Genesis 50:17

Gen 50:17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

Ver. 17. Forgive, I pray thee now.] In this case a man is bound, not only to let fall all wrath and desire of revenge, but to make a solemn profession of hearty forgiveness. {Luk 17:4} If the wrongdoer say, "I repent," you must say, "I forgive," as ever you hope to be forgiven of God. Our Saviour {Luk 11:4} seems to make our forgiving our trespassers the intervenient cause - that which they call, sine qua non - of God’s forgiving us. Mark this, lest we be constrained to do, as Latimer reports of some in his days, that being not willing to forgive their enemies, would not say their pater noster, lest they should therein curse themselves, but instead thereof, took their lady psalter in hand, because they were persuaded that, by that they might obtain forgiveness of favour [ ex gratis] without the putting of so hard a condition as forgiveness of their enemies.

For they did unto thee evil.] Joseph had long ago seen their sorrow; never, till now, heard their confession, and is abundantly satisfied. Think the same of God. Do but confess, and he must forgive, upon his faithfulness. {1Jn 1:9} In the courts of men, it is the safest plea, saith Quintilian, to cry, Non feci; not so here. "Take away the iniquity of thy servant," saith David and to prove himself so, he adds, "For I have done foolishly." {2Sa 24:10} Acknowledge the debt, and God will forthwith cross the book.

Forgive the trespass of the servants of the God, &c.] Nothing should more persuade to unity than religion. {Eph 4:3-5} Others may cleave together, as the clay in Nebuchadnezzar’s image, but the saints only incorporate into each other.

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.

Gen 50:17. Forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father — Not only children of the same Jacob, but worshippers of the same Jehovah. Though we must be ready to forgive all that injure us, yet we must especially take heed of bearing malice toward any that are the servants of the God of our father; those we should always treat with a peculiar tenderness, for we and they have the same Master. He wept when they spake to him — These were tears of sorrow for their suspicion of him, and tears of tenderness upon their submission.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Meaning, that they which have one God should be joined in most sure love.

Or, the messenger.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 17. The servants of the God of thy father.] These words were wonderfully well chosen, and spoken in the most forcible manner to Joseph's piety and filial affection. No wonder then that he wept when they spake to him.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Forgive, I pray thee now. They do not dissemble the fact that they had grievously sinned; and they are so far from extenuating their fault, that they freely heap up words in charging themselves with guilt. They do not, therefore, ask that pardon should be granted them as if the offense were light: but they place in opposition to the atrocity of their crime, first, the authority of their father, and then the sacred name of God. Their confession would have been worthy of commendation, had they proceeded directly, and without tortuous contrivances, to appease their brother. Now, since they have drawn from the fountain of piety the instruction that it is right for sin to be remitted to the servants of God; we may receive it as a common exhortation, that if we have been injured by the members of the Church, we must not be too rigid and immovable in pardoning the offense. This humanity indeed is generally enjoined upon us towards all men: but when the bond of religion is superadded, we are harder than iron, if we are not inclined to the exercise of compassion. And we must observe, that they expressly mention the God of Jacob: because the peculiar faith and worship by which they were distinguished from the rest of the nations, ought to unite them with each other in a closer bond: as if God, who had adopted that family, stood forth in the midst of them as engaged to produce reconciliation.

And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. It cannot be ascertained with certainty from the words of Moses, whether the brethren of Joseph were present, and were speaking, at the time he wept. Some interpreters imagine that a part was here acted designedly; so that when the mind of Joseph had been sounded by others, the brethren, soon afterwards, came in, during the discourse. I rather incline to a different opinion; namely, that, when he knew, from the messengers, that their minds were tormented, and they were troubling themselves in vain, he was moved with sympathy towards them. Then, having sent for them, he set them free from all care and fear; and their speech, when they themselves were deprecating his anger, drew forth his tears. Moreover, by thus affectionately weeping over the sorrow and anxiety of his brethren, he affords us a remarkable example of compassion. But if we have an arduous conflict with the impetuosity of an angry temper, or the obstinacy of a disposition to hatred, we must pray to the Lord for a spirit of meekness, the force of which manifests itself not less effectually, at this day, in the members of Christ, than formerly in Joseph.

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.

17. the God of thy father] Cf. Gen_49:26. They call themselves “the servants of the God of thy father,” as if it constituted a stronger appeal than “the sons of thy father.” They and Joseph serve one God.

Joseph wept] Cf. note on Gen_45:1.

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.

And his brethren also went,.... The messengers being returned to them, and acquainting them with what Joseph had said, they took courage and went from Goshen to Joseph's house or palace, be it where it may:

and fell down before his face; in an humble suppliant manner:

and they said, behold, we be thy servants; they were content to be so, would he but forgive their sin, and not resent their ill behaviour to him; thus they further fulfilled his dream of the eleven stars making obeisance to him, Gen 37:9.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Wept, that they should entertain no doubts respecting the reconciliation, which had taken place seventeen years before. (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).

The God of thy father, for whose sake pardon those that join with thee in his worship.

Joseph wept; partly in compassion to their fear and trouble; and partly because they still retained a diffidence in his kindness, after all his great and real demonstrations of it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father — “All the arguments that would touch Joseph are woven into a few words with great pathos and power. They cast themselves absolutely upon his mercy, and call up before him his venerated father, and his father’s God, whose servants they also are. Joseph replied in a way to scatter all doubt and soothe all fear — he wept. At first he made no answer in words, but his tears were richer to them than speech. It was the golden silence, that cannot, from very fulness, speak.” — Newhall.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We are the servants of the God of thy father - Not only children of the same Jacob, but worshippers of the same Jehovah. Though we must be ready to forgive all that injure us, yet we must especially take heed of bearing malice towards any that are the servants of the God of our father; those we should always treat with a peculiar tenderness, for we and they have the same master. He wept when they spake to him - These were tears of sorrow for their suspicion of him, and tears of tenderness upon their submission.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

שא נא לפשע עבדי אלהי אביך NOW, PRAY, FORGIVE THE TRESSPASS OF THE SERVANTS OF THE GOD OF THY FATHER — After having repeated to Joseph the words which his brothers stated had been their fathers message, “forgive thy brothers’ sin” the messengers were to add as a petition of the brothers “Now, pray etc.”, meaning “If you will not forgive them although they are your brothers, forgive them because they are the servants of the God of thy father”, implying though your father be dead, his God still lives and they are his servants.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.