Genesis 42 commentary

Jacob saw the corn his neighbours had bought in Egypt, and brought home. It is a spur to exertion to see others supplied. Shall others get food for their souls, and shall we starve while it is to be had? Having discovered where help is to be had, we should apply for it without delay, without shrinking from labour, or grudging expense, especially as regards our never-dying souls. There is provision in Christ; but we must come to him, and seek it from him.

Joseph was hard upon his brethren, not from a spirit of revenge, but to bring them to repentance. Not seeing his brother Benjamin, he suspected that they had made away with him, and he gave them occasion to speak of their father and brother. God, in his providence, sometimes seems harsh with those he loves, and speaks roughly to those for whom yet he has great mercy in store. Joseph settled at last, that one of them should be left, and the rest go home and fetch Benjamin. It was a very encouraging word he said to them, “I fear God;” as if he had said, You may be assured I will do you no wrong; I dare not, for I know there is one higher than I. With those that fear God, we may expect fair dealing.

The office of conscience is to bring to mind things long since said and done. When the guilt of this sin of Joseph's brethren was fresh, they made light of it, and sat down to eat bread; but now, long afterward, their consciences accused them of it. See the good of afflictions; they often prove the happy means of awakening conscience, and bringing sin to our remembrance. Also, the evil of guilt as to our brethren. Conscience now reproached them for it. Whenever we think we have wrong done us, we ought to remember the wrong we have done to others. Reuben alone remembered with comfort, that he had done what he could to prevent the mischief. When we share with others in their sufferings, it will be a comfort if we have the testimony of our consciences for us, that we did not share in their evil deeds, but in our places witnessed against them. Joseph retired to weep. Though his reason directed that he should still carry himself as a stranger, because they were not as yet humbled enough, yet natural affection could not but work.

The brethren came for corn, and corn they had: not only so, but every man had his money given back. Thus Christ, like Joseph, gives out supplies without money and without price. The poorest are invited to buy. But guilty consciences are apt to take good providences in a bad sense; to put wrong meanings even upon things that make for them.

Here is the report Jacob's sons made to their father. It troubled the good man. Even the bundles of money Joseph returned, in kindness, to his father, frightened him. He laid the fault upon his sons; knowing them, he feared they had provoked the Egyptians, and wrongfully brought home their money. Jacob plainly distrusted his sons, remembering that he never saw Joseph since he had been with them. It is bad with a family, when children behave so ill that their parents know not how to trust them. Jacob gives up Joseph for gone, and Simeon and Benjamin as in danger; and concludes, All these things are against me. It proved otherwise, that all these things were for him, were working together for his good, and the good of his family. We often think that to be against us, which is really for us. We are afflicted in body, estate, name, and in our relations; and think all these things are against us, whereas they are really working for us a weight of glory. Thus does the Lord Jesus conceal himself and his favour, thus he rebukes and chastens those for whom he has purposes of love. By sharp corrections and humbling convictions he will break the stoutness and mar the pride of the heart, and bring to true repentance. Yet before sinners fully know him, or taste that he is gracious, he consults their good, and sustains their souls, to wait for him. May we do thus, never yielding to discouragement, determining to seek no other refuge, and humbling ourselves more and more under his mighty hand. In due time he will answer our petitions, and do for us more than we can expect.

1. Now when Jacob saw. Moses begins, in this chapter, to treat of the occasion which drew Jacob with his whole family into Egypt; and thus leaves it to us to consider by what hidden and unexpected methods God may perform whatever he has decreed. Though, therefore, the providence of God is in itself a labyrinth; yet when we connect the issue of things with their beginnings, that admirable method of operation shines clearly in our view, which is not generally acknowledged, only because it is far removed from our observation. Also our own indolence hinders us from perceiving God, with the eyes of faith, as holding the government of the world; because we either imagine fortune to be the mistress of events, or else, adhering to near and natural causes, we weave them together, and spread them as veils before our eyes. Whereas, therefore, scarcely any more illustrious representation of Divine Providence is to be found than this history furnishes; let pious readers carefully exercise themselves in meditation upon it, in order that they may acknowledge those things which, in appearance, are fortuitous, to be directed by the hand of God.

Why do ye look one upon another? Why do ye Men are said to look one upon another, when each is waiting for the other, and, for want of counsel, no one dares to attempt anything. Jacob, therefore, censures this inactivity of his sons, because none of them endeavors to provide for the present necessity. Moses also says that they went into Egypt at the command of their father, and even without Benjamin; by which he intimates that filial reverence at that time was great; because envy of their brother did not prevent them from leaving their wives and children, and undertaking a long journey. He also adds, that they came in the midst of a great crowd of people; which enhances the fame of Joseph; who, while supplying food for all Egypt, and dispensing it by measure, till the end of the drought, could also afford assistance to neighboring nations.

6. And Joseph was the governor השליט (Hashalit) “Of the Hebrew Shallet and Shilton, is made in Arabic the name Sultan, a title whereby the chief rulers of Egypt and Babylon are still called.” — Ainsworth. — Ed over the land. Moses connects the honor of Joseph with his fidelity and diligence. For although he was possessed of supreme authority, he nevertheless submitted to every possible laborious service, just as if he had been a hired servant. From which example we must learn, that as any one excels in honor, he is bound to be the more fully occupied in business; but that they who desire to combine leisure with dignity, utterly pervert the sacred order of God. Let it be, moreover, understood, that the corn was sold by Joseph, not as if he measured it out with his own hands, or himself received the money for it, seeing that it was set to sale in many parts of the kingdom, and he could scarcely have attended to one single storehouse: but that the whole of the stores were under his power.

7. He made himself strange unto them. It may be asked for what purpose Joseph thus tormented his brethren with threats and with terror. For if he was actuated by a sense of the injury received from them, he cannot be acquitted of the desire of revenge. It is, however, probable, that he was impelled neither by anger nor a thirst of vengeance, but that he was induced by two just causes to act as he did. For he both desired to regain his brother Benjamin, and wished to ascertain, — as if by putting them to the torture, — what was in their mind, whether they repented or not; and, in short, what had been their course of life since he had seen them last. For, had he made himself known at the first interview, it was to be feared lest they, keeping their father out of sight, and wishing to cast a vail over the detestable wickedness which they had committed, should only increase it by a new crime. There lurked, also, a not unreasonable suspicion concerning his brother Benjamin, lest they should attempt something perfidious and cruel against him. It was therefore important that they should be more thoroughly sifted; so that Joseph, being fully informed of the state of his father’s house, might take his measures according to circumstances; and also, that previous to pardon, some punishment might be inflicted which would lead them more carefully to reflect upon the atrocity of their crime. For whereas he afterwards showed himself to be placable and humane; this did not arise from the fact, that his anger being assuaged, he became, by degrees, inclined to compassion; but rather, as Moses elsewhere subjoins, that he sought retirement, because he could no longer refrain himself; herein intimating at the same time, that Joseph had forcibly repressed his tears so long as he retained a severe aspect; and, therefore, that he had felt throughout the same affection of pity towards them. And it appears that a special impulse moved him to this whole course of action. For it was no common thing, that Joseph, beholding so many authors of his calamities, was neither angry nor changed in his manner, nor broke out into reproaches; but was composed both in his countenance and his speech, as if he had long meditated at leisure, respecting the course he would pursue. But it may be inquired again, whether his dissimulation, which was joined with a falsehood, is not to be blamed; for we know how pleasing integrity is to God, and how strictly he prohibits his own people from deceit and falsehoods. Whether God governed his servant by some special movement, to depart without fault, from the common rule of action, I know not; seeing that the faithful may sometimes piously do things which cannot lawfully be drawn into a precedent. Of this, however, in considering the acts of the holy fathers, we must always beware; lest they should lead us away from that law which the Lord prescribes to all in common. By the general command of God, we must all cultivate sincerity. That Joseph feigned something different from the truth, affords no pretext to excuse us if we attempt anything of the same kind. For, though a liberty granted by privilege would be pardoned, yet if any one, relying on a private example, does not scruple to subvert the law of God, so as to give himself license to do what is therein forbidden, he shall justly suffer the punishment of his audacity. And yet I do not think that we ought to be very anxious to excuse Joseph, because it is probable that he suffered something from human infirmity, which God forgave him; for by Divine mercy alone could that dissimulation, which in itself was not without fault, escape condemnation.

9. And Joseph remembered the dreams. When the boy Joseph had spoken of receiving obeisance, the absurdity of the thing impelled his brethren wickedly to devise his death. Now, although they bow down to him without knowing him, there is yet nothing better for them. Indeed, their only means of safety, is to prostrate themselves at his feet, and to be received by him as suppliants. Meanwhile, their conspiracy, by which they attempted to subvert the celestial decree, lest they should have to bear the yoke, was rendered fruitless. So the Lord forcibly restrains the obstinate, just as wild and refractory horses are wont to be more severely treated, the more they kick and are restive. Wherefore, there is nothing better than meekly to compose the mind to gentleness, that each may take his own lot contentedly, though it be not very splendid. It may, however, seem absurd, that Joseph should, at this time, have recalled his dream to mind, as if it had been forgotten through the lapse of years; which, indeed, could not be, unless he had lost sight of the promises of God. I answer, nothing is here recorded but what frequently happens to ourselves: for although the word of God may be dwelling in our hearts, yet it does not continually occur to us, but rather is sometimes so smothered that it may seem to be extinct, especially when faith is oppressed by the darkness of affliction. Besides, it is nothing wonderful, if a long series of evils should have buried, in a kind of oblivion, his dreams which indicated prosperity. God had exalted him, by these dreams, to the hope of great and distinguished authority. He is, however, cast into a well not unlike a grave. He is taken hence to be sold as a slave; he is carried to a distant land; and, as if slavery would not prove sufficiently severe, he is shut up in prison. And though his misery is in some degree mitigated, when he is released from his iron fetters, yet there was little, if any, prospect of deliverance. I do not, however, think that the hope entertained by him was entirely destroyed, but that a cloud passed over it, which deprived him of the light of comfort. A different kind of temptation followed; because nothing is more common than for great and unexpected felicity to intoxicate its possessors. And thus it happened, as we have recently read, that a forgetfulness of his father’s house stole over the mind of the holy man. He was not, therefore, so mindful of his dreams as he ought to have been. Another excuse may probably be alleged; that he, at the moment, compared his dreams with the event. And truly it was no common virtue to apply what was passing, thus immediately for the confirmation of the Divine oracle. For we readily perceive, that those dreams which so quickly recur to the memory, had not been obliterated through length of time. So the disciples remembered the words of the Lord after he had risen from the dead; because, by the sight of the fact predicted, their knowledge became more clear; whereas, before, nothing but transient sparks of it had shined in their hearts.

