Genesis 45:4
in Genesis 45Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” And they did so. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
KJV
And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
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This verse in Genesis 45
Commentary
10 notes on this verse"Come to me," because I have come near to you, yes, even so far that I made myself a sharer in your nature by taking on flesh. At least do not flee a partaker of your fellowship, if you do not know the Author of your salvation. "And they came to him, and he said, 'I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
This site's exposition
I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?
on Genesis 45:3-4
His first question is about the old man at home, whether his father is still alive. The brothers were unable to answer, terrified in his presence. He calls them near and names the crime with the kinship, I am Joseph, your brother, the one you sold into Egypt. Ambrose of Milan read come near me as the voice of Christ calling a people who had refused him, and Acts 7:13 marks the timing, the second visit.
This site's exposition
Please come near me
The brothers had drawn back in terror at verse 3, and Joseph closes the distance himself. The words about the sale are spoken at close range, with every Egyptian already sent out at verse 1. The shame stays inside the family.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Don't be hard on yourselves; don't think," Joseph says, "that you did these things to me out of your intent. It was not so much from your malice in my regard as from God's wisdom and ineffable love that I should come here and now be in a favorable position to provide nourishment to you and the whole country."
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): I am Joseph, your brother. This would both humble them yet more for their sin in selling him, and would encourage them to hope for kind treatment. Thus when Christ would convince Paul he said, I am Jesus; and when he would comfort his disciples he said, It is I, be not afraid.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And Joseph said unto his brethren, come near to me, I pray you,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
JOSEPH is a very eminent type of Christ. When he was hated of his brothers because he protested against their sins, and when they sold him for twenty pieces of silver, he was doubtlessly a portrait of the despised and rejected of men whom His disciple betrayed. Afterwards in his temptations in the house of Potiphar, in the slander and consequent imprisonment in the round house of Pharaoh's prison, in his after advancement, till he became lord over all the land of Egypt, we clearly see our blessed Lord right well portrayed.
JOSEPH is a very eminent type of Christ. When he was hated of his brothers because he protested against their sins, and when they sold him for twenty pieces of silver, he was doubtlessly a portrait of the despised and rejected of men whom His disciple betrayed. Afterwards in his temptations in the house of Potiphar, in the slander and consequent imprisonment in the round house of Pharaoh's prison, in his after advancement, till he became lord over all the land of Egypt, we clearly see our blessed Lord right well portrayed. Indeed, so well is the picture drawn, that there is scarcely a stroke even though it should seem to be a mere accidental incident of the picture which has not its symbolic meaning. You shall read the history of Joseph through twenty times and yet you shall not have exhausted the type. You shall begin again, and find still some fresh likeness between this despised son of Rachel and the Son of Mary who is also God over all, blessed forever. Amen. It is not, however, my business this morning to enter into a full description of Joseph as the type of Christ. I have a rather more practical object in hand. I shall endeavor, in the Lord's strength, to deal with tried and troubled consciences, and if it shall be my happy lot to be the means of cheering some sorrowing heart and opening some blind eye to see the personal beauties and the intense affection of the Lord Jesus, I shall be but too glad to have been God's messenger to your hearts. To tarry no longer, but to proceed at once to so good an errand, hopeful that God will help us to accomplish it, I shall direct your attention to the picture before us as being a representation of the way in which the Lord Jesus Christ deals with His erring Brethren, those whom His Father has given Him and whom He has purchased with His blood.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2516: “Jesus and His Brethren” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
I NEED not say to you, Beloved, who are conversant with Scripture, that there is scarcely any personal type in the Old Testament which is more clearly and fully a portrait of our Lord Jesus Christ than is the type of Joseph. You may run the parallel between Joseph and Jesus in very many directions, yet you need never strain the narrative so even much as once. I am not about to attempt that task on the present occasion, but I am going to take this memorable portion of the biography of Joseph and show you how, in making himself known to his brethren, he was a type of our Lord revealing himself to us. It seems that, at last, Joseph could bear the suspense no longer. He knew who his brethren were, he knew which was Benjamin and which was Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah and the rest, and he remembered all the story of their early days together. But they did not know him. They thought him some mysterious potentate, some great ruler of the land of Egypt—as indeed he was—but they did not know so much about him as he knew about them. Consequently, there was a distance between him and them and his loving heart ached to bridge that gulf by manifesting himself to them. It is the way of love to desire to make itself known. Now, in a still higher sense, the Lord Jesus Christ knows all about those in this place whom He has redeemed with His precious blood. The Father gave them to Him from before the foundation of the world and He took them into Covenant relationship with Himself before the earth was. Often has He thought of these as His beloved ones. His delights have been with the sons of men and He has looked forward and foreseen all that would happen to them.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2516: “Jesus and His Brethren” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
I NEED not say to you, Beloved, who are conversant with Scripture, that there is scarcely any personal type in the Old Testament which is more clearly and fully a portrait of our Lord Jesus Christ than is the type of Joseph. You may run the parallel between Joseph and Jesus in very many directions, yet you need never strain the narrative so even much as once.
