1 And Jacob seeth that there is corn in Egypt, and Jacob saith to his sons, `Why do you look at each other?'
2 he saith also, `Lo, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt, go down thither, and buy for us from thence, and we live and do not die;'
3 and the ten brethren of Joseph go down to buy corn in Egypt,
4 and Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob hath not sent with his brethren, for he said, `Lest mischief meet him.'
5 And the sons of Israel come to buy in the midst of those coming, for the famine hath been in the land of Canaan,
6 and Joseph is the ruler over the land, he who is selling to all the people of the land, and Joseph's brethren come and bow themselves to him -- face to the earth.
7 And Joseph seeth his brethren, and discerneth them, and maketh himself strange unto them, and speaketh with them sharp things, and saith unto them, `From whence have ye come?' and they say, `From the land of Canaan -- to buy food.'
8 And Joseph discerneth his brethren, but they have not discerned him,
9 and Joseph remembereth the dreams which he dreamed of them, and saith unto them, `Ye `are' spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye have come.'
10 And they say unto him, `No, my lord, but thy servants have come to buy food;
11 we `are' all of us sons of one man, we `are' right men; thy servants have not been spies;'
12 and he saith unto them, `No, but the nakedness of the land ye have come to see;'
13 and they say, `Thy servants `are' twelve brethren; we `are' sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and lo, the young one `is' with our father to-day, and the one is not.'
14 And Joseph saith unto them, `This `is' that which I have spoken unto you, saying, Ye `are' spies,
15 by this ye are proved: Pharaoh liveth! if ye go out from this -- except by your young brother coming hither;
16 send one of you, and let him bring your brother, and ye, remain ye bound, and let your words be proved, whether truth be with you: and if not -- Pharaoh liveth! surely ye `are' spies;'
17 and he removeth them unto charge three days.
18 And Joseph saith unto them on the third day, `This do and live; God I fear!
19 if ye `are' right men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your ward, and ye, go, carry in corn `for' the famine of your houses,
20 and your young brother ye bring unto me, and your words are established, and ye die not;' and they do so.
21 And they say one unto another, `Verily we `are' guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul, in his making supplication unto us, and we did not hearken: therefore hath this distress come upon us.'
22 And Reuben answereth them, saying, `Spake I not unto you, saying, Sin not against the lad? and ye hearkened not; and his blood also, lo, it is required.'
23 And they have not known that Joseph understandeth, for the interpreter `is' between them;
24 and he turneth round from them, and weepeth, and turneth back unto them, and speaketh unto them, and taketh from them Simeon, and bindeth him before their eyes.
25 And Joseph commandeth, and they fill their vessels `with' corn, also to put back the money of each unto his sack, and to give to them provision for the way; and one doth to them so.
26 And they lift up their corn upon their asses, and go from thence,
27 and the one openeth his sack to give provender to his ass at a lodging-place, and he seeth his money, and lo, it `is' in the mouth of his bag,
28 and he saith unto his brethren, `My money hath been put back, and also, lo, in my bag:' and their heart goeth out, and they tremble, one to another saying, `What `is' this God hath done to us!'
29 And they come in unto Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and they declare to him all the things meeting them, saying,
30 `The man, the lord of the land, hath spoken with us sharp things, and maketh us as spies of the land;
31 and we say unto him, We `are' right men, we have not been spies,
32 we `are' twelve brethren, sons of our father, the one is not, and the young one `is' to-day with our father in the land of Canaan.
33 `And the man, the lord of the land, saith unto us, By this I know that ye `are' right men -- one of your brethren leave with me, and `for' the famine of your houses take ye and go,
34 and bring your young brother unto me, and I know that ye `are' not spies, but ye `are' right men; your brother I give to you, and ye trade with the land.'
35 And it cometh to pass, they are emptying their sacks, and lo, the bundle of each man's silver `is' in his sack, and they see their bundles of silver, they and their father, and are afraid;
36 and Jacob their father saith unto them, `Me ye have bereaved; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and Benjamin ye take -- against me have been all these.'
37 And Reuben speaketh unto his father, saying, `My two sons thou dost put to death, if I bring him not in unto thee; give him into my hand, and I -- I bring him back unto thee;'
38 and he saith, `My son doth not go down with you, for his brother `is' dead, and he by himself is left; when mischief hath met him in the way in which ye go, then ye have brought down my grey hairs in sorrow to sheol.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Genesis 42
Commentary on Genesis 42 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 42
Ge 42:1-38. Journey into Egypt.
1. Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt—learned from common rumor. It is evident from Jacob's language that his own and his sons' families had suffered greatly from the scarcity; and through the increasing severity of the scourge, those men, who had formerly shown both activity and spirit, were sinking into despondency. God would not interpose miraculously when natural means of preservation were within reach.
5. the famine was in the land of Canaan—The tropical rains, which annually falling swell the Nile, are those of Palestine also; and their failure would produce the same disastrous effects in Canaan as in Egypt. Numerous caravans of its people, therefore, poured over the sandy desert of Suez, with their beasts of burden, for the purchase of corn; and among others, "the sons of Israel" were compelled to undertake a journey from which painful associations made them strongly averse.
6. Joseph was the governor—in the zenith of his power and influence.
he it was that sold—that is, directed the sales; for it is impossible that he could give attendance in every place. It is probable, however, that he may have personally superintended the storehouses near the border of Canaan, both because that was the most exposed part of the country and because he must have anticipated the arrival of some messengers from his father's house.
Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him—His prophetic dreams [Ge 37:5-11] were in the course of being fulfilled, and the atrocious barbarity of his brethren had been the means of bringing about the very issue they had planned to prevent (Isa 60:14; Re 3:9, last clause).
7, 8. Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, … but they knew not him—This is not strange. They were full-grown men—he was but a lad at parting. They were in their usual garb—he was in his official robes. They never dreamt of him as governor of Egypt, while he had been expecting them. They had but one face; he had ten persons to judge by.
made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly—It would be an injustice to Joseph's character to suppose that this stern manner was prompted by any vindictive feelings—he never indulged any resentment against others who had injured him. But he spoke in the authoritative tone of the governor in order to elicit some much-longed-for information respecting the state of his father's family, as well as to bring his brethren, by their own humiliation and distress, to a sense of the evils they had done to him.
9-14. Ye are spies—This is a suspicion entertained regarding strangers in all Eastern countries down to the present day. Joseph, however, who was well aware that his brethren were not spies, has been charged with cruel dissimulation, with a deliberate violation of what he knew to be the truth, in imputing to them such a character. But it must be remembered that he was sustaining the part of a ruler; and, in fact, acting on the very principle sanctioned by many of the sacred writers, and our Lord Himself, who spoke parables (fictitious stories) to promote a good end.
15. By the life of Pharaoh—It is a very common practice in Western Asia to swear by the life of the king. Joseph spoke in the style of an Egyptian and perhaps did not think there was any evil in it. But we are taught to regard all such expressions in the light of an oath (Mt 5:34; Jas 5:12).
17-24. put them … into ward three days—Their confinement had been designed to bring them to salutary reflection. And this object was attained, for they looked upon the retributive justice of God as now pursuing them in that foreign land. The drift of their conversation is one of the most striking instances on record of the power of conscience [Ge 42:21, 22].
24. took … Simeon, and bound him—He had probably been the chief instigator—the most violent actor in the outrage upon Joseph; and if so, his selection to be the imprisoned and fettered hostage for their return would, in the present course of their reflections, have a painful significance.
25-28. Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money—This private generosity was not an infringement of his duty—a defrauding of the revenue. He would have a discretionary power—he was daily enriching the king's exchequer—and he might have paid the sum from his own purse.
27. inn—a mere station for baiting beasts of burden.
he espied his money—The discovery threw them into greater perplexity than ever. If they had been congratulating themselves on escaping from the ruthless governor, they perceived that now he would have a handle against them; and it is observable that they looked upon this as a judgment of heaven. Thus one leading design of Joseph was gained in their consciences being roused to a sense of guilt.
35. as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's … money was in his sack—It appears that they had been silent about the money discovery at the resting-place, as their father might have blamed them for not instantly returning. However innocent they knew themselves to be, it was universally felt to be an unhappy circumstance, which might bring them into new and greater perils.
36. Me have ye bereaved—This exclamation indicates a painfully excited state of feeling, and it shows how difficult it is for even a good man to yield implicit submission to the course of Providence. The language does not imply that his missing sons had got foul play from the hands of the rest, but he looks upon Simeon as lost, as well as Joseph, and he insinuates it was by some imprudent statements of theirs that he was exposed to the risk of losing Benjamin also.
37. Reuben spake, … Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee—This was a thoughtless and unwarrantable condition—one that he never seriously expected his father would accept. It was designed only to give assurance of the greatest care being taken of Benjamin. But unforeseen circumstances might arise to render it impossible for all of them to preserve that young lad (Jas 4:13), and Jacob was much pained by the prospect. Little did he know that God was dealing with him severely, but in kindness (Heb 12:7, 8), and that all those things he thought against Him were working together for his good.