John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Genesis 40:1



INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 40



The history of this chapter is, the imprisonment of two of Pharaoh's officers, his chief butler and chief baker, who by the captain of the guard were made the charge of Joseph, Ge 40:1; they both dreamed in prison, which made them sad; Joseph taking notice of their sadness, asked the reason of it, and encouraged them to tell him their dreams,

Ge 40:5; the chief butler told his dream of the vine and three branches, which Joseph interpreted of his restoration to his office within three days, and desired him to remember him unto Pharaoh when he stood before him, telling him his case, Ge 40:9; then the chief baker told his dream of three white baskets of food on his head, which the birds ate, and this Joseph interpreted of his being hanged within three days, Ge 40:16; and the events answered to the interpretation, but Joseph was forgot by the chief butler,

Ge 40:20.



Ver. 1. And it came to pass after these things,.... After Joseph had been accused and cast into prison, where he had been for some time:



[that] the butler of the king of Egypt and [his] baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt; committed some fault, at least were accused of one, which raised his displeasure at them. The Targum of Jonathan says, that they consulted to put poison into his drink and food; which, it is not improbable, considering their business and office, they might be charged with; at least it is much more probable than what Jarchi suggests, that the one put a fly into his cup, and the other a little stone or sand into his bread.





Genesis 40:2



Ver. 2. And Pharaoh was wroth against two [of] his officers,.... The same above mentioned:



against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers; for as there were several butlers and bakers that belonged unto him, who were employed in providing wine and food for him, there was one of each who was over the rest; and as their business was to see that those under them did their work well, when they were faulty the principal officers were answerable for it: wherefore, if in this case they had not been guilty of anything criminal themselves personally, yet they might have neglected to look after those that were under them, and so were culpable, and drew upon them the wrath and resentment of their lord and sovereign.





Genesis 40:3



Ver. 3. And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard,.... Who is generally thought to be Potiphar, since this was the office he was in, Ge 39:1; unless he was dead, and there was another put into his room, or there were more than one in the same office:



into the prison, the place where Joseph [was] bound; that is, where he had been bound, and where he was still a prisoner, though not fettered and in that close confinement he had been in.





Genesis 40:4



Ver. 4. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them,.... Committed them to his care and custody, he being very probably recommended to him by the keeper of the prison for his prudence and fidelity; and if it was Potiphar, he knew his character full well, and might be now reconciled unto him, as having had a more full and clear account of the affair between him and his wife from the keeper of the prison; and therefore though he might not think fit for his own and his wife's reputation to remove him from prison as yet, nevertheless might be inclined to do him what service he could, as well as honour, as this was, to have two such state prisoners committed to his care. Some render it, "he committed Joseph with them" {x}; to be with them, as Jarchi interprets it; they were put together, not merely for the sake of company, but that Joseph might wait upon them, which might be beneficial as well as creditable, as it follows:



and he served them; he ministered unto them, and brought them every thing they wanted:



and they continued a season in ward; or "days" {y}; some certain days, many days, a year, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom interpret it, and which is sometimes the use of the word. The story of the butler and baker is told, partly to show the divine faculty of interpreting dreams Joseph was possessed of; and partly to observe the remarkable steps in Providence, though secret, towards his advancement in Pharaoh's court.



{x} Mta Powy ta-dqpyw "et commisit Josephum cum eis", Junius & Tremellius. {y} Mymy "per annum", Pagninus, Vatablus, Schmidt.





Genesis 40:5



Ver. 5. And they dreamed a dream both of them,.... Not one and the same dream:



each man his dream in one night; which made it the more remarkable, and the more impressed their minds, concluding from hence there must be something of importance in their dreams:



each man according to the interpretation of his dream; they dreamed each what was suitable to his office and character, and which portended what should hereafter befall them, as the interpretation of them by Joseph afterwards, and the event showed; so that it was not a vain idle dream, but divine and certain:



the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which [were] bound in the prison; this is added for explanation's sake, showing who were the persons spoken of that dreamed the dreams.





Genesis 40:6



Ver. 6. And Joseph came in unto them in the morning,.... For though Joseph and they were in the same prison, yet not in the same ward. Aben Ezra thinks that Joseph lodged in the dungeon in the night, Ge 40:15; and was let out in the morning to wait on these prisoners; but the great interest he had in the keeper of the prison, and the favour shown him by the captain of the guard, in putting such prisoners under his care, will easily make one conclude, that Joseph now had a better lodging than that; though it had been his case, he was now provided with a better apartment in the prison; and when he arose in the morning, like a careful and faithful servant, he came to the ward where the prisoners under his care were, to see that they were safe, and what they wanted:



and looked upon them, and, behold, they [were] sad; they looked sorrowful, dejected, and uneasy.





Genesis 40:7



Ver. 7. And he asked Pharaoh's officers that [were] with him,.... The chief butler and baker that were committed to his care, and with whom he now was,



in the ward of the lord's house; this seems to confirm what is before observed, that the captain of the guard that charged Joseph with them was Potiphar his master; though indeed the keeper of the prison that was under Potiphar, the captain of the guard, might be called Joseph's lord or master, but the house could not with so much propriety be called his:



saying, wherefore look ye [so] sadly today? as they were officers, who had been in lucrative places, they lived well and merrily, and expected very probably they should be released in a short time, nothing appearing against them; but now there was a strange alteration in them, which was very visible to Joseph, and for which he expresses a concern, being of a kind, tender, and benevolent disposition, as the question he puts to them shows.





Genesis 40:8



Ver. 8. And they said unto him, we have dreamed a dream,.... Each of them:



and [there is] no interpreter of it; in that place in which they were, the prison; otherwise there were persons enough in the land that pretended to the interpretation of dreams, Ge 41:8; but they could not come at them, being in prison:



and Joseph said unto them, [do] not interpretations [belong] to God? that is, of dreams, and to him only, meaning the true God whom he worshipped; for as dreams themselves, which are of importance, and predict things to come, are of God; for none can foretell future events but he, and such to whom he imparts the gift of prophecy; so none can interpret dreams with any certainty but God himself, and those to whom he gives the faculty of interpretation of them; this Joseph said to take off their minds from the magicians and wise men, and interpreters of dreams among the Egyptians, these officers were hankering after, and wished they had them with them to interpret their dreams to them; and to suggest unto them, that though he did not arrogate such a power to himself, as having it of himself, yet intimates that he doubted not, but upon an address to his God, he would favour him with the interpretation of their dreams, and therefore encourages them to relate them to him:



tell me [them], I pray you; or "now" {z}, directly, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; signifying, that he would immediately interpret them to them; no doubt Joseph said this under a divine impulse.



{z} an "nunc", Drusius.





Genesis 40:9



Ver. 9. And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph,.... He listened to what Joseph said, and paid a regard to it, and began to think he might be able to interpret his dream, and therefore was forward, and the first to tell him it at once; whereas the chief baker did not seem disposed to do it, until he observed the good interpretation given of the butler's dream, Ge 40:16:



and said unto him, in my dream, behold, a vine [was] before me; it appeared to him in his dream, as if a vine sprung up at once, and stood before him; which was very suitable to his office as a butler, wine being the fruit of the vine, which he provided for the king his master, and presented to him at table.





Genesis 40:10



Ver. 10. And in the vine [were] three branches,.... Which shot out from the root or body of it:



and it [was as] though it budded; the branches seemed to sprout out:



[and] her blossoms shot forth; it knotted, and the flowers of the vine appeared, which blowing off, the tender grapes were seen:



and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes; all which is agreeably to the order nature observes, from the first putting forth of the vine, to its producing ripe fruit; and which in this dream immediately followed one another, as it seemed according to the representation of things to the, mind of the butler, and which he perfectly remembered, it having made a strong impression upon him.





Genesis 40:11



Ver. 11. And Pharaoh's cup [was] in his hand,.... So it seemed to him in his dream, as it often had been when in his office:



and I took the grapes; from off the vine that was before him:



and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup; which some think was the custom of those times, to take a bunch of grapes and squeeze them into a cup, especially when they would make trial of what sort of wine they would produce; for it can hardly be thought that this was usually done, or that it was customary to drink such new wine; but it is more probable that the grapes were first pressed into another vessel, and so made wine of, and then poured into Pharaoh's cup, or mixed in it, though this circumstance is omitted. Indeed Herodotus {a} relates of the Egyptian priests, that wine pressed out of the vine is given them:



and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand; as he had used to do.



{a} Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 37.





Genesis 40:12



Ver. 12. And Joseph said unto him, this [is] the interpretation of it,.... Of the dream:



the three branches [are] three days; signify three days, or, as Jarchi expresses it, are a sign of three days; which Joseph could know only by divine revelation; for there is no more likeness between branches and days, than between them and months or years, and bid as fair to signify one as the other, if the interpretation depended on similarity, or bare conjecture.





Genesis 40:13



Ver. 13. Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds, with glory; and the sense is, either that Pharaoh would raise him up from the low estate in which he now was, to the same exalted station in which he had been before; or that he would reckon and number him among his servants, when he should take a catalogue of them, or make a new list, so Jarchi and Aben Ezra; and this phrase is used of taking the sum of persons, or the number of them, and is so rendered, Ex 30:12; the allusion is thought to be to a custom used by great personages, to have the names of their servants called over on a certain day, as Pharaoh perhaps used to do on his birthday, Ge 40:20; when they struck out of the list or put into it whom they pleased, and pardoned or punished such as had offended; and this sense is the rather inclined to, because Pharaoh is said to lift up the head of both the butler and the baker, Ge 40:20; yet it may be observed, that the phrases used by Joseph concerning them differ; for of the baker he says, "Pharaoh shall lift up thy head from off thee", Ge 40:19; wherefore, though the heads of them both were lift up, yet in a different sense: the one was lifted up to the gallows, and the other to his former dignity, as follows:



and restore thee unto thy place: to his office in ministering: to Pharaoh as his cup bearer:



and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler; which was signified in the dream, by squeezing the grapes into Pharaoh's cup he had in his hand, and gave unto him.





Genesis 40:14



Ver. 14. But think on me, when it shall be well with thee,.... He desires no reward for the interpretation of his dream, only that he would remember him in adversity, when he should be in prosperity in Pharaoh's court, and speak a good word for him, which was the least he could do; and though Joseph knew by his own dreams that he should be raised from his low estate to a very high and advanced one, yet he thought proper, in a dependence on God, to make use of all lawful means for his deliverance; nor is he to be blamed, as if he sought help of man and not of God, as he is by some writers, both Christian and Jewish, particularly by the Targum of Jonathan,



"Joseph lost his superior confidence, and retained the confidence of men;''



whereas means are always to be used in order to the end, in subordination to the divine will; and what Joseph asked of the butler was but reasonable, and what he ought to have done for him, and was prudently moved by Joseph, as a rational method of his deliverance, and in which he was, no doubt, guided and directed by the providence of God, as the event shows:



and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me; he pleads no merit for what he had done in interpreting his dream, but puts the good office he desires him to do for him upon the foot of kindness to a man in distress, and asks it as a favour, by way of entreaty and request:



and make mention of me and bring me out of this house: the prison in which he was; for though he had much favour shown him, and had more liberty granted him than other prisoners had, yet a prisoner he was, and a prison he dwelt in, and deliverance from it was desirable, could it be had; and this was a likely way to obtain it, if the butler would speak a good word for him to Pharaoh, which he would have an opportunity to do, being often in his presence, and frequently when cheerful.





