CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 42:6. Governor.] “The word rendered governor, Shalit, is, except here, said to be only found in the books contemporary with and following the Captivity. Salatis is given by Josephus as the title of the first shepherd-king.”—(Alford.)—
Genesis 42:9. Spies.] “This dynasty, we are told by Manetho, was ever in fear of invasion from the then powerful Assyrians, and Josephus says that on that account they fortified the eastern side of Egypt. Hence men arriving from Asia, and especially Jacob’s sons, who from their Chaldaic origin were more like the eastern Semitic peoples than Canaanites, might well arouse suspicion as to their being Assyrian spies.”—(Alford).—The nakedness of the land. Its unfortified cities, unprotected boundaries—exposed as a man unarmed, having fewer strong places than any other countries.—
Genesis 42:15. By the life of Pharaoh.] The Egyptians swore by the life of their kings. There are similar instanced among the Hebrews themselves. (1 Samuel 17:55; 2 Samuel 11:11.) A similar form is found in the address of Abigail to David. (1 Samuel 25:36.)—
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 42:3-20
THE FIRST JOURNEY OF JACOB’S BRETHREN INTO EGYPT
I. They show evident signs of fear. Therefore they go together in a company, ten strong, that by their numbers they might encourage and support one another. (Genesis 42:3).
II. Their worst forbodings are fulfilled. They dreaded Egypt, and events justified their fears.
1. They are received roughly. (Genesis 42:7.) Joseph acted the part of a foreigner, and treats them with a heartless and haughty indifference. With their peculiarities of feature, attitude, and mother tongue, he knew them. But they did not know him; for twenty years had made a great change in a youth of seventeen. Besides, his beard was shaven, he had on Egyptian attire, and spoke in a foreign tongue, and above all was found in such an exalted position. Therefore they failed to recognise him. This rough reception had dark suggestions for them. Their conscience read it as the beginning of sorrows.
2. They are suspected of evil designs. “Ye are spies,” said Joseph, “to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.” (Genesis 42:9.) The suspicion which Joseph expressed was unfounded, and he knew it to be so. But he was acting a part for the purpose of bringing their guilt home to them. He disguised, for the time, under a hard aspect a loving design. Yet his suspicion (even though it be regarded as expressing no real conviction on his part), expresses a righteous judgment—a stern moral fact, that guilty men who conceal a crime demanding open atonement, must ever encounter suspicion as a reflex of their evil secret. They felt that, though not in form, yet in reality that suspicion was justified.
3. They are threatened with the prospect of imprisonment and death. (Genesis 42:15; Genesis 42:20.) They must remain in ward until their words be proved. And if unable to verify them, their lives were to be forfeited.
III. Great principles of God’s moral government are illustrated in this history.
1. That pride is sure to meet with a fall. In Genesis 42:6 we are told that “Joseph’s brethren came and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.” Where were now those lofty looks, and that contemptuous tone with which they said—when Joseph had told them one of his dreams—“Shalt thou then indeed reign over us, or shalt thou have dominion over us?” They now bow themselves with the most abject humility before that very man of whom they said, on another occasion, “Come, let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”
2. That nothing can hinder the counsel of the Lord from taking effect. Joseph’s brethren tried their utmost to prevent the fulfilment of his dreams; but all the while they were really working towards this very end. They were accomplishing the will of God concerning Joseph though they knew it not. They knew not how wonderful is the Lord of Hosts in counsel, and how excellent in working.
3. That the crisis will arrive when the wicked must appear before the judgment seat of the pious. The time will come when the oppressors and the oppressed must meet together. The saints shall judge the world by their very position, for righteouness carries in itself the condemnation of sin. The highest form of this truth is “that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10). We must all come into the presence of Jesus Christ the Righteous, who will make manifest what we really are and appoint us our true place.
4. That retribution, even in kind, follows sin. Joseph was hated of his brethren for being his father’s spy, and now the time has come when they themselves are treated as spies. He who was hungry when they were eating now holds the food for which they hunger. They condemned Joseph to the pit, and now he judges them. That same thing which a man sows he also reaps.
5. That throughout the severity of God’s righteous anger against sin there runs a purpose of mercy. Joseph put on a stern demeanour. (Genesis 42:7.) He must bring his brethren to a sense of their sin by lifting the rod of justice against them. And yet he feels more distress than the objects of his chastisement. He is like a wise and just father who feels compelled to punish his son, though all the time it goes sore against his heart. A merciful intention must often wear this hard aspect. Joseph afflicted his brethren for their good. He disguises his private feelings, and acts for the time with stern justice. But when the harsh remedy had wrought its end, then he relents, and the prevailing kindness of his nature is free to flow. And so God loves us, yet with a love which does not shrink from severity. But the purpose which underlies all His dealings is kind. He wounds only in order that he might heal. “He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger for ever. (Psalms 103.)
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 42:3-4. The family is spoken of in their relation to Joseph, not as Jacob’s ten sons, but as Joseph’s ten brethren. He is the hero of the narrative. Benjamin was Joseph’s brother in a special sense, as born of the same mother, and beloved by the father in Joseph’s stead, so that he could not bear to part with him for fear the like calamity might fall upon him as befell Joseph. How little does Jacob know what is good or evil in Providence!—(Jacobus).
