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,
and giveth them in charge in the house of the chief of the executioners, unto the round-house, the place where Joseph `is' a prisoner,
And the famine has been over all the face of the land, and Joseph openeth all `places' which have `corn' in them, and selleth to the Egyptians; and the famine is severe in the land of Egypt,
And they lift up their corn upon their asses, and go from thence,
And the famine `is' severe in the land; and it cometh to pass, when they have finished eating the corn which they brought from Egypt, that their father saith unto them, `Turn back, buy for us a little food.'
To open the eyes of the blind, To bring forth from prison the bound one, From the house of restraint those sitting in darkness.
And this `is' a people seized and spoiled, Snared in holes -- all of them, And in houses of restraint they were hidden, They have been for a prey, And there is no deliverer, A spoil, and none is saying, `Restore.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 42
Commentary on Genesis 42 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 42
We had, in the foregoing chapter, the fulfilling of the dreams which Joseph had interpreted: in this and the following chapters we have the fulfilling of the dreams which Joseph himself had dreamed, that his father's family should do homage to him. The story is very largely and particularly related of what passed between Joseph and his brethren, not only because it is an entertaining story, and probably was much talked of, both among the Israelites and among the Egyptians, but because it is very instructive, and it gave occasion for the removal of Jacob's family into Egypt, on which so many great events afterwards depended. We have, in this chapter,
Gen 42:1-6
Though Jacob's sons were all married, and had families of their own, yet, it should seem, they were still incorporated in one society, under the conduct and presidency of their father Jacob. We have here,
Gen 42:7-20
We may well wonder that Joseph, during the twenty years that he had now been in Egypt, especially during the last seven years that he had been in power there, never sent to his father to acquaint him with his circumstances; nay, it is strange that he who so often went throughout all the land of Egypt (ch. 41:45, 46) never made an excursion to Canaan, to visit his aged father, when he was in the borders of Egypt, that lay next to Canaan. Perhaps it would not have been above three or four days' journey for him in his chariot. It is a probable conjecture that his whole management of himself in this affair was by special direction from Heaven, that the purpose of God concerning Jacob and his family might be accomplished. When Joseph's brethren came, he knew them by many a satisfactory token, but they knew not him, little thinking to find him there, v. 8. He remembered the dreams (v. 9), but they had forgotten them. The laying up of God's oracles in our hearts will be of excellent use to us in all our conduct. Joseph had an eye to his dreams, which he knew to be divine, in his carriage towards his brethren, and aimed at the accomplishment of them and the bringing of his brethren to repentance for their former sins; and both these points were gained.
Gen 42:21-28
Here is,
Gen 42:29-38
Here is,