15. By the life of Pharaoh. From this formula of swearing a new question is raised; for that which is commanded in the law, that we should swear only by the name of God, had already been engraven on the hearts of the pious; since nature dictates that this honor is to be given to God alone, that men should defer to his judgment, and should make him the supreme arbiter and vindicator of faith and truth. If we should say that this was not simply an oath, but a kind of obtestation, the holy man will be, in some degree, excusable. He who swears by God wishes him to interpose in order to inflict punishment on perjury. They who swear by their life or by their hand, deposit, as it were, what they deem most valuable, as a pledge of their faithfulness. By this method the majesty of God is not transferred to mortal man; because it is a very different thing to cite him as witness who has the right of taking vengeance, and to assert by something most dear to us, that what we say is true. So Moses, when he calls heaven and earth to witness, does not ascribe deity to them, and thus fabricate a new idol; but, in order that higher authority may be given to the law, he declares that there is no part of the world which will not cry out before the tribunal of God, against the ingratitude of the people, if they reject the doctrine of salvation. Notwithstanding, there is, I confess, in this form of swearing which Joseph uses, something deserving of censure; for it was a profane adulation, among the Egyptians, to swear by the life of the king. Just as the Romans swore by the genius of their prince, after they had been reduced to such bondage that they made their Caesar equal to gods. Certainly this mode of swearing is abhorrent to true piety. Whence it may be perceived that nothing is more difficult to the holy servants of God than to keep themselves so pure, while conversant with the filth of the world, as to contract no spots of defilement from it. Joseph, indeed, was never so infected with the corruptions of the court, but that he remained a pure worshipped of God: nevertheless we see, that in accommodating himself to this depraved custom of speaking, he had received some stain. His repetition of the expression shows, that when any one has once become accustomed to evil, he becomes exceedingly prone to sin again and again. We observe, that they who have once rashly assumed the license of swearing, pour forth an oath every third word, even when speaking of the most frivolous things. So much the greater caution ought we to use, lest any such indulgence should harden us in this wicked custom.

17. And he put them altogether into ward. Here, not by words only, as before, but by the act itself, Joseph shows himself severe towards his brethren, when he shuts them all up in prison, as if about to bring them to punishment: and during three days torments them with fear. We said a little while ago, that from this act no rule for acting severely and rigidly is to be drawn; because it is doubtful whether he acted rightly or otherwise. Again, it is to be feared lest they who plead his example should be far removed from his mildness, and that they should prove to be rather his apes than his true imitators. Meanwhile, it plainly appears what he was aiming at; for he does not mitigate their punishment, as if at the end of three days he was appeased; but he renders them more anxious about the redemption of their brother, whom he retains as a hostage. Lest, however, immoderate fear should deter them from returning, he promises to act with good faith towards them: and to convince them of that, he declares that he fears God, which expression is worthy of observation. Doubtless he speaks from the inward feeling of his heart, when he declares that he will deal well and truly with them, because he fears God. Therefore the commencement and the fountain of that good and honest conscience, whereby we cultivate fidelity and justice towards men, is the fear of God. There appears indeed some probity in the despisers of God; but it soon goes off in smoke, unless the depraved affections of the flesh are restrained as with a bridle, by the thought that God is to be feared, because he will be the Judge of the world. For whoever does not think that he must render an account, will never so cultivate integrity as to refrain from pursuing what he supposes will be useful to himself. Wherefore, if we wish to be free from perfidy, craft, cruelty, and all wicked desire of doing injure, we must labor earnestly that religion may flourish among us. For whenever we act with want of sincerity or humanity towards each other, impiety openly betrays itself. For whatever there is of rectitude or justice in the world, Joseph comprised in this short sentence, when he said, that he feared God.

21. And they said one to another. This is a remarkable passage, showing that the sons of Jacob, when reduced to the greatest straits, recall to memory a fratricide committed thirteen years previously. Before affliction pressed upon them, they were in a state of torpor. Moses relates that, even lately, they had spoken without agitation of Joseph’s death, as if conscious to themselves of no evil. But now they are compelled (so to speak) to enter into their own consciences. We see then, how in adversity, God searches and tries men; and how, while dissipating all their flattering illusions, he not only pierces their minds with secret fear, but extorts a confession which they would gladly avoid. And this kind of examination is very necessary for us. Wonderful is the hypocrisy of men in covering their evils; and if impunity be allowed, their negligence will be increased twofold. Wherefore no remedy remains, except that they who give themselves up to slumber when the Lord deals gently with them, should be awakened by afflictions and punishments. Joseph therefore produced some good effect, when he extorted from his brethren the acknowledgment of their sin, in which they had securely pleased themselves. And the Lord had compassion on them, in taking away the covering with which they had been too long deceived. In the same manner, while he daily chastises us by the hand of man, he draws us, as guilty, to his tribunal. Nevertheless it would profit but little to be tried by adversity, unless he inwardly touched the heart; for we see how few reflect on their sins, although admonished by most severe punishments; certainly no one comes to this state of mind but with reluctance. Wherefore, there is no doubt that God, in order to lead the sons of Jacob to repentance, impelled them, as well by the secret instinct of his Spirit as by outward chastisement, to become sensible of that sin which had been too long concealed. Let the reader also observe, that the sons of Jacob did not only fix their minds on something which was close at hand, but considered that divine punishments were inflicted in various ways upon sinners. And doubtless, in order to apprehend the divine judgments, we must extend our views afar. Sometimes indeed God, by inflicting present punishment on sinners, holds them up for observation as on a theater; but often, as if aiming at another object, he takes vengeance on our sins unexpectedly, and from an unseen quarter. If the sons of Jacob had merely looked for some present cause of their sufferings, they could have done nothing but loudly complain that they had been injured; and at length despair would have followed. But while considering how far and wide the providence of God extends, looking beyond the occasion immediately before their eyes, they ascend to a remote cause. It is, however, doubtful, whether they say that they shall be held guilty on account of their brother, or for their brother’s sake, or that they will themselves confess that they have sinned: for the Hebrew noun, אשמים (ashaimim) is ambiguous because it sometimes refers to the crime committed, and sometimes to the punishment, as in Latin, piaculum signifies both the crime and the expiation. On the whole, it is of little consequence which meaning is preferred, for they acknowledge their sin either in its guilt or its punishment. But the latter sense appears to me the more simple and genuine, that they are deservedly punished because they had been so cruel to their brother.

In that we saw the anguish of his soul. They acknowledge that it is by the just judgment of God, that they obtained nothing by their suppliant entreaties, because they themselves had acted so cruelly towards their brother. Christ had not yet uttered the sentence,

“With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you again,” (Matthew 7:2,)

but it was a dictate of nature, that they who had been cruel to others, were unworthy of commiseration. The more heed ought we to take, that we prove not deaf to so many threatening of Scripture. Dreadful is that denunciation,

“Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, and shall not be heard.” (Proverbs 21:13.)

Therefore while we have time, let us learn to exercise humanity, to sympathize with the miserable, and to stretch out our hand for the sake of giving assistance. But if at any time it happens that we are treated roughly by men, and our prayers are proudly rejected; then, at least, let the question occur to us, whether we ourselves have in anything acted unkindly towards others; for although it were better to be wise beforehand; it is, nevertheless, some advantage, whenever others proudly despise us, to reflect whether they with whom we have had to deal, have not experienced similar hardships from us. “Our brother,” they say, “entreated us when he was in the last extremity: we rejected his prayers: therefore it is by divine retribution that we can obtain nothing.” By these words they bear witness that the hearts of men are so under Divine government, that they can be inclined to equity, or hardened in inflexible rigor. Moreover, their cruelty was hateful to God, because, since his goodness is diffused through heaven and earth, and his beneficence is extended not only to men, but even to brute animals, nothing is more contrary to his nature, than that we should cruelly reject those who implore our protection.

22. And Reuben answered them. Because he had attempted to deliver Joseph out of the hands of his brethren, in order to restore him in safety to his father, he magnifies their fault, in not having, at that time, listened to any prudent counsel: and I understand his words as conveying a reproof for their too late repentance. Whereas Joseph was not yet satisfied with this confession, but retained Simeon in bonds, Ainsworth says of Simeon, “He seemeth by this, to have been the chief procurer of Joseph’s trouble. He was by nature bold and fierce, as his fact against the Shechemites doth manifest.” IF so, this act of Joseph would appear to him, and perhaps to the rest of the brethren, as a special Divine retribution for his cruelty towards Joseph. — Ed. and dismissed the rest in suspense and perplexity, this was not done from malevolence, but because he was not certain about the safety of his brother Benjamin, and the state of his father’s house. For he might justly fear lest, when they found that their wicked contrivance of putting their brother to death, was discovered, they might again attempt some horrible crime, as desperate men are wont to do; or, at least, might desert their father, and flee to some other country. Nevertheless the act of Joseph is not to be drawn into a precedent: because it is not always right to be thus austere. We ought also to beware lest the offender be swallowed up by grief, if we are not mild, and disposed to forgiveness. Therefore we must seek the spirit of discretion from heaven, which shall so govern us that we may do nothing by rash impetuosity, or immoderate severity. This, indeed, is to be remembered, that under the stern countenance of Joseph was concealed not only a mild and placid disposition, but the most tender affection.

27. And as one of them opened his sack. With what intention Joseph had commanded the price paid for the corn to be secretly deposited in the sacks of his brethren, may easily be conjectured; for he feared lest his father being already impoverished, would not be able again to buy provisions. The brethren, having found their money, knew not where to seek the cause; except that, being terrified, they perceived that the hand of God was against them. That they were greatly astonished appears from their not voluntarily returning to Joseph, in order to prove their own innocence: for the remedy of the evil was at hand, if they had not been utterly blinded. Wherefore we must ask God to supply us, in doubtful and troubled affairs, not only with fortitude, but also with prudence. We see also how little can be effected even by a great multitude, unless the Lord preside among them. The sons of Jacob ought mutually to have exhorted each other, and to have consulted together what was necessary to be done: but there is an end to all deliberation; no solace nor remedy is suggested. Even while each sees the rest agitated, they mutually increase each other’s trepidation. Therefore, the society and countenance of men will profit us nothing, unless the Lord strengthen us from heaven.

