And he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to give notice before he came to Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen.
Jacob's family is nearing Egypt. Before they arrive, he sends Judah ahead to Joseph, the son who now governs Egypt, to prepare the way into Goshen. Two questions follow: why this son, and why this corner of Egypt?
Sending word before you arrive is simple good manners. Older translations read the errand as giving notice of his coming rather than showing the way. One writer contrasts the dignity of Jacob's family with the polish of the great civilisations around them.
Civilisation was not what marked the fathers. It marked the line of Cain in the world before the flood, and Egypt, Assyria and Babylon after the flood, among others. But there is a dignity that goes with the fear of God, far better than any such worldly gloss, however pleasant it is to fallen nature. We see the same godly sense of what is fitting in Abraham and Isaac. We see it here in Jacob too, who sends Judah ahead to Joseph to give good notice of his own coming to Goshen.
Judah is not the eldest son. He is the one who had already put himself on the line for his brother Benjamin.
Judah makes no grand offer staking his own sons; his offer is far more modest, and at his own risk. "Send the boy with me… I will be a pledge of his safety." Jacob trusts him at once and lets Benjamin go. In doing so Jacob showed again his discernment of character. Judah nobly kept his pledge: he stood forward in Egypt and offered himself in place of Benjamin.
That trust was not a one-off. Judah's place among his brothers was changing, and it would shape Israel's future.
Though not the eldest son he began to take a chief place in the family. He persuaded his father to let Benjamin go into Egypt, and whenever appeals had to be made to Joseph, Judah made them. When Jacob blessed his sons, the predictions show that the royal line was centred in Judah.
The destination was not picked at random. One writer explains what made this corner of Egypt fit them.
Goshen was the outlying part of Egypt. There they could best keep to their old work, and were least exposed to the idolatry and moral corruption of that land.
Another writer looks at what came of it.
It is easy to see how this suited the purpose of God, which was to make a nation of them, free from any mixture of foreign blood. Though under Egyptian rule, there was to be a dividing line from the very start between them and the natives of Egypt. … Pharaoh was very kind. He welcomed them, gave them the best of the land in Goshen, and offered them important posts looking after his cattle. Remember that Egypt, along with the rest of the world, was in the middle of a great famine. Such favourable treatment was extraordinary, and can only be explained by the moving of God's hand behind the scenes.
The errand is aimed at a person: Judah is sent to Joseph. Goshen matters because Joseph is there.
To reach Joseph, Israel had to make the journey. He had to leave the scene of all his natural affections. And so with ourselves, if we are to reach Christ where He is, we must forget the things that are behind. So Israel comes into the new land — the land of Goshen.
One writer reads the scene as a picture of things to come — Joseph in power, and his family settled near him.
Joseph is now known as alive — Governor of the world — its source of blessing — and Jacob is brought to Him in this role of glory and power. Israel still has, however, his own portion and separate place in the world in Goshen, and in the best of it.
- Sent — Jacob does not arrive unannounced. Sending word ahead shows the same godly sense of what is fitting that marked Abraham and Isaac.
- Trusted — the errand goes to Judah. He had offered himself in Benjamin's place, and Jacob trusted him at once.
- Rising — Judah is not the eldest, yet he takes the chief place. The royal line runs through him.
- Placed — Goshen sits on the edge of Egypt. A dividing line from the start let a nation grow there, instead of dissolving into Egypt.
- Near — the whole journey aims at a person. To reach Joseph, Israel had to leave everything familiar behind.
Then Joseph yoked his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and he presented himself to him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.
Joseph now rules Egypt, yet he gets his own chariot ready and drives out to meet his father. A chariot, a neck, and a long weeping: what does the scene tell us about Joseph, and what does it picture?
Joseph does not summon his father to the palace; he goes to Goshen himself. One writer weighs what those years in Egypt had, and had not, changed in him.
The affection was great on both sides. Worldly splendour had not weakened that love which bound father and son together in the promised land.
Joseph had every excuse to be hardened. One writer looks at what power, and the road he took to reach it, had done to him.
In verse 29 we again see Joseph in a very favourable light and as a man of a very tender heart. The splendour of his present position had not spoiled him. He had reached it through sorrow, which has a mellowing and softening effect upon those who go through it with God.
This weeping is not an isolated moment. It belongs to a pattern that starts only when Joseph holds power.
The skill and power of Joseph's hands had carried him to the top. In those hands lay the future of his brothers and of all Egypt. Then the tender compassion of his heart came out, and it showed itself in his tears. In Genesis 39 to 41 Joseph's hands are prominent. Genesis 42 to 50, Joseph's tears. These later chapters record Joseph weeping no less than eight times: Genesis 42:24; 43:30; 45:2, 14, 15; 46:29; 50:1, 17.
The years when tears would have made most sense are the silent ones.
It is remarkable that there is no mention of Joseph weeping in his earlier years. We could easily have understood weeping marking those days. Remember the seas of sorrow and affliction he passed through, which might well have wrung tears from his eyes. His hard-hearted brothers even had to confess, "we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen" (Genesis 42:21). They saw the distress of his soul, but as far as the record goes they never saw his tears.
The wording is worth pausing over. Joseph did not just arrive; he made himself known. One writer reads the journey as a picture of our own search for Christ.
To reach Joseph, Israel had to take his journey (Genesis 46:1). He had to leave the scene of all his natural affections. And so with ourselves, if we are to reach Christ where He is, we must forget the things that are behind. So Israel comes into the new land — the land of Goshen. There he meets his son Joseph, and Joseph "presented himself to him" (v. 29). If on the one hand Israel longs for the company of his son, Joseph on his side is delighted to present himself to Israel. Are we set on the company of Christ? We shall find that Christ is delighted to reveal Himself to us.
Goshen was no random meeting point. Joseph had chosen it before he ever spoke to Pharaoh about his family.
We may notice the faith and wisdom of Joseph, who had already sent the message about Goshen (Genesis 45:10) before he had said a word to Pharaoh. It was the outlying part of Egypt, where they could best keep their old occupation, and were least exposed to the idol worship and moral corruption of that land. So into Goshen they came.
Commentators read Joseph's story as a picture of Christ. Here the weight falls on a father learning at last what his son had become.
They are then brought — as a nation, in Jacob — into the best of the land near Joseph, but He reveals Himself to them one by one as His brothers. Now his father was to hear of his glory in Egypt. Messiah was indeed dear to Jacob, though he had not understood His glory far above and away from him.
- Sorrow softened him. Joseph reached the top through suffering. Suffering gone through with God left him tender, not hard.
- Glory released the tears. The record shows no tears in his years of affliction. All eight weepings fall in the chapters of his power, and this is one of them.
- Rank did not cool love. He harnessed his own chariot and drove out to his father. Egypt's splendour had not weakened the bond formed in the promised land.
- Longing answered. Israel travelled to find Joseph, and Joseph was just as glad to show himself — a picture of Christ revealing Himself to the heart that seeks Him.
- Goshen chosen. Joseph picked the meeting place in advance: the best of the land, on the edge of Egypt, where the family could live clear of its corruption.