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.
Haste and go up to my father, and say to him, Thus says thy son Joseph God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, tarry not.
Joseph has just told his brothers who he is. Now he sends them home with a message that names his new rank, invites his father down, and warns them not to delay.
Joseph's pardon does not leave his brothers idle. He gives them a job.
Joseph not only freely and fully forgives his brothers; he commissions them as well. And we, if reconciled to God, have been commissioned. We have a mission towards this famine-stricken world. We are to make Christ known to men. We are to testify as to His exaltation and glory, just as the burden of the message of the sons of Israel was the lordship of Joseph over all the land.
The order matters. Joseph drew them close before he sent them out.
The love of Joseph has brought his brothers into sweet communion with himself. We read, "And he kissed all his brothers… and after that his brothers talked with him" (v. 15). Now we are to learn that the intimacies of love prepare for the service of love. Those whom Joseph has won for himself he will enlist in his service. His brothers shall become his witnesses.
"Go up to my father" names one hearer: the man they had deceived about Joseph.
They had badly deceived their father. Before him they had denied all knowledge of Joseph. Now he is the very one before whom they must bear witness of Joseph. Nor is it otherwise with Christ and His disciples. The woman of Sychar goes back to the men of the city to bear a bright witness for Christ before those who well knew the manner of her life. In the very place of her sin she is to bear witness to the One who has set her free from sin (John 4:28-29). Peter, too, bears witness to Christ before those in whose presence he had once so shamefully denied Christ.
The brothers carry words that are not their own. The opening line says whose they are.
Fourth, Joseph sends his brothers back with a very definite message. They must deliver it with all the authority of Joseph's word, introduced with a "Thus says your son Joseph" (v. 9). We do well to remember that the power behind the Gospel message is the authority with which it is proclaimed. It goes forth with a "Thus says the Lord."
Joseph names God as the one who gave him his place, and that place is the message itself.
Fifth, the great theme of the message was Joseph and his glory. Tell my father, Joseph can say, that "God has made me lord of all Egypt" (v. 9). And he adds, "You must tell my father of all my honour in Egypt, and of all that you have seen" (v. 13). This is still the message that alone will meet the world's famine. Peter preached it with no uncertain sound to the Jews. On the day of Pentecost he said, "Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." And again before the Gentiles he can say that Christ "is Lord of all" (Acts 2:36; Acts 10:36).
The invitation is personal. Joseph does not just hand out blessing; he draws people to himself.
Sixth, the message that Joseph sends to Jacob is "Come down to me" (v. 9). If Joseph is lord of all with the riches of glory at his disposal for all, yet it is only those who "come" who receive the blessing. If all power is in his hands to bless, all grace is in his heart to attract to himself — the blesser. Joseph says in effect to his father, "I want you," for it is not only "Come," but "Come down to me."
The last words of the verse are a warning. Delay has a cost.
Finally, the message carries with it a word of warning. There is untold blessing for those who come, there is imminent danger for those who delay. So Joseph's word is "do not tarry… lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty" (vv. 9, 11). How far greater the danger if we trifle with that far greater message that comes from the Lord in glory! Well may the apostle ask, "How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?"
Commentators read the shape of Joseph's life as a picture of Christ's.
Joseph presents himself to his brothers as one sent by the father; they reject him, and, so far as lies in them, put him in the place of death; God takes him up from there, and raises him to a position of highest dignity: thus exalted, he gets a bride; and when his brothers, according to the flesh, are thoroughly broken and prostrate before him, he makes himself known to them, calms their hearts, and brings them into blessing; he then becomes the channel of blessing to them and to the whole world.
- Reconciled — Joseph forgives first, then sends. Those he wins for himself become his witnesses.
- Authorised — "Thus says your son Joseph" gives the messengers no opinion to defend, only a word to deliver.
- Exalted — the news is that God has made him lord of all Egypt; the theme is his glory.
- Invited — power to bless is in his hands, but only those who come receive it, and the call is "come down to me."
- Urgent — "do not tarry" is a warning as well as a welcome: blessing for those who come, poverty for those who delay.