And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
Ver. 35. And all his sons, &c.] Oh, faces hatched with impudence! Oh, hearts hewn out of a rock! Could they cause his woe, and then comfort him? Miserable comforters were they all; such as the usurer is to the young novice, or the crocodile that weeps over the dead body that it is devouring. These were the evil beasts that devoured Joseph. a
But he refused to be comforted.] Wherein he showed his fatherly love, but not his son-like subjection to God's good providence: without the which, no evil beast could have set tooth in Joseph; whom he was sure also to receive safe and whole again at the resurrection: which was a great comfort to those afflicted Jews, Dan 12:2 and those mangled martyrs. Heb 11:34
Thus his father wept for him.] Jacob's father Isaac, saith Junius; which might very well be; for he lived twelve years after this, and likely loved Joseph best, for his great towardiiness.
a Nullae infestae hominibus bestiae, ut sunt sibi ferales plerique Christiani. - Am. Marcell., lib. ii. cap. 2. A sad thing that a heathen should see cause to say so.