They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves.
Joseph has just asked about their old father. The brothers answer in the careful language of servants speaking to a great lord of Egypt. The brothers bow again — and neither the question nor their homage means to them what it means to the man asking.
The living father
Joseph's first concern is not the grain or the money. It is whether the old man is still alive. One writer reads the answer as a picture of a later day:
L. M. GrantOf course Joseph was deeply interested in knowing about their father: was he still alive? Yes, they tell him, their father was both alive and in good health. In picture, this tells us what happens in the tribulation period. The Jewish remnant will have their thoughts stirred up about their relationship to the living God. Men may say that God is dead, but this is only because they themselves are dead toward God. … Again the brothers bowed their heads in homage to Joseph. They did not realise he was the brother whom they had rejected. The living Son of God will be dealing with Israel during their tribulation. But they will not realise it. The One exercising their souls is the same One whom they rejected.
Dreams they had tried to bury
Years before, Joseph had dreamed that his brothers' sheaves bowed to his. They threw him into a pit to end such talk. Now they are bowing:
F. B. HoleJoseph was lord. His rule was absolute in that great land. His dreams were proved true. The other sheaves bowed to his sheaf; sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed to him. His brothers had said, "Let us … throw him into one of the pits … and we will see what will become of his dreams." Well, they had now seen!
A fulfilment that is only a picture
The bowing in Egypt is not the whole of what Joseph dreamed. His second dream reached far beyond eleven brothers in a foreign court:
The Bible TreasuryThere was a fulfilment in figure when his brothers did homage to him in Egypt. Their sheaves bowed to his. Nor did they fail in homage after they knew him. But this did not meet the full meaning of Joseph's prophetic dreams. The sheaves of Israel are to bow to Messiah. But there is more. The second dream shows the sun and moon and the eleven stars bowing to Christ in the person of His representative. They stand for all the established authority of the world, Gentile or Jewish.
Bowing out of fear, not yet out of love
They give their father's title as "your servant" and press their faces to the ground. That low bow is not confidence. It is dread. Joseph turns everything he does, hard word and warm word alike, to one end:
J. G. BellettJoseph has yet to learn whether the hearts of sons and brothers were in them. Were they still, as they once had been, careless of a brother's cries and a father's grief? So he tests them further. Roughness and kindness, encouragements and alarms, challenges and feasts, favours and reproaches — all are used and made to work together. … Kindness and roughness alarm them equally. They are afraid because they are brought into Joseph's house. They fear where there is nothing to fear. But it is all working repentance that no one will regret.
Love that waits before it speaks
Joseph could end their fear in a moment. He does not. He asks about his father, seats them, feeds them — and says nothing of who he is:
Hamilton SmithJoseph speaks kindly to them. He yearns in love over his younger brother. He weeps in love in secret. But he holds himself back in love, for love's time to reveal itself has not yet come. The Lord deals with the woman by the well in the same perfect wisdom. He does not reveal Himself until her conscience is reached and brought out into the open. Then she discovers that she is in the presence of One who knows her whole history and yet loves her. … He will feast them, but in such a way that they cannot help seeing that their history is known. … "They drank and were merry with him," but they must learn other lessons before he can be merry with them. They are rejoicing in his gifts, but they have yet to rejoice in himself.
Summary
- Question — Joseph's first care is whether his old father still lives. The answer, that he is alive and well, pictures hearts stirred up about the living God.
- Homage — the brothers bow to the brother they rejected, not knowing it is him. The dreams they tried to bury in a pit come true over their heads.
- Horizon — their bowing in Egypt is only a picture. The full scene has all authority, Jewish and Gentile, bowing to Christ.
- Fear — kindness and roughness alarm them alike. They fear where there is nothing to fear. Yet all of it is working repentance in them.
- Restraint — Joseph's love waits and stays hidden while he feasts them. They enjoy his gifts long before they rejoice in him.