Genesis 46:29-30

"And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen; and he presented himself unto him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a great while. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, that thou art yet alive."

What a remarkable picture the procession of Joseph in the Second Chariot of Egypt must have provided as Joseph with full honors of the nation went up to greet his father and welcome him into the land of Goshen!

"To Goshen ..." It was not accidental that Israel came to Goshen; from the very first, Joseph had foreseen that Goshen was the correct place for his father's people. It was primarily pasture land with scant, if any population. And it provided exactly the isolation that the Hebrews needed if conflict with the populations of Egypt was to be avoided. Joseph had already cleared this with Pharaoh, even before he had finished testing his brothers, and Pharaoh had already confirmed the place as the location of Israel, but Joseph apparently feared that after Pharaoh's meeting with Joseph, Pharaoh might, as a special favor to Joseph's father, locate his posterity in what the Egyptians might consider a more favorable location. Joseph knew that if the matter of the occupation of his kindred was clearly understood by Pharaoh, such a change in the plans would not occur. That accounts for what is next related here.

"And wept on his neck a great while ..." This tearful reunion between Jacob and Joseph was intensely emotional. It is not recorded that either of them said anything for a long time. The long and tearful embrace lasted, and lasted. It was Jacob who broke the posture with words:

"Now let me die, since I have seen thy face ..." Jacob may indeed have thought that his death was near, but God spared him for many more years to behold the glory of his son Joseph, and to see his posterity settled in Goshen.