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The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 41:45
And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah;—an Egyptian word, of which the most accredited interpretations are χονθομφανήχ (LXX); Salvator Mundi (Vulgate); "the Salvation of the World," answering to the Coptic P…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 41:46-57
In the names of his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, Joseph owned the Divine providence. 1. He was made to forget his misery. 2. He was made fruitful in the land of his affliction. The seven plenteous years came, and wer…
The Famine in Egypt and Canaan. (b. c. 1706.)
THE FAMINE IN EGYPT AND CANAAN. (B. C. 1706.) Observe here, I. The building of Joseph's family in the birth of two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, Genesis 41:50-52. In the names he gave them, he owned the divine Providence…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 41:46-57
Joseph on the second throne in Egypt. I. DURING THE SEVEN YEARS OF PLENTY. 1. His mature manhood (Genesis 41:46). Thirteen years had elapsed since his brethren had sold him at Dothan, and during the interval what a chec…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 41:46-57
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 41:46
And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt—literally, a son of thirty years in his standing before Pharaoh. If, therefore, he had been three years in prison (Genesis 40:4; Genesis 41:1),…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 41:49
And Joseph gathered (or heaped up) corn as the sand of the sea,—an image of great abundance (cf. Genesis 32:12)—very much, until he left numbering (i.e. writing, or keeping a record of the number of bushels); for it was…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 41:52
And the name of the second called he Ephraim:—"Double Fruitfulness" (Keil), "Double Land" (Gesenius), "Fruit." (Furst)—For God (Elohim) hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. This language shows tha…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 41:54
Destitution and abundance. "And the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread." The time of harvest is, of all periods of the year, the most important. It is the point to which all previous o…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 41:55
And when (literally, and) all the land of Egypt was famished (literally, and), the people cried to Pharaoh for bread:—cf. the famine in Samaria (2 Kings 6:26)—and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; wha…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 42:1-6
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 discover…
Jacob Sends to Egypt to Buy Corn. (b. c. 1706.)
JACOB SENDS TO EGYPT TO BUY CORN. (B. C. 1706.) 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…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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 th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:1-38
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:1
Now when Jacob saw—literally, and Jacob saw, i.e. perceived by the preparations of others for buying corn in Egypt (Lange), but more probably learnt by the report which others brought from. Egypt (Genesis 42:2)—that the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:2
And he said, Behold, I have heard (this does not imply that the rumor had not also reached Jacob's sons, but only that the proposal to visit Egypt did not originate with them) that there is corn— שֶׁבֶר ut supra, σῖτος…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:3
And Joseph's ten brethren went down—either it was for safety that all the ten went, or because, the corn being sold to individuals, the quantity received would depend on their numbers (Lange)—to buy corn—the word for co…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:4
But (literally, and) Benjamin, Joseph's brother (vide Genesis 35:18), Jacob sent not with his brethren. Not because of his youth (Patrick, Lange), since he was now upwards of twenty years of age, but because he was Jose…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:5
And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came—literally, in the midst of the comers; not as being desirous to lose themselves in the multitudes, as if troubled by an alarming presentiment (Lange), which…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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 Jo…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 42:7-20
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 the…
Joseph Speaks Roughly to His Brethren. (b. c. 1706.)
JOSEPH SPEAKS ROUGHLY TO HIS BRETHREN. (B. C. 1706.) 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 s…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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),…