“¹Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ²And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.”

– Genesis 45:1-2 (NKJV)

“Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” (Dear Reader, kindly acknowledge with me that these are the most deep-seated, enduring, far-reaching, long-standing, crippling emotions of the heart imaginable, now unearthed and about to be poured forth within these very moments: an overwhelming sense of confusion and bewilderment for feeling so deeply, even unfounded shame, must be experienced by our young ruler here, and surely in his own eyes are not the mark of the capable, wise and esteemed premier over all Egypt that his cohorts have come to know and love. It is therefore understandable that the last thing that he would want is to be this vulnerable in the presence of all who respect him.) So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. (Notice how subtly even this life-changing and glorious moment is but interspersed within the written narrative of The Scriptures between the overwhelming effects of Joseph’s emotion as the poetic and literary devices serve to support first this picture of being overcome with a lifetime’s worth of heart work.) And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.” (Despite Joseph’s best attempts at concealing this display of emotion; this rupturing of the heart if you will, it was still witnessed in the hearing of countless an individual, most particularly within the higher echelons of Egypt and their servants. I do believe that this took place very specifically in accordance with The Perfect Will of God in that it only served to add to their esteem of him, viewing him now not only as the capable, wise and skilled ruler they have always deeply respected and sincerely loved, but as a man of depth of character and feeling heretofore unknown, that they can only marvel at awestruck and with great reverence, for I am certain that any and all who knew him and enjoyed the privilege of working with him would seek only to protect and honour his name and wouldn’t dream of exploiting such tender and honest vulnerability.)

Let us then explore in detail precisely what gave rise to such an overcoming of emotion, namely, the overwhelming effect that this lengthy narrative of Judah’s – delivered in one sitting – must have had on Joseph. It was effectively a.) the rehashing of every debilitating element of Joseph’s own childhood trauma that gave rise to many an unbearably taxing trial throughout his later life, b.) a detailed exposition on the similarities between himself and the beloved young brother Benjamin he never knew he had and similar threat posed to his life [it would also not have been too much of a stretch of the imagination to envisage in Joseph also then the jolt of pain of a momentary fleshly thought upon learning that he needn’t ever have feared young Benjamin’s demise after all, such as: “if they are evidently able to do right by Benjamin, why could they not also have done right by me?!”] and finally and perhaps most importantly, c.) what Joseph must have been LONGING for most heart-wrenchingly – and I speak here from immense personal travail in this specific area – , a sincere display of Judah’s full repentance, heartfelt remorse and conviction never to sin in the same way again. Even proving that he would lay down his own life before even entertaining any such sinful thoughts ever again – ultimately also proof of the Hand of the Lord powerfully at work in his life, which is always the desired result of the sincere heart cry of the True Child of God who wills the complete salvation of his enemies. It also could not have been easy to receive an accurate and truthful account of precisely just how devastating an effect his own presumed death had on his dear father Jacob, for I would not be surprised if the spirit of rejection that so often enters in in precisely such instances of childhood trauma such as these, had tempted poor young Joseph into believing that perhaps he had imagined or misremembered his father’s – and effectively, God the Father’s – deep and unyielding, sincere Love for him. It must also have been quite devastating to learn that the brothers attempted to convince his father that he had died and the anguish he must have felt on his father’s behalf for having to grieve the loss of a child unnecessarily – I do hope Joseph in his wisdom might’ve at least taken some comfort in the fact that at least his father has been spared the knowledge of having a child imprisoned and enslaved; although I also cannot help but recognise that this is not only the spiritual plight of many parents, but most especially that of God the Father: having to endure watching their / His beloved children enslaved and imprisoned in the kingdom of darkness before being transferred into the Glorious Kingdom Of Light, The Kingdom of God, through the Blood of Jesus redeemed out of the hand of the devil and re-born of The Spirit. What is equally significant is the fact that where Judah once used his God-given authority as elder brother to turn aside in cowardice and condone the behaviour and wicked intent of the other brothers, he now boldly asserts the very opposite in their presence, speaking and acting as one who can truly be called a genetic and spiritual harbinger for The Christ, imitating even the qualities most inherent to The Cross, namely: ” Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends “ [John 15:13].)