Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 45:15

Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.

15. kissed ] See note on Gen 45:2.

after that ] Joseph’s brethren were evidently slow to believe that they might rely upon his sincerity.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Gen 45:15

He kissed all his brethren

A day of reconciliation

A day of reconciliation! A family made one.

Brethren coming together again after long separation. It is a beautiful picture. Why should it not be completed, where it needs completion, in our own day amongst ourselves? Ministers sometimes have misunderstandings and say unkind things about one another–and exile one another from love and confidence for years. Is there never to be a day of reconciliation and Christian forgetfulness of wrongs, even where positive wrong has been done? Families and households often get awry. The younger brother differs with his eldest brother–sisters fall out. One wants more than belongs to him; another is knocked to the wall because he is weak; and there comes in the heart bitterness and alienation, and often brothers and sisters never have a kind word to say about one another. Is it always to be so? Dont merely make it up, dont patch it up, dont cover it up–go right down to the base. You will never be made one, until you meet at the Cross and hear Him say, He that doeth the will of My Father, which is in heaven, the same is My mother, and sister, and brother. It is in Christs sorrow that we are to forget our woes, in Christs sacrifice we find the answer to our sin, in Christs union with the Father that we are to find all true and lasting reconciliation. But who is to begin? That is the wonderful question that is often asked us. Who is to begin? One would imagine that there were some very nice people about who only wanted somebody to tell them who was to begin. They want to be reconciled, only they dont know who is to begin. I can tell you. You are! That is exactly how it is. But I am the eldest–yes, and therefore ought to begin. But I am the youngest. Then whyshould the youngest be an obstinate pig-headed child? Who are you that you should not go and throw yourself down at your brothers feet and say, I have done you wrong, pardon me! Who is to begin? You! Which! Both! When! Now! Oh! beware of the morality which says, I am looking for the opportunity, and if things should so get together– Sir! death may be upon you before you reason out your wretched casuistry; the injured or the injurer may be in the grave before you get to the end of your long melancholy process of self-laudation and anti-Christian logic. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The reconciled brethren

I. JOSEPHS AVOWAL.

II. MUTUAL SALUTATIONS.

III. THE MESSAGE TO JACOB. Learn:

1. To avoid strife.

2. To repel any revengeful feelings.

3. To be kind and ready to forgive. (W. S. Smith, B. D.)

Emblem of forgiveness

Nothing is more moving to man than the spectacle of reconciliation; our weaknesses are thus indemnified, and are not too costly, being the price we pay for the hour of forgiveness; and the archangel who has never felt anger has reason to envy the man who subdues it. When thou forgivest, the man who has pierced thy heart stands to thee in the relation of the sea-worm, that perforates the shell of the mussel, which straightway closes the wound with a pearl. (W. Richter.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

To wit, freely and familiarly, being encouraged by his kindness.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Moreover, he kissed all his brethren,…. In their turns, to testify his real affection for them, and hearty reconciliation to them:

and wept upon them; that is, upon their necks, as he had on Benjamin’s:

and after that his brethren talked with him: being emboldened by this carriage of his to them, and encouraged to believe that he really forgave them their sin against him, and was truly reconciled unto them, and had a real affection for them, and had no reason to fear he would avenge himself on them: they entered into a free conversation, and talked of their father and their family, and the concerns of it, and of what passed since the time he was separated from them.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

15. After that his brethren talked with him That is, after the embracing of Benjamin (Gen 45:14) and the weeping and kissing of them all . “They were so stunned and bewildered that they could not utter a word till his tears washed out their terrors . ” Newhall .

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments