40 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If ye [be] true [men],.... As you say you are: let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison; agree among yourselves which of you (for one of you must) remain in prison where you are: and the rest being set at liberty, go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses; Joseph, though he dealt with them after this manner to get what...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But bring your youngest brother unto me,.... Upon their return for more corn: so shall your words be verified; that they were true men, and had no ill design upon the land, but were come only to buy corn: and ye shall not die; as spies, which they were otherwise threatened with; and as it is customary in all nations to put such to death when found...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they said one to another,.... Before they went out of the prison, at least while in the presence of Joseph: we [are] verily guilty concerning our brother; meaning Joseph, whom they had sold for a slave, and who they supposed was dead through grief and hard servitude; and now being in trouble themselves, it brings to mind the sin they had been...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Reuben answered them,.... Being the eldest, and who had been most concerned for the life of Joseph, and most tender and careful of him: saying, spake I not unto you, saying, do not sin against the child, and ye would not hear? it seems by this that Reuben endeavoured to dissuade his brethren from selling Joseph, when they first proposed it, to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they knew not that Joseph understood [them],.... For what is above related they spoke in his presence and hearing; but speaking to one another in the Hebrew language, and he being an Egyptian, as they took him to be, they did not imagine that he could understand them, and therefore were not at all upon their guard in what they said: and what...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he turned himself about from them, and wept,.... Hearing his brethren confess their sin and guilt to one another in selling him, and Reuben's affectionate concern for him, it wrought so much upon his affections, being naturally of a tender spirit, that he could no longer act the part he had, and keep up the sternness and severity of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn,.... Which was as much as they came for: and to restore every man's money into his sack; the money paid by each for his quantity of corn delivered to him, not into the person's hands, but to be put into his sack privately, and unknown to him; and to give them provision for the way; sufficient...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they laded their asses with the corn,.... Cattle very fit to carry burdens, and no doubt they had each of them one at least: and departed thence; from the place where Joseph was, and from the land of Egypt.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And as one of them opened his sack,.... According to the Targum of Jonathan and Jarchi, this was Levi; but Aben Ezra thinks it is more likely to be Reuben the firstborn, who was one, that is, the first of them: to give his ass provender in the inn; at which they lay very probably the first night of their journey; a good man regards the life of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said unto his brethren, my money is restored,.... The money paid for the corn is returned: and, lo, [it is] even in my sack; this put them all upon opening their sacks, where every man found his money, though not expressed, see Genesis 43:21: and their heart failed [them]; through surprise and fear; or "went out" (c) front them, as it were,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they came unto Jacob their father, unto the land of Canaan,.... Without being pursued and fetched back, or retarded in their journey as they might fear: and told him all that befell unto them; chiefly what befell them while in Egypt: saying, as follows.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The man, [who is] the lord of the land,.... Of Egypt; not the king, but the deputy governor of it, whose authority under Pharaoh was very great, and reached to the whole land, and all political affairs, and especially what related to the corn, and the sale of it; he, say they, spake roughly to us; gave them hard words, and stern looks, and used...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And we said unto him, we [are] true [men],.... Honest, upright men, not given to treacherous and treasonable practices, either in the country where they lived, or any other; they came to Egypt with no ill design upon the country, only to buy corn for the relief of their families in necessity: we are no spies; or never were (e): they had never been...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
We [be] twelve brethren, sons of our father,.... All brethren by the father's side, though not by the mother's, and by one father; they had been twelve, and were so now, though they knew it not, supposing that one was dead, as is next observed: one [is] not; is not alive, but dead; the Targum of Jonathan is, "what is become of one we know not''...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, hereby shall I know that you [are] true [men],.... This will be a proof and demonstration of it: leave one of your brethren [here] with me; as an hostage; they do not say "bound in the prison", Genesis 42:19, as Joseph did, because they would not grieve their father, at least would not tell him...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And, bring your youngest brother unto me,.... Their brother Benjamin: then shall I know that you [are] no spies, but [that] you [are] true [men]; he knew they were no spies now, but true, honest, upright men, with respect to any designs upon the country; but then he should own and acknowledge them to be such, having such plain proof that what they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, as they emptied their sacks,.... Both those in which were the corn they had bought, and those in which were their provender for their cattle, and provision for themselves: that, behold, every man's bundle of money [was] in his sack; the same purse, and the same pieces of money, gold or silver, they had paid to the steward: and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Jacob their father said unto them, me have ye bereaved [of my children],.... Which looks as if Jacob suspected that they had either sold or slain Joseph, and had done one or the other by Simeon: Joseph [is] not, and Simeon [is] not: neither of them were with him, and both were given up by him as dead, or, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Reuben spoke unto his father,.... Being the eldest son, it most property lay upon him to make answer to his father in the name of his brethren, and to offer a word of comfort to him: saying, slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee; meaning not Simeon, who was in Egypt, but Benjamin, whom it was proposed to take thither, and whom Jacob was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said, my son shall not go down with you,.... He gives a peremptory denial; this was his then present resolution and determination: for his brother is dead; meaning Joseph, Benjamin's own brother by father and mother's side; him he supposed to be dead, such circumstances being related and produced, which made it highly probable, and he had...