Genesis 40:15



Ver. 15. For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews,.... Not the whole land of Canaan, so called, either from the Hebrews sojourning: in it, or from its being given unto them by God; neither of which could be a reason why Joseph, when talking with an Egyptian, should give it this name, and which, it must be supposed, was known to him; but that part of the land of Canaan where the Hebrews had sojourned for three generations, where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had lived, even at or near Hebron; and being persons of great note, and having done great exploits, their names were well known, and the country where they lived, and particularly among the Egyptians: now Joseph does not expose the sin of his brethren in selling him to the Ishmaelites, by whom he was brought into Egypt and sold there; only relates that he was stolen out of his native country, being taken from it without his own or his father's consent:



and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon; since he had been in the land of Egypt, he had not been guilty of any criminal action wherefore he should be put into a prison, and especially into a dungeon, a dark and filthy place under ground, as dungeons usually were, and into which Joseph was put when first in confinement, though since took out of it: he makes no mention of the wickedness of his mistress, and of her false accusation of him, nor of the injustice of his master in putting him into prison without hearing him; only asserts his own innocence, which was necessary to recommend himself to the butler, that he might not think he was some loose fellow that was committed to prison for some capital crime, and so it would have, been a disgrace to him to have spoken for him.





Genesis 40:16



Ver. 16. When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good,.... Meaning not that it was right and just, though it was; but that it was agreeable and pleasing, and portended good in the event; and therefore hoped a like interpretation would be given of his dream, and this encouraged him to tell it, which perhaps otherwise he would not have done:



he said unto Joseph, I also [was] in a dream; or had a dream, and in it things were represented to his mind as follows:



and, behold, [I had] three white baskets on my head; which were made of wicker, of rods that had the bark pulled off, and so were white; or which had holes in them, baskets wrought with holes, after the manner of network; though some think this denotes not the colour or form of the basket, but of the bread in them, and interpret the words, baskets of white bread, as Saadiah Gaon, and so the Targum of Jonathan, baskets of most pure bread, and the Targum of Jerusalem, baskets of hot bread; this dream was very agreeable to his office and business as a baker.





Genesis 40:17



Ver. 17. And in the uppermost basket [there was] of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh,.... All sorts of pastry, as tarts, pies, &c. Josephus {b} says, two of the baskets were full of bread, and the third had various sorts of food, such as is usually, prepared for kings:



and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head; all the three baskets were upon his head, but this seems to be the uppermost, which the birds could more easily come at; though if the baskets were full of holes, they might through them peck the bread with their bills.



{b} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 5. sect. 3.





Genesis 40:18



Ver. 18. And Joseph answered and said,.... Immediately, directly, without any further thought and meditation, being divinely instructed:



this [is] the interpretation thereof; of the above dream:



the three baskets [are] three days; signify three days.





Genesis 40:19



Ver. 19. Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head from off thee,.... Order thee to be beheaded; so the Targum of Jonathan and Ben Melech interpret it,



"Pharaoh shall remove thy head from thy body with a sword:''



and shall hang thee on a tree; his body after his head was severed from it, this should be hung upon a gallows or gibbet, and there continue:



and the birds shall eat the flesh from off thee; as they usually do when bodies are thus hung up, see 2Sa 21:9; this was signified by the birds eating the bakemeats out of the uppermost basket when upon his head, as it seemed to him in his dream.





Genesis 40:20



Ver. 20. And it came to pass the third day, [which was] Pharaoh's birthday,.... The third day from the time the dreams were told, and the interpretation of them given, was the birthday of Pharaoh; either the day in which a son of his was born, or in which he himself was born, as Ben Melech observes; but the latter is more probable, since the former could not with propriety be called Pharaoh's birthday; and this might be either the day of his natural birth, or of his political birth, the time of his accession to the throne, which with the Romans was called "natalis imperii", and was observed with feasting and rejoicing {c}, as well as the former, both among them and other nations: it is most likely this was Pharaoh's natural birthday, which was observed among the Egyptians as birthdays were among the Persians {d}, and as Herod's was at his court in the days of Christ, Mt 14:6; and as is usual in our times in most countries:



that he made a feast unto all his servants; his ministers of state, his courtiers, and all in his palace:



and he lifted up the head of his chief butler and of his chief baker,

among his servants; that is, among his servants, when their names were called over; or at this festival, these two were taken notice of, as being charged with crimes, and their cases were looked into and examined, and their heads were lifted up in a different sense: they were both lifted out of prison, but the one was lifted up to his former post and place in Pharaoh's court, and the other was lifted up to a gallows or gibbet, as follows; though perhaps this lifting of them both may only signify the trial of them, when they were set on high to be seen by the judge and all the court, see 1Ki 21:9.



{c} Plin. Ep. l. 1. ep. 61. Herodot. Calliope, sive, l. 9. c. 109. {d} Herodot. Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 133.





Genesis 40:21



Ver. 21. And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again,.... Put him into the same office he was in before:



and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand; ministered to him in his office the same day, according to his dream and the interpretation of it: the Targum of Jonathan adds this as a reason of his being restored,



"because he found that he was not in that counsel,''



in which it was consulted to poison Pharaoh, See Gill on "Ge 40:1".





Genesis 40:22



Ver. 22. But he hanged the chief baker,.... The is, he ordered him to be hanged; because, as the same Targum says, he consulted to kill him (Pharaoh):



as Joseph had interpreted to them; the events as to both answered to the interpretation Joseph had given of their several dreams.





Genesis 40:23



Ver. 23. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph,.... To speak of him to Pharaoh, neither on that day in which he was restored, nor for a long time after, even for the space of two years, as seems from the following chapter:



but forgot him; never more thought of him, of the favour he had done him in interpreting his dream; of the request he made to him, and of the promise which he had probably given him; which was an instance of great ingratitude, and is frequently the case and character of courtiers, who being in high places themselves, neglect others, their petitions to them, and their own promises to do all they can for them.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Genesis 41:1



INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 41



In this chapter are related Pharaoh's dreams, which his magicians could not interpret, Ge 41:1, upon which the chief butler now remembering Joseph, recommended him to Pharaoh as an interpreter, having had an happy experience of him as such himself, Ge 41:10, when Joseph was sent for out of prison; and Pharaoh having related his dreams, he interpreted them of seven years of plenty, and seven years of famine, that should be in the land of Egypt, Ge 41:14; and having done, he gave his advice to provide in the years of plenty against the years of famine, and proposed a scheme for doing it, which was approved of by Pharaoh and his ministers, Ge 41:33; and Joseph himself was pitched upon as the most proper person to execute it, and was appointed chief over the kingdom next to Pharaoh, who gave him a new name and a wife upon this occasion, Ge 41:38; accordingly, in the years of plenty he took a tour throughout the whole land, and gathered and laid up food in vast quantities in every city, Ge 41:46; an account is given of two sons born to Joseph, and of their names, Ge 41:50; and of the seven years of famine, beginning to come on at the end of the seven years of plenty, which brought great distress on the land of Egypt, and the countries round about, who all came to Joseph to buy corn,

Ge 41:53.



Ver. 1. And it came to pass at the end of two full years,.... It is not a clear case, as Aben Ezra observes, from whence these years are to be reckoned, whether from the time of Joseph's being put into prison, or from the time that the chief butler was taken out of it; the latter seems more probable, and better connects this and the preceding chapter:



that Pharaoh dreamed, and, behold, he stood by the river; it seemed to him, in his dream, as if he stood near the river Nile, or some canal or flow of water cut out of that river.





Genesis 41:2



Ver. 2. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine, and fatfleshed,.... Seven cows or heifers, sleek, fat, and plump, goodly to look at; these seemed in the dream, as if they came out of the river, because they were fed with the fruits of the earth, which the overflowing of the river Nile, and its canals, produced:



and they fed in a meadow; adjoining to the river, where there was good pasture for them, and gives a reason of their being in so good a condition.





Genesis 41:3



Ver. 3. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured, and leanfleshed,.... Thin and haggard, their bones stuck out, having scarce any flesh upon them, and made a wretched figure:



and stood by the [other] kine; and looked so much the worse, when compared with them:



upon the brink of the river; it not being overflowed, so that there was no grass to be had, but just upon the bank, where these kept for that purpose; for the fruitfulness of Egypt was owing to the river Nile; as that overflowed or did not, there was plenty or famine; hence both these sorts of creatures came up out of that.





Genesis 41:4



Ver. 4. And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine,.... So it seemed in the dream as if this was done, was very strange and surprising that animals should devour one another; and especially that tame ones, cows or heifers, should eat those of their own species, which was never known to be done:



so Pharaoh awoke; through surprise at the strange sight he had in his dream.





Genesis 41:5



Ver. 5. And he slept, and dreamed the second time,.... He fell asleep again quickly, and dreamed another dream the same night, and to the same purpose, being much of the like kind with the former:



and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good; which were very uncommon even in those fruitful countries; though Dr. Shaw {e} observes of Barbary, which vied with Egypt for fruitfulness, that it sometimes happens that one stalk of wheat will bear two ears, while each of these ears will as often shoot out into a number of lesser ones, thereby affording a most plentiful increase.



{e} Travels, p. 137. Ed. 2.





Genesis 41:6



Ver. 6. And, behold, seven thin ears, and blasted with the east wind,.... Which is very fatal to corn, to dry, burn, smite, or blast it; and especially to the corn in Egypt, whither it blew from the desert of Arabia: these



sprung up after them; after the seven full ears, in the same place the other did, or near unto them.





Genesis 41:7



Ver. 7. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears,.... So it appeared to Pharaoh in his dream, which must be very amazing to behold, and unaccountable how it should be:



and Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, [it was] a dream; not a real fact, but a dream; yet not a common dream, but had some important signification in it; it not vanishing from his mind, but abode upon it, which made him conclude there was something more than common in it, and made him very desirous to have the interpretation of it.





