Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and 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?
A love untouched by rank
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.
William KellyThe affection was great on both sides. Worldly splendour had not weakened that love which bound father and son together in the promised land.
Tenderness that came through suffering
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.
F. B. HoleIn 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.
The tears of a man in power
This weeping is not an isolated moment. It belongs to a pattern that starts only when Joseph holds power.
F. B. HoleThe 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.
F. B. HoleIt 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.
"He presented himself to him"
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.
Hamilton SmithTo 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.
Why Goshen
Goshen was no random meeting point. Joseph had chosen it before he ever spoke to Pharaoh about his family.
William KellyWe 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.
A picture of things to come
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.
J. N. DarbyThey 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.
Summary
- 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.