Let me bear the blame for ever - re - הימים כל לך וחטאתי vechatathi lecha col haiyamim , then shall I sin against thee all my days, and consequently be liable to punishment for violating my faith. read more
Carry down the man a present - From the very earliest times presents were used as means of introduction to great men. This is particularly noticed by Solomon: A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men, Proverbs 18:16 . But what was the present brought to Joseph on this occasion? After all the labor of commentators, we are obliged to be contented with probabilities and conjecture. According to our translation, the gifts were balm, honey, spices, myrrh, nuts, and... read more
Double money - What was returned in their sacks, and what was farther necessary to buy another load. read more
Verse 11 11.Take of the best fruits (167) Though the fruits which Moses enumerates were, for the most part, not very precious, because the condition of holy Jacob was not such that he could send any royal present; yet, according to his slender ability, he wished to appease Joseph. Besides we know that fruits are not always estimated according to their cost. And now, having commanded his sons to do what he thought necessary, he has recourse to prayer, that God would give them favor with the... read more
The second visit of Joseph's brethren to Egypt. I. The. SCENE IN JACOB 'S HOUSE AT HEBRON ( Genesis 43:1-15 ). 1. The second journey proposed . " Go again, buy us a little food." It was necessitated by the long continuance of the famine, and the complete consumption of the corn they had brought from Egypt on the previous occasion. 2. The second journey agreed on . 3. The second journey prepared for ( Genesis 43:11-13 ). Since it was inevitable... read more
Lessons of life. I. The chief lesson of this chapter is the MINGLING TOGETHER OF THE PROVIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT OF GOD WITH HIS PURPOSE OF GRACE . It was part of the Divine plan that Jacob and his family should be settled for a long period in Egypt. It could only be brought about by the transference in some way of the point of attraction to Jacob's heart from Canaan to the strange land. Hence c, Jacob" is now "Israel," reminding us how the future is involved in all the... read more
If thou wilt send —literally, if thou art sending, i.e. if thou art agreeable to send (cf. Genesis 24:42 , Genesis 24:49 ; 6:36 )— our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food: but (literally, and) if thou wilt not send him (a similar form of expression to the above, the two words יֵשׁ , being, and אַיִן , not being, including the substantive verb, and being conjoined with a participle for the finite verb), we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall... read more
And Israel said ,—this is the second time that Jacob is so designated in the history of Joseph, the first time being in Genesis 37:1-36 ; which recites the sad account of Joseph's disappearance from the family circle. The recurrence of what may eventually prove another breach in the theocratic family is probably the circumstance that revives the name Israel, which besides seems to prevail throughout the chapter ( vide Genesis 37:8 , Genesis 37:11 )— Wherefore dealt ye so ill with... read more
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 ? Though not appearing in the preceding narrative of the historian ( Genesis 42:13 , Genesis 42:32 ), it must yet be held as accurate that the information given to Joseph about Jacob and Benjamin was supplied in answer to direct inquiries, since Judah afterwards gives the same account of it ( Genesis 44:19 ) when pleading before Joseph in behalf of... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 43:8
Send the lad with me - As the original is not ילד yeled , from which we have derived our word lad, but נער naar , it would have been better had our translators rendered it by some other term, such as the youth, or the young man, and thus the distinction in the Hebrew would have been better kept up. Benjamin was at this time at least twenty-four years of age, some think thirty, and had a family of his own. See Genesis 46:21 . That we may live, and not die - An argument drawn... read more