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1 When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2 And he said, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may live and not die.” 43:8; Acts 7:12 3 So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “Lest some calamity befall him.” 43:38; 44:12 5 And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 12:10; 26:1; Acts. 7:10
As it was told in the previous chapter: the famine fell upon the face of the whole earth (Gen. 41:56), verse five seems to make it plain that the sons of Jacob traveled to Egypt with a caravan of people from all over Canaan, and not just by themselves. It might have been one of these caravans coming back from Egypt (Full of grain), that passed by the way of Jacob, where Jacob “saw” (H7200), these caravans going to and fro from Egypt, to purchase grain and bring back to Canaan. In my opinion, it is one of these caravans that passes by Jacob on the way to Egypt to purchase grain, they stop to rest at his family’s encampment, where they tell their story to him and his sons about the abundance of grain in Egypt, In verse one Jacob asked his sons, “why do you look at one another?” As if to say to them, “We have seen these caravans going to Egypt with their sacks empty, and then come back months later full of grain.’ why do you quarrel amongst yourselves as to what to do?” So Jacob sends all his sons except for the youngest (and in his mind), the only Son left alive,who was born from the woman he loved the most in life (Rachel), with the exception of his mom Rebecca, or maybe even Deborah. (See my commentary on Deborah in Genesis chapter 35), for my explanation of why I include her as one of the women in Jacobs life that he holds near and dear to his heart). Jacob could not bear it if he lost Benjamin. The boy in whom his wife Rachel died giving birth to. Jacob loved Rachel so much, and I can’t help but think that when he looks at Benjamin he sees Rachel. Rachel named Benjamin Ben-Oni (H1126), son of her sorrow, for until Benjamin’s birth Rachel was very sorrowful that she had not given Jacob more sons. So when Benjamin was born it took her sorrow away. However Jacob could not bare to call him by that name so he renamed him Benjamin (H1144), the son who sits at Jacob’s right hand. No way! would Jacob take the chance that the same evil that fell upon Joseph, would fall upon him as well. Jacob makes the statement in verse two, “That we may live and not die” in regards to purchasing grain for them. This is a very interesting statement to me. I will leave it at that for now, and will discuss this in more detail in Genesis chapter forty three.
6 Now Joseph was Governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. v. 9; 37:5-11
The referenced verses Gen. 37:5-11 take us back to the time when Joseph had his two dreams. As Joseph once asked,”Do not interpretations belong to God? (Gen. 40:8), ” when Joseph told his brothers, and his father of the dreams he had, all of them rightfully interpreted the dreams of Joseph, but it is God who gave Joseph the dreams, and who gave the interpretation of them to him, his brothers and father. They asked Joseph, “Should you have dominion, or reign over us? Not only that, but in Joseph’s first dream, ironically enough, (or is it really ironic when we consider that it is God who is prophesying the future through his servant Joseph?), God used sheaves of grain in this dream to show how it would come about(That his brothers would bow down before him). It is because of the scarcity of Grain which caused them to come to Egypt in the first place.
7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. Then he said to them, “Where do you come from?” and they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.” 8 So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.
It has been at least twenty years since his brothers and he last saw each other. Joseph was a boy when they sold him into slavery, and now he has become a man. It wasn’t just the aging that caused his brothers not to recognize him but it was also the way he was dressed, his hair style, and even his countenance that made it impossible for his brothers to recognize him: The Egyptian leaders of the time wore wigs, put makeup on their faces (Just like women do), and because Joseph was second to the Pharaoh he probably wore a headdress called a Nemes, that was pleated. (See Eternal Egypt: clothing of ancient Egyptian Pharaoh), Put all this together and it would be impossible for his brothers to recognize him. And to top it off, the brothers bowed to Joseph with their faces to the earth. Joseph, as we will see is going to test his brothers. He does not identify himself to them right off; on the contrary, he speaks to them in a rough tone of voice, humbling them, so to speak.
