to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
enough
רַ֛בrav
H7227
abundant (in quantity · adjective, masculine singular absolute
Joseph
יוֹסֵ֥ףyo.Sef
H3130
Joseph · proper noun, a man's name
son
בְּנִ֖יbe.Ni
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
alive
חָ֑יChai
H2416
alive · adjective, masculine singular absolute
go
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
him
וְאֶרְאֶ֖נּוּve.'er.'E.nu
H7200
to see · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
die
אָמֽוּת'a.Mut
H4191
to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common 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
Luke 2:28-30 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
Genesis 46:30 And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.
John 16:21-22 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more…
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 45:28
It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive - It was not the state of dignity to which Joseph had arisen that particularly affected Jacob, it was the consideration that he was still alive. It was this that caused him to exclaim רב rab; "much! multiplied! my son is yet alive! I will go and see him before I die." None can realize this scene; the words, the circumstances, all refer to indescribable feelings.
1. In Joseph's conduct to his brethren there are several things for which it is difficult to account. It is strange, knowing how much his father loved him, that he never took an opportunity, many of which must have offered, to acquaint him that he was alive; and that self-interest did not dict…
"So let us hasten now so that I may savor something of our meeting before I die. I mean, already the news has dumbfounded me, has banished an old man's weakness and invigorated my resolve; so once I have the good fortune to meet him and enjoy the consummation of joy, I shall then bring my life to a close." Without delay the good man took to the road, showing all haste and anxiety to see the object of his desire and gaze upon him, dead for so many years and become the prey of wild beasts, as he thought, and now made king of Egypt.
But since we have said that it is Jacob who "rekindles his spirit," but Israel who says: "it is a great thing for me, if my son Joseph is still alive," you too, who hear these things, beginning from that place where it is written that "he said to him: your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have prevailed with God, and with men you have been made mighty," running through all Scripture, can find the difference of this appellation. For example, as when he says: "announce to me your name," here the one who does not know the name is not said to be Israel, but Jacob. But where "they do not eat the sinew that grew numb in the breadth of the patriarch's thigh," they are said to be not the sons of Jacob, but the sons of Israel. But he who, looking up, saw Esau coming and with him four hundred men, and worshiped seven times the fornicator and profane one, and him who for one meal "sold his birthright," is called not Israel, but Jacob. And also when he offers him gifts and says: "if I have found favor before you, receive these presents from my hands, because I have seen your face, like one who sees the face of God," here he was not Israel, but Jacob. And where he heard that Dinah his daughter had been defiled "and Jacob held his peace until his sons should come," he is not called Israel. But you too, as I said, if you observe, will find similar things. In the present reading, therefore, not Jacob, but Israel says: "it is a great thing for me, if my son Joseph is still alive." But also when he comes to the well of the oath and "offers a sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac," he is called not Jacob, but Israel. But if you should ask why, speaking to him by night in a vision, God does not say "Israel, Israel," but "Jacob, Jacob," it is perhaps because it was night and he still merited to hear the voice of God through a vision and not yet openly. And when he enters Egypt, he is called not Israel, but Jacob "and his sons with him," and when he stands "before Pharaoh," to bless him, he is named not Israel, but Jacob; for Pharaoh did not receive the blessing of Israel. And it is Jacob, not Israel, who says to Pharaoh that "the days of his life are few and evil." Which indeed Israel would never say. But after these things it is said not of Jacob, but of Israel, that: "he called his son Joseph and says to him: if I have found favor in your…
Dictionary and topics
Piece Of Silver — I. In the Old Testament the word “pieces” is used in the Authorized Version for a word understood in the Hebrew (if we except) (Psalms 68:30) The phrase is always “a thousand,” or the like, “of…
Parents · .Jacob — .Jacob
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 45:28
And Israel said, it is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive,.... Or it is "much" or "great" (m); he had much joy, as the Targums; this was the greatest blessing of all, and more to him than all the glory and splendour that Joseph was in; that he was alive, that was enough for Jacob, which gave him content and pleasure; not so much the news of his grandeur in Egypt, as of his being in the land of the living:
I will go and see him before I die; though his age was great, the journey long and difficult, so great was his desire of seeing Joseph, that he determines at once upon going, expecting death shortly: no doubt but this was said in submission to the will of God, and in seeking him by prayer…
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).
