They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” His heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them. They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived. Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Show the surrounding paragraph
Genesis 45:26-28 sits inside this longer paragraph.
They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father. They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” His heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them. They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived. Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Parallel Translations
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They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” His heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them.
They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived.
Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
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And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not.
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:
And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.
Show all 3 translations
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And they told him, saying: 'Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.' And his heart fainted, for he believed them not.
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.
And Israel said: 'It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.'
Cross-references (22)
- Genesis 44:28 (v26) One went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn in pieces;” and I haven’t seen him since.
- Genesis 45:19 (v27) Now you are commanded to do this: Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and…
- Psalms 85:6 (v27) Won’t you revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
- Isaiah 57:15 (v27) For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, says: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a…
- Genesis 37:35 (v26) All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “For I will go down to Sheol to my son,…
Show all 22 cross-references
- 1 Samuel 30:12 (v27) They gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no…
- Hosea 6:2 (v27) After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him.
- Luke 2:28-30 (v28) then he received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Now you are releasing your servant, Master, according to your word, in…
- Genesis 42:36 (v26) Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take…
- Genesis 42:38 (v26) He said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which…
- Genesis 45:8-9 (v26) So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land…
- Genesis 46:30 (v28) Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”
- Job 9:16 (v26) If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.
- Job 29:24 (v26) I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn’t reject the light of my face.
- Psalms 105:21 (v26) He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all of his possessions,
- Psalms 126:1 (v26) When Yahweh brought back those who returned to Zion, we were like those who dream.
- Jonah 2:7 (v26) “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.
- Luke 24:11 (v26) These words seemed to them to be nonsense, and they didn’t believe them.
- Luke 24:34 (v26) saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
- Luke 24:41 (v26) While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
- John 16:21-22 (v28) A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish…
- Judges 15:19 (v27) But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived.…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On v26 26. And Jacob’s heart fainted. We know that some…
26. 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 himself, and being composed in mind, believed that which he had heard to be true. And he shows that his love towards Joseph had not languished through length of time, inasmuch as he set no value upon his own life, except so far as it would permit him to enjoy a sight of Joseph. He had before assigned to himself continual sorrow, even to the grave; but now he declares that he shall have a joyful death.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v26 As one between hope and fear.
As one between hope and fear.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Gen 45:26 And told him, saying, Joseph [is] yet…
Gen 45:26 And told him, saying, Joseph [is] yet alive, and he [is] governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not.
Ver. 26. Joseph is yet alive.] This was the most joyful news that ever Jacob heard, and the sincerest pleasure that ever he had; which therefore God reserves for his age. How did his good heart, after he had recollected himself, dance Levaltoes in his bosom, to hear of Joseph’s honour, but especially of his life! What shall ours do, when we see Christ in his kingdom!
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Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not.] They had told him a tale before; and he that once hath cracked his credit is hardly, after, believed. Besides, he thought the news was too good to be true. Tarda solet magnis rebus inesse fides. The joy of heaven is so great, that we must "enter into it"; it cannot enter into us. "Enter into the joy of thy Lord." {Mat 25:21}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv26, 28 Jacob’s heart fainted, or, was weakened, or failed, he…
Jacob’s heart fainted, or, was weakened, or failed, he fell into a swoon, as it is ordinary, because of the greatness and suddenness of the news, and the conflict of contrary and violent passions, raised hereby; grief at the remembrance of his former loss, and excessive joy for Joseph’s recovery and felicity; hope that this might be true, and fear lest it should be but a fiction of theirs: any one of these passions are able to cause a fainting of the spirits, but much more when all meet together, especially in an aged person.
