Ver. 1. Then Joseph could not refrain.] No more can Jesus, in the extreme afflictions of his brethren, (Isaiah 42:14) he must cry like a travailing woman; which, though she bite in her pain for a while, cannot long contain. As Croesus’s dumb son burst forth into, “Kill not King Croesus.” So when the Church is overlaid by Satan or his instruments, his bowels work, he can hold no longer, but cries, “Save my child, Do the young man Absalom no harm.” “I was but a little displeased, and they have helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies,” or bowels. (Zechariah 1:15,16) Their groans and moans, as every word of Judah’s pathetical speech to Joseph, are as so many darts and daggers at his heart; he must take course for their relief and rescue. For he is a very tender-hearted Joseph, said that martyr, and though he speak roughly to his brethren, and handle them hardly, yea, and threaten grievous bondage to his best beloved Benjamin, yet can he not contain himself from weeping with us, and upon us, with falling on our necks, and sweetly kissing us, &c.; -as he sweetly goes on in a letter to his wife, Pray, pray for us, everybody; we be shortly to be despatched hence to our good Christ. Amen, Amen. Cause every man to go out from me.] That he might weep his fill, and not reveal his brethren’s faults to strangers. It is wisdom in plastering the wounds of others, to clap our hand on the place, that the world may be never the wiser. Mercer thinks that Joseph concealed from his very father the hard dealings of his brethren with him; for if he had known, he would likely have set some note upon them for their cruelty, as he did upon Simeon and Levi for their bloody butchering of the Shechemites. Ανθρωπε, μη κτεινε Χροισον.— Herodot. Mr Sanders. Act. and Mon., 1564.
Ver. 2. He wept aloud.] And so gave vent to his passion, which else would have burst him. As hinds by calving, so men by weeping, “cast out their sorrows.” (Job 39:3)
Ver. 3. I am Joseph.] What a word was that! At the hearing thereof, what a strange conflict of contrary passions fell out in the hearts of the patriarchs! Wonder, doubt, reverence, fear, hope, guiltiness, joy, grief, struck them at once. Shall it not be so with the Jews at their glorious conversion, when they shall hear, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye have persecuted and pierced?” (Zechariah 12:10 Revelation 1:7) [See Trapp on “Ge 38:27”]
Ver. 4. I am Joseph your brother.] Therefore you are to expect no hard sentence from a brother’s mouth. Christ “is not ashamed,” nor will be at the last day, “to call us brethren,” He that was willingly judged for me, said that good woman, will surely give no hard sentence against me. We may say boldly to him, as Ruth did to Boaz, “Spread thy skirt over me, for thou art a near kinsman” (Ruth 3:9) Pattern of Piety.
Ver. 5. Now therefore be not grieved, &c.] See here a lively image of Christ’s love toward his enemies, for whom he prayed and died, “to give them repentance and remission.” (Acts 5:31) This Angel of the Covenant first troubles the waters, and then cures those cripples that step in. This Sun of Righteousness first draws up vapours of godly grief, and then dispels them. “A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he bring forth judgment to victory”; (Matthew 12:20 Isaiah 42:3) that is, weak grace to perfection. To preserve life.] Animantis euiusque vita in fuga est, saith the philosopher, and must be maintained by means. Hence it is called “the life of our hands,” (Isaiah 57:10) because upheld by the labour of our hands.
Ver. 6. [See Trapp on “Ge 41:54”]
Ver. 7. God sent me before you.] He it is that by a powerful providence orders all the disorders of the world, by a certain counsel, to his own ends, and at length to his own glory. The hands that nailed Christ to the cross were “wicked hands.” (Acts 2:23) And Judas was sent to “his own place,” for being “guide to them that took Jesus.” (Acts 1:16) And yet they did no more than what “God’s hand and counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:28) for his glory, and the salvation of his elect. This Pliny derides as a strange doctrine, b ut Plato hammers at it, when he saith, that God doth always φεωμετρειν. Indeed he doth all, in number, weight, and measure, as the wise man saith. He alters the property of his people’s afflictions, and by an almighty alchemy turns dross to gold, &c. As a skilful apothecary, he makes of a poisoness viper a wholesome antidote. Irridendum vero curam agere rerum humanarum illud quicquid est summum. -Plin., lib. ii. cap. 7.
Ver. 8. It was not you that sent me.] Joseph makes the best of an ill matter, that they may not be overwhelmed with grief, and so made a prey to the devil. (2 Corinthians 2:11) “After I was made known to myself,” saith Ephraim, “I repented.” Get thee, saith Mr Bradford, God’s law as a glass, to look in; so shalt thou see thy face foul arrayed, and so shameful, saucy, mangy, pocky, and scabbed, that thou canst not but be sorry at the contemplation thereof, &c. Especially if thou look to the tag tied to God’s law, the malediction, which is such as cannot but make us to cast our currish tails between our legs, if we believe it. But here, to clear our eyesight, and keep us upright, we must anoint our eyes with Christ’s eyesalve. (Revelation 3:17,18) We read of a sensible eyesalve made of Christ’s spittle and clay. (John 9:6) As it were, of the knowledge of Christ by his word which proceedeth out of his mouth, as also of the knowledge of ourselves; who being made of earth, do savour nothing else but earth. Both of these two knowledges are to be joined and beaten together in a lump; else they help not. For our misery acknowledged, without Christ, breedeth desperation: and Christ, without sense of our vileness, presumption. Postquam ostensum fuerit mihi. -Tremell. Mr Bradford’s Sermon of Repent., pp. 26, 27. Bright., in loc.