Genesis 42

Notes on the verses

Chap. XLII. Ver. 1—20. Jacob sends his sons to buy corn.— “Behold, this dreamer cometh,” said Joseph’s brethren, when he went to visit them in Dothan; and, behold, now his unkind and unnatural brethren come to Egypt, unwittingly, to fulfil his dreams! Joseph was thirteen years in Egypt before his promotion, and great part of that time had been spent in the deepest affliction, and the most humiliating circumstances. Even his character had been reproached, and he wore the Geddes, Boothroyd, Clarke; for the latter, Parkhurst, and others. But the ven. XV. 8. cone explains it, ‘Father of the king;” which seems countenanced by Ver. 44. I am Pharaoh.—That is, “I am king;” for so the name is agreed to mean.—No man shall lift hand or foot.—The Chaldee explains this, “Without thy word shall not a man lift up his hand: to hold a weapon, nor his foot to ride a horse,” &c.—Ainsworth. Ver. 45. Zaphnath-paaneah.—The margin explains this, “A revealer of secrets,” or, “one to whom secrets are revealed.” So the Chaldee, the Greek, and Oriental versions, and the Rabbins generally. Jerome makes this name to mean, “Saviour of the world;” but this, says Dr. Clarke, is “worthy of no regard.” — Potipherah, priest of On.—This is evidently not the Potiphar to whom Joseph was sold, but the high-priest of On; in Greek, Heliopolis; (the City of the Sun,) so that he was an idolater. These high-priests were, however, princes, (so margin,) and were the chief persons in the cities where they resided; and those of On were the most learned in the country.—Ainsworth. Chap.

XLII. Ver. 1. Jacob saw,—i.e. heard, from the report of others, that there was plenty in Egypt. The operations of one sense are frequently put for those of another in Hebrew.—Bagster. Ver. 6 Governor.—[Shallit, an intendant, protector, ruler, from shalat, to be over as a protector, to rule: hence the Arabic salita, to obtain and exercise dominion, rule; and sultan, ruler, lord, prince, and king.]—Bagster. Ver. 9. Ye are spies.—‘Suspicions of this kind are still entertained by the Arabs of foreign travellers. Dr. Shaw says that “the Arabs take every stranger to be a spy who comes to examine their country….. But this excuse is not seldom a mere pretence for extortion; so that travellers find themselves exactly in the same situation as Joseph’s brethren;”

Rosenmuller gives several instances of threatenings being employed for that purpose. Ver. 11. We are all one man’s sons, &c.—By this they suggested the impossibility of their being spies, since no man in his wits would send so many, and all his own sons, upon so dangerous an enterprise.—Bp. Patrick. Ver. 15. By the life of Pharaoh.—Hanway says, the most sacred oath among the Persians is, “By the king’s head.” But this was not strictly an oath, but a solemn protestation, as in (1 Samuel 20:3)% and elsewhere; and so Reuben appears to have understood it: see ch. xliii. 3. “Dr. Boothroyd renders it, “As Pharaoh liveth.” Ver. 23. Interpreter.—[Heb. an interpreter was between them:—the matlitz, does not seem to have been an interpreter in our sense of the term; as we have many evidences in this book that the Egyptians, Hebrews, Canaanites, and Syrians, could understand each other in a general way; and it appears from several passages in this very chapter, (particularly verse 24.) that Joseph and his brethren understood each others’ language, as did brethren and Joseph’s steward also did.

(ch. xliii. 19, &c.; compare ch. xxxix. and xlix.) It seems to denote an officer who is called, in Abyssinia, according to Bruce, Kal Hatze, “the voice or word of the king,” who always stands at the side of a lattice window of a balcony, within which the king sits; who is never seen, but who speaks through a hole in the side of it, covered in the inside with a curtain, to this officer, by whom he speaks to the persons present.—Bagster. Ver. 27. In the inn.—[Malon, from loon, to stay, abide, lodge, denotes any place to stay and lodge in, particularly a place where travellers usually stop to lodge, which is generally near a well, where they fill their girbehs, or leathern bottles, with fresh water, and having unladen and clogged their camels, slaves, &c., permit them to crop any little verdure there may be in the place, keeping watch over them by turns. Our word inn here gives us a false idea—there was no such places of entertainment in the desert which Joseph’s brethren had to pass; nor are there any at the present day; the only accommodation such a place affords is either a well, or a khan or caravanserai, which is generally no more than four bare walls, perfectly exposed, the place being open at the top, and furnishing a wretched lodging: and even these, it is probable, were not in use at this early period.]—Bagster. Ver. 23. Heart failed them.—(Heb. went forth.) This refers to the spasmodic affection which is felt in the breast at any sudden alarm or fright.