He believed them not; partly because of the greatness, and strangeness, and desirableness of the thing; compare Psa 126:1; and partly because they were by this very relation convicted of one lie about Joseph, in saying that he was dead, and therefore might easily be thought guilty of another.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv26–28 And told him,.... What had happened to them in…
And told him,.... What had happened to them in Egypt:
saying, Joseph is yet alive; who was thought by him and them to have been dead long ago:
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and he is governor over all the land of Egypt; deputy governor, and had such power and authority that nothing was done without his order; the executive power or administration of government was put into his hands, and all the officers of the kingdom were under him, he was next to Pharaoh:
and Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not; it was too great and too good news to be true; though it was desirable, it was unexpected; it amazed him, he knew not what to think, or say or believe about it; there was such a conflict of the passions in him, that he could not compose himself, or reason with himself about it; and what might serve the more to hinder his belief of it was, that this report of theirs was contrary to what they themselves had before related of his death; and very likely upon the mention of the thing he fell into a swoon, and was not himself for a while; and when he came a little to himself, they went on with their account, as follows.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv26–27 We have here the good news brought to Jacob.…
We have here the good news brought to Jacob. When, without any preamble, his sons came in crying Joseph is yet alive. The very mention of Joseph's name revived his sorrow, so that his heart fainted. 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 is released, and Benjamin is come safe home; for he had been ready to despair concerning both these; but to bear that Joseph is alive, is too good news to be true; he faints, for he believes it not.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Verse 26. Jacob's heart fainted] Probably the good news…
Verse 26. Jacob's heart fainted] Probably the good news so overpowered him as to cast him into a swoon. He believed them not-he thought it was too good news to be true; and though it occasioned his swooning, yet on his recovery he could not fully credit it. See a similar case, Lu 24:41.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv26–27 Gen 45:26. They told him — Probably without any…
Gen 45:26. They told him — Probably without any preamble; Joseph is yet alive — The very mention of Joseph’s name revived his sorrow, so that his heart fainted, and 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 Benjamin come safe home; for he had been ready to despair concerning them both; but to hear that Joseph was alive was too good news to be true; he faints, for he believes it not.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv26–27 He awaked, &c. His heart was overpowered between hope…
He awaked, &c. His heart was overpowered between hope and distrust. He seemed to himself to be dreaming. Septuagint, "in an ecstacy." Such a sudden transition has oftentimes caused death. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv26–28 26. Jacob’s heart fainted — Gesenius (Lex., on פוג)…
26. Jacob’s heart fainted — Gesenius (Lex., on פוג) renders: “But his heart was cold, did not warm with joy, was not moved.” The news was too great and surprising for the aged patriarch to believe. Pressing grief, and mistrust and suspicion of his sons also, helped to beget this chill of unbelief in Jacob’s heart.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv26–28 26. his heart fainted] Lit. “became numb or cold”;…
26. his heart fainted] Lit. “became numb or cold”; as we should say, “his heart stood still’ at the news. It was too good to be true.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv26, 28 (26) Jacob’s heart fainted.—Heb., grew cold. This was not…
(26) Jacob’s heart fainted.—Heb., grew cold. This was not the effect of incredulity or suspicion, but of surprise. Jacob, crushed by the loss of the child who had taken the place of his beloved Rachel in his heart, had nothing left to interest him except Benjamin. When, therefore, the news come that Joseph still lives, his mind cannot open itself to receive the joyful tidings, and their first effect is to chill him with a renewed sense of his loss. It is only when he sees the wagons, and other clear proofs of the fact, that life returns to his benumbed faculties, and he becomes capable of joy.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv27–28 When he saw the waggons which Joseph had sent…
Gen_45:27
When he saw the waggons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived
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Probability an aid to faith
We see here how probabilities are the handmaids and the helpers of faith.
Slight tokens become the aliment, the very food, on which action feeds, strengthens, nurtures itself, and goes forth to fulfil the work marked out by Providence for the life.
I. Jacobs heart fainted; but old men, dying persons, often feel that some unrealized object detains them here. Jacob was like watchers who have gone to the point and taken lodgings, to be the first to hail the ship; and as pennon after pennon flutters in sight they hail it, but it is not the expected vessel, and the heart faints, until at last the well-known signal waves in the wind. Sense sees it, and faith revives.
II. The lesson of the patriarchs history is that faith may not realize all it desires, but it may realize what confirms, revives, assures. He saw the waggons: Faith cometh by hearing; it is a moral principle created in the mind, not so much by facts as probabilities. Faith is moved and swayed by antecedental considerations. So these waggons were, in all probability, an aid to faith, and his heart revived. Treasure up marks and tokens of another country; you will find they will not be wanting.
