Chapter Forty-Two

The First Arrival of Joseph’s Brothers in Egypt

Genesis 42:1–4. And Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons: Why do you look at one another? And he said: Behold, I hear that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy for us there, that we may live and not die. And the ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain in Egypt, but Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers; for he said: Lest some harm should happen to him. News of the sale of grain in Egypt reaches the old man, and, by his order, his 10 living sons, who lived at that time, probably each in a separate household (compare Gen 38:1), set out for Egypt (calculating, perhaps, to buy a greater quantity of grain for 10 men). But Benjamin – this only other son of beloved Rachel after Joseph – Jacob does not release from fear of some danger to him on the way, from without or even from the brothers themselves.

Genesis 42:5. And the sons of Israel came to buy grain among the other comers; for the famine was in the land of Canaan. On the way Jacob’s sons joined into one caravan with foreigners traveling to Egypt for the same purpose. The Egyptian city to which they came was, according to some interpreters, Memphis, according to others, Tanis.

Genesis 42:6. Now Joseph was the governor over the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. The Hebrew schallit (governor, ruler) comes rather from a Chaldean root than a Hebrew one, and is used predominantly in holy books of later origin, for example Dan 5:29, but this does not give reason to consider the word here as a later insertion, since even in ancient times there were Aramaisms in the Hebrew language (Gen 31:47). Joseph’s role in the sale of grain was, without doubt, only the highest supervision. It is possible that his personal participation was required in selling grain to foreigners and in quantities of some significance – since by his duty as a ruler he was to see that the demands of foreigners were satisfied only after the needs of Egyptians were met and in no way at the expense of the latter. Hearing of the arrival of a caravan from his native Canaan, he summons the arrivals to himself, and in the first scene of meeting Joseph’s ancient dreams are fulfilled (Gen 37:6-9).

Their Harsh Reception from Joseph

Genesis 42:7–8. And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them; but he dealt harshly with them and spoke roughly with them, saying: Where do you come from? They said: From the land of Canaan, to buy food. But Joseph recognized his brothers, while they did not recognize him. Joseph could easily recognize his brothers, since at the time of Joseph’s sale they were already almost adult (“with beards,” as the Midrash notes) and during the time of separation, given the uniformity of nomadic life, they could not have changed greatly. Moreover, Joseph could expect their arrival in Egypt for grain and now saw them all together; he also knew and understood their language, although, following etiquette, he spoke with them through an interpreter. The brothers, on the other hand, naturally did not recognize Joseph, who had been sold at 17 years of age, and was now 38, held the position of first Egyptian magnate, and by costume, appearance, language, and other things presented himself to them as an Egyptian: in such circumstances they least expected to find their brother, in whose death they were moreover convinced (verse 22). As for Joseph’s harsh treatment of his recognized brothers, one can suppose that in Joseph initially two opposite feelings struggled: bitterness and vindictiveness on one hand, love – on the other (the latter feeling triumphs already at the first meeting, verse 24) – Joseph did not know the Christian commandment of love for enemies, and one can suppose that unfavorable feelings of vengeance existed in him. Nevertheless, “the cunning he employed, without doubt, had good motives, such as: to arouse by threatening misfortune the conscience of the guilty brothers to confession of the crime committed by them and its washing away; to obtain quick knowledge of the fate of his father and full brother and, before revealing his secret, to bring Benjamin into complete safety, against whom the envy and evil, disappointed in Joseph, could turn its weapon” (Metropolitan Philaret, Commentary on Genesis 2, 212).

