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The Pulpit Commentary on 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 st…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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 (li…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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 fe…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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,…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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 the…
The Pulpit Commentary on 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 t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:18-20
And Joseph (whose bowels of mercy were already yearning towards them) said unto them the third day, This do, and live;—i.e. this do that ye may live—for I fear God—literally, the Elohim I fear; the term Elohim being emp…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 42:21-24
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 c…
Reflections of Joseph's Brethren. (b. c. 1706.)
REFLECTIONS OF JOSEPH'S BRETHREN. (B. C. 1706.) Here is, I. The penitent reflection Joseph's brethren made upon the wrong they had formerly done to him, Genesis 42:21. They talked the matter over in the Hebrew tongue, n…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:21
And they said one to another (Joseph's treatment of them beginning by this time to produce its appropriate and designed result by recalling them to a sense of their former guilt), We are verily guilty—"this is the only…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:22
And Reuben—who had not consented to, but had been altogether unable to prevent, the wickedness of his brethren (Genesis 37:22, Genesis 37:29)—answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the c…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:23
And they knew not (while they talked in what they imagined to be a foreign dialect to the Egyptian viceroy) that Joseph understood them;—literally, heard (so as to understand what was said)—for he spake unto them by an…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:24
And he turned himself about from them (in order to hide his emotion), and wept (as he reflected on the wonderful leadings of Divine providence, and beheld the pitiful distress of his brethren); and returned to them agai…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 42:25-28
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 guilt…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:25
Then (literally, and) Joseph commanded to fill—literally, commanded, and they (i.e. Joseph's men) filled—their sacks (rather, vessels or receptacles, כְּלִי) with corn, and to restore every man's money (literally, their…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:26
And they laded their asses with the corn (literally, put their grain upon their asses), and departed (or went) thence.
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:27
And as one of them opened his sack—literally, and the one opened his sack, i.e. they did not all open their sacks on the homeward journey, although afterwards, in reporting the circumstance to Joseph, they represent the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:28
And he (i.e. the one who had opened his sack) said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack (amtachath): and their heart failed them (literally, went forth; as it were, leapt into their mo…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 42:29-38
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 fe…
The Report Made to Jacob. (b. c. 1706.)
THE REPORT MADE TO JACOB. (B. C. 1706.) 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 S…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:29-34
And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them (literally, all the things happening to them, the participle being construed with the accusative); saying, The man, w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:35
And it came to pass as they emptied (literally, they emptying) their sacks, that (literally, and), behold, every man's bundle of money (or silver) was in his sack: and when (literally, and) both they and their father sa…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:36
And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved (or are ye bereaving) of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not (Jacob appears to suspect that in some way or another his sons had been responsible for J…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 42:37
And Reuben spake unto his father, saying (Reuben was probably actuated by an ardent brotherly affection, which prompted him to endeavor to recover Simeon, as formerly he had sought to deliver Joseph), Slay my two sons—a…