And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.
Read Chapter 46
John Chrysostom
AD 407
This is what I said at the outset, that in many cases an excess of joy causes the tears to flow. “He fell on his neck,” the text says, and not simply “wept” but “wept a flood of tears.” You see, immediately there came to his mind what he himself had suffered, what his father had endured on his account. Joseph thought of the great length of time that had elapsed in the meantime and the fact that, contrary to all expectation, he saw his father, and his father set eyes on his son. So he shed a flood of tears, revealing his exceeding joy and, at the same time, thanking the Lord for what had happened.
