Genesis 43:19-22 - Exposition

And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house (literally, the man who was over Joseph ' s house ) , and they communed (or spake) with him at the door of the house ( i.e. before they entered), and said, O sir ,—literally, Pray, my lord; δεόμεθαπύριε ( LXX .)— we came indeed down at the first time to buy food: and it came to pass, when we came to the inn,— or halting-place ( vide Genesis 42:27 )— that we opened our sacks ,—this was not strictly accurate, as only one sack had been opened at the wayside khan, while the others were not examined till they had reached home; though, as an explanation of the difficulty, it has been suggested that all the sacks may have been, and probably were, opened at the inn, but that only one man found his money in his sack's mouth, as the next clause explains— and, behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack,— literally, a man ' s money in the mouth of his sack, i.e. one of them found his money there, while the others discovered their money, which was not "in the sack's mouth," but "in the sack" ( Genesis 42:35 ), only on emptying their sacks at home— our money in full weight (literally, according to its weight ) : and we have brought it again in our hand. And other money ( i.e. the second silver of Genesis 43:12 ) have we brought down in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.