#Genesis 45
Joseph reveals himself
The final continuous segment of our J story here, the culmination of all Joseph’s schemes, and the tying up of the plot going all the way back to Gen 37.
Joseph reveals himself
The final continuous segment of our J story here, the culmination of all Joseph’s schemes, and the tying up of the plot going all the way back to Gen 37.
“I am your brother Joseph whom you sold into Egypt” - true only of the J story, and the counter-verse to E’s “I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews.” Two threads in Gen 37 that weave through the rest of the Joseph story.
“It was to save life that God sent me ahead of you” - the entire J story is one of fortuitous circumstance, of behind the scenes divine providence. Joseph knows that in a way the brothers don’t, and so it is he who puts this into words for them, repeatedly.
Joseph’s test of his brothers may mostly involve their treatment of Benjamin, and he may reward Benjamin extravagantly, but he’s really interested in Jacob, the father who loved him best of all his brothers. That special bond runs throughout the J story.
Joseph tells his brothers that they will live in their own region, in Goshen. This will be an important datum for later in the story, all the way into Exodus.
I suspect that the generosity of Pharaoh’s provisioning of Joseph and his brothers to return to Canaan is meant to be a positive version of the refusal of the Pharaoh of Exodus to do the same for Israel.
Joseph sending off his brothers with “Don’t quarrel on the way” is I think one of the funnier lines in the entire Pentateuch.
There’s more to say, but there’s always more to say. These chapters of the Joseph story are so good (and because they’re all one source I rarely end up spending much time in them, so it was a nice treat to read them again). It’s Israelite narrative writing at its finest.
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