Genesis 42

Genesis 42

Genesis 42:1 When Jacob saw that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you stare at one another?”

Genesis 42:2 He said, “Notice, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and purchase grain for us there, so that we may live and not die.”

Genesis 42:3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to purchase grain in Egypt.

Genesis 42:4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers, because he said. “or else something bad might happen to him.”

Genesis 42:5 So the sons of Israel came to purchase among the others who came, because the famine was in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 42:6 Joseph dominated the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed before him with their faces to the ground.

Genesis 42:7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to purchase food.”

Genesis 42:8 So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

Genesis 42:9 And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them. And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the vulnerability of the land.”

Genesis 42:10 They said to him, “No, my lord, your slaves have come to purchase food.

Genesis 42:11 We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your slaves have never been spies.”

Genesis 42:12 He said to them, “No, it is the vulnerability of the land that you have come to see.”

Genesis 42:13 And they said, “We, your slaves, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and notice, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more.”

Genesis 42:14 But Joseph said to them, and this is what he said “It is as I told you. You are spies.

Genesis 42:15 This is how you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

Genesis 42:16 Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.”

Genesis 42:17 And he put them all together in custody for three days.

Genesis 42:18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, because I fear God:

Genesis 42:19 if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households,

Genesis 42:20 and bring your youngest brother to me. So, your statements will be verified, and you will not die.” And they did so.

Genesis 42:21 Then they said to one another, “Certainly we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his throat, when he sought our favor and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

Genesis 42:22 And Reuben answered them, and this is what he said “Did I not tell you not to fail the boy? But you did not listen. So, notice there comes a reckoning for his blood.”

Genesis 42:23 They did not know that Joseph understood them, because there was an interpreter between them.

Genesis 42:24 Then he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

Genesis 42:25 And Joseph gave orders, and they filled their bags with grain. He also commanded them to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.

Genesis 42:26 Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and left.

Genesis 42:27 But when one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he noticed his money in the mouth of his sack.

Genesis 42:28 He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; I noticed it in the mouth of my sack!” Their hearts failed them when they discovered this, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

Genesis 42:29 When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, and this is what they said,

Genesis 42:30 “The man, lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and thought that we were spies of the land.

Genesis 42:31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies.

Genesis 42:32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’

Genesis 42:33 Then the man, lord of the land, said to us, ‘This is how I will determine that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way.

Genesis 42:34 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will give your brother back to you, and you will trade in the land.'”

Genesis 42:35 When they emptied their sacks, notice, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid.

Genesis 42:36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. Everything is going against me.”

Genesis 42:37 Then Reuben said to his father, “If I do not bring him back to you, you can kill my two sons. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

Genesis 42:38 But he said, “My son will not go down with you, because his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If injury should happen to him on the trip that you are to take, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”

Genesis 42 quotes:

“Prove you are a child of God. First, accept what God has said. Second, accept God’s alternative offer— His substitute for you. Third, accept totally the guilt of your own sin. “We are verily guilty concerning our brother” (Genesis 42:21). Are you ready to do that? Do not blame anybody else any more— your parents, society, the government, the world, or God. Blame yourself. And thank Him for finding you out.”

Kendall, R. T. God Meant It for Good. MorningStar Publications, 1988. p. 110.

“As the brothers bowed before Joseph he “remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them” (Genesis 42:9). The brothers were unaware that they were fulfilling the dreams that they had gone to desperate lengths to defeat. When they presented their request to Joseph, he curtly rebuffed them. To test them he used for his excuse the accusation that they were spies. “Ye are spies; Hereby ye shall be proved [tested]” (Genesis 42:14,15). Apparently Joseph wondered: “Are my brothers still the same, or have they learned their lesson and changed?””

McQuay, Earl P. Joseph : Seeing God in the Worst of Times. Acc´ent Books, 1989. p. 84.

“Because of Joseph’s wise foresight and planning there was plenty of bread in Egypt but hunger and need everywhere else. In that sense Joseph was indeed a saviour and giver of life, and through him God was opening up the way to preserve his own people during the time of famine. It is for this reason chiefly that many have seen in Joseph a type of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour.”

Williams, Peter. From Eden to Egypt : Exploring the Genesis Themes. DayOne, 2001. p. 222.