means of it, without excusing it.
- Sending. The same journey to Egypt was their crime and God's commission — "God sent me before you."
- Survival. God preserved a remnant, and with it the promise made to Abraham and the family line that would lead to Christ.
- Salvation. The rescue of one family from famine pictures a greater deliverance, with salvation found in no other name.
- Seeing. Knowing the deliverance is not the same as knowing the deliverer. Seventeen years of Joseph's kindness still left his brothers strangers to his mind and heart.
And now it was not you [that] sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and governor over all the land of Egypt.
Joseph stands at the top of Egypt, facing the brothers who sold him there. He tells them who was behind the journey. His words settle two questions: what to do with their guilt, and how a man robbed of everything became father to Pharaoh.
Joseph does not deny what they did. He looks past it to the hand that used it. One writer shows what Joseph was looking at instead:
His eye rested on God and not on circumstances, however hard they had been. The evil actions of the brothers had faded into insignificance in his mind. He recognised that God had been behind all that they had done, and had worked it in as part of His plan for salvation and deliverance. This reminds us of that prayer of the early church. They acknowledged that Herod, Pilate, Gentiles and Jews had gathered together against the Lord Jesus. Yet they had only accomplished "whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place" (Acts 4:28).
The sin was real. God used it. Another writer shows how Joseph lifts his brothers out of their regret:
He will assure them that behind their sin, yes, by means of their sin, God was working out His purposes of blessing. It is true that Joseph has to say, "You sold me here." But he adds, "God sent me before you to save your lives by a great deliverance." So he frees his brothers from being taken up with themselves. He fills their thoughts and affections with himself, his glories, and the blessings that flow to them through his exaltation.
The order matters. Earlier, these words would have meant nothing. They land only after the brothers stop defending themselves:
The guilty brothers must pass through deep and painful exercises of heart. At last they stand in the presence of the brother they injured, with the arrow of conviction piercing their inmost soul. Then, but not until then, these soothing words fall on their ears: "Now, therefore, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here… So it was not you who sent me here, but God."
Joseph lists his rank as three distinct things, and each one describes a different sphere:
So then, he assures them, it was not they who had sent Joseph to Egypt, but God. God had made him a father to Pharaoh — one whose goodness and guidance Pharaoh depended on. God had made him "lord of all his house," with authority second only to Pharaoh in his household. And God had made him ruler over all the land of Egypt, in charge of all governmental affairs.
That first title is the strangest, since Joseph was the younger man and the subject. It describes a role rather than an age:
In Genesis 45:8 Joseph is described as a father to Pharaoh. This suggests that he cared for the king's interests: he would advise him, and administer his affairs.
One writer points to what Joseph became for the men who wronged him:
The great point is not the repentance of the brothers, but the generous love of Joseph. He was saviour, for as he says, God sent him ahead of them to preserve a posterity in the earth and to save their lives by a great deliverance. He was also lord, for he added, "He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt."
Joseph's promotion served a plan announced generations earlier, to Abram:
Here was the true key. It was not just the discovery to Pharaoh, the rescue of Joseph, and the provision made in the long years of plenty and the equally long famine. It was the carrying out of His plans, disclosed long before to Abram (in Genesis 15). By them His ancient people would grow up from the family of Jacob in a foreign land of bondage and affliction. The oppressing nation would be judged, and they themselves would come out with great wealth.
after
Writers here read Joseph's place as a picture of Christ exalted — and note what such authority is for:
If we are to be saved from the present power of evil, nothing can be of greater importance than to realise that Christ is in the place of supreme power, and to submit to Him… But if the Father has glorified the Son, it is so that the Son may glorify the Father… And if the Father is glorified, His people are blessed. So we read, "since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him." The glory the Father has given to the Son serves the Father's glory and the blessing of His people.
- Sent, not just sold. Their act was real guilt. God's hand was underneath it, working it into a plan for deliverance.
- Sent after conviction. Comfort comes only after the brothers condemn themselves. Grace answers a conscience already pierced.
- Sent to a place. Three spheres: adviser to the king, head of his household, ruler of the whole land. Joseph credits it all to God.
- Sent for others. Joseph is both saviour and lord. His rank counts for the lives it keeps alive.
- Sent ahead of a bigger story. One famine served the promise made to Abram. Joseph's rise pictures Christ's, and Christ uses His supreme power to bless His people.