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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 42:1 - 42:7
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The Arrival in Egypt
v. 1. Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, having undoubtedly gotten the information from his Canaanite neighbors, many of whom were merchants, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another? The mention of Egypt caused the brethren to look upon one another with a helpless and suspicious questioning, for their conscience reminded them of the fact that Joseph had been sold into Egypt.
v. 2. And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt, grain which people could buy for their own needs; get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die. All this appears to have happened at a family council at which Jacob, as the head of the family or tribe, presided. He saw no need for a long discussion or for hesitation: it was a matter of life and death.
v. 3. And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt, to obtain provisions for the family.
v. 4. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, his full brother by Rachel,Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him. Benjamin was now just entering manhood, being about twenty-one years old or somewhat more. Jacob had given him all the affection which he had formerly felt for Joseph, and his objection that some accident to life and limb might befall Benjamin was founded upon the fact that he believed Joseph to have been killed by wild beasts.
v. 5. And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came; for the famine was in the land of Canaan. They were only a few of a great number that came down from Canaan to buy a supply of grain for their needs, that were thus dependent upon the generosity of the Egyptian ruler for their food.
v. 6. And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land. As the ruler of the country by Pharaoh's decree and as the chief overseer of the store-houses, Joseph exercised the greatest care in selling to strangers, and it seems to have been the rule that the foreigners were to be presented to him in person. And Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth, the dream of Joseph being thus fulfilled, Chatper 37:7-8.
v. 7. And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them, he literally spoke to them hard things;and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. It was an easy matter for Joseph, even after the lapse of some twenty years, to recognize his brothers; their number, their language, their clothing, their manner indicated at once who they were. But not one of them would have looked for Joseph in the person of this despotic Egyptian, whose dress and language were entirely foreign to them. Joseph purposely spoke harshly to them, in order to sound them out, to find whether their hearts had changed in the last two decades. Though he still loved them, his treatment would provide some wholesome discipline for them.