Genesis 42:9. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed of them; and he said to them: You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land. (compare verses 12, 14). The accusation of espionage insincerely raised by Joseph against his brothers was intended, on one hand, as some punishment and trial of them, on the other – to prevent dissatisfaction of Egyptians regarding Joseph’s sudden favorable treatment of foreigners. In the spirit of Egyptian politics, Joseph accuses his brothers who came to Egypt from the northeast of having come to see the most undefended places, in Hebrew: the nakedness, of the country – and in Egypt such was especially the northeast border, open to invasions by Asian nomads (hence probably the Hyksos penetrated into Egypt); moreover, Joseph’s brothers came as a full caravan; finally, the custom of sending out scouts before occupying a particular land is noted more than once in biblical antiquity (Num 21:32; Josh 2:1; Judg 18:2). In this sense Joseph’s brothers actually turned out to be something like scouts of a new territory, since the consequence of their coming to Egypt was their settlement there.

Genesis 42:13–16. They said: Your servants are twelve brothers; we are sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is now with our father, and one is no more. And Joseph said to them: It is as I said to you, you are spies; here is how you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here; send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain in custody; In noble indignation at the accusation, Joseph’s brothers set forth with all force of conviction in their own innocence that they are the sons of one father (who, it is implied, would not risk sending all his sons as scouts and thereby expose them to danger), honest men (according to the LXX, Vulgate, Slavonic – “peaceful”), members of a small tribe in Canaan, and therefore in no way can be dangerous to Egypt. They speak of Joseph’s death for understandable reason obliquely, but they reveal the information necessary to Joseph about his father and his full brother Benjamin. Wishing to better assure himself of the good feelings of the brothers toward Benjamin, Joseph requires his arrival in Egypt. But Joseph’s deep emotional turmoil in this connection is expressed in the inconsistency of his decisions: now he accuses them of crime (verse 9, 12, 14), for which execution was the penalty, now condemns them to imprisonment under guard (verse 15), now, leaving all in Egypt, intends to send one of the brothers for Benjamin (verse 16), now he accepts the opposite decision – he leaves one as a hostage and releases the others (verse 18–20). The oath by Pharaoh’s life was very customary in the ancient and modern East (now – among Persians), and thence, probably, passed into Rome (where its formula was “per salutem Caesarum”); according to Herodotus, it existed also among the Scythians (4 book, 68). In the Bible the custom of oath by the king’s life is noted more than once (1 Sam 17:55; compare 2 Sam 2:4). LXX: νὴ τὴν ὑγίειαν Φαραώ, Vulgate: per salutem Pharaonis, Slavonic: “so by the health of Pharaoh.”

Their Imprisonment and Release Under the Condition of Bringing Benjamin and the Detention of Simeon as a Hostage

Genesis 42:17. And he put them all together in custody for three days. The imprisonment of the brothers under guard, by Joseph’s intention, was to awaken repentance in them for their ancient crime against Joseph; this goal, as is evident from verse 21–22, was achieved; moreover, by this measure Joseph wished to show the brothers the immutability of his decision to see Benjamin at his place.

Genesis 42:18–20. And on the third day Joseph said to them: Do this and you shall live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain in custody in the prison, while you go and carry grain home for the famine of your households; and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words will be verified and you will not die. So they did. In the second conversation with his brothers Joseph, still not freeing them from suspicion, nonetheless mitigates the tone of his speech and his sentence, demanding the detention of only one brother as a hostage. Joseph motivates this gentleness of his decision by the feeling of fear of God, which, of course, assured his brothers that the ruler of Egypt would not permit anything unjust toward them.

Genesis 42:21. And they said to one another: We are truly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us. Having accepted the decision announced by Joseph, the brothers, under the influence of the same feeling of fear of God of which Joseph had spoken, now experience pangs of conscience for their guilt against Joseph: in the misfortune that has come upon them, in accordance with the biblical outlook, they see a retribution for their cruelty toward their brother. “Now the incorruptible judge – conscience – arises, although no one accuses them and brings them to trial: they accuse themselves” (John Chrysostom, Discourse 64, 684).

