So he sent his brothers away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that you fall not out by the way.
Read Chapter 45
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Now “he sent away his brothers, and they departed. And Joseph said to them, ‘Be not angry on the way.’ ” How well he teaches us to guard against anger, for that can separate even brothers who love one another …. Is this not what our Lord Jesus said when he was about to depart from this body, when he was sending away his disciples, that they should not be angry on the way? For he says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.” For where there is peace, wrath does not have place, discord is removed, dissension routed. And so this is what he is saying, “My peace I give to you,” that is, “Be not angry on the way.” … On this account also, when the Lord Jesus sent away his disciples to preach the gospel, he sent them without gold, without silver, without money, without a staff, and he did it so that he might remove incentives to quarreling and the tools of vengeance.
Joseph commanded them not to quarrel on the way. The quarrel which he forbade them was that one say to another, “It was you who counseled us to throw him into the pit,” while another would contend with his brother, saying, “It was you who urged us to sell him naked and in chains to the Arabs.” “As I have forgiven all of you, you forgive each other.”
Angry. A prudent admonition at all times, but particularly now, to Joseph's brethren; lest reflecting on his excessive kindness, they should each wish to remove from themselves the stigma of cruelty towards him, by throwing it upon others. (Haydock)
Hence to allay their ill feeling and hostility to one another, Joseph said, “Don’t squabble on the way,” but rather remember that I hold no grudge against you for what was done to me, and be kindly disposed to one another. Who could adequately admire the virtue of this good man who fulfilled in generous measure the moral values of the New Testament? What Christ recommends to the apostles in these words, “Love your enemies; pray for those who abuse you,” this man even surpassed. I mean, not only did he give evidence of such wonderful love for those who did away with him as far as they could, but he did everything to convince them that they had not sinned against him. O what extraordinary good sense! O what marvelous degree of sound values and generosity of love for God! “Surely it was not you who did this against me,” he is saying, you see. “It was God’s care for me that permitted this to happen so as to guarantee the realization of my dreams and so that I might prove an adequate occasi...