The words behind it
16 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֨אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יוֹסֵ֧ף | yosef | Joseph | H3130 → | 213 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֶחָ֛יו | ʾechav | brothers his | H251 → | 630 times |
| גְּשׁוּ־ | geshu- | draw near | H5066 → | 125 times |
| נָ֥א | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| אֵלַ֖י | ʾelai | to me | H413 → | 5510 times |
| וַיִּגָּ֑שׁוּ | vaiyigashu | and they drew near | H5066 → | 125 times |
| וַיֹּ֗אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲנִי֙ | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יוֹסֵ֣ף | yosef | [am] Joseph | H3130 → | 213 times |
| אֲחִיכֶ֔ם | ʾachikhem | brother your | H251 → | 630 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| מְכַרְתֶּ֥ם | mekhartem | you sold | H4376 → | 80 times |
| אֹתִ֖י | ʾoti | <obj.> me | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִצְרָֽיְמָה׃ | mitzrayemah | Egypt towards | H4714 → | 641 times |
וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יוֹסֵ֧ףJoseph
yosefH3130 →213 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֶחָ֛יוbrothers his
ʾechavH251 →630 times
גְּשׁוּ־draw near
geshu-H5066 →125 times
נָ֥אplease
na'H4994 →404 times
אֵלַ֖יto me
ʾelaiH413 →5510 times
וַיִּגָּ֑שׁוּand they drew near
vaiyigashuH5066 →125 times
וַיֹּ֗אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
אֲנִי֙I
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יוֹסֵ֣ף[am] Joseph
yosefH3130 →213 times
אֲחִיכֶ֔םbrother your
ʾachikhemH251 →630 times
אֲשֶׁר־whom
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
מְכַרְתֶּ֥םyou sold
mekhartemH4376 →80 times
אֹתִ֖י<obj.> me
ʾotiH853 →10935 times
מִצְרָֽיְמָה׃Egypt towards
mitzrayemahH4714 →641 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 14:27But Jesus spoke up at once: “Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”
it leads to
- John 16:33
I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!”
- Acts 23:11
The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so also you must testify in Rome.”
- Revelation 1:17–18
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,
- Isaiah 41:10
Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand…
- Isaiah 41:4
Who has performed this and carried it out, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD—the first and the last—I am He.”
- John 16:33
Through
Genesis 37:28So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
it leads to
- Acts 7:9
Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him
- Psalms 105:17
He sent a man before them— Joseph, sold as a slave.
- Acts 7:9
Through
Acts 9:5“Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 1:13
I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.
- 1 Timothy 1:13
About Genesis
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Ambrose of Milan, ON JOSEPH 12.68-69; Ambrose of Milan, On Joseph; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 449: “Joseph And His Brothers” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2516: “Jesus and His Brethren” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 64.28; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.