28. What is this that God has done unto us? They do not expostulate with God, as if they thought this danger had come upon them without cause: but, perceiving that God was angry with them in many ways, they deplore their wretchedness. But why do they not rather turn their thoughts to Joseph? For the suspicion was natural, that this had been done by fraud, because he wished to lay new snares for them. How does it happen, then, that losing sight of man, they set God as an avenger directly before them? Truly, because this single thought possessed their minds, that a just reward, and such as their sins deserved, would be given them; and, from that time, they referred whatever evils happened to the same cause. Before (as we have said) they were asleep: but from the time that they began to be affected by the lively fear of God’s judgment, his providence always presented itself to their view. So David, when, by the inward suggestion of the Spirit, he has learned that the rod with which he was chastised had been sent from heaven, is not distracted or perplexed, though he sees plainly that the evils have proceeded from another quarter; but prays to God to heal the wounds which He had made. It is no common act of prudence, and is at the same time profitable, whenever any adversity overtakes us, to accustom ourselves to the consideration of the judgments of God. We see how unbelievers, while they imagine their misfortunes to be accidental, or while they are bent on accusing their enemies, only exasperate their grief by fretting and raging, and thus cause the anger of God to burn the more against them. But he who, in his affliction, exercises himself in reflecting on his own sins, and sets God before him as his Judge, will humble himself in the divine presence, and will compose his mind to patience by the hope of pardon. Let us, however, remember that the providence of God is not truly acknowledged, except in connection with his justice. Forthough the men by whose hand he chastises us are often unjust, yet, in an incomprehensible manner, he executes his judgments through them, against which judgments it is not lawful for us either to reply or to murmur. For sometimes even the reprobate, though they acknowledge themselves to be stricken by the hand of God, yet do not cease to complain against him, as Moses teaches us by the example of Cain. I do not, however, understand that this complaint was made by the sons of Jacob, for the purpose of charging God with tyrannical violence; but because they, being overcome with fear, inferred from this double punishment that God was highly displeased with them.

29. And they came unto Jacob their father. Here is a long repetition of the former history, but it is not superfluous; because Moses wished to show how anxiously they made their excuse to their father for having left Simon in chains, and how strenuously they pleaded with him, that, for the sake of obtaining Simeon’s liberty, he should allow them to take their brother Benjamin: for this was greatly to the purpose. We know what a sharp dart is hunger: and yet, though the only method of relieving their want was to fetch corn out of Egypt, Jacob would rather that he and his family should perish, than allow Benjamin to accompany the rest. What can he mean by thus peremptorily refusing what his sons were compelled by necessity to ask, except to show that he was suspicious of them? This also more clearly appears from his own words, when he imputes his bereavement to them. For, though their declaration, that Joseph had been torn by a wild beast, had some color of probability, there still remained in the heart of the holy patriarch a secret wound, arising from suspicion; because he was fully aware of their fierce and cruel hatred of the innocent youth. Moreover, it is useful for us to know this; for it appears hence how miserable was the condition of the holy man, whose mind, during thirteen successive years, had been tortured with dire anxiety. Besides, his very silence added greatly to his torment, because he was compelled to conceal the grief he felt. But the chief burden of the evil was the temptation which oppressed him, that the promise of God might prove illusory and vain. For he had no hope except from the promised seed; but he seemed to be bringing up devils at home, from whom a blessing was no more to be expected than life from death. He thought Joseph to be dead, Benjamin alone remained to him uncorrupted: how could the salvation of the world proceed from such a vicious offspring? He must, therefore, have been endowed with great constancy, seeing he did not cease to rely upon God; and being certainly persuaded that he cherished in his house the Church, of which scarcely any appearance was left, he bore with his sons till they should repent. Let the faithful now apply this example to themselves, lest their minds should give way at the horrible devastation which is almost everywhere perceived.

35. As they emptied their sacks. Here, again, it appears how greatly they had been alarmed in their journey, seeing that each had not at least examined his sack, after money had been found in one. But these things are written to show that, as soon as men are smitten with fear, they have no particle of wisdom and of soundness of mind, until God tranquilizes them. Moreover, Joseph did not act with sufficient consideration, in that he occasioned very great grief to his father, whose poverty he really intended to relieve. Whence we learn that even the most prudent are not always so careful, but that something may flow from their acts which they do not wish.

36. Me have ye bereaved. Jacob does not, indeed, openly accuse his sons of the crime of their brother’s murder; yet he is angry as if, two of his sons being already taken away, they were hastening to destroy the third. For he says that all these evils were falling on himself alone; because he does not think that they were affected as they ought to be, nor shared his grief with him, but were carelessly making light of the destruction of their brethren, as if they had no interest in their lives. It seems, however, exceedingly barbarous that Reuben should offer his two sons to his father to be slain, if he did not bring Benjamin back. Jacob might, indeed, slay his own grandchildren: what comfort, then, could he take in acting cruelly to his own bowels? But this is what I before alluded to, that they were suspected of having dealt perfidiously towards Joseph; for which reason Reuben deemed it necessary to assuage his father’s fear, by such a vehement protestation; and to give this pledge, that he and his brethren were designing nothing wicked against Benjamin.

38. My son shall not go down with you. Again we see, as in a lively picture, with what sorrow holy Jacob had been oppressed. He sees his whole family famishing: he would rather be torn away from life than from his son: whence we gather that he was not iron-hearted: but his patience is the more deserving of praise, because he contended with the infirmity of the flesh, and did not sink under it. And although Moses does not give a rhetorical amplification to his language, we nevertheless easily perceive that he was overcome with excessive grief, when he thus complained to his sons, You are too cruel to your father, in taking away from me a third son, after I have been plundered of first one and then another.

CHAPTER 43.

Genesis 43:1-34

1. And the famine was sore in the land.

1. Porro fames gravis erat in terra.

2. And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.

2. Itaque quum finissent edere alimentum, quod attulerant ex Aegypto, dixit ad eos pater eorum, Revertimini, Emite nobis pusillum cibi.

3. And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

3. Et dixit ad eum Jehudah, dicendo, Contestando contestatus est nos vir, dicendo, Non videbitis faciem meam, nisi fuerit frater vester vobiscum.

4. If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:

4. Si miseris fratrem nostrum nobiscum, descendemus, et ememus tibi cibum.

5. But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

5. Quod si non miseris, non descendemus: vir enim ille dixit nobis, Non videbitis faciem meam, nisi fuerit frater vester vobiscum.

6. And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?

6. At dixit Israel, Utquid malefecistis mihi, ut nuntiaretis viro, quod adhuc frater esset vobis.

7. And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?

7. Et dixerunt, Interrogando interrogavit vir ille de nobis et cognatione nostra, discendo, Num adhuc pater vester vivit? Num est vobis frater? Et nuntiavimus ei secundum verba ista: numquid sciendo sciebamus, quod dicturus esset, Descendere faciatis fratrem vestrum?

8. And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.

8. Et dixit Jehudah ad Israel patrem suum, Mitte puerum mecum, et surgemus, et proficiscemur, et vivemus, et non moriemur etiam nos etiam tu, etiam parvuli nostri.

9. I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:

9. Ergo fidejubeo pro illo, de manu mea requiras eum:; nisi reduxero eum ad to, et statuero eum ante to, poenae obnoxius ero tibi omnibus diebus.

10. For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.

10. Quia nisi tardavissemus, certe nunc reversi fuissemus jam bis.

11. And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:

11. Et dixit illis Israel pater eorum, Si ita nunc oportet, hoc facite: tollite de optimis fructibus terrae in vasis vestris, et deferte ad virum munus, pusillum resinae et pusillum mellis, aromata, et stacten, pineas, et amygdalas.

12. And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight:

12. Et peduniam duplicem capite in manibus vestris: et peduniam repositam in ore saccorum vestrorum reponetis in manu vestra, si forte error esset.

13. Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man:

13. Et fratrem vestrum capite, et surgite, revertemini ad virum.

14. And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.

14. Deus autem omnipotens det vobis misericordias ante virum, et dimittat vobis fratrem vestrum alium, et Benjamin: et ego quemadmodum orbatus sum, orbatus sum.

15. And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

15. Et ceperunt viri minus hoc, et duplicm peduniam ceperunt in manu sua, et Benjamin: et surrexerunt, et descenderunt in Aegyptum, et steterunt coram Joseph.

16. And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon.

16. Et vidit Joseph cum eis Benjamin, et dixit praefecto domus suae, Addue viros in domum, et macta, et praepara: quia mecum comedent viri in meridie.

17. And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.

17. Et fecit vir, quemadmodum dixit Joseph: et venire fecit vir homines in domum Joseph.

18. And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses.

18. Et timuerunt viri, quod adducti essent in donrum Joseph, et dixerunt, Propter pecuniam, quae reddita est in saccis nostris in principio, sumus adducti, ut volvat se contra nos, et jactet se super nos, et capiat nos in servos, et asinos nostros.

19. And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they communed with him at the door of the house,

19. Et accesserunt ad virum, qui erat super domum Joseph, et loquuti sunt ad eum in ostio domus:

20. And said, O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food:

20. Et dixerunt, Quaesumus, domine mi: descendendo descendimus in principio ad emendum escam.

21. And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight: and we have brought it again in our hand.

21. Et fuit quum venissemus ad hospitium, et aperuissemus saccos nostros, ecce, pecunia uniuseujusque erat in ore sacci sui: pecunia nostra secundum pondus suum: et retulimus eam in manu nostra.

22. And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.

22. Et pecuniam aliam detulimus in manu nostra ad emendum escam: nescimus, quis posuerit pecuniam nostram in saccis nostris.

23. And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them.

23. Et dixit, Pax vobis, ne timeatis, Deus vester, et Deus patris vestri dedit vobis thesaurum in saccis vestris, pecunia vestra venit ad me: et adduxit ad eos Simhon.

24. And the man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender.

24. Et venire fecit vir ille homines in domum Joseph: et dedit aquam, et laverunt pedes suos, et dedit pabulum asinis eorum.

25. And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there.

25. Paraverunt autem munus, dum veniret Joseph in meridie: audierunt enim, quod ibi comesturi essent panem.

26. And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth.

26. Et venit Joseph ad domum, et attulerunt ei munus, quod erat in manu eorum, in domum: et incurvaverunt se ei super terram.

27. And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive?

27. Et interrogavit eos de prosperitate, et dixit, Num sanus est pater vester senex, quem dixeratis? Num adhuc vivit?

28. And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance.

28. Et dixerunt, Prospere est servo tuo patri nostro, adhuc vivit: et prociderunt, et incurvaverunt se.

29. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.

