Genesis 50:21

Gen 50:21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

Ver. 21. I will nourish you.] To requite your kindness, that consulted to starve me in the waterless pit. This was a noble way of revenging; this was heroical, and fit for Christian imitation. "If thine enemy hunger, feed him." {Rom 12:20}

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_50:21

He comforted them, and spake kindly unto them

Josephs last forgiveness of his brethren:

I.

THEIR NEED OF FORGIVENESS.

II. THE PLEA ON WHICH THEY URGE IT (Gen_50:16-18).

1. The dying request of their father.

2. Their own free confession of guilt.

3. Their fathers influence with God.

4. Their willingness to utterly abase themselves.

III. THE COMPLETENESS OF THEIR FORGIVENESS.

1. He speaks words of peace.

2. He will not presume to put himself judicially in the place of God.

(1) As an instrument of vengeance.

(2) As presuming to change does not join forgetfulness. You forgive only so far as you forget. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hebrew, to their heart.

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

21. I will nourish you. It was a token of a solid and not a feigned reconciliation, not only to abstain from malice and injury, but also to “overcome evil with good,” as Paul teaches, (Romans 12:21:) and truly, he who fails in his duty, when he possesses the power of giving help, and when the occasion demands his assistance, shows, by this very course, that he is not forgetful of injury. This requires to be the more diligently observed, because, commonly, the greater part weakly conclude that they forgive offenses if they do not retaliate them; as if indeed we were not taking revenge when we withdraw our hands from giving help. You would assist your brother if you thought him worthy: he implores your aid in necessity; you desert him because he has done you some unkindness; what hinders you from helping him but hatred? Therefore, we shall then only prove our minds to be free from malevolence, when we follow with kindness those enemies by whom we have been ill treated. Joseph is said to have spoken “to the heart of his brethren,” because, by addressing them with suavity and kindness, he removed all their scruples; as we have before seen, that Shechem spoke to the heart of Dinah, when he attempted to console her with allurements, in order that, forgetting the dishonor he had done her, she might consent to marry him.

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.

(21) Your little ones.—Heb., your “tafs” rendered in the LXX., “your households,” and in the Syriac, “your families,” your dependents—its usual translation in that Version.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. nourish you] Cf. Gen_45:11, Gen_47:12.

kindly] Heb. to their heart. So LXX: cf. Gen_34:3. The Latin gives the sense blande ac leniter.

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 Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house,.... Comfortably, quietly, and in great prosperity, not only he, but his brethren and their families, as long as he lived:

and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years; and all but seventeen of them in Egypt, for at that age it was when he was brought thither: thirteen years he lived in Potiphar's house, and in prison, for he was thirty years of age when he was brought to Pharaoh, and stood before him, and fourscore years he lived in the greatest honour and prosperity that a man could well wish for.

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

I will nourish you; expect not only a free pardon from me, but all the kindness of a loving brother.

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

21. Spake kindly unto them — Hebrews, spake to their heart, as in the margin; a beautiful form of speech, which it would have been well to retain in translation.

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

Now therefore (literally, and now) fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. Thus he repeats and confirms the promise which he had originally made to them when he invited them to come to Egypt. (Gen_45:11, Gen_45:18, Gen_45:19) And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them literally, to their hearts (cf. Gen_34:3)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fear not, I will nourish you - See what an excellent spirit Joseph was of, and learn of him to render good for evil. He did not tell them they were upon their good behaviour, and he would be kind to them if he saw they carried themselves well: no, he would not thus hold them in suspence, nor seem jealous of them, though they had been suspicious of him. He comforted them, and, to banish all their fears, he spake kindly to them. Those we love and forgive we must not only do well for, but speak kindly to.

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

וידבר אל לבם means HE SPOKE words that found ready entrance INTO THEIR HEART: Before you came down hither people spread rumours about me that I was born a slave; through you it became public that I am a free-man by birth. If I were to kill you what would people say? “He saw a party of fine young men and he prided himself on his relationship with them, saying “These are my brothers”, but afterwards he killed them. Have you ever heard of a man killing his brothers?!” (Genesis Rabbah 100:9) Another interpretation is: He said to them, “Ten lights could not extinguish one light; how, then, can one light extinguish ten lights?” (Megillah 16b).

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.