Genesis 41:8



Ver. 8. And it came to pass in the morning, that his spirit was troubled,.... With the thoughts of his dreams; they were uppermost in his mind; he was continually thinking of them; it was as if he had always the same images before him now awake, as well as when asleep, and therefore could not be easy without getting knowledge of the meaning of them:



and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof; who pretended to have great skill in the things of nature, and in astrology and other sciences, by which they pretended to know future events, and to interpret dreams among other things; and show what they portended, and what things would happen for the accomplishment of them:



and Pharaoh told them his dream; both his dreams, which for the similarity of them, and there being so little interruption between them, are represented as one dream; for that both were told them appears by what follows:



but [there was] none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh; they were nonplussed and confounded, and did not know what to say; the things were so strange and surprising that he related, that they could not offer any conjectures about them, or, if they did, they were very unsatisfactory to Pharaoh.





Genesis 41:9



Ver. 9. Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh,.... When the magicians and wise men could not interpret his dreams, he was in distress of mind on that account:



saying, I do remember my faults this day; which some interpret of his forgetfulness of Joseph and his afflictions, and of his ingratitude to him, and breach of promise in not making mention of him to Pharaoh before this time; but they seem rather to be faults he had committed against Pharaoh, and were the reason of his being wroth with him, as in

Ge 41:10; and these were either real faults, which the king had pardoned, or however such as he had been charged with, and cleared from; and which he now in a courtly manner takes to himself, and owns them, that the king's goodness and clemency to him might appear, and lest he should seem to charge the king with injustice in casting him into prison; which circumstance he could not avoid relating in the story he was about to tell.





Genesis 41:10



Ver. 10. Pharaoh was wroth with his servants,.... Not with all of them, but with the butler and the baker. Aben Ezra observes here, that Pharaoh was not the proper name of this king, but a title of office, and signifies the king; for it cannot be thought that the butler would use such freedom in his presence as to call him by his name: the true name of this prince, according to the eastern writers {f}, was Rian ben Walid; others take him to be Aphophis, the third of the Hycsi, or pastor kings: but, according to Bishop Usher {g}, his name was Mephramuthosis:



and put me in ward in the captain of the guard's house: in consequence of his wrath and displeasure, for crimes really or supposed to be committed by him; and the captain of the guard's house was a prison, or at least there was a prison in it for such sort of offenders; and this was Potiphar's, Joseph's master's, house:



[both] me and the chief baker; which explains who the officers were Pharaoh was wroth with, and who were for their offences committed to prison.



{f} Juchasin, fol. 135. 2. {g} Annales Ver. Test. p. 14.





Genesis 41:11



Ver. 11. And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he,.... In one and the same night:



we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream; they both dreamed exactly what should befall them, as it was interpreted to them; the dreams, the interpretation of them, and the events, answered to each other.





Genesis 41:12



Ver. 12. And [there was] there with us a young man,.... Who was in the prison with them, had the care of them, and waited upon them; he was then about twenty eight years of age; for it was two years ago he speaks of, and Joseph was thirty when he stood before Pharaoh, Ge 41:46:



an Hebrew servant to the captain of the guard; he first describes him by his age, a young man, then by his descent, an Hebrew, and by his state and condition, a servant; neither of them tended much to recommend him to the king:



and we told him; that is, their dreams:



and he interpreted to us our dream, to each man according to his dream did he interpret; told them what their dreams presignified, what the events would be they portended; the interpretation was different according to their dreams.





Genesis 41:13



Ver. 13. And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was,.... The event answered to the interpretation, and showed it to be right; this is frequently hinted and repeated, to show the exactness and certainty of the interpretation given, in order to recommend Joseph to Pharaoh the more:



me he restored unto my office, and him he hanged: that is, Joseph interpreted the butler's dream to such a sense, that he should be restored to his butlership, and accordingly he was; and the baker's dream, that he should be hanged, and so he was. Aben Ezra and Jarchi interpret this of Pharaoh, that he restored the one, and hanged the other, or ordered these things to be done, which answered to Joseph's interpretation of the dreams; but the former sense seems best, for Joseph is the person immediately spoken of in the preceding clause; nor would it have been so decent for the butler, in the presence of Pharaoh, to have spoken of him without naming him, and which would have been contrary to his usage before.





Genesis 41:14



Ver. 14. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph,.... Sent messengers to him to come to him directly, ordered the captain of the guard, or keeper of prison, to loose him, and let him free, see Ps 105:20;



and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon; that is, out of the prison house; which, as Jarchi says, was made like a ditch or dungeon, or in which the dungeon was where Joseph was first put when he was brought to prison; though it cannot be thought that he continued there when he had so much respect shown him by the keeper, and had other prisoners committed to his care: however, he was fetched in great haste from his place of confinement, by the messengers that were sent for him; or "they made him to run" {h}, from the prison to the palace, the king being so eager to have his dream interpreted to him:



and he shaved [himself]; or the barber shaved him, as Aben Ezra; his beard had not been shaved, nor the hair of his head cut very probably for a considerable time; it being usual for persons in such circumstances to neglect such things:



and changed his raiment; his prison garments being such as were not fit to appear in before a king, and put on others, which either the king sent him, or the captain of the guard his master furnished him with:



and came in unto Pharaoh: into his palace, and his presence; what city it was in which this Pharaoh kept his palace, is no where said; very probably it was which the Scriptures call Zoan, that being the ancient city of Egypt, Nu 13:22.



{h} whuryw "et currere fecerunt eum", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus; "et fecerunt ut curreret", Piscator.





Genesis 41:15



Ver. 15. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,...., Immediately, upon his being introduced to him:



I have dreamed a dream, and [there] is none that can interpret it; that he could yet meet with; none of his magicians or wise men, who made great pretensions to skill in such matters:



and I have heard say of thee, [that] thou canst understand a dream to interpret it; it had been reported to him, particularly by the chief butler, that when he heard a dream told him, he had such knowledge and understanding, that he could interpret it, tell the meaning of it, what it portended, and what would be the events signified by it.





Genesis 41:16



Ver. 16. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, [it is] not in me,.... Which expresses his great modesty, that he did not arrogate such skill and wisdom to himself; declaring that he had no such power and abilities in and of himself, to interpret dreams; what he had was a gift of God, and wholly depended upon his influence, and the revelation he was pleased to make to him of such things:



God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace; such an answer to his request in the interpretation of his dream, as shall give him full content, and make his mind quiet and easy, and which shall tend to the welfare of him and his kingdom. Some render the words as a prayer or wish, "may God give Pharaoh", &c. {i}; so as it were addressing his God, that he would be pleased to make known to him his interpretation of the dream to the satisfaction of Pharaoh: but the other sense seems best, which expresses his faith in God, that he would do it, and to whom it should be ascribed, and not unto himself.



{i} hney "respondeat", Vatablus.





Genesis 41:17



Ver. 17. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,.... Relating both his dreams in a more ample manner, though to the same purpose, than before related:



in my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river; the river Nile, where he could have a full sight of what were after presented to his view.





Genesis 41:18



Ver. 18. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine,.... Cows or heifers, See Gill on "Ge 41:2"; the account of them is the same here as there, and of the place where they fed, only the words are transposed.





Genesis 41:19



Ver. 19. And, behold, seven other kine,.... Here some addition is made: these are said not only to be



very ill favoured, and leanfleshed, See Gill on "Ge 41:3", but



poor, thin, meagre, exhausted of their flesh and strength through some disease upon them, or want of food: and it follows, what was not before expressed,



such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt, for badness; so poor, so lean, and so ill favoured; for whatever might be seen in other countries, never were such seen in Egypt, which was famous for good cattle.





Genesis 41:20



Ver. 20. And the lean and the ill favoured kine,.... The same as previously described; See Gill on "Ge 41:4".





Genesis 41:21



Ver. 21. And when they had eaten them up,.... Or "were come into their bowels" {k}, into their inward parts, their bellies, being swallowed and devoured by them:



it could not be known that they had eaten them: or were in their bellies, they seemed never the fuller nor the fatter for them:



but they [were] still ill favoured as at the beginning; looked as thin and as meagre as they did when they first came out of the river, or were first seen by Pharaoh:



so I awoke; surprised at what he had seen; this was his first dream.



{k} hnbrq la hnabtw "et venerunt ad interiora earum", Pagninus, Montanus; "in ventrem istarum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Tigurine version.





Genesis 41:22



Ver. 22. And I saw in my dream,.... Falling asleep again quickly, he dreamed a second time; and this dream being of a like kind with the former, and so small a space between them, they are represented as one, and this is the continuation of it:



and, behold, seven ears, &c. See Gill on "Ge 41:5".





Genesis 41:23



Ver. 23. And, behold, seven ears withered,.... Here a new epithet of the bad ears is given, and expressed by a word nowhere else used, which Ben Melech interprets, small, little, according to the use of the word in the Misnah; Aben Ezra, void, empty, such as had no grains of corn in them, nothing but husk or chaff, and observes that some render it images; for the word is so used in the Arabic language, and may signify that these ears were only mere shadows or images of ears, which had no substance in them: Jarchi says, the word, in the Syriac language signifies a rock, and so it denotes that these ears were dry as a rock, and had no moisture in them, laid dried, burnt up, and blasted with the east wind.





Genesis 41:24



Ver. 24. And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears,....

See Gill on "Ge 41:7";



and I told [this] unto the magicians; just in the same manner as he had to Joseph:



but [there was] none that could declare [it] unto me; the meaning of it; what all this should signify or portend.





Genesis 41:25



Ver. 25. And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, the dream of Pharaoh [is] one,.... Though there were two distinct dreams expressed under different images and representations, yet the meaning, sense, and signification of them were the same; one interpretation would do for both:



God hath showed Pharaoh what he [is] about to do; that is, by the above dreams, when they should be interpreted to him; for as yet he understood them not, and therefore there could be nothing showed him, but when interpreted it would be clear and plain to him what events were quickly to be accomplished: God only knows things future, and those to whom he is pleased to reveal them, and which he did in different ways, by dreams, visions, articulate voices, &c.





Genesis 41:26



Ver. 26. The seven good kine [are] seven years,.... Signify seven years, and these years of plenty, as appears from the antithesis in

Ge 41:26:



and the seven good ears [are] seven years; signify the same:



the dream [is] one; for though the seven good kine were seen in one dream, the seven good ears in another, yet both dreams were one as to signification.





Genesis 41:27



Ver. 27. And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them [are] seven years,.... Signify other seven years, and these different from the former, as follows:



and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine: or there will be seven years of famine that will answer to them, and are signified by them: Grotius, from the Oneirocritics or interpreters of dreams, observes, that years are signified by kine, and particularly he relates from Achmes, that according to the doctrine of the Egyptians, female oxen (and such these were) signified times and seasons, and if fat (as the good ones here also were) signified fruitful times, but if poor and thin (as the bad ones here were) barren times: it seems as if all this skill of theirs was borrowed from Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams here given. Josephus {l} relates a dream of Archelaus the son of Herod, who dreamed that he saw ten ears of corn, full and large, devoured by oxen; he sent for the Chaldeans and others to tell him what they signified; one said one thing and another another; at length one Simon, an Essene, said that the ears signified years, and the oxen changes of affairs, because, when they plough up the earth, they turn it up and change it; so that he should reign as many years as were ears of corn seen, and after many changes should die, as he accordingly did.



