Genesis 45:1-3

"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 to his brethren. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. 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."

Many have compared the speechless astonishment of these guilty brothers to the speechless terror that shall confound the wicked on the day of Judgment. Jewish writers have pointed out that Joseph effectively refuted Judah's brilliant appeal in this revelation of himself, his words, "I am Joseph," having the effect of the following:

If it did not occur to you when you sold me into slavery that it would kill my father, why are you so worried about him now? If he managed to survive the terrible grief you caused him then, he certainly will be able to survive even the loss of Benjamin now![6]

No wonder the brothers were speechless!

"Cause every man to go out from me ..." This was not a manifestation on Joseph's part of any shame concerning his family. All evidence points to the fact that Pharaoh was already familiar with Joseph's intentions of moving the family of Jacob into Egypt. Joseph here only wanted the decent privacy that all men desire upon occasions of deep emotion. For the same reason, funeral directors all over the world seclude the family of the deceased for those final intimate moments with the body of the beloved dead.

"Doth my father yet live ..." Nit-picking critics question this interrogation on the basis that Joseph had already asked the question back in Genesis 43:7, but the circumstances are radically different here, Joseph's words having the meaning, "Is my father really alive?" Sure, Joseph had already heard that Jacob was alive twice before; but, "His filial heart impelled to make sure of it once more."[7]

"And the house of Pharaoh heard ..." The meaning of this is that, "The Egyptian officials standing outside heard the weeping and reported it to the house of Pharaoh."[8]