Let one of your brethren be bound
Lessons
1.
To prove truth among national parties, it is not unequal to give hostages.
2. Hostages being taken it is but equal that parties have liberty to manifest truth.
3. Nature will not, much less grace, dispatch hungry men without food.
4. Bread-corn is the break-neck of hunger (Genesis 42:19).
5. Reasonable testimonies of truth may be peremptorily demanded of suspected persons.
6. Justification and security are to be afforded to men of truth.
7. It is reasonable for men under trials to yield to just terms for deliverance (Genesis 42:20). (G. Hughes, B. D.)