14.15 And Joseph returned to Egypt himself, and his brethren, and all those who had come together to bury his father. And when the brethren of Joseph saw that their father was dead, they said, "Not when Joseph will remember our wickedness, and recompense us for all the evil that we have shown him."

Upon the return of Joseph and his brothers to Egypt, fear for their safety arose in the latter. They reasoned that while Jacob lived, Joseph spared them out of love for his father. Now, with the death of Jacob, there was no support for them, no hope for Joseph's former favor towards them. Now there is no one to restrain him, if he decides to take revenge on them for the evil deed against him.

16. 17. And when he came to Joseph, he said, "Thy father hath cursed before his death," saying, Thus say unto Joseph, Forgive them iniquity and their sin; For I have shown you the evil one. And now receive the iniquity of the servants of your father's God. And Joseph wept as they spake unto him.

Joseph's brothers, asking him to accept their unrighteousness, i.e. not to repay them for their guilt against him, point to two circumstances: 1) Jacob himself, before his death, instructed them to convey his request to Joseph for their forgiveness (in the previous narrative of Moses, however, this circumstance is not mentioned); (2) they, Joseph's brothers, are servants of his father's God, i.e., they worship the same God whom his father honored. Joseph must therefore be lenient with them for the sake of respect for the will of his deceased father, and for the sake of the fact that they belong to the worshippers of the true God, of whom there were very few in the whole world at that time. Joseph's tears, when he listened to the brothers' speech, testified that he was touched by it and did not think of any evil against them.

18. 19. 20. 21. And He came to him, saying, Behold, we are your servants. And Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for I am God." Ye shall counsel against me, O evil one, but God hath counseled concerning me for good, that it may be as it is today, and that many people may be nourished. And he said to them, "Do not be afraid, for I will nourish you, and your houses." And comfort them, and speak to them after their hearts.

And when they came to him, that is, Joseph's brothers, they came closer to him, encouraged by his tears, which testified to his benevolence towards them, and said: Behold, we are your servants, that is, we are ready to lose our freedom for our guilt against you, and to bear all the burden of bondage. Joseph's answer should have calmed the brothers more than his tears. Do not be afraid, – he said to them, – for I am God: I serve the same God, Whom you have called yourselves servants, and reverent before His destinies, revealed in the circumstances of my life, I consider it a grave sin to take revenge on those whom He has chosen as instruments of His providential will for me and for my neighbors. Ye counsel against me, and God counsel against me for good, that it may be as it is today and that many people may be nourished: your evil counsel against me, by the counsel of the all-good, all-wise, and almighty will of God, is turned for my good, and through me for the good of many, who owe me salvation from starvation. In view of such obvious signs of God's mercy, which have been revealed to me and through me to others, can I be unmerciful to you? And I said to them again, Do not be afraid, for I will feed you and your houses. And comfort them, and speak unto them after their hearts, that is, thou didst comfort them with such speech as was necessary for the state of their hearts, which were troubled by fears for their safety and a sense of grievous guilt against Joseph.

22. 23. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt himself, and his brethren, and all his father's house: and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. And Joseph Ephraim saw children to the third generation. And the sons of Machir, the son of Manas-siah, were born under the thighs of Joseph.

Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. At the age of seventeen he arrived in Egypt; at the age of thirty he came to Pharaoh and interpreted dreams; for eighty years he held power over all Egypt, Great were his temptations, when he endured the persecution of his brothers, slavery, the slander of a lawless woman, and suffering in prison; but these temptations were short-lived in comparison with the time of his glorification. To the greater consolation, he lived to see the happiness promised to those who fear and love God — he saw his great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Of the great-grandsons it is said: "They were born at his thighs, that is, after birth they were taken on his knees, and were tenderly pressed by him to his breast, as if they were adopted children by him" (cf. Gen. 30:2).

24. 25. 26. And Joseph said to his brethren, saying, "I am dying, but God will visit you by visitation, and will bring you from the earth to the land, about which God has sworn by our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." And Joseph cursed the children of Israel, saying, In visitation, to whom God shall visit you, lift up my bones also from here with you. And Joseph died about a hundred and ten years, and buried him, and laid him in a bed in Egypt.

The fame that surrounded Joseph in Egypt did not stifle in his heart his love for the country in which he was born and the possession of which was promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the person of their descendants. He did not know when and how these promises would be fulfilled, but he believed with all his soul that they would certainly be fulfilled, and it was only by this faith, as the Apostle says, that at his death did He remind them of the exodus of the children of Israel, and bequeathed their bones (Heb 11:22). He said to His brethren, or in their own person to their descendants: "When the Lord visits you, that is, when He comes to you with His mercy, and from this foreign land He leads you to the Promised Land to dwell in it, then take my bones with you." Joseph, like his father Jacob, consoled himself with the thought that although his bones would lie in the country where his descendants would live, and where Christ would be born and accomplish the salvation of the whole world, the Hope not only of the Israelites, but of all languages. And Joseph's will was sacredly fulfilled. His remains were taken by the Jews during the transition from Egypt and, after their settlement in Canaan, they were buried in Shechem (Exodus 13:19, Joshua 24:32). The body of the deceased Joseph, like the body of Jacob, was embalmed and placed in a reliquary, i.e., in a box of sykimor wood, which, according to Egyptian custom, was kept by his descendants in special peace until the time of the exodus from Egypt. Time, of course, had so withered Joseph's embalmed body that it was truly nothing but bones covered with skin.