9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!” v.6; 37:5-11
Upon seeing his brothers bowing, (with thier faces to the earth), he then remembers his dreams of the brothers sheaves bowing to his sheave, and of the 11 stars, the sun, and moon, all bowing to him (Gen. 37:5-11). Joseph accuses them of being spies from another land, and then interestingly, he says they have come to see the nakedness of the land. It is interesting to me that Joseph uses the word “Nakedness” to describe what it is that his brothers have come to spy on. The Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon number for nakedness is (H6172), shame, disgrace, or uncleanliness, are but a few definitions of this word. The word Nakedness is also derived from the Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon number (H6168), meaning to make bare, demolish, leave destitute. In the context of this verse, this definition would be more appropriate. I would propose to the reader that both definitions are appropriate here depending on which way you are looking at it. you could look at it in a figuratively manner, or in a causative sense. For the purpose of my studies, and the fact that the KJV+ uses the Strong’s number (H6172) to define this word, I will look at this word in a spiritually figurative manner. What is the shame, disgrace, or uncleanliness, that Joseph could be talking about? In my opinion it is the culture itself in which the Egyptians live in. They worship many gods and not the one true God. Joseph has been living in Egypt now for over 20 years and he has seen firsthand the way the people of Egypt live. Take for instance the time when Potipher’s wife wanted to lay with him (Adultery), and then falsely accuse Joseph of attacking her (Breaking two of God’s commandments), Remember what Joseph said to her as she was seducing him, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). Because Joseph was married to the daughter of a priest of the sun god Ra, he probably witnessed many pagan rituals such as Idol worship (Which is also breaking the 2nd commandment of God), This had to disgust Joseph seeing these kind of practices. To him, this “WAS” unclean, shameful, and a disgrace to the God of his fathers Abraham and Jacob. Not only that, but the fact that the way he was dressed, in the manner of these unclean people, may have made him feel ashamed to be seen by his brothers and look as he did (his nakedness was exposed to them). There is nothing in the bible that supports my reasoning on why Joseph used this kind of terminology (Nakedness), it is just my way of looking at this verse in a more spiritual manner. I will leave it up to the reader to decide for themselves if there could be any validity to my comments on the subject.
10 And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.” 11 “We are all one man’s son’s; we are honest men; your servants are not spies!” 12 But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
When Joseph was seventeen, and he told his brothers of his dreams, they asked in a mocking way, “Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?” (Gen. 37:8), by calling Joseph lord, and describing themselves as his servants, unbeknownst to them, they have answered their own question. The brothers tell Joseph that they are honest men. No! Joseph shouts back, in the back of his mind he is probably remembering how they treated him while he was in the well, and then sold him into slavery. No joseph will not let them off that easily, he will humble them before he reveals himself.
13 And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.” 44:20 14 But Joseph said to them, “It is as I spoke to you, saying, ‘You are spies!’ 15 “In this manner you shall be tested: By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 “Send one of you, and let him bring your brother; and you shall be kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether there is any truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies!” 17 So he put them all together in prison three days. 37:36; 39:20
Joseph is going to test his brothers through his younger brother Benjamin. Joseph is not testing the brothers to see if they are spies. In my opinion he is testing their hearts. He tells them that one of them will go back and bring Benjamin to him while the others stay in prison. But he doesn’t choose which brother they will send, he will let them sit in prison for three days and let them decide amongst themselves which one should bring Benjamin back. Joseph is hoping that for these next three days they will have time to reflect, and think about what they did to him. When they sold Joseph to the merchants, the merchants were heading to Egypt to sale and trade. They must have known that Joseph would have been sold to the Egyptians. Now here they are, twenty years later in the same predicament they put Joseph in. I believe Joseph hopes that guilt and fear will weigh heavily on their minds. Guilt for what they did to him, and fear that one of them will have to go back, face their father, and tell him what has become of the others. And maybe worst of all, ask his father Jacob to place Benjamin in his hands, and take him back to Egypt with him, so that all the others brothers would be allowed to come back home. The comment Jacob made in verse four, before he sent his ten sons to Egypt, that he would not let Benjamin go with them, “For fear that some calamity may befall him,” tells me that he has had his suspicions, or at least, did not trust that his sons would take care of Benjamin. Woe! to the one who would have to now go and face the wrath of his father alone.
