Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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3. God often works by contraries. The envy and contention of brethren threaten the ruin of families, yet, in this instance, they prove the occasion of preserving Jacob's family. Joseph could never have been the shepherd and stone of Israel if his brethren had not shot at him, and hated him; even those that had wickedly sold Joseph into Egypt yet themselves reaped the benefit of the good God brought out of it; as those that put Christ to death were many of them saved by his death.
4. God must have all the glory of the seasonable preservations of his people, by what way soever they are effected. It was not you that sent me hither, but God, Ge 45:8. As, on the one hand, they must not fret at it, because it ended so well, so on the other hand they must not be proud of it, because it was God's doing, and not theirs. They designed, by selling him into Egypt, to defeat his dreams, but God thereby designed to accomplish them. Isa 10:7, Howbeit he meaneth not so.
7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the
earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath
made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, thus saith thy
son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:
He promises to take care of his father and all the family during the rest of the years of famine.
1. He desires that his father may speedily be made glad with the tidings of his life and dignity. His brethren must hasten to Canaan, and must inform Jacob that his son Joseph was lord of all Egypt; (Ge 45:9): they must tell him of all his glory there, Ge 45:13. He knew it would be a refreshing oil to his hoary head and a sovereign cordial to his spirits. If anything would make him young again, this would. He desires them to give themselves, and take with them to their father, all possible satisfaction of the truth of these surprising tidings: Your eyes see that it is my mouth, Ge 45:12. If they would