Genesis 45:27 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 45:27
And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
to send away · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
carry
לָשֵׂ֣אתla.Set
H5375
to lift · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
spirit
ר֖וּחַRu.ach
H7307
wind · noun, common feminine singular construct
Jacob
יַעֲקֹ֥בya.'a.Ko
H3290
Jaakob · proper noun, a man's name
father
אֲבִיהֶֽם'a.vi.Hem
H1
father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
revived
וַתְּחִ֕יva.te.Chi
H2421
to live · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 45:19 Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father…
Psalms 85:6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that i…
1 Samuel 30:12 And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had ea…
Hosea 6:2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
Judges 15:19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he reviv…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 45:25–end
We have here the good news brought to Jacob. 1. The relation of it, at first, sunk his spirits. When, without any preamble, his sons came in, crying, Joseph is yet alive, each striving which should first proclaim it, perhaps he thought they bantered him, and the affront grieved him; or the very mention of Joseph's name revived his sorrow, so that his heart fainted, Gen 45:26. It was a good while before he came to himself. He was in such care and fear about the rest of them that at this time it would have been joy enough to him to hear that Simeon was released, and that Benjamin had come safely home (for he had been ready to despair concerning both these); but to hear that Joseph is alive is…
so he sent his brethren away--In dismissing them on their homeward journey, he gave them this particular admonition:
See that ye fall not out by the way--a caution that would be greatly needed; for not only during the journey would they be occupied in recalling the parts they had respectively acted in the events that led to Joseph's being sold into Egypt, but their wickedness would soon have to come to the knowledge of their venerable father.
Next: Genesis Chapter 46
Adam Clarke on Genesis 45:27
When he saw the wagons - the spirit of Jacob - revived - The wagons were additional evidences of the truth of what he had heard from his sons; and the consequence was, that he was restored to fresh vigor, he seemed as if he had gained new life, ותחי vattechi, and he lived; revixit, says the Vulgate, he lived afresh. The Septuagint translate the original word by ανεζωπυρησε, which signifies the blowing and stirring up of almost extinguished embers that had been buried under the ashes, which word St. Paul uses, Ti2 1:6, for stirring up the gift of God. The passage at once shows the debilitated state of the venerable patriarch, and the wonderful effect the news of Joseph's preservation and glor…
When they told Jacob about the honor of Joseph, about the wisdom with which he administered his affairs and about how their last judgment was more bitter than the first, their father asked them and said, "Did you not ask Joseph how or why he went down to Egypt?" Then, when they all looked at each other and did not know what to say, Judah opened his mouth and said to his father, "We are recalling our crime today before our father." Because of the dreams of Joseph, Joseph's brothers thought, in their simplicity, that you and they would soon serve him as slaves. They also imagined, in their foolishness, that "it was better that he alone should be the servant than that we and our father should serve him as slaves." They did this because they took pity on you and on Benjamin and not because you loved Joseph. "You also loved Benjamin, but because he did not say that we would become servants to him, all of us love him. Forgive us then for having humiliated Joseph, for it is on account of our humiliating him that he has come to this exalted state." Their father then accepted their apology and said to them, "Because of the good news about Joseph by which you have brought me joy, this offense, which caused me great suffering when I heard it, is forgiven you."
Despite these words and the fact that they brought what he had sent, the carts and the gifts sent by Joseph, only with difficulty did they succeed in convincing their father that what they had told him was a lie. In fact, when Jacob saw the carts that had been sent to carry him down to Egypt, "he gained new life," the text says. This old graybeard, all stooped and bent, suddenly takes on new vigor and heart: observe the text says, "he gained new life." What is the force of "he gained new life"? Just as the light of the lamp, when the supply of oil runs out and the light is on the point of going out, suddenly emits a brighter flame … when someone puts in a little oil, in just the same way this old man … on the point of expiring from disappointment … next learned that Joseph was alive and was in charge of Egypt. Seeing the carts, "he gained new life," the text says. From being old, Jacob became young; he put aside the cloud of disappointment; he repelled the storm in his mind and then found himself at peace, with God disposing everything so that the good man should enjoy relief from all these awful trials and share the happiness of his son. In particular, the dream was to be fulfilled that Jacob himself had interpreted in the words, "Do you mean to say that I and your mother and your brothers will come to bow to the ground before you?"
