Commentary
Skeptic's Annotated Bible
45:1 Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
45:2 And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.
45:3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
45:4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
45:5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
45:6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God:
So let's see if I understand this correctly. God brings seven years of abundance and seven years of famine to the land. In order to protect people from the seven years of famine, he arranges for Joseph to be sold into slavery by his brothers and taken to Egypt, falsely accused of rape and imprisoned, and then elevated to the second-highest position in the land (next to Pharaoh) so that he could save enough corn to protect the people against the famine, and Joseph's family in particular.
This has been described as a global famine that afflicted the entire earth: Gen 41:56 "And the famine was over all the face of the earth." Joseph might be able to help the people in Egypt like the Pharaoh and Jacob's family, but not the other 99.9% of the people on the planet.
What's the purpose of this exercise? Was this global famine brought about to punish Pharaoh for something (since Pharaoh was the one who saw it in a dream)? Or was it to punish Joseph's brothers? If it's something like this (so far the Bible has been silent on the reason for the famine), then that's an awful lot of global suffering caused for a really small purpose. You'd think someone as clever and powerful as God could get his message across without so much suffering. It's like burning your house to the ground because you found a rat in your basement. Or worse, burning your kid's house to the ground because he found the rat that you put in his basement. Because you were trying to teach him a lesson about, well, obedience or something. It just doesn't make any sense at all.
and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
45:9 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:
45:10 And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast:
45:11 And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.
Nice to have friends in high places.
45:12 And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.
45:13 And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt,
Joseph sounds a little proud here.
and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither.
45:14 And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
45:15 Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them:
Even the ones who wanted him killed? It would take a little more for me to forgive that...
and after that his brethren talked with him.
45:16 And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
45:17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;
45:18 And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.
45:19 Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
45:20 Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
Don't worry about packing your belongings to bring with you; we'll replace everything once you get here.
45:21 And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.
45:22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.
Because he likes Benjamin best.
45:23 And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.
45:24 So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.
45:25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father,
45:26 And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not.
45:27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
45:28 And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.
Here's what I think you're supposed to get from this story. You're supposed to admire Joseph for always doing the best he could in whatever unfortunate circumstance he found himself in, and see that he was rewarded for his humble service to the point where he was elevated to the highest position in the land. He also, through the ability to interpret dreams that was given to him by God, able to take steps to protect Egypt from the upcoming famine, and was able to forgive the horrible things done to him by his brothers. And he was therefore able to care for his family during the famine, and he enjoys a tearful reunion with his family. Aw, isn't that sweet?
I get all that, I really do. But as storytelling goes, it's really horrible, because in order to accept all of that good stuff for one guy, you also have to accept all of the bad things that also had to happen to the entire world to enable this outcome. Joseph's brothers conspiring to kill him, and selling him into slavery instead; and lying to Jacob by killing a goat and staining Joseph's colorful coat with blood, to trick their father into thinking that Joseph is dead. Think of the unnecessary anguish that would have caused Jacob! Then the slavery and imprisonment of Joseph in Egypt, having been falsely accused and convicted of rape. And finally, the devastating, global famine that would have caused terrible suffering and death over the entire world, of not just people but also all of the animals that depend on vegetation (or other animals) to survive. This is catastrophic suffering caused by the ever-present character of God in this story, and we still don't know why all this suffering was necessary. I hope there's a good reason yet to be revealed, commensurate with the amount of worldwide misery and death it caused.
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