18 Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God: 22:12; 31:42; Ex. 1:17; Prov. 1:7 19 “If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. 20 “And bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. v.34; 43:5; 44:23
After three days Joseph returns to his brothers and the first thing he says, “Do this and live, for I fear God.” Given them reassurance that if they just do what he tells them to do they will be fine, because he fears God so much, that if he were to not keep his word, God would bring his wrath down upon him. Instead of just one brother going to bring Benjamin back (like he first told them they would have to do), Joseph now tells them that it will be just the opposite, and only one will stay in prison, while the other nine brothers go back to the land of Canaan and bring Benjamin, and he reassures them one more time that if they do this they will live.
21 Then they said to one another,”We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.” 22 And Rueben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.” 23 But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. 24 And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. 43:30; 45:1;, 2, 14, 15
We are not told in the scriptures of the full conversations between the brothers. Suffice is enough for what is revealed in the hearts of these men. Their guilt for the sin they committed against Joseph has probably been festering for a long time (Over twenty years), and it has now come to a head. The brothers confess their sins to one another not knowing that Joseph is the man they have been paying obeisance to all this time. The brothers acknowledge that the roosters have come home to roost, and feel that their blood must now be offered up to cover their sin (Heb. 10:5),true to God’s word; Our sins are so great in front of Him that it requires a payment of blood to wash them away (Heb 10: 10), Jesus’s precious blood has not been spilled yet, but Joseph is in the midst of them, ready to forgive them, for what they did to him, and as we will see, that he does indeed forgive them (Gen. 50: 15-21) Just as Jesus did when he hung from the tree on the great and terrible day (Luke 23:34), in the book of Luke it goes on to say that they parted his raiments, and cast lots for it. The brothers here stripped Joseph of his coat before putting him in the pit, and put blood on it to show their father, so as to try and hide their own sin, but just as the sacrifice of bulls and goats cannot take away our sins, the blood of the goat that the brothers put on Joseph’s coat cannot take away the sin they committed against God (Heb 10:3,4). Joseph cannot contain himself any longer, He must go away from them so he can pour his heart out in tears. Joseph returns to them and chooses Simeon as the scapegoat (If you will), who would stay behind, and be the sacrifice for their sin, if they do not return again to Joseph accompanied with Benjamin. Maybe it was something the brothers said in their conversations between themselves that revealed Simeon as the instigator who provoked his brothers against Joseph, or it could have been that Joseph saw Simeon instigating and leading the way when they sold him into slavery. Simeon is known to be a man of cruelty and fierce anger (Gen. 49: 5-7). It was Simeon (along with his brother Levi), who instigated and lead his brothers to deal treacherously with the people of Shechem when the prince of Shechem defiled their sister Dinah ( Gen. 34:25-29).
25 Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. thus he did for them. 26 So they loaded their donkeys with grain and departed from their. 27 But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack. v.35; 43:21,22 28 So he said to his brothers, “My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”
Joseph did not leave his brothers empty handed for their journey back home. Not only did he give them grain to take back to their family, but he also gave extra provisions for the trip, and to top that off, he secretly returned their money to them. On the way home one brother finds the money in his sack, and then Upon returning to the land of Canaan, and in the presence of their father, the brothers discovered the money in their sacks, they feared that God had done this to them, maybe as a payment of retribution for their sins. After all, how could the money still be in their possessions after being in prison for three days, never allowing an opportune time for one of them to take the money back? Only God could have done such a thing. They feared that Joseph (who they do not know is Joseph), would maybe punish Simeon, or come after them for stealing the money they gave to him, or both.
29 Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: 30 “The man who is Lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. 31 “But we said to him, “We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 “We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ 33 “Then the man, the Lord of the country, said to us, “By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. 34 “And bring your youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.'”