Dictionary and topics
Cart — A vehicle moving on wheels, and usually drawn by oxen (2 Sam. 6:3). The Hebrew word thus rendered, ’agalah (1 Sam. 6:7, 8), is also rendered “wagon” (Gen. 45:19). It is used also to denote a…
Wagon — Heb. aghalah; so rendered in Gen. 45:19, 21, 27; 46:5; Num. 7:3, 7, 8, but elsewhere rendered “cart” (1 Sam. 6:7, etc.). This vehicle was used for peaceful purposes. In Ezek. 23:24, however, it is…
Parents · .Jacob — .Jacob
Wagon · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Genesis 45:27
And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them,.... Not concerning their selling of him, and his forgiveness of them, and reconciliation to them, which perhaps Jacob never heard of to his dying day, since he makes no mention of it, nor hints at it in his dying words to them; but of his great advancement in the court of Pharaoh, and how desirous he was to have his father and family with him, and provide for them, since there were five years of famine yet to come:
and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, and his sons wives and children, down to Egypt in; and which were so grand and magnificent, that he was easily persuaded could never have been pr…
And Jacob's heart fainted. We know that some persons have fainted with sudden and unexpected joy. Therefore, certain interpreters suppose that the heart of Jacob was, in a sense, suffocated, as if seized by a kind of ecstatic stupor. But Moses assigns a different cause; namely, that not having confidence in his sons, he was agitated between hope and fear. And we know, that they who are held in suspense, by hearing some incredible message, are struck with torpor, as if they were lifeless. It was not, therefore, a simple affection of joy, but a certain mingled perturbation which shook the mind of Jacob. Therefore, Moses shortly after says, that his spirit revived; when he, having returned to h…
When they got back, and brought word to their father, "Joseph is still living, yea (וכי an emphatic assurance, Ewald, 3306) he is ruler in all the land of Egypt, his heart stopped, for he believed them not;" i.e., his heart did not beat at this joyful news, for he put no faith in what they said. It was not till they told him all that Joseph had said, and he saw the carriages that Joseph had sent, that "the spirit of their father Jacob revived; and Israel said: It is enough! Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die." Observe the significant interchange of Jacob and Israel. When once the crushed spirit of the old man was revived by the certainty that his son Joseph was st…
their father’s spirits revived: This royal invitation to Jacob, an old man near the end of hope, and to the ten brothers burdened with guilty fears, was a turning point in their lives. It was also a fulfillment of God’s prediction (15:13-16) that they would go into seclusion in a foreign country and there become a great nation without losing their identity. The joyful news about Joseph changed the lives of everyone in this family for the good.
Rashi on Genesis 45:4
גשו נא אלי STEP NEAR TO ME, I PRAY YOU — He saw that they recoiled and he said to himself “Now my brothers feel ashamed”. He therefore called to them and showed them that he was circumcised. (Genesis Rabbah 93:10).
But that the divine fire can sometimes be extinguished even in the holy and faithful, hear the Apostle Paul instructing those who were meriting to receive the gifts of the Spirit and grace, and saying: "do not extinguish the Spirit." As though, then, Jacob had suffered some such thing as Paul instructed ought not to happen, and had restored himself through the things which had been announced to him about the life of Joseph, it is said of him: "and Jacob rekindled his spirit and Israel said: it is a great thing for me, if my son Joseph is still alive." But this too is to be observed, that he who "rekindles his spirit," namely that spirit which seemed almost extinguished, is called Jacob; but he who says: "it is a great thing for me, if my son Joseph is alive," as one understanding and seeing that great is the life which is in the spiritual Joseph, this one is now written not Jacob, but Israel, as one who sees with the mind the true life, which is the true God, Christ. But he was moved not only by this, that he heard "Joseph his son is alive," but especially by that which was announced to him, that it was he who held "the rule of all Egypt." For this truly is a great thing for him, that he brought Egypt back under his own dominion. For to trample lust, to flee luxury, and to press down and bridle all the pleasures of the body, this is to hold "the rule of all Egypt." And this is what among Israel is accounted great and held in admiration. But if there is anyone who indeed subdues some vices of the body, but yields and lies subject to others, of him it is not said wholly that he holds "the rule of the whole land of Egypt," but, for the sake of argument, he will be seen to hold the rule perhaps of one or two or three cities. But Joseph, over whom no lust of the body held dominion, was prince and lord "of all Egypt." Therefore not now Jacob, but Israel, his spirit rekindled, says: "it is a great thing for me, if Joseph my son is alive. I will go and see him before I die." But not even this is to be left idly aside, that he says not the soul, but the spirit, as the better part of himself, was revived or rekindled. For the splendor of the light which was in him, even if it was not then wholly extinguished, when his sons brought forward Joseph's tunic stained with the blood of a kid and he could be deceived by their lie, so that he "rent his garments and put…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