{l} Antiqu. l. 17. c. 15. sect. 3. & de Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 7. sect. 3.





Genesis 41:28



Ver. 28. This [is] the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh,.... As an interpretation of his dreams:



what God [is] about to do, he sheweth unto Pharaoh: the events of fourteen years with respect to plenty and sterility.





Genesis 41:29



Ver. 29. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. Not only a sufficiency but an abundance, even to luxury, as when the Nile rose to sixteen cubits, as Pliny observes {m}; which, though a natural cause, was owing to God, and that it should thus overflow for seven years successively, and cause such a continued plenty, can be ascribed to no other.



{m} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 9.





Genesis 41:30



Ver. 30. And there shall arise after them seven years of famine,.... Which might be occasioned by the river Nile not rising so high as to overflow its banks, as, when it did not rise to more than twelve cubits, a famine ensued, as the above writer says {n}; and it must be owing to the overruling providence of God that this should be the case for seven years running:



and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; the seven years of plenty being all spent, it should be as if it never was; the minds of men would be so intent upon their present distressed case and circumstances, that they should wholly forget how it had been with them in time past; or it would be as if they had never enjoyed it, or were never the better for it: this answers to and explains how it was with the ill favoured kine, when they had eaten up the fat kine; they seemed never the better, nor could it be known by their appearance that they had so done:



and the famine shall consume the land: the inhabitants of it, and all the fruits and increase of it the former years produced.



{n} Nat Hist. l. 5. c. 9.





Genesis 41:31



Ver. 31. And the plenty shall not be known in the land, by reason of that famine following,.... That is, before it would be over; otherwise the former plenty was in some measure known by the stores of provisions laid up in the seven years of it, and which were brought forth when the famine became very pressing; but by that time, and before the seven years of it were ended, there were no traces of the foregoing plenty to be observed:



for it [shall be] very grievous; as it was both in Egypt and in all the countries round about.





Genesis 41:32



Ver. 32. And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice,.... Or was repeated to him under different figures and images:



[it is] because the thing [is] established by God; by a firm decree of his, and is sure, and will most certainly be accomplished; of which Pharaoh might be assured, and to assure him of it was the repetition of the dream made:



and God will shortly bring it to pass: or "make haste to do it" {o}, that is, would soon begin to accomplish these events; for, as Bishop Usher {p} observes, from the harvest of this (the then present) year, the seven years of plenty are reckoned.



{o} wtvel-rhmm "festinans Deus ad faciendum", Montanus; "accelerat facere", Drusius; "festinat facere", Piscator. {p} Annal. Ver. Test. p. 15.





Genesis 41:33



Ver. 33. Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise,.... Of good judgment and conduct, of abilities equal to the execution of a scheme hereafter proposed: it can scarcely be thought consistent with the great modesty of Joseph that he meant himself, or that indeed, he ventured to give any advice at all, until it was first asked of him by the king; who being so well satisfied with the interpretation of his dreams, thought him a proper person to consult with what to be done in this case; who, as a true father of his country, as every king should be, was concerned for the good of it, and to provide against the worst for them:



and set him over the land of Egypt; not to be governor of it in general, but with a particular respect to the present case, to take care of provision for it.





Genesis 41:34



Ver. 34. Let Pharaoh do [this],.... Appoint such a person; who as a sovereign prince could do it of himself:



and let him appoint officers over the land; not Pharaoh, but the wise and discreet governor he should set over the land, who should have a power of appointing officers or overseers under him to manage things according to his direction:



and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years; not the officers appointed, but the appointer of them, the chief governor under Pharaoh, for the word is singular; it is proposed that he should, in Pharaoh's name, and by his order, take a fifth part of all the corn in the land of Egypt during seven years of plenty; not by force, which so good a man as Joseph would never advise to, whatever power Pharaoh might have, and could exercise if he pleased; but by making a purchase of it, which in such time of plenty would be bought cheap, and which so great a prince as Pharaoh was capable of. It is commonly asked, why an half part was not ordered to be took up, since there were to be as many years of famine as of plenty? and to this it is usually replied, that besides this fifth part taken up, as there might be an old stock of former years, so there would be something considerable remain of these seven years of plenty, which men of substance would lay up, as Pharaoh did; and besides, a fifth part might be equal to the crop of an ordinary year, or near it: to which may be added, that in times of famine men live more sparingly, as they are obliged, and therefore such a quantity would go the further; as well as it may be considered, that notwithstanding the barrenness of the land in general, yet in some places, especially on the banks of the Nile, some corn might be produced; so that upon the whole a fifth part might be judged sufficient to answer the extremity of the seven years of famine, and even to allow a distribution to other countries.





Genesis 41:35



Ver. 35. And let them, gather all the food of those good years that come,.... That is, let the under officers collect together the fifth part of all fruits of the land during the seven years of plenty:



and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh; as his property, and only to be disposed of by his orders; for as it was to be purchased with his money, it was right that it should be in his hands, or in the hands of his officers appointed by him, as the Targum of Jonathan:



and let them keep food in the cities; reserve it in the several cities throughout the land, against the years of famine.





Genesis 41:36



Ver. 36. And that food shall be for store to the land,.... A deposit in the said cities, to be brought forth and used in a time of public distress; the Targum of Jonathan is, it



"shall be hidden in a cave in the earth:''



against the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt: and so be a supply to the inhabitants of the land, when they should be sore pressed with a famine, and know not what to do, nor where to go for food:



that the land perish not through the famine; that is, that the people of the land perish not, as the above Targum, which, without such a provision, they would have been in great danger of perishing. Justin, an Heathen writer {q}, confirms this account of the advice of Joseph, of whom he says, that



"he was exceeding sagacious of things wonderful, and first found out the meaning of dreams; and nothing of right, divine or human, seemed unknown to him, so that he could foresee the barrenness of land many years beforehand; and all Egypt would have perished with the famine, if the king, by his advice, had not commanded an edict, that the fruits of the earth, for many years, should be preserved.''



{q} E. Trogo, l. 36. c. 32.





Genesis 41:37



Ver. 37. And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh,.... He approved of the advice Joseph gave, and of the scheme and plan which he proposed:



and in the eyes of all his servants; his nobles, ministers of state and courtiers, all highly commended and applauded it; and it was with the general and unanimous consent of all agreed that it should be put into execution: but then the next question, and the thing to be considered, was, who was a person fit to be engaged in such an affair?





Genesis 41:38



Ver. 38. And Pharaoh said unto his servants,.... That were about him, and with whom he was consulting about a proper person to be over this affair of gathering in the fruits of the earth in the time of plenty, and laying them up against a time of famine:



can we find [such an one] as this [is], in whom the Spirit of God [is]? if we search among all the ranks and degrees of men throughout the kingdom, let them be of what character they will, we shall never find a man like this, who appears to have the Spirit of God, or "of the gods", as he in his Heathenish way spoke, and which he concluded from his vast knowledge of things; and especially of things future: hence the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan interpret it, the spirit of prophecy from the Lord.





Genesis 41:39



Ver. 39. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,.... After his servants had agreed to his being the man: at least Pharaoh had declared his mind that he should be the person; which if any of them disliked, as probably might be the case of some through envy, and as desirous of the post themselves, yet durst not make any opposition to it:



forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this; the interpretation of his dreams, what would be hereafter for fourteen years to come, what was advisable to be done for the good of the nation, and had proposed a plan so well contrived and formed:



[there is] none so discreet and wise as thou [art]; and consequently none so fit for this business, since he was so divinely qualified; and Justin, the Heathen writer {r}, observes that he had such knowledge and experience of things, that his answers seemed to be given not from men, but from God.



{r} E. Trogo, l. 36. c. 32.





Genesis 41:40



Ver. 40. Thou shall be over my house,...., Have the care of his domestic affairs, and be the principal man in his palace and court:



and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled; not only in his family, but in his whole kingdom; whatever he ordered and commanded them to do, they should it, or "all my people shall kiss" {s}, that is, either their hand at the sight of him, or meeting him, in token of respect and veneration shall yield a ready and cheerful obedience to him, of which the kiss was a sign, see Ps 2:12. The Targum of Onkelos renders it, "shall be fed" {t}, supplied with corn, and with all necessary provisions, and so Jarchi interprets it; which is restraining it to that part of his office which concerned the gathering and laying up their stores for time to come; but the Targum of Jonathan is, "shall be armed" {u}; and so Aben Ezra makes him the prince or general of the army, or who had the militia at his command, and could arm them when he pleased; but it seems to denote a more large and unlimited power than either of these, even the government of the whole land under the king, who only excepts himself:



only in the throne will I be greater than thou; that is, he alone would be king, wear the crown sit upon the throne, and have all the ensigns of royal majesty, in which Joseph was to have no share; otherwise he was to have an executive power and authority over all his subjects in the land, even to bind his princes at pleasure, and to teach, instruct, and direct his senators, Ps 105:21.



{s} qvy "osculabitur", Montanus, Junius, & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt. {t} Cibabitur, Fagius; "cibum capiet", Tigurine version. {u} Armabitur, Pagninus, Munster, Drusius, Cartwright; so Kimchi.





Genesis 41:41



Ver. 41. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph,.... He continued speaking to him for the greater confirmation of what he had said, and for further explanation of it:



see, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt; not merely as the corn master general, to take care of a provision of corn in time of plenty, against a time of scarcity, but as a viceroy or deputy governor over the whole land, as appears by the ensigns of honour and dignity bestowed on him; of which in the following verses.





Genesis 41:42



Ver. 42. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand,.... Which, as it was expressive of the interest he had in his royal favour, so was a token of that high office and great dignity to which he was promoted: thus among the Romans, in later times, when anyone was put into the equestrian order, a ring was given to him {w}; for originally none but knights were allowed to wear rings; and it was sometimes used to design a successor in the kingdom, as, when Alexander was dying, he took his ring from off his finger, and gave it to Perdicca {x}, which was understood, though he did not express it, that he should be his successor, in the Apocrypha:



"14 Then called he for Philip, one of his friends, who he made ruler over all his realm, 15 And gave him the crown, and his robe, and his signet, to the end he should bring up his son Antiochus, and nourish him up for the kingdom.'' (1 Maccabees 6)



Now, though Pharaoh did not by this intend to point out Joseph for his successor in the kingdom, yet he gave him his ring as a mark of honour, and as being in place next unto his viceroy or deputy: and besides, as it is observed by many, this might be his signet, or the ring which had his seal upon it, by which he sealed patents and public deeds, and which he gave to Joseph to make use of in his name; though Schmidt doubts whether this was such a ring, since kings and princes have been used to have larger for such purposes, than what are wore on the finger: by this it appears, that Pliny {y} was mistaken that there were no rings in and before the time of Troy:



and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen; of which there was the best sort in Egypt, and which great personages used to wear:



and put a gold chain about his neck; another badge of honour and dignity, see Da 5:16.



