Bible Commentaries

Jacob sends his ten sons to Egypt to buy corn, Genesis 42:1-3; but refuses to permit Benjamin to go, Genesis 42:4. They arrive in Egypt, and bow themselves before Joseph, Genesis 42:5, Genesis 42:6. He treats them roughly and calls them spies, Genesis 42:7-10. They defend themselves and give an account of their family, Genesis 42:11-13. He appears unmoved, and puts them all in prison for three days, Genesis 42:14-17. On the third day he releases them on condition of their bringing Benjamin, Genesis 42:18-20. Being convicted by their consciences, they reproach themselves with their cruelty to their brother Joseph, and consider themselves under the displeasure of God, Genesis 42:21-23. Joseph is greatly affected, detains Simeon as a pledge for Benjamin, orders their sacks to be filled with corn, and the purchase money to be put in each man's sack, Genesis 42:24, Genesis 42:25. When one of them is going to give his ass provender he discovers his money in the mouth of his sack, at which they are greatly alarmed, Genesis 42:26-28. They come to their father in Canaan, and relate what happened to them in their journey, Genesis 42:29-34. On emptying their sacks, each man's money is found in his sack's mouth, which causes alarm both to them and their father, Genesis 42:35. Jacob deplores the loss of Joseph and Simeon, and refuses to let Benjamin go, though Reuben offers his two sons as pledges for his safety, Genesis 42:36-38.

Jacob saw that there was corn - That is, Jacob heard from the report of others that there was plenty in Egypt. The operations of one sense, in Hebrew, are often put for those of another. Before agriculture was properly known and practiced, famines were frequent; Canaan seems to have been peculiarly vexed by them. There was one in this land in the time of Abraham, Genesis 12:10; another in the days of Isaac, Genesis 26:1; and now a third in the time of Jacob. To this St. Stephen alludes, Acts 7:11 : there was great affliction, and our fathers found no sustenance.

Joseph was the governor - שליט shallit, an intendant, a protector, from שלט skalat, to be over as a protector; hence שלטים shelatim, shields, or arms for protection and defense, 2 Samuel 8:7; and שלטון shilton, power and authority, Ecclesiastes 8:4, Ecclesiastes 8:8; and hence the Arabic sultan, a lord, prince, or king, from salata, he obtained and exercised dominion, he ruled. Was it not from this very circumstance, Joseph being shallit, that all the Mohammedan governors of Egypt, etc., took the title of sultan? Bowed down themselves before him - Thus fulfilling the prophetic dream, Genesis 37:7, Genesis 37:8, which they had taken every precaution to render null and void. But there is neither might nor counsel against the Lord.

Ye are spies - מרגלים אתם meraggelim attem, ye are footmen, trampers about, footpads, vagabonds, lying in wait for the property of others; persons who, under the pretense of wishing to buy corn, desire only to find out whether the land be so defenceless that the tribes to which ye belong (see Genesis 42:11) may attack it successfully, drive out the inhabitants, and settle in it themselves; or, having plundered it, retire to their deserts. This is a frequent custom among the Arabs to the present day. Thus Joseph spake roughly to them merely to cover that warmth of affection which he felt towards them; and that being thus brought, apparently, into straits and dangerous circumstances, their consciences might be awakened to reflect on and abhor their own wickedness.

We are all one man's sons - We do not belong to different tribes, and it is not likely that one family would make a hostile attempt upon a whole kingdom. This seems to be the very ground that Joseph took, viz., that they were persons belonging to different tribes. Against this particularly they set up their defense, asserting that they all belonged to one family; and it is on the proof of this that Joseph puts them, Genesis 42:15, in obliging them to leave one as a hostage, and insisting on their bringing their remaining brother; so that he took exactly the same precautions to detect them as if he had had no acquaintance with them, and had every reason to be suspicious.

One is not - An elliptical sentence, One is not alive.

By the life of Pharaoh - חי פרעה chey Pharaoh, Pharaoh liveth. As if he had said, As surely as the king of Egypt lives, so surely shall ye not go hence unless your brother come hither. Here therefore is no oath; it is just what they themselves make it in their report to their father, Genesis 43:3 : the man did solemnly protest unto us; and our translators should not have put it in the form of an oath, especially as the original not only will bear another version, but is absolutely repugnant to this in our sense of the word.

I fear God - את האלהים אני ירא eth haelohim ani yare, literally translated the passage runs thus, I also fear the gods; but the emphatic ה ha is probably added by Joseph, both here and in his conversation with Pharaoh, the more particularly to point out the eminence and perfection of the Supreme Being as contradistinguished from the gods of Egypt. He seems to say to his brethren, I am a worshipper of the true God, and ye have nothing to fear.