42:1,2Why was grain so valuable in those days? As a food source it was universal and used in nearly everything eaten. \t could be dried and stored much longer than any vegetables, mitk products, or meat. It was so important that it was even used as money.
Life Application Study BibleGenesisChapter 42
Genesis 42
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original pages: 79, 80, 81
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42Genesis 42
Joseph's Brothers Go to Egypt
14 When Jacob heard that grain was available in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you standing around looking at one another? 2I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy enough grain to keep us alive. Otherwise we'll die.” 3So Joseph’s ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. 4But Jacob wouldn't let Joseph’s younger brother, Benjamin, go with them, for fear some harm might come to him. 580 Jacob’s* sons arrived in Egypt along with others to buy food, for the famine was in Canaan as well. 6Since Joseph was governor of all Egypt and in charge of selling grain to all the people, it was to him that his brothers came. When they arrived, they bowed before him with their faces to the ground. 7Joseph recognized his brothers instantly, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where are you from?” he demanded. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We have come to buy food.” 8Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they didn't recognize him. 9And he remem- (2:8 370 bered the dreams he’d had about them many years before. He said to them, “Youare spies!,..4 You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become.” Gen 42:16, 30-34 10"No, my lord!” they exclaimed. “Your servants have simply come to buy food. 11We are 42:10 all brothers—members of the same family. We are honest men, sir! We are not spies!” neat 12"Yes, you are!” Joseph insisted. “You have come to see how vulnerable our land has Gen 42:19, 31-34 become.” 13“Sir,’ they said, “there are actually twelve of us. We, your servants, are all brothers,sons 42:13 of a man living in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is back there with our father Seo. deal right now, and one of our brothers is no longer with us.” 14But Joseph insisted, “As I said, you are spies! 15This is how I will test your story. I swear Bt 3-9 by the life of Pharaoh that you will never leave Egypt unless your youngest brother comes here! 16One of you must go and get your brother. I'll keep the rest of you here in prison. Then we'll find out whether or not your story is true. By the life of Pharaoh, if it turns out that you don’t have a younger brother, then I’ll know you are spies.” 17S Joseph put them all in prison for three days. 18On the third day Joseph said to them, 42:17 “I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you will live. ‘If you really are honest men, Gen 40:4 choose one of your brothers to remain in prison. The rest of you may go home with grain for Con 0-11 your starving families. 20But you must bring your youngest brother back to me. This will Lev 25:43 prove that you are telling the truth, and you will not die.” To this they agreed. Cin oad: 43:18 21Speaking among themselves, they said, “Clearly we are being punished because of what 42:21 we did to Joseph long ago. We saw his anguish when he pleaded for his life, but we wouldn't Gen 37:23-28, listen. That's why we're in this trouble.”, 22"Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy?” Reuben asked. “But you wouldn't listen. And now we have to answer for his blood!” 23Of course, they didn’t know that Joseph understood them, for he had been speaking to them through an interpreter. 24Now he turned away from them and began to weep. When he regained his composure, he spoke to them again. Then he chose Simeon from among them and had him tied up right before their eyes. 25Joseph then ordered his servants to fill the men’s sacks with grain, but he also gave se- ee8 cret instructions to return each brother’s payment at the top of his sack. He also gave them, supplies for their journey home. 26So the brothers loaded their donkeys with the grain and headed for home. 27But when they stopped for the night and one of them opened his sack to get grain for his donkey, he found his money in the top of his sack. 28“Look!” he exclaimed to his broth- 42:28 ers. “My money has been returned; it’s here in my sack!” Then their hearts sank. Trembling, Gen 43:23 they said to each other, “What has God done to us?” 29When the brothers came to their father, Jacob, in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them. 30“The man who is governor of the land spoke very 42:30 harshly to us,” they told him. “He accused us of being spies scouting the land. 31But we said, Gen 42:7 ‘We are honest men, not spies. 32We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One brother is Gen 42:11 no longer with us, and the youngest is at home with our father in the land of Canaan.’ 42:32 33Then the man who is governor of the land told us, ‘This is how I will find out if youare Gen 42:18 honest men. Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take grain for your starving families and go on home. $4But you must bring your youngest brother back to me. Then I will 42:34 know you are honest men and not spies. Then I will give you back your brother, and you may Gen 34:10 trade freely in the Jand.’” 35As they emptied out their sacks, there in each man’s sack was the bag of money he had 42:35 paid for the grain! The brothers and their father were terrified when they saw the bags of Gen 43:12, 15, 18 money. 36Jacob exclaimed, “You are robbing me of my children! Joseph is gone! Simeon is G3 S14: gone! And now you want to take Benjamin, too. Everything is going against me!” 44:20-22 a 42:22 Gen 9:6; 37:21-22 42:24 Gen 43:14, 23 37Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I don’t bring Benjamin back to you. I'll be responsible for him, and I promise to bring him back.” 38But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down with you. His brother Joseph is dead, and he is all I have left. If anything should happen to him on your journey, you would send this grieving, white-haired man to his grave.*”
Textual footnotes
- also in 41:50. 41:51 Manasseh sounds like a Hebrew term that means “causing to forget.” 41:52 Ephraim sounds
- like a Hebrew term that means “fruitful.” 42:5 Hebrew /srael’s. See note on 35:21.
- 42:38 Hebrew to Sheol.
Life Application Notes 7 notes
42:1-3When God called him, Abram moved out in faith from Ur to Haran and finally to Canaan. God then established a covenant with Abram, telling him that he would found a great nation. Not only would this nation be blessed, God said, but the other nations of the earth would be blessed through Abram’s descendants. tsrael, the nation that would come from Abram, was to follow God and influence those with whom it came in contact. Through Abram’s family tree, Jesus Christ was born to save humanity. Through Christ, people can have a personal relationship with God and be blessed beyond measure.
42:4Jacob was especially fond of Benjamin because he was Joseph’s only full brother and—as far as Jacob knew—the only surviving son of his beloved wife, Rachel. Benjamin was Jacob’s youngest son and a child of his old age.
42:7Joseph could have reveated his identity to his brothers at once. But Joseph’s last memory of them may well have been staring in horror at their faces as slave traders carried him away. Were his brothers still evil and treacherous, or had they changed over the years? Joseph decided to put them through a few tests to find out.
42:8,9Joseph remembered his dreams about his brothers bowing down to him (37:6-9). Those dreams were coming true! As a young boy, Joseph had been boastful about his dreams. As aman, he no longer flaunted his superior status. He did not feel the need to say, “I told you so.” It was not yet time to reveal his identity, so he kept quiet. Sometimes it is best to remain quiet, even when we would like to have the last word.
42:15Joseph was testing his brothers to make sure they had not been as cruel to Benjamin as they had been to him. Benjamin was his only full brother, and he wanted to see him face to face.
42:22Reuben couldn't resist saying, “I told you so.” He thought they were being punished by God for what they had done to Joseph. Apparently the intervening years had not lessened their guilt Selling Joseph into slavery amounted to death in their minds, for they surely never expected to see him again.