{w} Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 33. c. 1. {x} Diodor. Sic. Bibliothec. l. 18. p. 587. Justin. e. Trogo, l. 12. c. 15. {y} Nat. Hist. l. 33. c. 1.





Genesis 41:43



Ver. 43. And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had,.... By which it appeared that he was next to Pharaoh, but not above him; as kings were wont to have more chariots than one, those were distinguished by first, second, &c. being of greater state the one than the other, see 2Ch 35:24:



and they cried before him, bow the knee; that is, his guard that attended him, when he rode out in his chariot, called to the people, as they passed along, to bow the knee to Joseph, as a token of veneration and respect; or they proclaimed him "Abrech", which Onkelos paraphrases, this is the father of the king; and so Jarchi, who observes, that "Rech" signifies a king in the Syriac language; and this agrees with what Joseph himself says, that God had made him a father to Pharaoh,

Ge 45:8. Others render it a tender father; and the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem take in both senses,



"this is the father of the king, (or let the father of the king live, so the Jerusalem,) who is great in wisdom, and tender in years:''



though rather he may be so called, because he acted the part of a tender father to the country, in providing corn for them against a time of scarcity:



and he made him [ruler] over all the land of Egypt; appointed him to be governor of the whole land, and invested him with that office, and made him appear to be so, by the grandeur he raised him to.





Genesis 41:44



Ver. 44. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I [am] Pharaoh,.... Or I am king, which the word Pharaoh signifies, as Josephus {z} says; and that this is not a proper name, but a title of office, seems plain from these words; and the sense either is, that though Pharaoh had raised Joseph to such high honour and dignity, yet he alone was king: or this he said to show his power and authority to do what he had done, and would stand by him, and support him in his office and grandeur:



and without thee shall not a man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt; which is to be taken not in a strict literal sense, but proverbially, signifying, that nothing should be done in the nation of any moment or importance, relating to political affairs, but what was by his order and authority; the hands and feet being the principal instruments of action. The Targum of Jonathan is,



"without thy word (or order) a man shall not lift up his hand to gird on armour, or his foot to mount a horse;''



signifying thereby, that all things relating to war and peace should be altogether under his direction.



{z} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 6. sect. 2.





Genesis 41:45



Ver. 45. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah,.... Which, according to the paraphrase of Onkelos, signifies one to whom hidden things are revealed; or, as Jonathan, a revealer of secrets; and so most of the Jewish writers explain it; and which seems to be given him from his interpreting Pharaoh's dreams, and revealing what was hereafter to come to pass. The word is only used in this place, at least the latter part of it and Aben Ezra confesses his ignorance of it, whether it is an Egyptian word or not; Kircher {a} most asserts it, and says it signifies a prophet (or foreteller) of future things. Though some think the first part of the name has some respect to the Egyptian idol Baal Zephon, Ex 14:2, and that, in this new name Pharaoh gave Joseph upon his promotion, he inserted the name of his god, as Nebuchadnezzar, when he gave new names to Daniel and his comparisons, Da 1:7:



and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah; not the same with Potiphar, Joseph's master, as Jarchi says, not only their, names differ, but also their offices; nor would Joseph, it is imagined, marry the daughter of such a woman, so wicked as his mistress was, and had so much abused him, and been the cause of all his troubles; nor was this Asenath the daughter of Dinah by Shechem, as some Jewish writers {b} assert, whom Potiphar's wife, having no child, brought up as her own, which is not at all probable; but an Egyptian woman, the daughter of the person before named: who was



priest of On: the same with Aven; See Gill on "Eze 30:17"; and which in Ptolemy {c} is called Onii, about twenty two miles from Memphis, and said to be the metropolis of the "Heliopolitan home"; and has been since called "Heliopolis", as it is here in the Septuagint version, which signifies the city of the sun, and is the same with Bethshemesh, the house of the sun, Jer 43:13; where, as Herodotus {d} says, the sun was worshipped, and sacrifice offered to it, and the inhabitants of this place are by him said to be the wisest and most rational of the Egyptians {e}; here Potipherah, Joseph's father-in-law, was "priest"; and Strabo {f} says, at Heliopolis we saw large houses, in which the priests dwelt; for here especially of old it was said, that this was the habitation of priests, of philosophers, and such as were given to astronomy: the Septuagint version and Josephus {g} call this man Petephre; and an Heathen writer {h}, Pentephre, a priest of Heliopolis; which a very learned man {i} says, in the Egyptian tongue, signifies a priest of the sun; and so Philo says {k}, that Joseph married the daughter of a famous man in Egypt, who had the priesthood of the sun. But the word may as well be rendered "prince" {l}, as it is when there is nothing to determine its sense otherwise, as there is none here; and it is more likely, that Pharaoh should marry his prime minister into the family of one of his princes than of his priests; this seems to be more agreeable to the high rank that Joseph was raised to, as well as more suitable to his character as a worshipper of the true God, who would not choose to marry the daughter of an idolatrous priest: though, according to Diodorus Siculus {m}, the Egyptian priests were second to the king in honour and authority, and were always about him, and were of his council; and Aelianus, says {n}, that formerly with the Egyptians the judges were priests, and the eldest of them was a prince, and had the power of judging all; and even Sethon, king of Egypt, was a priest of Vulcan: whether this prince or priest was of the king's family, or whether the kings of Egypt had a power to dispose of the daughters of their subjects, especially of their priests or princes when dead, is not certain: perhaps no more, as Bishop Patrick observes, is meant, than that Pharaoh made this match, and which was a mark of great honour and affection to Joseph; and which, if even disagreeable to him, being an idolater, he could not well refuse:



and Joseph went out over [all] the land of Egypt; either the name and fame of him, as Aben Ezra interprets it, see Mt 4:24; or rather he himself went forth in all his grandeur before related, and took a tour, throughout the whole land to observe the fruitfulness of it, and make choice of proper places to lay up his intended stores.



{a} Prodrom. Copt. p. 124, &c. {b} Targ. Jon. in loc. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 3. 2. Pirke Eliezer, c. 38. {c} Geograph l. 4. c. 5. {d} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 59. 63. {e} Ib. c. 3. {f} Geograph. l. 17. p. 554. {g} Antiqu. l. 2. c. 6. sect. 1. {h} Polyhistor. ex Demetrio apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 21. p. 424. {i} Jablonski de Terra Goshen. Dissert. 8. sect. 4. {k} De Josepho, p. 543. {l} Nhk "praesidis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "principis", Pagninus, Vatablus; so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan. {m} Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 66. {n} Var. Hist. l. 14. c. 34.





Genesis 41:46



Ver. 46. And Joseph [was] thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt,.... Interpreting his dreams, and had such honour conferred upon him as to be made his prime minister; from whence it appears that Joseph had now been thirteen years in Egypt, partly in Potiphar's house, and partly in prison, since he was seventeen years of age when he was sold thither, see Ge 37:2:



and Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh; from standing before him, and ministering to him as his counsellor and chief statesman, or he went out from his court and palace for a while:



and went throughout all the land of Egypt: this seems to be a second tour; before he went to survey the land, and pitch upon the most proper places for granaries to lay up store of corn in; and now he went through it, to gather in and give directions about it, and see it performed, for the years of plenty were now begun.





Genesis 41:47



Ver. 47. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. Such as the gatherers take up in their hands when reaped, in order to bind up in sheaves: now such was the fruitfulness of the land during the seven years of plenty, that either one stalk produced as many ears as a man could hold in his hand; or one grain produced an handful, as Ben Melech observes; though Onkelos paraphrases the words,



"the inhabitants of the earth in the seven years of plenty gathered even into their treasuries:''



and this they did by the order and direction of Joseph as he passed through the land; what he bought of them they brought, and put into the granaries, as he directed them.





Genesis 41:48



Ver. 48. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years,.... That is, of plenty; not all the fruits of the earth, or all that was eatable, but the corn, as in Ge 41:49; and not all of that the earth produced, but the fifth part of it, as he proposed, which he bought with Pharaoh's money, and therefore: had a right to sell it again as he did:



which were in the land of Egypt; in which only he had a concern, and where only was this plenty:



and laid up the food in the cities; in places built for that purpose, and whither the people round about could easily bring it, and fetch it, when it was wanted:



the food of the field, which [was] round about every city, laid he up in the same; which was very wisely done, for present carriage, and for the convenience of the people in time of famine. At this day, at old Cairo, is an edifice the most considerable in it, called Joseph's granary; it occupies a square, surrounded by a wall, and has divers partitions contrived within it, where is deposited the corn, that is paid as a tax to the Gram Seignior, brought from different parts of Egypt {o}.



{o} Norden's Travels in Egypt, &c. vol. 1. p. 72.





Genesis 41:49



Ver. 49. And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much,

until he left numbering,.... At first he took an account of the quantities that were bought and laid up, how much there was in each granary, until it amounted to so much, that there was no end of numbering it; it was like the sand of the sea, an hyperbolical expression, denoting the great abundance of it:



for [it was] without number; not only the grains of corn, but even the measures of it, whatever were used; so Artapanus, an Heathen writer, says {p}, Joseph, when governor of Egypt, got together the corn of seven years, an immense quantity.



{p} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 23. p. 430.





Genesis 41:50



Ver. 50. And unto Joseph were born two sons,.... The word for "born" is singular; hence Ben Melech conjectures that they were twins: and this was



before the years of famine came; or "the year of famine" {q}; the first year:



which Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah priest of On, bare unto him; which is observed, to show that he had them by his lawful wife; whom the Targum of Jonathan wrongly again makes the daughter of Dinah, and her father prince of Tanis, the same with Zoan; whereas this was "On" or "Heliopolis", a very different place; so Artapanus says {r}, that Joseph married the daughter of the priest of Heliopolis, by whom he had children; and another Heathen writer {s} mentions their names, Ephraim and Manesseh.



{q} berh tnv "annus famis", Tigurine version, Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius; "annus (primus) famis", Schmidt. {r} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 23. p. 429. {s} Polyhistor. apud ib. p. 424.





Genesis 41:51



Ver. 51. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh,.... Which signifies forgetfulness, as the reason of it shows:



for God, [said he], hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house; all his toil and labour in Potiphar's house, and especially in the prison; and all the injuries his brethren had done him; all this he was made to forget by the grandeur and honour, wealth and riches, power and authority he was possessed of; and indeed he had so much business upon his hands, that he had scarce time to think of his father, and his family.





