And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
Pharaoh himself now speaks. His order turns Joseph's invitation into a royal command, and Egypt's own resources stand behind it. The brothers are not just told to come. Pharaoh sends wagons for the people least able to travel on their own.
A command from the throne
This invitation is not Joseph's private arrangement. Egypt's ruler backs it, and one commentator explains why he was so willing.
L. M. GrantOf course Pharaoh realized that he owed Joseph a great deal, and he was glad to show his appreciation in this way. More than that, he orders them to take wagons with them from Egypt to bring their wives and children and their father.
Such a welcome was far from normal. Egypt had its own gods, and long-held prejudices against outsiders who refused them.
William KellyEven in the world as it is now, how rare it is to find a king and his servants united by respect for a foreign governor, giving his foreign father and brothers a warm and wholehearted welcome! And Egypt had strong prejudices then, as everyone knows it had for ages afterwards. Egypt would be opposed most of all to people who confessed God — a God the Egyptians did not know — and who denied the gods of Egypt.
Carried, not marched
Pharaoh names who rides in them: "your little ones" and "your wives" — the very people who could never have walked from Canaan to Egypt. Notice where the transport comes from.
A. J. PollockJoseph not only desires his brothers to be near him, but he also provides the means to bring them to himself. No exhausting march lay before Jacob in his weakness and old age. There was no long journey for the little ones and their mothers. No; they were carried every step of the journey in the wagons. In other words, the power that carried them to Joseph came from Joseph.
What the wagons stand for
Commentators also read the wagons as a picture of something larger.
C. KnappTransportation is provided too. "Wagons" were sent to carry the weak and helpless. In this picture the Holy Spirit matches the wagons. The Father sends Him to bring helpless sinners to Christ.
The same writer notes what finally moved Jacob when the news reached him.
C. KnappIt was the word and the wagons. And since we take the wagons as a figure of the Holy Spirit, the meaning is beyond question. Sinners are convinced not by the word of the gospel alone, but by the Word and the Spirit.
Proof his sons could not have faked
The welcome was genuine, and the wagons did what words alone could not.
William KellyNeither the king nor the people of Egypt could deny how warm a welcome the whole family of Israel received for Joseph's sake. The king suggested the wagons and left Joseph to supply them. They played their part in persuading the father to believe the report that Joseph was still alive — a report which at first made his heart fail. "Jews demand signs;" and there was the sign: the means of going down into Egypt, which his sons could not have provided.
Messengers equipped, not just briefed
Joseph sends his brothers home with news. But news needs a messenger who can carry it.
Hamilton SmithIt is not enough to be entrusted with a message; the messenger must be fully equipped to deliver the message. The disciples whom the Lord commissioned to preach had to wait until power from on high clothed them. The power in which they serve comes from the Person who gave them their commission, and from the place of exaltation where that Person now is. They were given a new power for their journey. And the power that took them back to Canaan was the power in which they were to bring their father to Joseph.
Summary
- Commanded — the call is not Joseph's alone. Pharaoh puts the throne behind it. A land with every reason to resent this family welcomes it instead.
- Carried — the wagons come out of Egypt, from the place where Joseph is. The power that brings the family to him originates with him, not with them.
- Covered — the transport is named for little ones and wives, the weakest members. Nobody is left to manage the journey on their own strength.
- Convinced — Jacob believed when he saw the wagons. Commentators read it as word and Spirit together. The message came with evidence he could see.
- Commissioned — the brothers go home both entrusted with news and equipped to travel. The power that carried them back was the same power in which they brought their father to Joseph.