29. Et levavit oculos suos, et vidit Benjamin fratrem suum, filium matris suae, et dixit, Num iste est frater vester minimus, quem dixeratis mihi? Et dixit, Deus misereatur tui, fili mi.

30. And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.

30. Et festinavit Joseph, quia incaluerant miserationes ejus super fratrem suum, et quaesivit ut fleret: ingressus est itaque cubiculum, et flevit ibi.

31. And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.

31. Et lavit faciem suam, et egressus est, et vim fecit sibi, et dixit, Appointe panem.

32. And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

32. Et apposuerunt ei seorsum, illisque seorsum: et Aegyptiis, qui comedebant cum eo, seorsum: non enim poterant Aegyptii comedere cum Hebraeis panem: quia abominatio erat Aegyptiis.

33. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another.

33. Et sederunt coram eo primogenitus secundum primogenituram suam, et parvus juxta parvitatem suam: et admirati sunt viri unusquisque ad proximum suum.

34. And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

34. Et accepit partes a facie sua ad illos, et multiplicavit partem Benjamin plus quam partes omnium illorum, quinque partibus: et biberunt, et inebriaverunt se cum eo.

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 (Is 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].

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.

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 (He 12:7, 8), and that all those things he thought against Him were working together for his good.

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, Gen 12:10; another in the days of Isaac, Gen 26:1; and now a third in the time of Jacob. To this St. Stephen alludes, Act 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, 2Sam 8:7; and שלטון shilton, power and authority, Ecc 8:4, Ecc 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, Gen 37:7, Gen 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 Gen 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, Gen 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, Gen 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.

We are verily guilty - How finely are the office and influence of conscience exemplified in these words! It was about twenty-two years since they had sold their brother, and probably their conscience had been lulled asleep to the present hour. God combines and brings about those favorable circumstances which produce attention and reflection, and give weight to the expostulations of conscience. How necessary to hear its voice in time, for here it may be the instrument of salvation; but if not heard in this world, it must be heard in the next; and there, in association with the unquenchable fire, it will be the never-dying worm. Reader, has not thy sin as yet found thee out? Pray to God to take away the veil from thy heart, and give thee that deep sense of guilt which shall oblige thee to flee for refuge to the hope which is set before thee in the Gospel of Christ.

For he spake unto them by an interpreter - Either there was a very great difference between the two languages as then spoken, or Joseph, to prevent all suspicion, might affect to be ignorant of both. We have many evidences in this book that the Egyptians, Hebrews, Canaanites, and Syrians, could understand each other in a general way, though there are also proofs that there was a considerable difference between their dialects.

Took - Simeon and bound him before their eyes - This was retaliation, if, as the rabbins suppose, it was Simeon who bound Joseph, and put him into the pit. A recollection of this circumstance must exceedingly deepen the sense he had of his guilt.

Commanded to fill their sacks - כליהם keleyhem, their vessels; probably large woolen bags, or baskets lined with leather, which, as Sir John Chardin says, are still in use through all Asia, and are called tambellet; they are covered with leather, the better to resist the wet, and to prevent dirt and sand from mixing with the grain. These vessels, of whatever sort, must have been different from those called שק sak in the twenty-seventh and following verses, which was probably only a small sack or bag, in which each had reserved a sufficiency of corn for his ass during the journey; the larger vessels or bags serving to hold the wheat or rice they had brought, and their own packages. The reader will at once see that the English word sack is plainly derived from the Hebrew.

They laded their asses - Amounting, no doubt, to several scores, if not hundreds, else they could not have brought a sufficiency of corn for the support of so large a family as that of Jacob.

One of them opened his sack - From Gen 42:35 we learn that each of the ten brethren on emptying his sack when he returned found his money in it; can we suppose that this was not discovered by them all before? It seems not; and the reason was probably this: the money was put in the mouth of the sack of one only, in the sacks of the others it was placed at or near to the bottom; hence only one discovered it on the road, the rest found it when they came to empty their sacks at their father's house.

In the inn - במלון bammalon, from לן lan, to lodge, stay, remain, etc. The place at which they stopped to bait or rest themselves and their asses. Our word inn gives us a false idea here; there were no such places of entertainment at that time in the desert over which they had to pass, nor are there any to the present day. Travellers generally endeavor to reach a well, where they fill their girbahs, or leather bottles, with fresh water, and having clogged their camels, asses, etc., permit them to crop any little verdure there may be in the place, keeping watch over them by turns. This is all we are to understand by the malon or inn in the text, for even caravansaries were not then in use, which are generally no more than four walls perfectly exposed, the place being open at the top.

Their heart failed them - ויצא לבם valyetse libbam, their heart went out. This refers to that spasmodic affection which is felt in the breast at any sudden alarm or fright. Among the common people in our own country we find an expression exactly similar, "My heart was ready to leap out at my mouth," used on similar occasions.

What is this that God hath done unto us? - Their guilty consciences, now thoroughly awakened, were in continual alarms; they felt that they deserved God's curse, and every occurrence served to confirm and increase their suspicions.

As they emptied their sacks - See Clarke on Gen 42:27 (note).

All these things are against me - עלי היו כלנה alai hayu cullanah; literally, All these things are upon me. Not badly translated by the Vulgate, In me haec omnia mala reciderunt, "All these evils fall back upon me." They lie upon me as heavy loads, hastening my death; they are more than I can bear.

Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee - What a strange proposal made by a son to his father, concerning his grandchildren! But they show the honesty and affection of Reuben's heart; he felt deeply for his father's distress, and was determined to risk and hazard every thing in order to relieve and comfort him. There is scarcely a transaction in which Reuben is concerned that does not serve to set his character in an amiable point of view, except the single instance mentioned Gen 35:22 (note), and which for the sake of decency and piety we should wish to understand as the Targumists have explained it. See the notes.

He is left alone - That is, Benjamin is the only remaining son of Rachel; for he supposed Joseph, who was the other son, to be dead.

Shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow - Here he keeps up the idea of the oppressive burden mentioned Gen 42:36, to which every occurrence was adding an additional weight, so that he felt it impossible to support it any longer.

The following observations of Dr. Dodd on this verse are very appropriate and judicious: "Nothing can be more tender and picturesque than the words of the venerable patriarch. Full of affection for his beloved Rachel, he cannot think of parting with Benjamin, the only remaining pledge of that love, now Joseph, as he supposes, is no more. We seem to behold the gray-headed, venerable father pleading with his sons, the beloved Benjamin standing by his side, impatient sorrow in their countenances, and in his all the bleeding anxiety of paternal love. It will be difficult to find in any author, ancient or modern, a more exquisite picture."

1. There is one doctrine relative to the economy of Divine Providence little heeded among men; I mean the doctrine of restitution. When a man has done wrong to his neighbor, though, on his repentance, and faith in our Lord Jesus, God forgives him his sin, yet he requires him to make restitution to the person injured, if it lie in the compass of his power. If he do not, God will take care to exact it in the course of his providence. Such respect has he for the dictates of infinite justice that nothing of this kind shall pass unnoticed. Several instances of this have already occurred in this history, and we shall see several more. No man should expect mercy at the hand of God who, having wronged his neighbor, refuses, when he has it in his power, to make restitution. Were he to weep tears of blood, both the justice and mercy of God would shut out his prayer, if he made not his neighbor amends for the injury he may have done him. The mercy of God, through the blood of the cross, can alone pardon his guilt; but no dishonest man can expect this; and he is a dishonest man who illegally holds the property of another in his hand. The unnatural brethren who sold their brother are now about to be captivated themselves; and the binder himself is bound in his turn: and though a kind Providence permits not the evil to fall upon them, yet, while apprehending it, they feel all its reality, conscience supplying the lack of prison, jailer, and bonds.

2. The ways of Providence are often to us dark and perplexed, so that we are ready to imagine that good can never result from what appears to us to be directly contrary to our interest; and we are often tempted to think that those very providential dealings of God, which have for their object our present and eternal welfare, are rather proofs of his displeasure, or evidences of his vindictive judgment. All these things are against me, said poor desponding Jacob; whereas, instead of being against him, all these things were for him; and by all these means was the merciful God working for the preservation of himself and his family, and the fulfillment of his ancient promise, that the posterity of Abraham should be as the stars of heaven for multitude. How strange is it that our faith, after so many evidences of his goodness, should still be so weak; and that our opinion of him should be so imperfect, that we can never trust in him but while he is under our own eye! If we see him producing good, we can believe that he is doing so, and this is all. If we believe not, he abides faithful; but our unbelief must make our own way extremely perplexing and difficult.

Jacob saw that there was corn - That is, he saw the corn that his neighbours had bought there and brought home.

Get you down thither - Masters of families must not only pray for daily bread for their families, but must with care and industry provide it.

We may well wonder that Joseph, during the twenty years he had 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, 'tis strange that he who so oft went throughout all the land of Egypt, never made a step 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. 'Tis 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 good token, but they knew not him, little thinking to find him there.

He remembered the dreams, but they had forgot 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 his brethren to repentance; and both those points were gained. He shewed himself harsh with them: the very manner of his speaking, considering the post he was in, was enough to frighten them, for he spake roughly to them - He charged them with ill designs against the government, treated them as dangerous persons, ye are spies, protesting by the life of Pharaoh that they were so. Some make that an oath, others make it no more but a vehement asseveration; however, it was more than yea, yea, and nay, nay, and therefore came of evil. They hereupon were very submissive; they spoke to him with all respect; nay, my lord. They modestly deny the charge, we are no spies; they tell him their business, they came to buy food, they give a particular account of themselves and their family, Ge 42:13, and that was it he wanted. He clapt them all up in prison three days. He concluded with them at last, that one of them should be left as a hostage, and the rest should go home and fetch Benjamin. It was a very encouraging word he said, I fear God; q.d. You may assure yourselves, I will do you no wrong, I dare not, for I know that as high as I am, there is one higher than I. With those that fear God we have reason to expect fair dealing: the fear of God will be a check upon those that are in power, to restrain them from abusing their power to oppression and tyranny:

We are very guilty concerning our brother - We do not read that they said this during their three days imprisonment; but now when the matter was come to some issue, and they saw themselves still embarrassed, they began to relent. Perhaps Joseph's mention of the fear of God, put them upon consideration, and extorted this reflexion.

He took Simeon - He chose him for the hostage, probably because he remembered him to have been his most bitter enemy, or because he observed him now to be least humbled and concerned. He bound him before their eyes, to affect them all.