The guilt of Benjamin’s brothers seems to weigh upon the father’s heart as a kind of presentiment.—(Lange).
Genesis 42:5. The expression sons of Israel, instead of sons of Jacob, points to Israel the man of faith, whose children they were, who accompanied them with his prayers, and for whose sake, though he knew it not, this journey to Egypt, so dark in its commencement, became a blessing to them all.—(Lange).
Genesis 42:6. They bowed down themselves before him, etc. This fulfils most literally the dream of Joseph, which up to this time had seemed so impossible to human view. Joseph had doubtless rested in the confidence of this result as thus revealed to him, and had felt it his duty to wait patiently upon God through his long years of trial.—(Jacobus).
Genesis 42:7-8. What must have been his feelings! The remembrance of the manner in which he parted from them two and twenty years ago, the events which had befallen him, their prostration before him, and the absence of Benjamin, from which he might be apprehensive that they also had made away with him,—altogether must have been a great shock to his sensibility. Let him beware, or his countenance will betray him. He feels the danger of this, and immediately puts on a stern look, speaks roughly to them, and affects to take them for spies. By this innocent piece of artifice, he could interrogate them, and get out of them all the particulars that he wished without betraying himself, which he could not have done by any other means.—(Fuller.)
God sometimes brings us to a sense of our sins by hiding Himself from us, and standing afar off.
He did not allow his personal feelings to interfere with what seemed to him his duty. Joseph’s love to his brethren was a noble love. God’s love to us is still nobler, and severity accompanies it. It does not shrink from human suffering, for suffering is necessary for the man’s well being.—(Robertson.)
Genesis 42:9. Such an imputation as this remains to this day, that to which a stranger is continually exposed in the East. The Orientials generally have no idea that people will make a journey unless from urgent necessity, or on gainful speculations. Curiosity, or the desire of collecting information, are motives perfectly incomprehensible to them, and are always treated as shallow and childish pretences. They ask triumphantly whether you have no trees, birds, animals, rivers, or ruins at home to engage your attention, that you should come so far to look for them.—(Bush.)
This is the Oriental method of challenging a stranger. In truth it is the very idea of the European passport system, which puts every traveller under so much suspicion of mischievous intent as to put him constantly upon the proof of an honest and good object in his visit.—(Jacobus.)
He was not only to bless, but also to punish and judge, i.e., become forgetful of all human relations and act divinely. A similar position God assumes towards believers when in tribulation. Let us, therefore, hold assuredly that all our misfortunes, trials, and lamentations, even death itself, are nothing but a hearty and fair display of the Divine goodness towards us.—(Luther.)
Joseph remembered the dreams. Event is the best interpreter of Divine oracles. The disciples understood not many things at first that our Saviour said to them. (John 2:22; John 12:16.) So John Baptist’s preaching wrought not for some years after it was delivered, and then it did. (John 10:41-42.)—(Trapp.)
Genesis 42:10-13. It was not likely that ten sons of one man would be sent on the hazardous duty of spies. And behold the youngest is with our father this day. It is intensely interesting to Joseph to hear that his father and his full brother are still living. And one is not. Time has assuaged all their bitter feelings, both of exasperation against Joseph, and of remorse for their unbrotherly conduct. This little sentence, however, cannot be uttered by them, or heard by Joseph, without emotion.—(Murphy.)
Genesis 42:14-16. Send one of you. This proposal is enough to strike terror into their hearts. The return of one would be a heavy, perhaps a fatal, blow to their father. And how can one brave the perils of the way? They cannot bring themselves to concur in this plan. Sooner will they all go to prison, as accordingly they do. Joseph is not without a strong conviction of incumbent duty in all this. He knows he has been put in the position of lord over his brethren in the fore-ordination of God, and he feels bound to make this authority a reality for their moral good.—(Murphy.)
Genesis 42:17-20. Here they lie three days; a period which afforded him time to think what to do, and them to reflect on what they had done. On the third day he paid them a visit, and that in a temper of more apparent mildness. He assures them that he has no design, upon their life, and ventures to give a reason for it which must appear to them no less surprising than satisfying: I fear God. What, an Egyptian nobleman know and fear the true God! If so, they can have no injustice to fear at his hands! nor can he withhold food from a starving family. The fear of God will ever be connected with justice and humanity to man. But how mysterious! If he be a good man, how is it that he should treat us so roughly? How is it that God should suffer him so to mistake our designs? Their hearts must surely at this time have been full. Such were the means which God by this wise man made use of to bring them to repentance. This indeed is His ordinary method of dealing with sinners. Now their fears are awakened by threatnings, or adverse providences, in which death sometimes stares them in the face; and now a little gleam of hope arises, just sufficient to keep the mind from sinking; yet all is covered with doubt and mystery. It is thus, as by alternate frost and rain, and sunshine upon the earth, that He humbleth the mind, and maketh soft the heart of man.—(Fuller.)
The true God had not been altogether forgotten in Egypt. Pharaoh had already confessed Him. (Genesis 41:38-39.)
This mention of the fear of God would have a two-fold effect upon these men.
1. Encouragement. They would thus be assured that they would be dealt with by a higher principle than expediency or political considerations, even by the just law of heaven. Joseph served the same God in whom their fathers trusted.
2. Alarm. The mention of God’s name would serve to bring home to him a conviction of their sin.
The only permanent and true basis of morality is the fear of God.