The sense I receive from the text is that Pharaoh may have been quite young, when he came to the throne, and may very well have been a teenager, when Joseph appeared before him to interpret his dream (cp. Genesis 41:46). Therefore, Joseph describes his relationship with him as being a father figure (Genesis 45:8), wherein he was made the executive ruler throughout the Land of Egypt. Sometimes in ancient governments a monarch would die leaving his throne to his child prince. In such an event, a trusted relative would often assume the throne, until the child came of age. I believe something like this occurred in the relationship between Joseph and Pharaoh. Whoever had been the executive ruler before Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream (cp. Genesis 41:1-8), if, indeed, he was a child monarch, was replaced with Joseph (cp. Genesis 41:37-44), for Pharaoh’s statement: “…only in the throne will I be greater than you” (Genesis 41:40) would not only have applied to Joseph, but also to any previous executive ruler of Egypt under Pharaoh.
News of Joseph’s family coming to Egypt had quickly spread throughout Pharaoh’s house, first, among his servants and high-ranking officials (Genesis 45:16), and it was through one of them that Pharaoh learned of it. Pharaoh was well pleased, when he heard the news, as were his close servants. No doubt, this news presented both Pharaoh and his trusted officials with a chance to repay Joseph for all he had done for the Land of Egypt.
Joseph was called to appear before Pharaoh, and he told Joseph to tell his brethren to load up their beasts and return to the Land of Canaan and get their father and their families and come to Egypt. Pharaoh, himself, would provide them with the best of all the land (Genesis 45:17-18). The command in Genesis 45:19 refers to Joseph (cp. verse-21); Joseph was commanded to tell his brethren, what Pharaoh told him in private. First, Joseph was to provide his brethren with wagons or coaches for the children and wives of his brethren and for his aged father, Jacob. Moreover, they didn’t need to concern themselves with their private belonging, because the good of all Egypt would be theirs upon their return (Genesis 45:19-20).
Thus, not only had Joseph’s brothers the promise of Joseph that they would be treated well, if they moved from the Land of Canaan to Egypt, but they also had the word of Pharaoh, himself, that they would be given the best Egypt had to offer them. In other words, they need not fear coming to Egypt, for its citizens and its authorities would welcome them. They wouldn’t be treated like aliens or as refugees, who migrated to a wealthy country during a time of trouble, hoping to escape their troubles and take advantage of a better life.
In our own modern times, we have seen how famine and war have caused many folks to migrate out of their troubled lands to a safer and perhaps more prosperous country, where they could make a new beginning. Such people are not always welcomed by the inhabitants of the land, where the refugees seek to find their new home. In fact, border problems between the United States and Mexico testify of such problems and unwanted aliens. Nevertheless, this is not what we find at this point in the Genesis record. No! Joseph’s family was personally invited by Pharaoh, the head of state, and they were given citizen status, in that they would be given the very best of the land.
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