Genesis 46:31

31 And Joseph said to his brethren, I will go up and tell Pharao, and will say to him, My brethren, and my father's house, who were in the land of Chanaan, are come to me.

Genesis 46:31 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 46:31

And Joseph said unto his brethren, and to his father's house,
&c.] To them and their families, after he had paid his filial respects to his father, in honour, reverence, and affection:

I will go up and shew Pharaoh;
acquaint him that his father and all his family were come to Egypt; he says, "I will go up"; which same phrase is used of him, ( Genesis 46:29 ) ; when he came, and carries some difficulty in it how to account for it, that he should be said to go up when he came, and to go up when he returned. Some have thought of upper Egypt, others of the upper part of the Nile, and others, that Pharaoh's palace was situated on an eminence; but then, as it is to be supposed he went the same road he came, it would have been said, that when he came, he came down; what Ben Melech suggests seems most agreeable, I will go up to my chariot, mount that, and return to Pharaoh, and give him an account of his father's arrival, which it was very proper, prudent, and politic to do:

and say unto him, my brethren, and my father's house, which [were] in
the land of Canaan, are come unto me;
not merely to pay him a visit, but to continue there.

Genesis 46:31 In-Context

29 And Joseph having made ready his chariots, went up to meet Israel his father, at the city of Heroes; and having appeared to him, fell on his neck, and wept with abundant weeping.

30 And Israel said to Joseph, After this I will die, since I have seen thy face, for thou art yet living.

31 And Joseph said to his brethren, I will go up and tell Pharao, and will say to him, My brethren, and my father's house, who were in the land of Chanaan, are come to me.

32 And the men are shepherds; for they have been feeders of cattle, and they have brought with them their cattle, and their kine, and all their property.

33 If then Pharao call you, and say to you, What is you occupation?