Introduction
THE RECOGNITION, AND THE MESSAGE TO JACOB, Genesis 45:1-28.
Whatever purposes Joseph intended to accomplish by his severity and mysterious conduct towards his brethren, all are accomplished now, or else the irresistible eloquence of Judah dissuades him from concealing himself further. When he first saw them ten of them, without Benjamin, (chap. xlii,) he may have at once suspected that they had made away with his younger brother as they had done with himself. He would keep himself aloof until he could thoroughly prove their present disposition, and find out all the facts. Thus he was also made, perhaps unwittingly, the instrument of distressing his aged father, as a retribution for the mischievous partiality he had shown to the sons of Rachel. But the action of the brethren towards Benjamin, and especially the appeal of Judah, and the picture of the aged father sinking in sorrow to the grave all convince Joseph that a deep change has been wrought in the hearts of these men, and he can refrain himself no longer.
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