genesis-42:6-25,-genesis-42:9

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:1-38

The first visit of Joseph's brethren to Egypt. I. THE JOURNEY TO EGYPT ( Genesis 42:1-5 ). 1. The famishing household . Although Canaan was the land of promise, and the family of Jacob the Church of God, yet neither was the one nor the other exempted from the pressure of that heavy famine which had fallen on all surrounding lands and peoples. It is not God's intention that his people should escape participating in the ills of life. Besides enabling them, collectively and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:1-38

God's trials of his people. The trial of Joseph is over. Now comes the trial of his brethren and of Jacob. The Spirit of God is at work in all their hearts. True men they were and yet sinful men. Before they can be made partakers of the blessing of Joseph they must pass through the fire. He who is appointed minister of grace to them is the instrument of their trials. Notice— I. The trial is one of CONSCIENCE . "We are verily guilty concerning our brother. "His blood is required."... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:6

And Joseph was the governor over the land. The word שָׁלִּיט from שָׁלַט , to rule, describes one invested with despotic authority, or a sultan (Gesenius), in which character the early Shemites appear to have regarded Joseph (Keil). It is probably the same idea which recurs in the name Salatis, which, according to Manetho, belonged to the first of the shepherd kings (Josephus, 'Contra Apionem,' 1.14). Occurring nowhere else in the Pentateuch, it reappears in the later writings of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:7

And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but (literally, and) made himself strange unto them . The root נָכַר , to be marked, signed, by indentation, hence to be foreign (Furst), or simply to be strange (Gesenius), in the Hiphil signifies to press strongly into a thing (Furst), to look at a thing as strange (Gesenius), or to recognize, and in the Hithpael has the sense of representing one's self as strange, i.e. of feigning one's self to be a foreigner. And spake roughly unto... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:8

And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him . The lapse of time since the tragedy of Dothan, twenty years before, the high position occupied by Joseph, the Egyptian manners he had by this time assumed, and the strange tongue m which he conversed with them, all conspired to prevent Jacob's sons from recognizing their younger brother; while the facts that Joseph's brethren were all grown men when he had last looked upon them, that he was quite familiar with their appearances, and that... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:9

And Joseph remembered ( i.e. the sight of his brethren prostrating themselves before him recalled to his mind) the dreams which he dreamed (or had dreamed) of them ( vide Genesis 37:5 ) and said unto them, Ye are spies (literally, ye are spying, or going about, so as to find out, the verb רָגַל signifying to move the feet); to see the nakedness of the land —not its present impoverishment from the famine (Murphy), but is unprotected and unfortified state (Keil). Cf. urbs... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:10-12

And they said unto him. Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come . "They were not filled with resentment at the imputation" cast upon them by Joseph; "or, ff they were angry, their pride was swallowed up by fear" (Lawson). We are all one man's sons; we are true men , i.e. upright, honest, viri bonae fidei (Rosenmüller), rather than εἰρηνικοὶ ( LXX .), pacifici (Vulgate)— thy servants are no spies . It was altogether improbable that one man should send ten sons at the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:13

And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest —literally, the little one (cf. Genesis 9:24 )— is this day with our father, and one —literally, the one, i.e. the other one, ὁ δὲ ἕτερος ( LXX .)— is not — i.e. is dead (cf. Genesis 5:24 ; Genesis 37:30 )—in which statement have been seen a sufficient proof that Joseph's brethren had not yet truly repented of their cruelty towards him (Keil); an... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:14-16

And Joseph said unto them (betraying his excitement in his language), That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies . But Joseph knew by this time that they were not spies. Hence his persistent accusation of them, which to the brothers must have seemed despotic and tyrannical, and which cannot be referred to malevolence or revenge, must be explained by a desire on the part of Joseph to bring his brothers to a right state of mind. Hereby (or in this) ye shall be proved: By the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:17

And he put them all together into ward (literally, and he assembled them into prison ) three days . Ostensibly in consequence of their unwillingness to agree to his proposal, but in reality to give them an experience of the suffering which they had inflicted on him, their brother, and so to awaken in their hearts a feeling of repentance. Yet the clemency of Joseph appears in this, that whereas he had lain three long years in prison as the result of their inhumanity towards him, he only... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:1-38

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:1-38

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:6

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:7

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:8

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:9

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:10-12

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:13

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:14-16

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:17

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