III. If you deal faithfully with the tremendous hints and probabilities sacred to your own nature, sacred to the Holy Word, sacred to the infinite manifestation of God in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, they will hold you fast in the power of awful convictions, and in the embrace of infinite consolations. The waggons assured Jacob that Joseph was yet alive, and there are innumerable conveyances of grace which assure us that Jesus is yet alive. (E. Paxton Hood.)
The joyful news told to Jacob
I. IT IS, AT FIRST, RECEIVED WITH INCREDULITY.
II. IT IS AFTERWARDS ACCEPTED UPON OUTWARD EVIDENCE.
III. IT ENABLED JACOB TO VINDICATE HIS OLD CHARACTER
1. His faith triumphs.
2. His dark destiny is about to be cleared up.
3. He anticipates his peaceful end. (T. H. Leale.)
Josephs waggons
1. No wonder certainly that Jacob could not believe his sons. You know from their history, and particularly from that part which is mingled with the earlier days of Joseph, how deceitfulness (inherited, too, from their parents and ancestry) had marked their conduct towards their father Jacob, whose life, I suspect, was often rendered very bitter by sad instances of their deceitfulness, and by the painful reflections upon his own conduct in his earlier days, which those instances would produce. Even Josephs messages were not believed by Jacob, not because Jacob doubted them, but because he could not believe the messengers.
II. And that Jacob believed at last, was convinced of the truthfulness of the messages, and going down to Egypt, he saw Joseph, often enjoyed his society, and finished his eventful pilgrimage there in peace, and with the full certainty of being buried in the promised land. A sight of Josephs waggons convinced him.
III. We have in this affecting narrative an illustration of two important ways by which truth may be received, and indeed through which it may be communicated. The difference betwixt the mode of teaching a truth by a simple revelation or message, and by the medium of the sight, is not, indeed, in the strictest sense of the term, that of an objective and a subjective truth; but it is very nearly this. For though indeed it may be said truly enough that teaching by means of any of the senses is objective, there is nearly all the difference between objective and subjective in teaching by means of the sight and by means of words; because whatever the eye learns is learned by a real object, or by an object which does not profess to be the thing itself, but a recognized representation thereof. Thus the message of Joseph delivered by his brethren to their father was really (in my view) a subjective truth; I mean it was truth which he was to receive. But then, though the ear was the medium of reception, faith or credibility in the veracity of his children was necessary ere he could profit by it. And this faith he had not in them. He could not believe them, and he only became agitated; but the sight of the waggons convinced him. The truth was exhibited by another means; but I think also it was truth in another form. It was the truth that Joseph was alive, objectively brought home to Jacob by visible tangible realities. They were not like Joseph; they were not pictures, carvings, imitations of him; but there was a reality, a matter of fact truthfulness about what he there saw before him, which, though not a convincing demonstration, was a thoroughly satisfying objective realization to the eye of what would not have happened but for the true loving tenderness of his long lost son. And this objective truth seen as an object by the eye gave reality to the subjective message, heard by the ear, indeed, but receivable only by the mind through faith, so that though it is said of that subjective truth Jacob believed not the messengers, it is immediately recorded of the objective truth that when he saw the waggons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived, and he said, It is enough; Joseph, my son, is yet alive: I will go, and see him before I die.
IV. The application of these observations to the Lords Supper, and indeed to either of the Sacraments, appears to me to be obvious and easy. Your only means of salvation is Christ Jesus, crucified for you and risen. God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself; Christ, the Son of God, who, by His one oblation offered once for all, hath put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, forms, through the Holy Spirit, your great hope of acceptance with God. The messages sent to you from heaven are true, and abound in tenderness; they are like Josephs message, full of truth and love. From various causes men demur to receive them. We who bring the messages are often not believed, You to whom the messages are delivered are conscious of many things which you think incapacitate you from applying them to yourselves. The blessed truths of salvation thus presented for your faith to receive and to make personally your own subjectively, are too often not received. But then, amidst all this clatter of disputings, doubtings and arguing, what meaneth this service? What meaneth it that to-day, that every Sunday throughout Christendom, in thousands and thousands of churches, and by many thousands and even millions of Christians, a simple though significant act is celebrated, even as it has been since the last Passover, and will continue to be so till He come who at first appointed it? Why is it that Christians from time to time gather together to break this bread and to drink this cup? What mean ye by this service? It is objectively for you what the waggons proved to Jacob. It is a very simple, but objective act, which brings before you vividly the love of Christ, in giving His body and His blood upon the Cross for you. (G. Venables, S. C. L.)
