So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
It was not you that sent me hither, but God. This statement must not be interpreted more strictly than the general tenor of the history warrants-certainly not as implying that the commission of the outrageous abduction of Joseph by his brethren was necessitated by anything like a direct, compulsory influence upon their minds. The strong phraseology in which the declaration was made is to be ascribed to the special circumstances of the speaker; and the meaning which underlies the expression is evidently this-That as nothing, whether great or small, important or trivial, can happen without God's will, His wisdom and providence had ordered a train of circumstances, so that bad and malignant individuals, subjected to their providence had ordered a train of circumstances, so that bad and malignant individuals, subjected to their influence, were induced to commit the crime of selling Joseph.
And he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, х 'aab (H1)] - father of the king; his vizier. [So Haman is said to be deuteros (G1208) pater (G3962) to Artaxerxes-Septuagint, Esth. 3:20 .] Compare also Turkish Atabek, i:e., father-prince, and Lala, father, spoken of the vizier (Gesenius). But the expression, as illustrated by the tenor of the history and by the usage of the inspired writers (Job 29:16; Psalms 68:6; Isaiah 22:21), signifies not only vizier, but provider, benefactor.