Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 45:28

Charles Ellicott Commentary

Genesis 45:28

1819–1905
Anglican
Charles Ellicott
Charles Ellicott

Charles Ellicott Commentary

Genesis 45:28

1819–1905
Anglican
SCRIPTURE

"and Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die." — Genesis 45:28 (ASV)

And Israel said.—We must not lay too much stress on this change of name, as though it were a title appropriate to the patriarch only in his happier and triumphant hours; for in Genesis 45:6 it is given him in the midst of his distress. It rather shows that both names were long in use regarding the patriarch personally, but since the title of Israel was exclusively given to Jacob’s family, it is plain that a high significance was attached to it, and that the inheritance of the Abrahamic promises was connected with it from an early date.