John Calvin Commentary Genesis 50:14

"And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father." — Genesis 50:14 (ASV)

And Joseph returned. Although Joseph and the rest had left so many pledges in Egypt that it would be necessary for them to return; it is still probable that they were rather drawn back there by the oracle of God. For God never permitted them to choose a dwelling according to their own will; but as he had before led Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in their journeys, so he held their sons confined in the land of Goshen, as if within barriers.

There is no doubt that the holy fathers left that oracle, which we have in Genesis 15:13, to their sons, to be kept in faithful custody as a precious treasure. Therefore, they returned to Egypt, not only because they were compelled by present necessity, but also because it was not lawful for them to shake off with their own hands the yoke that God had put upon their necks.

But if the Lord does not hold all people bound to himself by voluntary obedience, he nevertheless holds their minds by his secret reins, so that they may not withdraw from his government; nor can we form any other conjecture than that they were restrained by their fear of him, so that even when warned of the tyrannical oppression that was coming upon them, they did not attempt to make their escape.

We know that their disposition was not so mild as to prevent them from rebelling against lighter burdens. Therefore, on this point, a special sense of religious obligation subdued them, so that they prepared themselves quietly and silently to endure the hardest servitude.