Their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to us? - They knew that the Egyptians abhorred a Hebrew, Ge 43:32, and therefore, since they could not expect to receive any kindness from them, they concluded that this was done with a design to pick a quarrel with them, the rather because the man, the lord of the land, had charged them as spies. Their own conscience were awake, and their sins set in order before them, and this puts them into confusion. When the events of providence concerning us are surprising, it is good to enquire what it is that God has done and is doing with us?

My son shall not go down with you - He plainly intimates a distrust of them, remembering that he never saw Joseph since he had been with them; therefore Benjamin shall not go with you.

1 NOW when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another ?

(i. e.) heard, as the word is used, Exod. 20. 18. as seeing is put for smelling, Exod. 5. 21. and for tasting, Psal. 34. 8. and for touching, Ioh. 20. 29.

Like lazy, careless, and helpless persons, each one expecting relief from the other, but none offering either counsel or help for all our subsistence.

Marginal references: Act. 7. 12.

2 And he said, Behold I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence, that we may live, and not die .

This word explains the word saw, ver. 1.

For Egypt was lower than Canaan; whence on the contrary they are said to go up to Canaan, Gen. 45. 9.

An emphatical repetition of the same thing used here to make them more sensible of their danger.

Marginal references: chap. 43. 8. Psal. 118. 17. Isa. 38. 1.

4 But Benjamin Josephs brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren: for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befal him.

Because he was very young, and now his best beloved son.

6 And Joseph was the governour over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Josephs brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him , with their faces to the earth.

Either 1. by his Ministers and Commissioners appointed to that end, as men in Scripture and in all Authors are said to do that which others do by their authority and command? Or 2. he himself immediately contracted with the buyers, or at least with such as were forreigners; which he did upon prudential reasons, both because he would not have them to pry into the state of Egypt, ver. 12. and because he would by that opportunity understand the state of other lands and improve that knowledge for his masters service.

Thus unwittingly fulfilling Iosephs dream, Gen. 37. 7.

7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them : and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.

Partly to bring their sin to remembrance; partly to get the knowledge of the true state of his Father and Family; and partly to further the following design and make way for his and their greater happiness.

Marginal references: Heb. hard things with them.

8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him .

Because his visage was much altered by his beard and by other things, it being about 20 years since they saw him, and his Egyptian Language and Habit and Carriage together with the great dignity of his place prevented all suspicious concerning their brother.

9 And Joseph remembred the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies : to see the nakedness of the land you are come.

This he saith not because they were so, or he thought them to be so, but that he might search out the truth of their affairs, speaking too much like a Courtier or Politician.

(i. e.) The weak parts of it, and where it may be best assaulted or surprized.

Marginal references: chap. 37. 5.

11 We are all one mans sons ; we are true men : thy servants are no spies.

And therefore not spies; for it is not likely either that a father would venture so many of his sons upon so hazardous an employment: or that such a work would have been trusted in the hands of one family, onely.

Who honestly and truly mean what we pretend and have no other design in our coming hither.

13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan: and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not .

(i. e.) Is dead, as that phrase oft signifies both in Scripture, as Gen. 37. 30. and 44. 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. I[illegible: 1+ letters]r. 31. 15. Mat. 2. 18, 18. and in other Authors, as Homer, E[illegible: 1+ letters]ripides, &c. They concluded with great probability that he was dead, chap. 44. 20. because for 20 years together they had heard nothing either of him, or from him; which may seem strange considering the nearness of Egypt and Canaan: but this came to pass partly from his own long imprisonment and afterward from his great and high employments; partly from his loathness to bring so much mischief to his father and brethren as the discovery of his case might have produced; and principally from the overruling Providence of God, which for its own glorious design disposed of Iosephs mind and affairs so that he either did not send to his fathers house, or that the messages were intercepted, there being not then those conveniencies for mutual correspondencies which now there are. And it is not improbable that Ioseph might be further acquainted with the mind of God in this matter by dreams, which may seem to have been familiarly afforded to him together with the interpretation of them. See Gen. 40. 8. and 41. 16.

Marginal references: Iam. 5. 7.

14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies .

This justifies my accusation; for it is not probable, that one man should have so many so[illegible: 1+ letters]s all grown up and living together in one Family and that he should expose them all to the perils of such a journey.

15 Hereby ye shall be proved: by the life of Pharaoh , ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.

As sure as Pharaoh lives. It seems to be the form of an oath in use among the Egi[illegible: 1+ letters]tians, as afterwards the Romans used to swear by the Name, Genius, Health and Life of their Emperors. Compare 1 Sam. 1. 26. and 17. 55. 2 King. 2. 2. Ezek. 33. 11. And it is not strange that Ioseph through humane infirmity was carried by the stream of the general practise of the Court, especially when the law of God was not yet delivered concerning the appropriation of Oaths unto God.

Marginal references: See 1 Sam. 1. 26. & 17. 55.

18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live : for I fear God .

I will spare your lives, and not punish you with death as spies, and you shall carry provisions that your family also may live.

And therefore will not be cruel to you, nor to your brother whom you shall leave with me. This might have raised some suspition concerning Ioseph, but that they knew there were divers among the heathens who did own the true God, though they worshipped Idols with him.

Marginal references: Neh. 5. 15.

19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison : go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses.

In which you are now imprisoned, and are still like to be so, if you accept not this condition.

20 But bring your youngest brother unto me, so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die: and they did so .

(i. e.) Resolved and promised to do so. Th[illegible: 1+ letters]se things are oft said to be done in Scripture which were sincerely resolved upon, as hath been noted before.

Marginal references: chap. 43. 5.

21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us , and we would not hear: therefore is this distress come upon us .

This is the just punishment of that great wickedness, which though we could cover from men, yet we now see and feel was known to God who is now reckoning with us for it. Thus divine Vengeance overtakes them and conscience tortures them for a sin committed above 20 years before, and their affliction brings them to repentance.

Compare Gen. 49. 23. Yet this passage is not mentioned in that history, chap. 37. Learn hence, that the silence of the Scripture, is no good argument that such or such a thing was not said or done, except in some special cases.

He is inexorable to us, as we were to him.

22 And Reuben answered them, saying, spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child, and ye would not hear? therefore behold also, his blood is required.

The punishment of his blood or death occasioned by us.

Marginal references: chap. 37. 21.

24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept , and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon , and bound him before their eyes .

Tears partly of natural affection and compassion towards his brethren, now in great distress and anguish; and partly of joy to see the happy success of his design and rigorous carriage in bringing them to the sight of their sins.

Whom he chuseth to punish, partly because next to Reuben, he was the eldest, and, as it may be probably gathered from his bloody disposition, Gen. 34. 25. and 49. 6. the most fierce and forward against Iosep[illegible: 1+ letters], when Reuben was for milder counsels as we see here, ver. 22. and chap. 37. 29. and partly because the detainment of one of so perverse and furious a temper would least afflict his father, and most secure Benia[illegible: 1+ letters]in, who was to come with his Brethren.

That it might make deeper impression upon their hard hearts, and make their repentance more effectual.

27 And as one of them opened his sack, to give his ass provender in the Inne, he espied his mony, for behold, it was in his sacks mouth.

And after him the rest by his example and information, did so, as is affirmed, chap. 43. ver. 21. and it is not denied here.

28 And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack, and their heart failed them, and they were afraid , saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us ?

Lest this should be a design to entrap and so destroy them.

Whoever were the instruments, they knew that God was the chief author of this occurrent, and wisely reflect upon his providence in it, and their own guilt which provoked him against them.

Marginal references: Heb. went forth.

35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that behold every mans bundle of money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid .

(i. e.) Their fear returned upon them with more violence, having now more leisure to consider things, and their wise and experienced father suggesting new matters to them which might more deeply affect them.

36 And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not ▪ and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me .

He gave him up for lost, as being, as he thought, in the power of a cruel enemy.

I am the great sufferer in all these things: you carry your selves as if you were neither concerned nor affected with them.

37 And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons , if I bring him not to thee, deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.

Two of the four mentioned, Gen. 46. 9. An absurd proposition, neither fit for him to make, nor for Iacob to accept.

38 And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone : if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my grayhairs with sorrow to the grave.

To wit, of his mother, my dear Rachel.

Gen 42:1-6

With the words “Why do ye look at one another!” viz., in such a helpless and undecided manner. Jacob exhorted his sons to fetch corn from Egypt, to preserve his family from starvation. Joseph’s ten brothers went, as their aged father would not allow his youngest son Benjamin to go with them, for fear that some calamity might befall him (קרא = קרה, Gen 44:29 as in Gen 42:38 and Gen 49:1); and they came “in the midst of the comers,” i.e., among others who came from the same necessity, and bowed down before Joseph with their faces to the earth. For he was “the ruler over the land,” and had the supreme control of the sale of the corn, so that they were obliged to apply to him. השּׁלּיט seems to have been the standing title which the Shemites gave to Joseph as ruler in Egypt; and from this the later legend of Σάλατις the first king of the Hyksos arose (Josephus c. Ap. i. 14). The only other passages in which the word occurs in the Old Testament are in writings of the captivity or a still later date, and there it is taken from the Chaldee; it belongs, however, not merely to the Aramaean thesaurus, but to the Arabic also, from which it was introduced into the passage before us.

Gen 42:7-8

Joseph recognised his brothers at once; but they could not recognise a brother who had not been seen for 20 years, and who, moreover, had not only become thoroughly Egyptianized, but had risen to be a great lord. And he acted as a foreigner (יתנכּר) towards them, speaking harshly, and asking them whence they had come. In Gen 42:7, according to a truly Semitic style of narrative, we have a condensation of what is more circumstantially related in Gen 42:8-17.

