Genesis 45:1

1 Then Yosef couldn't control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, "Cause every man to go out from me!" There stood no man with him, while Yosef made himself known to his brothers.

Genesis 45:1 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 45:1

Then Joseph could not refrain himself
That he should not weep, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; at least he could not much longer refrain from tears, such an effect Judah's speech had on his passions: before all them that stood before him;
his servants that attended him and waited upon him, the steward of his house, and others, upon whose account he put such a force upon himself, to keep in his passions from giving vent, that they might not discover the inward motions of his mind; but not being able to conceal them any longer, and he cried;
or called out with a loud voice, and an air of authority: cause every man to go out from me;
out of the room in which he and his brethren were; perhaps this order was given to the steward of the house to depart himself, and to remove every inferior officer and servant upon the spot; or other people that might be come in to hear the trial of those men, and to see how they would be dealt with: and there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto
his brethren;
not that Joseph was ashamed of them, and of owning before them the relation he stood in to them; but that they might not see the confusion his brethren would be thrown into, and have knowledge of the sin they had been guilty of in selling him which could not fail of being mentioned by him, and confessed by them; and besides, it was not suitable to his grandeur and dignity to be seen in such an extreme passion he was now going into.

Genesis 45:1 In-Context

1 Then Yosef couldn't control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, "Cause every man to go out from me!" There stood no man with him, while Yosef made himself known to his brothers.

2 He wept aloud. The Mitzrim heard, and the house of Par`oh heard.

3 Yosef said to his brothers, "I am Yosef! Does my father still live?" His brothers couldn't answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.

4 Yosef said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. "He said, I am Yosef, your brother, whom you sold into Mitzrayim.

5 Now don't be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.