Among the common people in our own country, an expression exactly alike is used on similar occasions: ‘My heart seemed to leap out at my mouth.’—Bagster. Ver. 36. Things against me.—[Alay hayoocullanah, literally, ‘upon me are all these things:” not badly rendered by the Vulgate, ‘all these evils fall back upon me;” they lie upon me as heavy loads, hastening my death; they are more than I can bear.]—Bagster. Ver. 38. My gray hairs.—Hebrew, “grayness, or hoariness.” Chap. XLII. Ver. 3. The man did solemnly protest.—Hebrew, “Protesting he protested.” The same form of expression occurs ver. 7. “asking he asked us;” and “knowing could we know?” It is indeed a very common Hebraism. Ver. 11, A little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds.—It is not easy to ascertain the precise nature of the articles here enumerated, though Scheuchzer seems to have exhausted the subject, in his Physica Sacra.

The first article seems to have been a fragrant gum; by spices, the Hebrews meant perfumes; and the nuts, probably Pistachio nuts: the whole were doubtless of the choicest quality, and what might be esteemed rarities in Egypt. See Dr. Clarke. Ver. 14. God give you mercy.—[Dr. A. Clarke renders this verse: “And God, the All-sufficient, shall give you tender mercies before the man, and send to ease your other brother, and Benjamin: and I, as I shall be childless, so I shall be childless:” i.e. I shall submit to this privation, till God shall restore my children to me. He considers this verse as spoken prophetically, and that God, at this time, gave Jacob a supernatural evidence that his children should be restored.”]—Bagster. If I am bereaved, &c.—Margin, And “I, as I have been,” &c. but the text is preferable, though the words “of my children,” seem unnecessarily supplied. Ver. 18. Seek occasion against us.—Hebrew, “Roll himself upon us:” i.e. overwhelm us. [A metaphor taken from wrestlers; when a man has overthrown his antagonist, he rolls himself upon him, in order to keep him down.]—Bagster. Ver. 21. In the mouth of his sack.—Chardin says, the Hebrew term here used does not mean the sacks in which their corn was stowed, but those used for the baggage. ‘They were made of coarse woollen, and guarded with leather,’ —Harmer. Ver. 23. I had your money.—{Heb. your money came to me.—Caspechem ba atlai, “your money comes to me:”

as I am the steward, the cash for the corn belongs to me. Ye have no occasion to be apprehensive of any evil; the whole transaction is between myself and you; receive therefore the money as a present from “the God of your father,” no matter whose hands he employs to convey it.]—Bagster. Ver. 27. He asked them of their welfare.—The Hebrews comprised every blessing and peace: The original therefore reads, “He asked them of their peace,” and said, “Is there peace to your father,” &c. Ver. 31. Set on bread.—The word bread is certainly used here, and very early in the sense of provisions. So we are taught to pray for “daily bread.” In this case, we know the steward was ordered “to kill a killing;” i.e. prepare animal food. Ver. 32. For the bed Lahorte: might not eat bread with the Hebrews.—The Chaldee version, attributed to Onkelos, explains the reason of this to be, “because the Hebrews eat animals considered as sacred by the Egyptians;” namely, in particular, the cow; hence shepherds, who kept kine, as well as sheep and goats, were an abomination to the Egyptians. See (Exodus 8:26). “The same is the case with the Hindoos, who hold the cow sacred. They see with horror Christian Europeans kill and eat the cow; they therefore consider every vessel or utensil which they use in eating, to be defiled as soon as it is touched by a European.” —Reports of Danish Missionaries. “Among the Hindoos, (even) different castes will not eat food cooked in the same vessel.”—Ward’s Hindoos.

Ver. 34. Benjamin’s mess was five times as much as any of theirs.—The manner of eating among the ancients was, not for all the company to eat out of one dish, but for every one to have one or more dishes to himself. The whole were set before the master of the feast, and he distributed to every one his portion.—Stackhouse. Sir J. Chardin says, ‘In Arabia, Persia, &c. the great men of the state are always served by themselves in the feasts made for them, and with greater profusion, their part of each being always double, treble, or a larger proportion of each kind of meat.’ See Dr. Clarke.