36 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Genesis 43 This chapter informs us how that the famine continued in the land of Canaan, and the corn that Jacob's family had from Egypt being consumed, Jacob pressed his sons to go down for more, which they refused to do, unless Benjamin was sent with them, for whose safety Judah offered to become a surety, Genesis 43:1; Jacob with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the famine [was] sore in the land. In the land of Canaan; it increased yet more and more: this is observed for the sake of what follows, showing the reason and necessity of Jacob's sons taking a second journey into Egypt.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Here the story of Joseph's brethren is carried on, and very particularly related. I. Their melancholy parting with their father Jacob in Canaan, ver. 1-14. II. Their pleasant meeting with Joseph in Egypt, ver. 15, &c. For on this occasion nothing occurs there but what is agreeable and pleasant. Jacob Unwilling to Part with Benjamin. (b. c. 1707.)...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt,.... Which, in so numerous a family as Jacob's was, having so many children, grandchildren, and servants, what nine men on so many asses could bring with them must be consumed in a short time, how long cannot be said; no doubt they lived sparingly on it in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Judah spake unto him,.... Reuben the eldest son had met with a repulse already, Genesis 42:36; Simeon the next was now in Egypt, Genesis 42:24, and Levi, perhaps on account of the affair of Shechem, Genesis 34:25, did not yet stand well in his father's favour and affection; wherefore Judah being next, with the consent of his brethren,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If thou wilt send our brother with us,.... Give orders for his going with us, and put him under our care: we will go down and buy thee food; signifying, on the above condition, that they were ready and willing to take a journey into Egypt, and buy provisions for him and his family, otherwise not.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But if thou wilt not send [him], we will not go down,.... This they said not as undutiful, and from a spirit of rebellion and disobedience to their father, or of stubbornness and obstinacy, but because they durst not go down, nor could they with any safety; they might expect to be taken up as spies, and put to death as they were threatened; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Israel said,.... In answer to the speech of Judah: wherefore dealt ye [so] ill with me; had done that which brought so much evil upon him, gave him so much grief and trouble, and threw him into such perplexity and distress, that he knew not what to do, or course to take: [as] to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother? which he thought was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they said,.... Not Judah only, in the name of the rest, but each of them in turn, being all charged with doing an ill thing: the man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred; or "in asking asked" (h); very particularly and closely, putting many questions to us, who we were? to whom we belonged? of what family we were? and inquired...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Judah said unto Israel his father, send the lad with me, and we will arise and go,.... Directly to Egypt for corn; Judah calls Benjamin a lad, because the youngest brother, and tenderly brought up by his father, who had an affectionate fondness for him as if he had been a child; otherwise he must be thirty two years of age, for he was seven...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I will be surety for him,.... Engage for his safe return: of my hand shall thou require him; I will be answerable for him: if I bring him not to thee, and set him before thee: do not return him from Egypt, and bring him to Canaan, into his father's house and presence safe, and sound: then let me bear the blame for ever; of persuading his father to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For except we had lingered,.... Delayed going down to Egypt, through the demur Jacob made of tending Benjamin with them: surely now we had returned this second time; they would have made their journey to Egypt, and returned again with their corn, and their brother Benjamin too, as Judah supposed, before this time; so that by these delays they were...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And their father said unto them,.... Being in some measure convinced by their reasonings, and in part at least reconciled to let Benjamin go with them, there being nothing to be done, he perceived, unless he consented to it: if [it must be] so now, do this; if nothing else will do but Benjamin must go, which after all he was reluctant to, then he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And take double money in your hand,.... Than what they carried before, either to buy as much more as they then did; or rather because of the greater scarcity of corn, as Jarchi observes, which made it doubly dearer; for this seems to be different from the money they are also bid to take in return for that found in their sacks, which was a third...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Take also your brother,.... Their brother Benjamin, committing him into their hands and to their care, hereby declaring his consent and willingness that he should go with them: and arise, go again to the man; the governor of Egypt, to buy corn of him.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God Almighty give you mercy before the man,.... Who has the hearts of all men in his hands, kings, princes, governors, even those who are the most cruel and hardhearted, rough and severe in their tempers and dispositions, and such an one they had represented this man to be; one that had spoke roughly to them, and used them roughly: Jacob...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the men took the present,.... Their father directed them to: and they took double money in their hand; besides what they found in their sacks mouths, which they also carried with them: and Benjamin; they took him likewise with their father's leave: and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph; presented themselves to him, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them,.... Whom he knew, though he had not seen him twenty two years, and though he must be very much altered, being but about ten years of age when Joseph was said into Egypt, yet being with the rest of his brethren, whom he knew very well, concluded it must be him: he said to the ruler of his house; his steward,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the man did as Joseph bade: and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. Showed them the way to it, and introduced them into it, and led them into some apartment in it, and ordered every thing to be got ready for dinner as his master had bid him, being a diligent and faithful servant: at old Cair is shown to travellers (y) the house of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house,.... It not being usual, as Jarchi observes, for those that came to buy corn to lodge there, but at an inn in the city: and they said, because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; to examine and inquire of them how they came to go...