For thy servant doth know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.
Ver. 20. For thy servant doth know that I have sinned.] Thus the fox taken in a toil looketh pitifully, but it is only that he may get out. This confession was merely extorted by fear of punishment: it came not like water out of a spring, with a voluntary freeness, but like water out of a still, which is forced with fire.
I am come the first this day.] That in me first thou mightest show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which shall hereafter submit to thy mercy and clemency, 1Ti 1:16 which in a king is no small commendation, and to his delinquent subjects no small encouragement.
Of all the house of Joseph.] Joseph and Benjamin were so near akin that their tribes are spoken of as if one and the same.