Genesis 41:52



Ver. 52. And the name of the second called he Ephraim,.... Which signifies fruits or fruitfulness; and being of the dual number, may intend both his spiritual and temporal fruitfulness God had blessed him with:



for God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction; in the land of Egypt, where he had been long afflicted, even for the space of thirteen years, more or less, in his master's house, and in the prison; but God had made him fruitful in grace and good works, in holiness, humility, &c. and oftentimes afflictive seasons are the most fruitful ones in this sense. God also bestowed great gifts upon him, as skill in the interpretation of dreams, wisdom in political affairs, a large abundance of wealth, and riches, honour and glory; to which may be added, the fruit of his body, his two children.





Genesis 41:53



Ver. 53. And the seven years of plenteousness that was in the land of Egypt were ended. Perhaps quickly after the birth of Ephraim, Joseph's second son; since the account follows upon that, and it is certain that he was born before the years of famine began, Ge 41:50; some connect the words, "moreover when" the seven years of plenty were ended, then began, as follows, seven years of famine; these events were fulfilled just as Joseph had predicted.





Genesis 41:54



Ver. 54. And the seven years of dearth began to come, as Joseph had said,.... In the interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams; as soon as the seven years of plenty were over, there were quickly some appearances of the famine coming on; as particularly the river Nile not flowing to its usual height at the season of it; hence there was a drought, the earth was parched, and everything began to wither and decay, and the seed that was sown sprung not up:



and the dearth was in all lands; adjoining to Egypt, as Syria, Arabia, Palestine, Canaan, &c.



but in all the land of Egypt there was bread; which was in the hands of everyone, and remained of their old stores in the years of plenty not yet exhausted, and which continued for some time after the dearth began. It is very probable that to this seven years' drought in Egypt Ovid {t} refers, which he makes to be nine; as does also Apollodorus {u}.



{t} "Dicitur Aegyptus caruisse juvantibus arva Imbribus, atque annis sicca fuisse novem." --Ovid de Artc Amandi, l. 1. ver. 647. {u} De Deor Orig. l. 2. p. 104.





Genesis 41:55



Ver. 55. And when all the land of Egypt was famished,.... Their old stock and store eaten up, and the inhabitants ready to starve with hunger:



the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; as their common father, and knowing that he had stores of provision laid up in all cities against this time:



and Pharaoh said to the Egyptians, go unto Joseph; whom he had appointed over this business of providing and laying up corn against this time, and of distributing it:



what he saith to you, do; give the price for the corn he fixes or requires; for this was the principal thing they had to do with him, to get corn for their money.





Genesis 41:56



Ver. 56. And the famine was over all the face of the earth,.... Not over the whole world, but the land of Egypt; all the inhabitants of it were pinched with it, rich and poor; it reached all parts and all sorts of men:



and Joseph opened all the storehouses; in the several cities throughout the land where he had laid up corn:



and sold unto the Egyptians; for, as he had bought it with Pharaoh's money, it was no injustice to sell it; and as it could be sold at a moderate price, and yet Pharaoh get enough by it, being bought cheap in a time of plenty, no doubt but Joseph, who was a kind and benevolent man, sold it at such a price:



and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt; there being no overflow of the Nile year after year, and nothing left of the old stock but what was in the storehouses.







Genesis 41:57



Ver. 57. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy [corn],.... All the neighbouring nations (Syria, Arabia, Palestine, Canaan, &c.), when they heard there was corn there for money, came from all parts for it, and were glad to get it at such expense and trouble:



because that the famine was [so] sore in all lands; that there was no bread to be got for money elsewhere. It is thought by many, that for this care of Joseph in laying up provision against this time of need, and which was the preservation of the Egyptians, he was worshipped by them under various names; as the Apis, which was an ox, a sign of fruitfulness; and Serapis, sometimes figured as a young man carrying a basket of bread on his head; and Osiris, who is sometimes represented with a bushel on his head. However, this is certain, that he was an eminent type of Christ in all this, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation: as Joseph was wrongly charged by his mistress, so was Christ falsely accused by the Jews; as he was cast into prison and bound there, so Christ was taken and bound as a prisoner; as Joseph was raised to great honour and glory in Pharaoh's court, so Christ was exalted by his Father, and crowned with glory and honour; and if the new name given him, "Zaphnathpaaneah", signifies the Saviour of the world, as some interpret it, it agrees well with Christ, who was sent into the world for that purpose; and indeed, if it means a revealer of secrets, it suits with him, who hath declared his Father's mind and will, and revealed the mysteries of his grace to the sons of men: and as Joseph had all the stores of corn under his care, and the needy were bid to go to him for it, so Christ has all the treasures of grace in his hand, and all that are sensible of their need of it are directed to go to him for it; and it is from him that men of all nations and countries receive grace for grace, and have all their supplies, and spiritual sustenance and nourishment.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Genesis 42:1



INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 42



This chapter relates how that Jacob having heard there was corn in Egypt, sent all his sons but Benjamin thither to buy corn, Ge 42:1; and coming before Joseph, they bowed to him, and he knowing them, though they knew not him, spoke roughly to them, and charged them with being spies, Ge 42:6; they in their defence urged that they were the sons of one man in Canaan, with whom their youngest brother was left, on which Joseph ordered them to send for him, to prove them true men,

Ge 42:10; and put them all into prison for three days, and then released them, and sent them away to fetch their brother, Ge 42:17; this brought to mind their treatment of Joseph, and they confessed their guilt to each other, which Joseph heard, and greatly affected him, they supposing he understood them not, and before he dismissed them bound Simeon before their eyes, whom he retained till they returned, Ge 42:21; then he ordered his servants to fill their sacks with corn, and put each man's money in his sack, which one of them on the road found, opening his sack for provender, filled them all with great surprise and fear, Ge 42:25; upon their return to Jacob they related all that had befallen them, and particularly that the governor insisted on having Benjamin brought to him, Ge 42:29; their sacks being opened, all their money was found in them, which greatly distressed them and Jacob also, who was very unwilling to let Benjamin go, though Reuben offered his two sons as pledges for him, and himself to be a surety, Ge 42:35.



Ver. 1. Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt,.... That is, to be sold there, or otherwise it being there, unless it could be bought, would have been of no avail to foreigners; wherefore the Septuagint version is, that there was a sale {w} there, a sale of corn; the word has the signification of "breaking" {x} in it, because that bread corn is broke in the mill, or is broken from the heap when sold or distributed, or because when eaten it breaks the fast. Now Jacob had either seen persons passing by with corn, of whom he inquired from whence they had it, who replied, from Egypt; or he understood by the report of others that corn was to be bought there; though some of the Jewish writers would have it, as Jarchi observes, that he saw it by the revelation of the Holy Spirit:



Jacob said unto, his sons, why do ye look one upon another? like persons in surprise, distress and despair, at their wits' end, not knowing what to do, what course to take, and which way to turn themselves, and scarce able to speak to one another, and consult with each other what was proper to be done; for it seems not so agreeable that they should be charged as idle persons, careless and unconcerned, indifferent and inactive; but rather, if the other sense is not acceptable, the meaning may be, "why do ye look?" {y} here and there, in the land of Canaan, where it is to no purpose to look for corn; look where it is to be had.



{w} rby prasiv Sept. "frumentum venale", Schmidt; so Ainsworth, and the Targum of Jonathan. {x} "Fractio", Montanus, Munster, Piscator. {y} wartt hml "ut quid circumspicitis", Schmidt.





Genesis 42:2



Ver. 2. And he said, behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt,.... This explains what is meant by the phrase he saw, one sense being put for another:



get ye down thither; as fast as you can without delay; Egypt lay lower than Canaan, and therefore they are bid to go down, as when they went from thence to Canaan they are said to go up, Ge 45:25;



and buy for us from thence, that we may live, and not die; which shows the famine was very pressing, since, unless they could buy corn from Egypt they could not live, but must die.





Genesis 42:3



Ver. 3. And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. They obeyed their father's orders, and immediately set out for Egypt; "ten" of them went down in a body together, all but Benjamin, so that it is easily reckoned who they were, and they are called not Jacob's sons, as they were; but Joseph's brethren, whom they had sold into Egypt, and to whom now they were going, though they knew it not, to buy corn of him in their necessity, and to whom they would be obliged to yield obeisance, as they did.





Genesis 42:4



Ver. 4. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren,.... Benjamin is called Joseph's brother, because he was so both by father and mother's side, as the rest were not; him Jacob kept with him, being the youngest and his darling, the only son he had with him of his beloved wife Rachel; and was very probably the more beloved by him since he had been bereft of Joseph; and it was not only to keep him company that he retained him at home, but for the reason following:



for he said, lest peradventure mischief befall him; as had to Joseph his brother, as he imagined; either that the journey would be too much for him, being young, or lest he should be seized with sickness on the road, or rather with death, as Aben Ezra interprets it according to the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan.





Genesis 42:5



Ver. 5. And the sons of Israel came to buy [corn] among those that came,.... Either among the Egyptians that came to buy, or among those who came from different countries, or rather particularly among the Canaanites, as the Targum of Jonathan; with these they might join upon the road, and go together in a body where the market for corn was:



for the famine was in the land of Canaan: which obliged the inhabitants of it as well as Jacob's family to seek for corn elsewhere, and confirms the sense of the preceding clause: this, though a very fruitful land, yet when God withheld a blessing from it, it became barren, as it had been before, Ge 12:10, and was to try the faith of those good men to whom God had given it, and to wean their hearts from being set upon it, and to put them upon seeking a better country, as they did.





Genesis 42:6



Ver. 6. And Joseph [was] the governor over the land,.... Not the land of Canaan last mentioned, but the land of Egypt; under Pharaoh, he had the chief and sole authority, and especially in the affair of the corn, and the disposal of that;



[and] he [it was] that sold to all the people of the land: of Egypt, and also to all that came out of other lands; not that he in person could do all this, but by those that acted under him:



and Joseph's brethren came; to Joseph to buy corn of him:



and bowed down themselves before him, [with] their faces to the earth; not only bowed the knee as the Egyptians did, but prostrated their whole bodies, stretching out their hands and feet, and touching the ground with their faces, as was the manner of the eastern countries, at least some of them; and so of Canaan; and thus did they submit themselves to him in the most humble manner, and thereby, though without their knowledge, fulfilled his dream of their sheaves making obeisance to his sheaf, Ge 37:7.





Genesis 42:7



Ver. 7. And Joseph saw his brethren,.... Among those that came to buy corn, and when they prostrated themselves before him:



and he knew them; some of them being at man's estate, and their beards grown when they sold him, and their habits and dress now being much the same it was then, and by them he knew the younger:



but made himself strange unto them; took no notice of them as his relations, but carried himself to them as he did to other foreigners, and yet more strangely:



and spake roughly unto them; or hard {z} things or words; put on a stern countenance, and spoke with a high tone and in a rough surly manner to them:



and he said unto them, whence come ye? who are ye? of what country are ye? what is your business here?



and they said, from the land of Canaan to buy food; which they could not get in Canaan, the famine being there so great.



