It has been said by preachers at worship services, which I attended, that what occurs at this time between Joseph and his brethren, should not be in any book of the Bible, prior to the coming of the New Covenant. They say that forgiveness of this type is beyond the comprehension of anyone born under the Old Covenant. Joseph not only forgives his ten brothers for what they had done to him, but he embraces them and expresses a deep emotional love for them. Certainly, the account of his being sold as a slave, his rise to power, and his meeting his brethren during their troubles and his forgiveness of their past behavior and their emotional reunion is quite long, embracing thirteen chapters to the end of the book. Nothing like this is ever done again in the recorded history of the Jewish people. Therefore, I’m not as certain as my esteemed preachers that this type of grace and forgiveness is misplaced under the Old Covenant. I believe it is probably there, except that is recorded more briefly.
Now, that Joseph has stepped away from masking his identity and revealed himself to his brethren, he warns them that they need to hurry to their father and tell him what has occurred. He needs to know that his son, Joseph, is alive and well, and they must bring him to Egypt to be close to him (Genesis 45:9).
They and their families would dwell in the land of Goshen, a well-watered area in Egypt. Goshen is a Semitic name, and was later called the land of Remeses. It was situated in the delta area on the eastern side of the Nile River, northeast of Memphis, the capital of Egypt. Joseph told his brethren that they would be nourished there, for there were yet five more years of famine to come. Moreover, if they stayed in the Land of Canaan, they’d fall into poverty, for there wasn’t enough pastureland for their livestock (Genesis 45:10-11; cp. 47:4).
It isn’t noted in the text, but the brothers may have doubted Joseph was, indeed, the man they had sold into slavery, for it seems Joseph had to reassure them that it was really he, who spoke with them. He mentioned that he was no longer speaking through an interpreter; they were able to see that. Moreover, he spoke with them in their own (his own) dialect, vis-à-vis “it is my mouth that speaks to you” (Genesis 45:12). In other words, he didn’t even use the universal tongue used among the nations for marketing purposes. He used his local dialect, which was spoken among the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Therefore, they were to make haste and go and tell their father about Joseph, telling him of Joseph’s glorious position in Egypt, and he must come to Egypt and live near him (Genesis 45:13). Therefore, the brethren were set as ease, and they drew near and spoke freely with him, Joseph embracing them and weeping over their joyful reunion (Genesis 45:14-15).
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