Genesis 42:23–24. But they did not know that Joseph understood, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. And he turned away from them and wept. Then he returned to them and spoke to them; and he took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes. A beautiful scene of the brothers’ repentance, heard and understood by Joseph (to turn away suspicion he spoke with them through an interpreter; after this no mention is made of an interpreter in Joseph and Jacob’s relations with Egyptians, probably because of the proximity of Hebrew and Egyptian languages), deeply moved Joseph to the depths of his soul, but, making an effort over himself, he leaves Simeon as a hostage – probably, by the likely supposition of the rabbis, as the principal culprit of the cruel deed of the brothers against Joseph. According to the Midrash, he bound Simeon only before the eyes of the brothers, and after their departure released him, fed and gave him drink (Beresch. r. 91, s. 450).

The Return of the 9 Sons of Jacob to Their Father and His Refusal to Release Benjamin

Genesis 42:25. And Joseph gave orders to fill their vessels with grain, and to return every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And this was done for them. Joseph generously provides his brothers with grain (not just one sack for each, but as much as could fit in each brother’s various containers) and in doing so, perhaps from a desire to spare the brothers monetary difficulty on their new journey to Egypt, he orders the payment for the grain to be returned into each one’s sack – a measure that served as a new source of confusion for his brothers.

Genesis 42:27–28. And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender at the lodging-place, he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. And he said to his brothers: My money has been returned; indeed it is in my sack. And their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying: What is this that God has done to us? The lodging-place (Hebrew malon, Vulgate diverssorium), where Joseph’s brothers stopped, could hardly have been an ordinary caravan-serai as existed later in the East (compare Jer 9:1-2), but probably, in accordance with the Hebrew etymology of the word, the most convenient place for a night’s rest near a watering place and in the shade of palms. At this halt, one of the brothers (according to Jewish tradition, Levi) – compare verse 35, or all 9 brothers at once (Gen 43:21), opening their sacks with feed for the donkeys, with surprise and horror found the silver they had paid in Egypt. In amazement at this they attribute it to God.

Genesis 42:29–35. And they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: The man, the lord of that land, spoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the land. And we said to him: We are honest men, we are not spies; we are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan. And the lord of the land said to us: Hereby shall I know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go; and bring me your youngest brother; and I shall know that you are not spies, but honest men; then I will give your brother back to you, and you may trade in the land. And when they emptied their sacks, behold, every man’s bundle of silver was in his sack! And when they and their father saw their bundles of silver, they were afraid. Upon returning to Jacob, his sons hasten to communicate to him all that happened to them in Egypt, with the goal of now securing Jacob’s consent for sending Benjamin to Egypt; for this reason they deliberately emphasize (verse 34) both the categorical nature of the Egyptian ruler’s command regarding this arrival of Benjamin in Egypt, and his special promise to Joseph’s sons to give them the right of unobstructed trade in Egypt (this was not said before, but the truthfulness of this addition cannot be disputed).

Genesis 42:36. And Jacob their father said to them: You have bereaved me; Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all this is against me! Jacob, full of unspeakable sorrow, gives an answer that makes probable the supposition of some that in his hyperbolic accusation of his sons, as if they had made him childless, Jacob unwittingly expressed his suspicion of his sons’ involvement in Joseph’s supposed death.

Genesis 42:37–38. Then Reuben said to his father, saying: Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; entrust him to my hand, and I will return him to you. But he said: My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and if harm should befall him on the way you are going, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. The pledging offered by Reuben once more characterizes his good heart and noble spirit, but by its form appears as a kind of rude heroism, thoughtlessness, and lack of wisdom (the Midrash rephrases Jacob’s refusal to Reuben: “unwise firstborn! are your sons only yours, and not also mine?” Beresch. r. Par. 101, s. 451), verse 38. For this reason, and chiefly because of Jacob’s distrust of Reuben after his known offense of his father (Gen 35:22) – compare blessed Theodoret’s answer to question 106, the grieving father decidedly refuses to send Benjamin to Egypt. The old wound of his heart over the loss of Joseph was now opened again, and he repeats his then-expressed thought about Sheol (place in the afterlife – Gen 37:35). Thus little did Jacob feel the coming happy turn in his fate, when “the spirit of Jacob their father revived” (Gen 45:27)! * * * Weak Points