The kings waggons
The Egyptian capital was the focus of the worlds wealth. In ships and barges there had been brought to it from India frankincense, and cinnamon, and ivory, and diamonds; from the north marble and iron; from Syria purple and silk; from Greece some of the finest horses of the world, and some of the most brilliant chariots; and from all the earth that which could best please the eye, and charm the ear, and gratify the taste. As you stand on the level beach of the sea, on a sunny day, you look either way and there are miles of breakers white with the ocean foam dashing shoreward, so it seemed as if the sea of the worlds pomp and wealth, in the Egyptian capital, for miles and miles flung itself up into white breakers of marble temple, mausoleum, and obelisk. This was the place where Joseph, the shepherd boy, was called to stand next to Pharoah in honour. What a contrast between this scene and his humble standing, and the pit into which his brothers threw him! Yet he was not forgetful of his early home--he was not ashamed of where he came from. The Bishop of Mentz, descended from a wheelwright, covered his house with spokes, and hammers, and wheels; and the King of Sicily, in honour of his father, who was a potter, refused to drink out of anything but earthen vessels. So Joseph was not afraid of his early surroundings, or of his old-time father, or of his brothers. When they came up from the famine-struck land to get corn from the kings corn-crib, Joseph, instead of chiding them for the way they had maltreated and abused him, sent them back with waggons, which Pharoah furnished, laden with corn; and old Jacob, the father, in the very same waggon, was brought back that Joseph, the son, might see him, and give him a home all the rest of his days. Well, I hear the waggons--the kings waggons--rumbling down in front of the palace. On the outside of the palace, to see the waggons go off, stands Pharaoh in royal robes, and beside him prime-minister Joseph, with a chain of gold around his neck, and on his hand a ring, given by Pharaoh to him, so that any time he wanted to stamp the royal seal upon a document he could do so. Waggon after waggon rolled down from the palace, laden with corn, and meat, and changes of raiment, and everything that could help a famine-struck people. One day I see aged Jacob seated in the front of his house; he is possibly thinking of his absent boys (sons, however old they get, are never anything more than boys), and while he is seated there he sees dust arising, and he hears waggons rumbling, and he wonders what is coming now, for the whole land had been smitten with famine and was in silence. But after awhile the waggons come near enough, and he sees his sons in the waggons, and before they come up they shout: Joseph is yet alive! The old man faints dead away. I do not wonder at it. The boys tell the story how that the boy, the long-lost Joseph, has got to be the first man in the Egyptian palace. While they unload the waggons the wan and wasted creatures come up and ask for a handful of corn, and they are satisfied. One day the waggons are brought up for Jacob; the old father is about to go to see Joseph in the Egyptian palace. You know it is not a very easy thing to transplant an old tree, and Jacob has hard work to get away from the place where he bad lived so long. He bids good-bye to the old place, and leaves his blessing with his neighbours; and then his sons steady him while he, determined to help himself, gets into the waggon, stiff, old, and decrepid. Yonder they go, Jacob and his sons, and their wives and their children, eighty-two in all, followed by herds and flocks, which the herdsmen drive along. They are going out from famine to luxuriance, they are going from a plain country home to the finest palace under the sun. My friends, we are in a world by sin famine-struck, but the King is in constant communication with us, His waggons coming and going perpetually; and in the rest of my discourse I will show what the waggons bring and what they take back.
1. In the first place, like those that came from the Egyptian palace, the Kings waggons now bring us corn and meat, and many changes of raiment. We are apt to think of the fields and the orchards as feeding us, but who makes the flax grow for the linen, and the wheat for the bread, and the wool on the sheeps back? None but a God could clothe and feed the world. None but a Kings corncrib could appease the worlds famine. None but a King could tell how many waggons to send, and how heavily to load them, and when they are to start. Oh! thank God for bread--for bread!