{z} twvq "dura", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, Piscator, Schmidt.





Genesis 42:8



Ver. 8. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. It being about twenty two years since they saw him, and then he was young, and his beard not grown, as now it was; and besides, he was clothed as a prince, and spoke the Egyptian language; and being in such great grandeur and splendour, and in such power and authority, and having such a retinue attending him, they never once thought of him, whom they supposed might be dead, having never heard of him all this time; or, however, it could not come into their minds, that he whom they sold for a slave could ever be governor of the land of Egypt.





Genesis 42:9



Ver. 9. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them,.... Their bowing and prostrating themselves before him brought to his remembrance his dreams of their sheaves making obeisance to his, and of the sun, moon, and eleven stars, doing the same to him, Ge 37:7;



and said unto them, ye [are] spies; not believing they were, nor absolutely asserting that they were such; but this he said to try them, and what they would say for themselves, and in order to lead on to further discourse with them, and to get knowledge of his father and brother Benjamin, whether living or not: he dealt with them as a judge on the bench, when examining persons, whose charges have the nature of an interrogation, as this has: "ye [are] spies"; are ye not? surely ye must be, and unless you give a better account of yourselves, I must take you up as such:



to see the nakedness of the land ye are come: what parts of it are weakest, most defenceless, and less fortified, and most easy to break in at, and invade the land; and it was not without reason that the Egyptians might suspect the neighbouring nations round about them, being in distress, and hearing of corn in Egypt, of forming a design of coming upon them and taking away their corn by force, and might be the reason why foreigners that came to buy corn were brought before Joseph and examined by him.





Genesis 42:10



Ver. 10. And they said unto him, nay, my lord,.... One in the name of the rest, or each in his turn, denying that they were spies, and addressing him with the greatest reverence and submission, calling him their lord, and thus further accomplishing his dreams:



but to buy food are thy servants come; that and no other was the errand they came upon.





Genesis 42:11



Ver. 11. We [are] all one man's sons,.... Therefore not likely to be spies; it could hardly be thought that a single family should engage in such an affair; or that one man would, send his sons as spies, and especially all of them, it being a dangerous affair, and they being liable to be taken up and put to death; and as more families than one must be concerned in such an enterprise, it is reasonable to suppose, that if they had been spies they would have been of different families, and also not together, but in different parts of the kingdom, to observe the fittest place to enter in at and execute their design:



we [are] true [men]: that spoke truth when they said they came to buy corn; were honest, upright, and sincere in what they said, nor would they, nor durst they, tell a lie:



thy servants are no spies; this they expressed in the strongest terms, and with the fullest assurance they could, detesting the charge and character of being spies.





Genesis 42:12



Ver. 12. And he said unto them, nay,.... This argument will not do, I am not to be put off with such words as these; if you can produce no better proof of your being honest men than this, or give no better account of yourselves, I must abide by it, that,



to see the nakedness of the land ye are come; this he urged in order to get a further account from them of their family and the state of it, which he was anxious to know.





Genesis 42:13



Ver. 13. And they said, thy servants [are] twelve brethren,.... Or rather, "were twelve", since one afterwards is said not to be:



the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; of Jacob, who dwelt there; this is said with the same view as before, to show the improbability of their being spies;



and, behold, the youngest [is] this day with our father: meaning Benjamin, whom Joseph was eager to hear of, and no doubt was glad to hear he was alive, and his father also, and that they were both together in the land of Canaan:



and one [is] not; is not in the land of the living, is dead; for so they thought Joseph was, who is the person intended, as appears from what both Reuben and Judah afterwards say, Ge 42:22; and yet he was before them, and was the person they were speaking to: this must be very striking and affecting to Joseph, who knew full well they meant himself.





Genesis 42:14



Ver. 14. And Joseph said unto them, that [is it] that I spake unto you, saying, ye [are] spies. This proves it, at least gives strong suspicion of it; since at first they seemed to speak of themselves, as if they were the only sons of one man and there were no more, now they speak of twelve, and make mention of one being at home with his father; but seeing he sent so many of them, why not all? why should one only be left at home?





Genesis 42:15



Ver. 15. Hereby ye shall be proved,.... Whether spies, or not, namely, by producing their youngest brother, said to be at home with his father:



by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither: the phrase, "by the life of Pharaoh", seems to be the form of an oath, as it was common with many nations, especially with the Scythians, who used to swear by the royal throne {a}, and the Romans, in later times, by the life, health, and genius of their emperor; and this custom of swearing by the life of their king, or by his head, continued with the Egyptians, as Aben Ezra says, unto his times; though some take this to be a wish or prayer for the life of Pharaoh, and render it, "may Pharaoh live" {b}, or, at most, but a strong asseveration, that as dear as the life of Pharaoh was to him, so surely they should not stir from the place where they were, unless their youngest brother Benjamin was brought thither.



{a} Herodot. Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 68. {b} herp yx "vivat Parhoh", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius; so Ainsworth and Lightfoot.





Genesis 42:16



Ver. 16. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother,.... He proposes that one of them might be sent by them to their father's house, and bring, Benjamin down to Egypt:



and ye shall be kept in prison; the rest of them till he came:



that your words may be proved, whether [there be any] truth in you; by this it would be seen whether they were men of truth and honesty or not; and should their brother be brought they would appear to be good men and true:



or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely ye [are] spies; should not their brother they spoke of be produced, it would be a plain case that they were not the honest men they pretended to be, nor did they come merely to buy corn, but had an ill intention.





Genesis 42:17



Ver. 17. And he put them all together into ward three days. In order to consult together, and agree who should be sent to fetch their brother; and which it seems probable in this length of time they could not agree upon, no one caring to be the bringer of such evil tidings to their father.





Genesis 42:18



Ver. 18. And Joseph said unto them the third day,.... His heart yearning towards them, though he put on such an appearance; finding they could not come to an agreement among themselves who should go on the errand, he thought fit to recede from his former order, and to give them another:



this do, and live: meaning what he was about to say to them, which if they punctually observed and performed, it would be the means of saving their lives:



[for] I fear God; and therefore would not do either an unjust or cruel thing. This might have given them an him who he was: but there being among the Gentiles, in all nations, some few that feared God, they took no further notice of it than this, that they might expect just and equitable dealings by him; since, though he was in such an high place, he knew and owned there was one higher than he, to whom he was accountable.





Genesis 42:19



Ver. 19. If ye [be] true [men],.... As you say you are:



let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison; agree among yourselves which of you (for one of you must) remain in prison where you are: and the rest being set at liberty,



go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses; Joseph, though he dealt with them after this manner to get what knowledge he could of his family, and to get sight of his brother, yet was concerned for the good of them and theirs, lest they should be in extreme want through the famine, and that they might have a speedy supply of corn, was not willing to detain them any longer.





Genesis 42:20



Ver. 20. But bring your youngest brother unto me,.... Upon their return for more corn:



so shall your words be verified; that they were true men, and had no ill design upon the land, but were come only to buy corn:



and ye shall not die; as spies, which they were otherwise threatened with; and as it is customary in all nations to put such to death when found out:



and they did so; they left one of their brethren behind; they carried corn to their houses or families in Canaan, and brought their brother Benjamin with them when they returned to Egypt.





Genesis 42:21



Ver. 21. And they said one to another,.... Before they went out of the prison, at least while in the presence of Joseph:



we [are] verily guilty concerning our brother; meaning Joseph, whom they had sold for a slave, and who they supposed was dead through grief and hard servitude; and now being in trouble themselves, it brings to mind the sin they had been guilty of, which, though committed twenty two years ago, was still fresh in their memories, and lay heavy on their consciences; for length of time neither makes sin less, nor the conscience lighter, when it is revived and charged home upon it, and which was aggravated particularly by the following circumstance:



in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; when in the utmost agony, with trembling limbs, and quivering lips, and floods of tears, as they stripped him of his coat, he most earnestly and importunately requested of them they would not put him into the pit, and leave him there; and in the same manner entreated them they would not put him into the hands of strangers, but restore him alive to his father; but they turned a deaf ear to all his cries and entreaties, and hardened themselves against him:



therefore is this distress come upon us; the same measure that was measured by them to him, was now measured to them again, and they were dealt with according to "lex talionis": they cast Joseph into a pit, and now they were committed to a prison; they would not attend to his cries and tears, and the anguish of his soul did not move their pity, and now he is inexorable to them, and will not at least appear to have any compassion on them, or show pity to them; and perhaps their being dealt with in this similar way brought to their remembrance what they had done.





Genesis 42:22



Ver. 22. And Reuben answered them,.... Being the eldest, and who had been most concerned for the life of Joseph, and most tender and careful of him:



saying, spake I not unto you, saying, do not sin against the child,

and ye would not hear? it seems by this that Reuben endeavoured to dissuade his brethren from selling Joseph, when they first proposed it, to which they would not attend; since it is certain they did hearken to him as not to kill him directly, as they first consulted, and they hearkened to him to cast him into a pit, where he did not intend he should continue, but till he had an opportunity of taking him out, and returning him to his father: but it seems probable that Reuben was with them when they first spied the Ishmaelites, and proposed to sell Joseph to them, which he objected to, and entreated they would not do it; and perhaps he went out from them, and took a circuit, with a view to get to the pit and take Joseph out, but before he got thither his brethren had taken him out, and sold him: or this may refer to the general advice he always gave them, to do nothing that might endanger the life of Joseph, or be the means of his death, which selling him for a slave he supposed had been:



therefore, behold, also, his blood is required; the Targum of Jonathan adds, "of us"; they were accessary to his death, and guilty of it; for Reuben supposed he was dead, and now they must suffer for it, as a just retaliation, being threatened with death unless they could clear themselves.





Genesis 42:23



Ver. 23. And they knew not that Joseph understood [them],.... For what is above related they spoke in his presence and hearing; but speaking to one another in the Hebrew language, and he being an Egyptian, as they took him to be, they did not imagine that he could understand them, and therefore were not at all upon their guard in what they said: and what confirmed them in this was,



for he spake unto them by an interpreter; which he the rather chose to do, that they might have no suspicion of him; and which shows, that though there was a likeness between the Hebrew language and the Egyptian in many things, yet in some they differed, and the difference was such that there was need of an interpreter, where the parties did not understand both languages: this interpreter between Joseph and his brethren, according to the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, was Manasseh, the eldest son of Joseph, and so Jarchi; which is very improbable, he being but a child at this time, if not an infant; see

Ge 41:50.





