Essay for Genesis 45:1

In revealing his true identity at last, Yosef makes two points: first, that it was all part of God’s plan; and second, that the family must immediately prepare for migration to Egypt. Thus the personal story is intertwined with the national one, and the text therefore gives limited time and space to psychological details. The motif of God’s plan is stressed by the repetition of “God sent me” (vv.5, 7, 8), while the anticipated bounties of settling in Egypt are brought out by the threefold “good-things of Egypt” (vv.18, 20, 23) and by the repeated exhortation to “come” (vv.18, 19).