2. I remark, again, that, like those that came from the Egyptians palace, the Kings waggons bring us good news. Jacob had not heard from his boy for a great many years. He had never thought of him but with a heart-ache. There was in Jacobs heart a room where lay the corpse of his unburied Joseph; and when the waggons came--the kings waggons--and told him that Joseph was yet alive, he faints dead away. Good news for Jacob! Good news for us! The Kings waggons come down and tell us that our Joseph--Jesus--is yet alive; that He has forgiven us because we threw Him into the pit of suffering and the dungeon of shame. He has risen from thence to stand in a palace. The Bethlehem shepherds were awakened at midnight by the rattling of the waggons that brought the tidings. Our Joseph--Jesus--sends us a message of pardon, of life, of heaven; corn for our hunger, raiment for our nakedness. Joseph--Jesus--is yet alive 1 The Kings waggons will, after a while, unload, and they will turn round, and they will go back to the palace, and I really think that you and I will go with them. The King will not leave us in this famine-struck world. The King has ordered that we be lifted into the waggons, and that we go over into Goshen, where there shall be pasturage for our largest flock of joy; and then we will drive up to the palace where there are glories awaiting us which will melt all the snow of Egyptian marble into forgetfulness.
3. I think that the Kings waggons will take us up to see our lost friends. Jacobs chief anticipation was not of seeing the Nile, or of seeing the long colonnade of architectural beauty, or of seeing the throne-room. There was a focus to all his journeyings--to all his anticipations--and that was Joseph. Well, my friends, I do not think heaven would be worth much if our brother Jesus was not there. Oh! the joy of meeting our brother Joseph--Jesus! After we have talked about Him for ten, or fifty, or seventyyears, to talk with Him I and to clasp hands with the Hero of the ages, not crouching as underlings in His presence, but as Jacob and Joseph hug each other. The kings waggons took Jacob up to see his lost boy; and so I really think that the Kings waggons will take us up to see our lost kindred. How long is it since Joseph went out of your household? How many years is it, now, last Christmas, or the fourteenth of next month? It was a dark night when he died, and a stormy day it was at the burial; and the clouds wept with you, and the winds sighed for the dead. The bell at Greenwoods Gate rang only for a few moments, but your heart has been tolling, tolling, ever since. You have been under a delusion, like Jacob of old. You put his name first in the birth-record of the family Bible, and then you put it in the death-record of the family Bible, and you have been deceived. Joseph is yet alive l He is more alive than you are. Of all the sixteen thousand millions of children that statisticians say have gone into the future world, there is not one of them dead, and the Kings waggons will take you up to see them. In my boyhood, for some time, we lived three miles from church, and on stormy days the children stayed at home, but father and mother always went to church. That was a habit they had. On those stormy Sabbaths when we stayed at home, the absence of our parents seemed very much protracted, for the roads were very bad, and they could not get on very fast. So we would go to the window at twelve oclock to see if they were coming; and at a quarter to one; and then at one oclock. After awhile, Mary or Daniel, or De Witt would shout, The waggons coming! and then we would see it winding out of the woods, and over the brook, and through the lane, and up in the front of the old farmhouse; and then we would rush out, leaving the doors wide open, with many things to tell them, asking them many questions. Well, I think we:are many of us in the Kings waggons, and we are on the way home. The road is very bad, and we get on slowly; but after awhile we will come winding out of the woods, and through the brook of death, and up in front of the old heavenly homestead; and our departed kindred who have been waiting and watching for us will rush out through the doors, and over the lawn, crying: The waggons are coming! the Kings waggons are coming! Hark! the bell of the city hall strikes twelve. Twelve oclock on earth; and likewise it is high noon in heaven. (Dr. Talmage.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v27 They told him
They told him
"They told Jacob"
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all the words of Joseph that he had said to them
"everything that Joseph had said to them"
the spirit of Jacob their father revived
The word "spirit" stands for the whole person. AT: "Jacob their father recovered" or "Jacob their father became very excited" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
word
Joseph (OT)
Jacob
spirit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv26–27 45:26-28 As might be expected, Jacob was stunned when…
45:26-28 As might be expected, Jacob was stunned when he heard that his son Joseph was still alive and ruling all the land of Egypt. As he heard the details of their story and saw all that Joseph had sent him, he was convinced that it was true. He immediately prepared to move to Egypt and reunite with his son Joseph, whom he had not seen for twenty-two years.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.