Gen 42:9-17

As the sight of his brethren bowing before him with the deepest reverence reminded Joseph of his early dreams of the sheaves and stars, which had so increased the hatred of his brethren towards him as to lead to a proposal to kill him, and an actual sale, he said to them, “Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land (i.e., the unfortified parts of the kingdom which would be easily accessible to a foe) ye are come;” and persisted in this charge notwithstanding their reply, “nay, my lord, but (ו see Ges. §155, 1 b) to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man’s sons (נחנוּ for אנחנוּ, only in Exo 16:7-8; Num 32:32; 2Sa 17:12; Lam 3:42): honest (כּנים) are we; thy servants are no spies.” Cum exploratio sit delictum capitale, non est verisimile; quod pater tot filios uno tempore vitae periculo expositurus sit (J. Gerhard). But as their assertion failed to make any impression upon the Egyptian lord, they told him still more particularly about their family (Gen 42:13.): “Twelve are thy servants, brothers are we, sons of a man in the land of Canaan; and behold the youngest is now with our father, and one is no more (אימנּוּ as in Gen 5:24). Joseph then replied, “That is it (הוּא neut. like Gen 20:16) that I spake unto you, saying ye are spies. By this shall ye be proved: By the life of Pharaoh! ye shall not (אם, like Gen 14:23) go hence, unless your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother; but he shall be in bonds, and your words shall be proved, whether there be truth in you or not. By the life of Pharaoh! ye are truly spies!” He then had them put into custody for three days. By the coming of the youngest brother, Joseph wanted to test their assertion, not because he thought it possible that he might not be living with them, and they might have treated him as they did Joseph (Kn.), but because he wished to discover their feelings towards Benjamin, and see what affection they had for this son of Rachel, who had taken Joseph’s place as his father’s favourite. And with his harsh mode of addressing them, Joseph had no intention whatever to administer to his brethren “a just punishment for their wickedness towards him,” for his heart could not have stooped to such mean revenge; but he wanted to probe thoroughly the feelings of their hearts, “whether they felt that they deserved the punishment of God for the sin they had committed,” and how they felt towards their aged father and their youngest brother.Joseph nihil aliud agit quam ut revelet peccatum fratrum hoc durissimo opere et sermone. Descendunt enim in Aegyptum una cum aliis emtum frumentum, securi et negligentes tam atrocis delicti, cujus sibi erant conscii, quasi nihil unquam deliguissent contra patrem decrepitum aut fratrem innocentem, cogitant Joseph jam diu exemtum esse rebus humanis, patrem vero rerum omnium ignarum esse. Quid ad nos? Non agunt poenitentiam. Hi silices et adamantes frangendi et conterendi sunt ac aperiendi oculi eorum, ut videant atrocitatem sceleris sui, idque ubi perfecit Joseph statim verbis et gestibus humaniorem se praebet eosque honorifice tractat. - Haec igitur atrocitas scelerum movit Joseph ad explorandos animos fratrum accuratius, ita ut non solum priorum delictorum sed et cogitationum pravarum memoriam renovaret, ac fuit sane inquisitio satis ingrata et acerba et tamen ab animo placidissimo profecta. Ego durius eos tractassem. Sed haec acerbitas, quam prae se fert, non pertinet ad vindicandum injuriam sed ad salutarem eorum poenitentiam, ut humilientur. Luther.

Even in the fact that he did not send the one away directly to fetch Benjamin, and merely detain the rest, but put the whole ten in prison, and afterwards modified his threat (Gen 42:18.), there was no indecision as to the manner in which he should behave towards them - no “wavering between thoughts of wrath and revenge on the one hand, and forgiving love and meekness on the other;” but he hoped by imprisoning them to make his brethren feel the earnestness of his words, and to give them time for reflection, as the curt “is no more” with which they had alluded to Joseph’s removal was a sufficient proof that they had not yet truly repented of the deed.

Gen 42:18-25

On the third day Joseph modified his severity. “This do and live,” i.e., then ye shall live: “I fear God.” One shall remain in prison, but let the rest of you take home “corn for the famine of your families,” and fetch your youngest brother, that your words may be verified, and ye may not die, i.e., may not suffer the death that spies deserve. That he might not present the appearance of despotic caprice and tyranny by too great severity, and so render his brethren obdurate, Joseph stated as the reason for his new decision, that he feared God. From the fear of God, he, the lord of Egypt, would not punish or slay these strangers upon mere suspicion, but would judge them justly. How differently had they acted towards their brother! The ruler of all Egypt had compassion on their families who were in Canaan suffering from hunger; but they had intended to leave their brother in the pit to starve! These and similar thoughts could hardly fail to pass involuntarily through their minds at Joseph’s words, and to lead them to a penitential acknowledgement of their sin and unrighteousness. The notion that Joseph altered his first intention merely from regard to his much afflicted father, appears improbable, for the simple reason, that he can only have given utterance to the threat that he should keep them all in prison till one of them had gone and fetched Benjamin, for the purpose of giving the greater force to his accusation, that they were spies. But as he was not serious in making this charge, he could not for a moment have thought of actually carrying out the threat. “And they did so:” in these words the writer anticipates the result of the colloquy which ensued, and which is more fully narrated afterwards. Joseph’s intention was fulfilled. The brothers now saw in what had happened to them a divine retribution: “Surely we atone because of our brother, whose anguish of soul we saw, when he entreated us and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.” And Reuben reminded them how he had warned them to no purpose, not to sin against the boy - “and even his blood...behold it is required” (cf. Gen 9:5); i.e., not merely the sin of casting him into the pit and then selling him, but his death also, of which we have been guilty through that sale. Thus they accused themselves in Joseph’s presence, not knowing that he could understand; “for the interpreter was between them.” Joseph had conversed with them through an interpreter, as an Egyptian who was ignorant of their language. “The interpreter,” viz., the one appointed for that purpose; בּינות like Gen 26:28. But Joseph understood their words, and “turned away and wept” (Gen 42:24), with inward emotion at the wonderful leadings of divine grace, and at the change in his brothers’ feelings. He then turned to them again, and, continuing the conversation with them, had Simeon bound before their eyes, to be detained as a hostage (not Reuben, who had dissuaded them from killing Joseph, and had taken no part in the sale, but Simeon, the next in age). He then ordered his men to fill their sacks with corn, to give every one (אישׁ as in Gen 15:10) his money back in his sack, and to provide them with food for the journey.

Gen 42:26-27

Thus they started with their asses laden with the corn. On the way, when they had reached their halting-place for the night, one of them opened his sack to feed the ass, and found his money in it. מלון, camping-place for the night, is merely a resting-place, not an inn, both here and in Exo 4:24; for there can hardly have been caravanserais at that time, either in the desert or by the desert road. אמתחת: an antiquated word for a corn-sack, occurring only in these chapters, and used even here interchangeably with שׂק.

Gen 42:28

When this discovery was made known to the brethren, their hearts sank within them. They turned trembling to one another, and said, “What is this that God hath done to us!” Joseph had no doubt had the money returned, “merely because it was against his nature to trade with his father and brethren for bread;” just as he had caused them to be supplied with food for the journey, for no other reason than to give them a proof of his good-will. And even if he may have thought it possible that the brothers would be alarmed when they found the money, and thrown into a state of much greater anxiety from the fear of being still further accused by the stern lord of Egypt of cheating or of theft, there was no reason why he should spare them this anxiety, since it could only help to break their hard hearts still more. At any rate, this salutary effect was really produced, even if Joseph had no such intention. The brothers looked upon this incomprehensible affair as a punishment from God, and neglected in their alarm to examine the rest of the sacks.

Gen 42:29-34

On their arrival at home, they told their father all that had occurred.

Gen 42:35-36

But when they emptied their sacks, and, to their own and their father’s terror, found their bundles of money in their separate sacks, Jacob burst out with the complaint, “Ye are making me childless! Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and will ye take Benjamin! All this falls upon me” (כּלּנה for כּלּן as in Pro 31:29).

Gen 42:37-38

Reuben then offered his two sons to Jacob as pledges for Benjamin, if Jacob would entrust him to his care: Jacob might slay them, if he did not bring Benjamin back-the greatest and dearest offer that a son could make to a father. But Jacob refused to let him go. “If mischief befell him by the way, he would bring down my grey hairs with sorrow into Sheol” (cf. Gen 37:35).

Jacob Sends to Egypt to Buy Corn. (b. c. 1706.)

1 Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another? 2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die. 3 And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. 4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befal him. 5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6 And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

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,

I. The orders he gave them to go and buy corn in Egypt, v. 1, 2. Observe, 1. The famine was grievous in the land of Canaan. It is observable that all the three patriarchs, to whom Canaan was the land of promise, met with famine in that land, which was not only to try their faith, whether they could trust God though he should slay them, though he should starve them, but to teach them to seek the better country, that is, the heavenly, Heb. xi. 14-16. We have need of something to wean us from this world, and make us long for a better. 2. Still, when there was famine in Canaan, there was corn in Egypt. Thus Providence orders it, that one place should be a succour and supply to another; for we are all brethren. The Egyptians, the seed of accursed Ham, have plenty, when God's blessed Israel want: thus God, in dispensing common favours, often crosses hands. Yet observe, The plenty Egypt now had was owing, under God, to Joseph's prudence and care: if his brethren had not sold him into Egypt, but respected him according to his merits, who knows but he might have done the same thing for Jacob's family which now he had done for Pharaoh, and the Egyptians might then have come to them to buy corn? but those who drive away from among them wise and good men know not what they do. 3. Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt; he saw the corn that his neighbours had bought there and brought home. It is a spur to exertion to see where supplies are to be had, and to see others supplied. Shall others get food for their souls, and shall we starve while it is to be had? 4. He reproved his sons for delaying to provide corn for their families. Why do you look one upon another? Note, When we are in trouble and want, it is folly for us to stand looking upon one another, that is, to stand desponding and despairing, as if there were no hope, no help,—to stand disputing either which shall have the honour of going first or which shall have the safety of coming last,—to stand deliberating and debating what we shall do, and doing nothing,—to stand dreaming under a spirit of slumber, as if we had nothing to do, and to stand delaying, as if we had time at command. Let it never be said, "We left that to be done to-morrow which we could as well have done to-day." 5. He quickened them to go to Egypt: Get you down thither. Masters of families must not only pray for daily bread for their families, and food convenient, but must lay out themselves with care and industry to provide it.

II. Their obedience to these orders, v. 3. They went down to buy corn; they did not send their servants, but very prudently went themselves, to lay out their own money. Let none think themselves too great nor too good to take pains. Masters of families should see with their own eyes, and take heed of leaving too much to servants. Only Benjamin went not with them, for he was his father's darling. To Egypt they came, among others, and, having a considerable cargo of corn to buy, they were brought before Joseph himself, who probably expected they would come; and, according to the laws of courtesy, they bowed down themselves before him, v. 6. Now their empty sheaves did obeisance to his full one. Compare this with Isa. lx. 14 and Rev. iii. 9.

Joseph Speaks Roughly to His Brethren. (b. c. 1706.)

7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. 8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. 9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. 10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. 11 We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies. 12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. 13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. 14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies: 15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. 16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. 17 And he put them all together into ward three days. 18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God: 19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses: 20 But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.

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. xli. 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.

