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.
And Joseph made ready his chariot. The difference between chariot and wagon was not only in the lighter and more elegant construction of the former, but in the one being drawn by horses, if it be true that the shepherd kings introduced these (Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,' b. 2:, chapter cciii., note), and the other by oxen. Being a public man in Egypt, Joseph was required to appear everywhere in a horse-drawn carriage suitable to his dignity; and therefore it was not owing either to pride or ostentatious parade that he drove his carriage, while his father's family were accomodated only in rude and humble wagons.
Went up - i:e., north to Goshen.
Presented himself - literally, showed himself, appeared. This form of the verb is frequently used to denote the appearance of Yahweh, or an angel, to men (Genesis 12:7; Genesis 17:1; Genesis 18:1), and here applied to describe the splendour of Joseph.
And wept on his neck a good while - literally, continuously, uninterruptedly. The Septuagint has, 'wept with a copious weeping.' The interview was a most affecting one-the happiness of the delighted father was now at its height; and life having no higher charms, he could, in the very spirit of the aged Simeon, have departed in peace.