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.”
We may well wonder that Joseph, during the twenty years that he had now been in Egypt, especially during the last seven years that he had been in power there, never sent to his father to acquaint him with his circumstances; nay, it is strange that he who so often went throughout all the land of Egypt (Gen 41:45, Gen 41:46) never made an excursion...
Commenting on Genesis 42:7-20
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...
Gen 42:9-17 As the sight of his brethren bowing before him with the deepest reverence reminded Joseph of his early dreams of the sheaves and stars, which had so increased the hatred of his brethren towards him as to lead to a proposal to kill him, and an actual sale, he said to them, “Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land (i.e....
Commenting on Genesis 42:9-17