The brothers have been down this road once before: when they returned home without Joseph after selling him to the Ishmaelites. However this time is different, this time they are being truthful to their father about the fate of Simeon. Unlike the way they deceived their father, and hid the truth to him about Joseph. They were not honest men then, and in a sense they are still not fully honest with their father. In verse twenty one, the memory of how they treated Joseph long ago was resurfacing in their hearts and minds. With this in mind, it can only be haunting them even more so on their trip back from Egypt. You would think that out of the nine brothers, one of them would have the courage, and the conscience, to stop living a lie, and come clean with their father about Joseph when they returned home. But none did. They were silent on the matter (which is why I said earlier that they weren’t being fully honest with their father), “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” Joseph is a very wise man, and when he heard them confess their sin to one another about him, maybe he was hoping they would take that guilt back with them and finally confess to their father their sin. Maybe this is why Joseph changed his mind about how many would go back and return with Benjamin. And this could also be another explanation as to why he chose Simeon to stay behind (Knowing that he is an instigator and deceitful man), with him out of the picture, the brothers would be more apt to come clean with their father. But again they do not say a word about Joseph. Little do they know, that one day it will come up and bite them in the butt! (John 8:32, 34).
35 Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly each man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. v.27; 43:21, 22 36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.” 43:14
Apparently only one brother discovered the money in his sack while they were on the road heading home. After discovering the money none of the other brothers went to see if they had money in their sack as well, Why? we don’t know, I will just leave it at that. By now they must be thinking to themselves that Simeon is dead” Jacob himself even says Simeon is no more, in the same context when speaking of Joseph’s fate. Jacob cannot bare the thought of sending Benjamin to Egypt thinking that it would be the last time he ever would see Benjamin, ALIVE! again.
37 Then Rueben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”
Rueben (The eldest son), speaks up and offers up his own two sons life if he does not return with Benjamin. We must remember that it was Rueben who tried to save Joseph’s life when the other brothers wanted to kill him. Rueben is also the one who said to his brothers that Joseph’s blood is required of them because of what they did to him. The guilt that is consuming Rueben for the things he had done is eating him alive. even though he tried to keep his brothers from killing Joseph, and had no part in wanting to kill him, nor sell him off to the Ishmaelites, He feels guilty and ashamed for leaving Joseph in the pit, going away, and not taking Joseph with him. He also shares responsibility for deceiving his father in the cover up of what actually happened to Joseph. Ruben is just as guilty as the others and he knows it; so much so that he is willing to offer up his own two sons life if he does not return with Benjamin.
38 But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.” 43:13, 14
All the pleading by Rueben does not convince Jacob to trust his sons. and decides not to send his them back to Egypt with Benjamin. Benjamin and Joseph are true brothers, born out of the womb of one woman (Rachel), The wife that Jacobs has always truly loved even though she is no longer alive. This is why Jacob states that Benjamin is alone. The other brothers were born from three different mothers, and therefore are only stepbrothers to Benjamin. It may even be that after Joseph’s death Benjamin becomes the son Jacob loves the most. After all the name Benjamin literally means “Son of the right hand (H1144), and this would turn the brothers jealousy of Joseph now to Benjamin. I personally think Jacob has never believed the story his sons told him about Joseph’s death. Knowing their jealousy of him, Jacob is fearful of what could happen to Benjamin if he was left to the demise of his other sons. When Joseph was presumed dead by Jacob, Jacob tore his clothes, his family tried to console him, yet he said to them, “For I will go down into the grave to my son mourning.” And his father wept for him.” (Gen. 37:35), Jacob has never gotten over the death of Joseph and still mourns his loss. Rachel has been gone for approximately thirty years now, after her death, the two sons she bore to him were his livelihood, the loves of his life (Not that he didn’t love his other sons), but Joseph and Benjamin he holds near and dear to his heart. Joseph is no more, if Benjamin were to die, Jacob himself would die, if not physically, mentally for sure. ” If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.” vs. 38 Jacob is pouring out his heart to his sons, and it is very telling of the affection he has for Benjamin and Joseph.