Genesis 42:24



Ver. 24. And he turned himself about from them, and wept,.... Hearing his brethren confess their sin and guilt to one another in selling him, and Reuben's affectionate concern for him, it wrought so much upon his affections, being naturally of a tender spirit, that he could no longer act the part he had, and keep up the sternness and severity of his countenance; wherefore he turned his face from them, that they might not discern it, and his back upon them, and went into another room: and after he had given vent to his passion, and composed himself,



and returned to them again, and communed with them; upon the same subject, of going with their corn to Canaan, and bringing their youngest brother with them upon their return, and promising moreover, for their encouragement, a free traffic in the land of Egypt,

Ge 42:34:



and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes; who perhaps was the most cruel and hardhearted among them; and it appears from the affair of Shechem, that he was a man of a fierce and bloody disposition. According to Jarchi, it was he that said to Levi, on sight of Joseph, behold this dreamer cometh; and that it was he that cast him into the pit; and, as the Targum says, advised to kill him: and perhaps Joseph might pitch upon him as the hostage, not only because he had used him more evilly than the rest, but because he might observe he was less concerned, and not so much humbled now for the evil he had done as the rest were; as also he might choose to detain him, as being not so much in his father's affection, because of the affair of Shechem, and so be a less affliction to him than if it was another; and besides, he might fear that being of a perverse and boisterous disposition, he would vehemently oppose the sending of Benjamin into Egypt, which Joseph was so very desirous of: and he bound him in their presence to terrify them, and let them know what they must expect if they did not obey his orders, and the more to humble them for the sin they had been guilty of, and was now upon their minds; though perhaps, as Jarchi observes, when they were gone he let him out, and gave him food and drink; or however might give him some liberty, and use him with mildness and gentleness.





Genesis 42:25



Ver. 25. Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn,.... Which was as much as they came for:



and to restore every man's money into his sack; the money paid by each for his quantity of corn delivered to him, not into the person's hands, but to be put into his sack privately, and unknown to him;



and to give them provision for the way; sufficient both for themselves and for their cattle, that they might carry the whole of what corn they bought to their families:



and thus did he unto them; that is, not Joseph, but his steward or deputy, or however the servant that he gave the above order to.





Genesis 42:26



Ver. 26. And they laded their asses with the corn,.... Cattle very fit to carry burdens, and no doubt they had each of them one at least:



and departed thence; from the place where Joseph was, and from the land of Egypt.





Genesis 42:27



Ver. 27. And as one of them opened his sack,.... According to the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi, this was Levi; but Aben Ezra thinks it is more likely to be Reuben the firstborn, who was one, that is, the first of them:



to give his ass provender in the inn; at which they lay very probably the first night of their journey; a good man regards the life of his beast, and takes care of that as well as of himself, and generally in the first place:



he espied his money; the money which he paid for his corn:



for, behold, it [was] in his sack's mouth; just as he opened it.





Genesis 42:28



Ver. 28. And he said unto his brethren, my money is restored,.... The money paid for the corn is returned:



and, lo, [it is] even in my sack; this put them all upon opening their sacks, where every man found his money, though not expressed, see

Ge 43:21:



and their heart failed [them]; through surprise and fear; or "went out" {c} front them, as it were, they were ready to faint and swoon away:



and they were afraid; their consciences being awakened, and loaded with the guilt of their former sins, they were afraid that more evil was coming upon them for them; and that this was a scheme laid to entrap them, and that they should be pursued and seized, and fetched back, and charged with a fraud and trick, as going off with their corn without paying for it:



saying one to another, what [is] this [that] God hath done unto us? for whoever was the instrument, they concluded the overruling hand of divine Providence was in it, for the further chastisement and correction of them for their iniquity: instead of being thus frightened and distressed, it is very much it did not give them suspicion of Joseph, that he was the person they had been conversing with, and that he had done this in kindness to them; but their minds were so pressed with the guilt of their sin, that they were possessed of nothing but fears and dreadful apprehensions of things, and put the worst construction upon them they could, as men in such circumstances usually do, even fear where no fear is, or no occasion for it.



{c} Mbl auyw "et exiit cor eorum", Montanus, Drusius, Piscator, Schmidt.





Genesis 42:29



Ver. 29. And they came unto Jacob their father, unto the land of Canaan,.... Without being pursued and fetched back, or retarded in their journey as they might fear:



and told him all that befell unto them; chiefly what befell them while in Egypt:



saying, as follows.





Genesis 42:30



Ver. 30. The man, [who is] the lord of the land,.... Of Egypt; not the king, but the deputy governor of it, whose authority under Pharaoh was very great, and reached to the whole land, and all political affairs, and especially what related to the corn, and the sale of it; he, say they,



spake roughly to us; gave them hard words, and stern looks, and used them in a very rough manner, see Ge 42:7;



and took us for spies of the country; laid such a charge against them, and treated them as such; or "gave" them {d}, committed them to prison as such.



{d} Ntyw "et dedit", Pagninus, Montanus, Schmidt; "[sive] tradidit", Fagius, Vatablus.





Genesis 42:31



Ver. 31. And we said unto him, we [are] true [men],.... Honest, upright men, not given to treacherous and treasonable practices, either in the country where they lived, or any other; they came to Egypt with no ill design upon the country, only to buy corn for the relief of their families in necessity:



we are no spies; or never were {e}: they had never been guilty of such practices, and never charged with anything of that kind; they denied the charge, and detested the character.



{e} wnyyh al "non fuimus", Montanus; "nunquam fuimus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt.





Genesis 42:32



Ver. 32. We [be] twelve brethren, sons of our father,.... All brethren by the father's side, though not by the mother's, and by one father; they had been twelve, and were so now, though they knew it not, supposing that one was dead, as is next observed:



one [is] not; is not alive, but dead; the Targum of Jonathan is,



"what is become of one we know not''



and the youngest [is] this day with our father in the land of Canaan; see Ge 42:13.





Genesis 42:33



Ver. 33. And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, hereby shall I know that you [are] true [men],.... This will be a proof and demonstration of it:



leave one of your brethren [here] with me; as an hostage; they do not say "bound in the prison", Ge 42:19, as Joseph did, because they would not grieve their father, at least would not tell him of it at once, lest it should too much affect him:



and take [food for] the famine of your household, and be gone; that is, corn for the relief of their families, being distressed with a famine.





Genesis 42:34



Ver. 34. And, bring your youngest brother unto me,.... Their brother Benjamin:



then shall I know that you [are] no spies, but [that] you [are] true [men]; he knew they were no spies now, but true, honest, upright men, with respect to any designs upon the country; but then he should own and acknowledge them to be such, having such plain proof that what they said was true:



[so] will I deliver your brother; their brother Simeon, who was left bound; though this circumstance they also here studiously conceal from their father:



and ye shall traffic in the land; not only for corn, but for any other commodity Egypt furnished its neighbours with.





Genesis 42:35



Ver. 35. And it came to pass, as they emptied their sacks,.... Both those in which were the corn they had bought, and those in which were their provender for their cattle, and provision for themselves:



that, behold, every man's bundle of money [was] in his sack; the same purse, and the same pieces of money, gold or silver, they had paid to the steward:



and when [both] they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid; the Targum of Jonathan adds,



"because of Simeon, whom they had left there;''



fearing that they should he charged with theft or fraud, and that Simeon would be put to death; they had opened their sacks before, and found their money in them, but put it up again as it was, in order to open them in their father's presence, from whom they thought proper to conceal this circumstance, lest he should blame them for not returning to the governor with their money upon the first notice of it, when they had travelled but one day's journey; wherefore they make no mention of it in the account of things that befell them, and express their surprise and fear upon finding it when they opened their sacks, as if they had known, nothing of it before; though it may be their fears were renewed and increased by what Jacob might observe to them, as the consequence of it, which they had not so thoroughly considered before.





Genesis 42:36



Ver. 36. And Jacob their father said unto them, me have ye bereaved [of my children],.... Which looks as if Jacob suspected that they had either sold or slain Joseph, and had done one or the other by Simeon:



Joseph [is] not, and Simeon [is] not: neither of them were with him, and both were given up by him as dead, or, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it,



"of Joseph ye have said an evil beast hath devoured him; and Simeon, ye say, the king of the country hath bound him;''



as for Joseph he knew not but he was dead, he feared he was; and as for Simeon, he being in the hands of so rough a man as they had represented the lord of the land to be, and especially as his release depended upon sending Benjamin, which he was determined at present not to do; he was reckoned by him as a lost or dead man:



and ye will take Benjamin [away]; they were desirous of it, and what their design was he could not tell; he seems to have a strong suspicion that it was not good:



all these things are against me; against his will, his peace, and comfort, and happiness, though they were all working and would work as they did for his good, and for the good of his family, for the preservation of it during the seven years of famine; or are "upon me" {f}, as heavy burdens, too heavy for him to bear, ready to sink him down to the earth.



{f} yle "super me", Montanus, Schmidt; "[vel.] in me", V. L. Vatablus.





Genesis 42:37



Ver. 37. And Reuben spoke unto his father,.... Being the eldest son, it most property lay upon him to make answer to his father in the name of his brethren, and to offer a word of comfort to him:



saying, slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee; meaning not Simeon, who was in Egypt, but Benjamin, whom it was proposed to take thither, and whom Jacob was very loath to part with; and to persuade him to it Reuben offers to him, and gives him leave to slay his two sons, or rather two of his sons {g}, since he had four, Ge 46:9; if he did not bring Benjamin again to him: this was a strange proposal, for what were two sons of his to his own son, so exceedingly beloved by him? besides, to lose his own son, and to have two of his grandchildren slain, would have been an increase of his sorrow and grief, instead of being an alleviation of it; but Reuben's meaning was, not that his children should be slain, but this he says, to show that he would be as careful and solicitous for the return of Benjamin as if the life of two sons of his lay at stake, and was so confident of it that he could risk the life of them upon it, who were as dear to him as one Benjamin was to his father:



deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again; he undertook to be responsible for him.



{g} ynb ynv ta "duos filiorum meorum", Piscator; so Ainsworth.





Genesis 42:38



Ver. 38. And he said, my son shall not go down with you,.... He gives a peremptory denial; this was his then present resolution and determination:



for his brother is dead; meaning Joseph, Benjamin's own brother by father and mother's side; him he supposed to be dead, such circumstances being related and produced, which made it highly probable, and he had not heard anything of him for twenty two years:



and he is left alone; Benjamin being the only surviving child of his dearly beloved Rachel, as he thought:



if mischief befall him by the way in which ye go; that is, to Egypt, whether by thieves and robbers, or by the fatigue of the journey, or by any means whatever, so that he loses his life. All the Targums interpret this mischief of death:



then shall ye bring down my gray heirs with sorrow to the grave; the sense is, should this be the case he should never lift up his head, or have any more comfort in this world, but should pass his time with continual sorrow until his gray head was laid in the grave, or till he came to the state of the dead.



 

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