I. He showed himself very rigorous and harsh with them. The very manner of his speaking, considering the post he was in, was enough to frighten them; for he spoke roughly to them, v. 7. He charged them with bad designs against the government (v. 9), treated them as dangerous persons, saying, You are spies, and protesting by the life of Pharaoh that they were so, v. 16. Some make this an oath, others make it no more than a vehement asseveration, like that, as thy soul liveth; however it was more than yea, yea, and nay, nay, and therefore came of evil. Note, Bad words are soon learned by converse with those that use them, but not so soon unlearned. Joseph, by being much at court, got the courtier's oath, By the life of Pharaoh, perhaps designing hereby to confirm his brethren in their belief that he was an Egyptian, and not an Israelite. They knew this was not the language of a son of Abraham. When Peter would prove himself no disciple of Christ, he cursed and swore. Now why was Joseph thus hard upon his brethren? We may be sure it was not from a spirit of revenge, that he might now trample upon those who had formerly trampled upon him; he was not a man of that temper. But, 1. It was to enrich his own dreams, and complete the accomplishment of them. 2. It was to bring them to repentance. 3. It was to get out of them an account of the state of their family, which he longed to know: they would have discovered him if he had asked as a friend, therefore he asks as a judge. Not seeing his brother Benjamin with them, perhaps he began to suspect that they had made away with him too, and therefore gives them occasion to speak of their father and brother. Note, God in his providence sometimes seems harsh with those he loves, and speaks roughly to those for whom yet he has great mercy in store.

II. They, hereupon, were very submissive. They spoke to him with all the respect imaginable: Nay, my lord (v. 10)—a great change since they said, Behold, this dreamer comes. They very modestly deny the charge: We are no spies. They tell him their business, that they came to buy food, a justifiable errand, and the same that many strangers came to Egypt upon at this time. They undertake to give a particular account of themselves and their family (v. 13), and this was what they wanted.

III. He clapped them all up in prison for three days, v. 17. Thus God deals with the souls he designs for special comfort and honour; he first humbles them, and terrifies them, and brings them under a spirit of bondage, and then binds up their wounds by the Spirit of adoption.

IV. He concluded with them, at last, that one of them should be left as a hostage, and the rest should go home and fetch Benjamin. It was a very encouraging word he said to them (v. 18): I fear God; as if he had said, "You may assure yourselves I will do you no wrong; I dare not, for I know that, high as I am, there is one higher than I." Note, With those that fear God we have reason to expect fair dealing. The fear of God will be a check upon those that are in power, to restrain them from abusing their power to oppression and tyranny. Those that have no one else to stand in awe of ought to stand in awe of their own consciences. See Neh. v. 15, So did not I, because of the fear of God.

Reflections of Joseph's Brethren. (b. c. 1706.)

21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. 22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required. 23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter. 24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes. 25 Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them. 26 And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence. 27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money; for, behold, it was in his sack's mouth. 28 And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us?

Here is, I. The penitent reflection Joseph's brethren made upon the wrong they had formerly done to him, v. 21. They talked the matter over in the Hebrew tongue, not suspecting that Joseph, whom they took for a native of Egypt, understood them, much less that he was the person they spoke of.

1. They remembered with regret the barbarous cruelty wherewith they persecuted him: We are verily guilty concerning our brother. We do not read that they said this during their three days' imprisonment; but now, when the matter had come to some issue and they saw themselves still embarrassed, now they began to relent. Perhaps Joseph's mention of the fear of God (v. 18) put them upon consideration and extorted this reflection. Now see here, (1.) The office of conscience; it is a remembrancer, to bring to mind things long since said and done, to show us wherein we have erred, though it was long ago, as the reflection here mentioned was above twenty years after the sin was committed. As time will not wear out the guilt of sin, so it will not blot out the records of conscience; when the guilt of this sin of Joseph's brethren was fresh they made light of it, and sat down to eat bread; but now, long afterwards, their consciences reminded them of it. (2.) The benefit of affliction; they often prove the happy and effectual means of awakening conscience, and bringing sin to our remembrance, Job xiii. 26. (3.) The evil of guilt concerning our brethren; of all their sins, it was this that conscience now reproached them for. Whenever we think we have wrong done us, we ought to remember the wrong we have done to others, Eccl. vii. 21, 22.

2. Reuben alone remembered, with comfort, that he had been an advocate for his brother, and had done what he could to prevent the mischief they did him (v. 22): Spoke I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child? Note, (1.) It is an aggravation of any sin that it was committed against admonitions. (2.) When we come to share with others in their calamities, it will be a comfort to us if we have the testimony of our consciences for us that we did not share with them in their iniquities, but, in our places, witnessed against them. This shall be our rejoicing in the day of evil, and shall take out the sting.

II. Joseph's tenderness towards them upon this occasion. He retired from them to weep, v. 24. Though his reason directed that he should still carry himself as a stranger to them, because they were not as yet humbled enough, yet natural affection could not but work, for he was a man of a tender spirit. This represents the tender mercies of our God towards repenting sinners. See Jer. xxxi. 20, Since I spoke against him I do earnestly remember him still. See Judg. x. 16.

III. The imprisonment of Simeon, v. 24. He chose him for the hostage probably because he remembered him to have been his most bitter enemy, or because he observed him now to be least humbled and concerned; he bound him before their eyes to affect them all; or perhaps it is intimated that, though he bound him with some severity before them, yet afterwards, when they were gone, he took off his bonds.

IV. The dismission of the rest of them. They came for corn, and corn they had; and not only so, but every man had his money restored in his sack's mouth. Thus Christ, our Joseph, gives out supplies without money and without price. Therefore the poor are invited to buy, Rev. iii. 17, 18. This put them into great consternation (v. 28): Their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to us?

1. It was really a merciful event; for I hope they had no wrong done to them when they had their money given them back, but a kindness; yet they were thus terrified by it. Note, (1.) Guilty consciences are apt to take good providences in a bad sense, and to put wrong constructions even upon those things that make for them. They flee when none pursues. (2.) Wealth sometimes brings as much care along with it as want does, and more too. If they had been robbed of their money, they could not have been worse frightened than they were now when they found their money in their sacks. Thus he whose ground brought forth plentifully said, What shall I do? Luke xii. 17.

2. Yet in their circumstances it was very amazing. They knew that the Egyptians abhorred a Hebrew (ch. xliii. 32), and therefore, since they could not expect to receive any kindness from them, they concluded that this was done with a design to pick a quarrel with them, and the rather because the man, the lord of the land, had charged them as spies. Their own consciences also were awake, and their sins set in order before them; and this put them into confusion. Note, (1.) When men's spirits are sinking every thing helps to sink them. (2.) When the events of Providence concerning us are surprising it is good to enquire what it is that God has done and is doing with us, and to consider the operation of his hands.

The Report Made to Jacob. (b. c. 1706.)

29 And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying, 30 The man, who is the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. 31 And we said unto him, We are true men; we are no spies: 32 We be twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. 33 And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and be gone: 34 And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land. 35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me. 37 And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again. 38 And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befal him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Here is, 1. The report which Jacob's sons made to their father of the great distress they had been in in Egypt; how they had been suspected, and threatened, and obliged to leave Simeon a prisoner there, till they should bring Benjamin with them thither. Who would have thought of this when they left home? When we go abroad we should consider how many sad accidents, that we little think of, may befal us before we return home. We know not what a day may bring forth; we ought therefore to be always ready for the worst. 2. The deep impression this made upon the good man. The very bundles of money which Joseph returned, in kindness to his father, frightened him (v. 35); for he concluded it was done with some mischievous design, or perhaps suspected his own sons to have committed some offence, and so to have run themselves into a præmunire—a penalty, which is intimated in what he says (v. 36): Me have you bereaved. He seems to lay the fault upon them; knowing their characters, he feared they had provoked the Egyptians, and perhaps forcibly, or fraudulently, brought home their money. Jacob is here much out of temper. (1.) He has very melancholy apprehensions concerning the present state of his family: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not; whereas Joseph was in honour and Simeon in the way to it. Note, We often perplex ourselves with our own mistakes, even in matters of fact. True griefs may arise from false intelligence and suppositions, 2 Sam. xiii. 31. Jacob gives up Joseph for gone, and Simeon and Benjamin as being in danger; and he concludes, All these things are against me. It proved otherwise, that all these were for him, were working together for his good and the good of his family: yet here he thinks them all against him. Note, Through our ignorance and mistake, and the weakness of our faith, we often apprehend that to be against us which is really for us. We are afflicted in body, estate, name, and relations; and we think all these things are against us, whereas these are really working for us the weight of glory. (2.) He is at present resolved that Benjamin shall not go down. Reuben will undertake to bring him back in safety (v. 37), not so much as putting in, If the Lord will, nor expecting the common disasters of travellers; but he foolishly bids Jacob slay his two sons (which, it is likely, he was very proud of) if he brought him not back; as if the death of two grandsons could satisfy Jacob for the death of a son. No, Jacob's present thoughts are, My son shall not go down with you. He plainly intimates a distrust of them, remembering that he never saw Joseph since he had been with them; therefore, "Benjamin shall not go with you, by the way in which you go, for you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." Note, It is bad with a family when children conduct themselves so ill that their parents know not how to trust them.

CHAP. XLII.

