Tyndale Open Study Notes

Verse 1

42:1–47:31 God used the famine to bring Israel to Egypt under Joseph’s rule, thus fulfilling two prophecies (15:13; 37:7-11).

42:1–44:34 Joseph did several unusual things to his brothers when they came looking for grain. The last time Joseph had been with them, they were filled with jealousy, hatred, and anger; they attempted to destroy their brother, and they deceived their father. Joseph put them through various tests, similar to the trying situations they had put him through, to see if they had changed.

Verse 4

42:4 Jacob may have believed that Benjamin would not be safe with his brothers.

Verse 6

42:6-7 Joseph’s first dream (37:5-11) was partially fulfilled when his brothers bowed down to him without recognizing him (see also 43:26; 44:14). It was totally fulfilled in 50:18. Joseph recognized his brothers immediately, but he could not reveal himself because he did not yet trust them to be the honest men they claimed to be (42:10).

Verse 8

42:8 they didn’t recognize him: Joseph was a grown man, not a boy. He was not wearing a beard, was dressed in Egyptian clothes, and was in an unexpected position, speaking to them through an interpreter (42:23).

Verse 9

42:9 You are spies! The brothers had considered Joseph a spy for their father and had treated him roughly (37:2, 14, 18-28). Joseph was putting them in a similar situation to see how they would respond.

Verse 11

42:11 Joseph knew that they had not always been the honest men they claimed to be.

Verse 15

42:15-17 Joseph put the brothers in jail for three days to see if they had a conscience functioning about what they had done (42:21-23). The brothers had similarly thrown Joseph into a cistern-prison while they decided what to do with him (37:24).

Verse 18

42:18-20 Rather than keep all but one, Joseph would release all but one to take grain home to their starving families.

Verse 21

42:21-23 Clearly we are being punished: The brothers sensed that having to bring Benjamin back to Egypt against their father’s wishes was God’s punishment for their having sold Joseph to the traders. The sense of divine retribution began to awaken feelings of remorse that Joseph’s cries for mercy and their father’s tears (37:34-35) had failed to arouse.

Verse 22

42:22 you wouldn’t listen: Reuben had lost the reins of leadership (see study notes on 42:37; 49:3-4).

Verse 24

42:24 Joseph turned away from them and began to weep (cp. 43:30; 45:2, 14; 50:1, 17); perhaps he was hearing part of the story that he had never known (Reuben’s attempt to save him, 37:21-22, 29), or his brothers’ remorse moved him to forgiveness.

Verse 25

42:25-28 Joseph cared for his brothers’ needs; he had forgiven them (see study note on 42:24) and was fulfilling his role to provide for them. God used Joseph’s care to convict the brothers even more fully of their sin.

42:25 return each brother’s payment: He was now testing them to awaken their conscience and make them face their past guilt; once again, they were going home with silver instead of a brother (37:28-35).

Verse 28

42:28 What has God done to us? They knew that God was behind everything that had been happening, so they faced a day of reckoning for their sins.

Verse 29

42:29-34 The brothers’ account focused on the accusation that they were spies and on the need to take Benjamin back to Egypt with them. They omitted their growing realization of divine retribution for their crime against Joseph.

Verse 36

42:36 Filled with grief over two sons lost already, Jacob feared that he would also lose Benjamin if he went to Egypt. • You are robbing me of my children! He did not realize the full truth of his words, but they must have stung his sons’ guilty consciences.

Verse 37

42:37 Reuben tried to take the lead; perhaps he thought he could get back into his father’s good favor (see 35:22), first by rescuing Joseph from certain death (37:21-22, 29-30) and now by keeping Benjamin safe.

Verse 38

42:38 Jacob was resolute in his favoritism toward Rachel’s remaining son. Benjamin would not go to Egypt even if it meant that Leah’s son Simeon never returned. Jacob’s grief apparently weighed heavily on the brothers’ conscience (44:18-34).