ANd Iakob saw; that there was corne-tosell in Egypt: and Iakob sayd unto his sons; why looke yee one-upon▪ another? And he said, Behold I have heard; that there is corne-to-sell, in Egypt: go-ye-down thither, and buy▪ corn for us from thence; that we may live, and not die. And Iosephs ten brethren went-downe; to buy corne, in Egypt. But Benjamin, Iosephs brother; Iakob sent not with his brethren: for he said, lest mischiefe befall him. And the sons of Israel came; to buy corn, among those that came: for the famine was, in the land of Canaan. And Ioseph, he was the ruler over the land; he it was that sold corne to all the people of the land: and Iosephs brethren came, and bowed downe-themselves unto him, with their faces to the earth. And Ioseph saw his brethren, and knew them: and hee madehimselfe-strange unto them, and spake with them hard words; & said unto them, whence come ye? And they said, from the land of Canaan, to buy food. And Ioseph, knew his brethren: but they, knew not him. And Ioseph remembred, the dreams, which hee had dreamed of them: and hee said unto them, ye are spies; to see the nakednes of the land, you are come. And they said unto him, Nay my lord: but thy servants are come, to buy food. We all of us, are sons of one man: we are true-men; thy servants, are not spies. And he said, unto them: Nay, but yee are come to see, the nakednesse of the land. And they said; We thy servants, were twelve brethren, the sons of one man, in the land of Canaan: and behold, the yongest, is with our father this day; and one, is not. And Ioseph said, unto them; That is it, that I spake unto you, saying, ye are spies. By this, ye shall be proved: as Pharaoh liveth, if ye go-forth from hence; except, when your yongest brother come, hither. Send one of you, and let him [illegible: 1 letter]etch your brother: and you, be ye in bonds; that your words may be proved, whether truth be in you: and if not, as Pharaoh liveth surely ye are spies. And he put them all together, into ward, three dayes. And Ioseph said unto them, in the third day; This do, and live: I, feare God. If yee be true▪ men; let one of your brethren, be bound in the house of your ward: and goe you, bring ye corne, for the famine of your houses. And bring your yongest brother, unto mee; and your words shall be verified, and ye shall not dye: and they did so. And they said, each-man unto his brother; Verily, we are guilty, concerning our brother: in that we saw the distresse of his soule, when he besought us-forgrace, & we heard him not: therfore, this distresse; is come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying; did not I say vnto you, saying, do not sin against the child, and ye heard not? & his blood also, behold it is required. And they, knew not; that Ioseph heard: for an interpreter was betweene them. And he turned about from them and wept: and hee returned unto them, and spake unto them; & tooke from them Sime on; and bound him, before their eies. And Ioseph commanded, that they should fill their vessels with corne; and to restore, every mans money into his sack; & to give them, provision, for the way: and thus, did he unto them. And they tooke up their corne, upon their asses: and went, from thence. And one opened his sacke to give provender, to his asse, in the Inne: and he saw his money, and behold it was, in his bags mouth. And he said unto his brethren, my money is restored; and also, behold it is in my bag: and their heart went-forth; and they trēbled, ech-man to his brother, saying; what is this, that God hath done, unto us? And they came, unto Iakob their father, unto the land of Canaan: and told him, all that befell them, saying. The man, the lord of the land, spake with us, hard-words: & took us, as spies of the land. And we said unto him, we are true men: we are not spies. We were 12. brethren, sons of our father: one is not, & the yongest is this day, with our father, in the land of Canaan. And the man, the lord of the land said unto us; By this shall I know, that ye, are true men: leave one of your brethrē, wth me; and take for the famine of your houses; & go. And bring your yongest brother, unto me; and I shall know, that yee are not spies; but that yee are true men: I wil give you, your brother; and yee shall trafficke, in the land. And it was, they emptying their sacks; that behold, every mans bundle of money, was in his sacke: and they saw the bundles of their money, they and their father, and they feared. And Iakob their father, sayd unto them; Me, have ye bereaved-of children [illegible: 1 word] Ioseph is not, and Simeon is not; and Benjamin ye will take away; all these things, are against me. And Reuben sayd unto his father, saying; Slay, my two sonnes; if I bring him not, unto thee: give him, into my hand; & I, will bring him againe unto thee. And he sayd, my son shall not goe down, with you: for his brother is dead, and he, is left himselfe alone; and mischiefe shall befall him, by the way, in the which ye goe; and ye shall bring-downe my gray-hayres, with sorrow, unto hell.

Annotations. COrne-to-sell] or sale of corne: so the Hebrew Sheber, (which is breaking,) is here translated in Greeke, the selling of wheat: the Chaldee also so expresseth it. See Gen. 41 56. Iakob saw, that is, understood this, by the report of others; he heard it, vers. 2. So the people saw the voyces, Exod. 18. 20. one on another] or, on your selves: as negligent, or as men helplesse, none knowing what to doe. The Greeke translateth, why are ye slothfull: By the famine that came over all Egypt and Canaan, there was great affliction, that our fathers found no sustenance: Act. 7. 11. In Abrams dayes, Canaan was vexed with famine, Gen. 12. 10. againe in Isaaks time, Gen. 26. 1. and now in Iakobs. So God exercised the faith and patience of the Saints, in the common calamities of the world. The like was in Act. 11. 28. Vers. 4. lest mischiefe] understand, I must take heed lest, &c. see Gen. 3. 22. For mischiefe, the Chaldee putteth death: the word implyeth it, and lesser evill also, as appeareth by Exod. 21. 22. 23. 24. The Greeke calleth it, sicknesse. Vers. 6. the ruler] he that had authority and power, in his hand; as the originall word signifieth, Eccles. 8. 8. 4. and David confirmeth, Psal. 105. 22. Of the Hebrew Shallet, and Shilton, is made in Arabike the name Sultan, a title whereby the chiefe rulers of Egypt and Babylon are still called. bowed downe] so fulfilling the Oracle, in Gen. 37. 7. 8. Vers. 7. made himselfe strange] in Greeke, he was allenated from them. The Chaldee expounds it, hee bethought him what hee should speake with them. with them] or, unto them: for the scripture useth these phrases indifferently, as speake not with us in the Iewes language, 2 Kings 18. 26. or speake not unto us, Esay 36. 11. and, spake with him, 2 Chron. 10. 10. or, spake unto him, 1 King. 12. 10. and in Greeke, as, he spake with them, Mark. 6. 50. or, he spake unto them, Mat. 14. 27. Vers. 9. spies] The Hebrew hath the signification of footing, or going from place to place. The Apostle in Greeke translateth it spies, Heb. 11. 31. nakedues] that is, the naked, weake, or ruined places; as the Chaldee explaineth it. The Greeke translateth it footsteps. Ioseph dealeth with his brethren in sinne, as God doth with his children: who often estrangeth himselfe from them, dealeth roughly, and counteth them unto him as his enemies, Iob. 19. 11. and 13. 24. Vers. 11. true] or upright, honest men. The Greeke saith, peaceable. Vers. 13. is not] that is, he is dead: as the phrase signifieth, Matt. 2. 16. 18. and so it is expounded in Gen. 44. 20. Vers. 15. as Pharoah liveth] a kind of asseveration or swearing, (as the like phrase of God manifesteth, Ier. 5. 2.) which sometime is joyned with the name of God, as 1 Sam. 20. 3. as the Lord liveth, and as thy soule liveth: so 2 Kings 2. 2. 4. 6. 2 Sam. 15. 21. 1 Sam. 25. 26. And to sweare by the kings-life, was a great oath in Egypt. The Greeke translateth, by the health of Pharaoh. It may also be read as a wish; so Pharaoh live: and is likewise an earnest asseveration. if ye goe] that is, yee shall not goe; as the Greeke explaineth it: see Gen. 14. 23. yongest] Hebrew, little: so after, in vers. 20. 32. 34. Vers. 16. be ye in bonds] you shall be bound, or prisoners. In Greeke, be ye led-away, untill your words be manifest, whether ye speake-truth or not. Vers. 17. put them altogether] Hebrew, gathered them. ward] or prison: called the house of ward (or custodie) vers. 19. and so by the Chaldee here. Here God by tribulation, calleth the Patriarchs to repentarice for their sinnes: he chasteneth us for our profit, that we might bee partakers of his holinesse; Heb. 12. 10. Vers. 18. the third day] of which number, divers things are observed, on Gen. 22. 4. Vers. 19. bring] to your families. corne] for the famine: or, after the Hebrew phrase, the breaking of the famine; meaning corne: as Gen. 41. 56. The Chaldee saith, corne which wanteth in your houses. Ver. 21. guilty] the Greeke translateth in sinne. our brother] Ioseph they meane, who besought them when they sold him into Egypt, Gen. 37. Thus by afflictions they are brought to acknowledge their sinne committed about 13. yeeres before, which their consciences did now accuse them of. So God saith, I will goe and returne to my place, till they acknowledge their guiltinesse, and seeke my face: in their affliction they will seeke mee earely: Hos. 5. 15. distresse] or anguish, the Greeke translateth, we despised the tribulation. Vers. 22. is required] that is, God punisheth us for killing our brother: as is threatned, Gen. 9. 5. After may yeeres, the guilt of innocent blood could not be remoued out of their hearts; but the memory is renued upon this their trouble. Verse 23. heard] that is, understood: as Gen. 11. 7. Vers. 24. weps] shewing his love and naturall affection, which yet he hid from his brethren, till they were throughly humbled. So God in mens afflictions often hideth himselfe, Esay 46. 15. Psal. 10. 1. yet in all their affliction, he is afflicted, Esay 63. 9. Simeon] who seemeth by this, to have been the chiefe procurer of Iosephs trouble; he was by nature, bold and fierce, as his fact against the Sichemites doth manifest; Gen. 34. 25. & 49. 7. Vers. 25. vessells] meaning, their sacks. money] Hebr. their silvers. provision,] or food: the Greeke addeth, food inough. did he] or, as the Greeke translateth, it was done, meaning by Iosephs servant. See the like phrases noted, on Gen. 2. 20. and 16. 14. The holy Ghost observeth this kindnesse of Ioseph, who was farre from revenge, and did good for evill. Thus we should doe, Rom. 12. 17. 19. Mat. 5. 44. Vers. 28. went forth] or, was gone, that is, fayled them: or (as the Greeke translateth) was astonied; A like speech is in Song. 5. 6. My soule went forth, that is, fayled: fainted. The Chaldee translateth, the knowledge of their heart departed. trembled] or, (as the Greeke saith) were troubled: and so manifested it one to another, See Gen. 27. 33. Vers. 30. tooke us] Hebrew, gave us: that is, esteemed and counted. Or used us; as the Greeke translateth, hee put us in prison. A like phrase is in 1 Sam. 1. 16. Verse 33. for the famine] understand from the 19. verse, corne for the famine. And so the Gr. expresseth it here, as there. The Chaldee also saith, corne that wanteth in your houses. Such defects are often in scripture: as, he slew Goliath, 2 Sam. 21. 19. for, the brother of Goliath, as is expressed in 1 Chro. 20. 5. Vers. 36. against me] or upon me, as a heavie burden, hastening my death. Vers. 37. my two sonnes] so the Greeke translateth, and the Hebrew is elsewhere so used, Exod. 18. 3. But it may also be Englished, two of my sons: he having foure in all, Gen. 46. 9. This condition being unnaturall and sinfull, Iakob would not admit of: but continueth his purpose, not to let Benjamin goe, ver. 38. Vers. 38. himselfe alone] meaning of Rachels children, as is explained, Gen. 44. 20. 27. 28. and] or, if mischiefe; in Chaldee, death: see vers. 4. my gray haires] Hebrew, my grainesse, or, hoarinesse: that is, me who am gray headed. unto hell] to the grave, or state of death. See Gen. 37. 35. Iakob in these doubts and feares, bewrayeth weaknesse of faith; which afterwards he overcommeth, resting in the providence of God: and then Moses nameth him Israel, Gen. 43. 11.