Genesischapter 43
34 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Genesis Overview.
The grain from the first visit is gone, and Jacob's family must go back to Egypt on the governor's terms. This chapter belongs to Judah as much as to Joseph. It is where the brother who once proposed a sale puts his own life forward as a pledge. Listen for the way an old father weighs the loss of one son against the hunger of the whole house. Watch the meal at its close, where Egyptian custom and family memory sit at the same table. Israel, long kept apart in Egypt, knew that table well.
Context
- Who
- Israel in the wilderness, who had lived four centuries among people who would not share their table
- What
- A narrative of the second visit to Egypt with Benjamin, which ends at a meal in Joseph's house.
- Where
- Jacob's household in Canaan, and Joseph's own house in Egypt.
- When
- The famine years, about 1875 BC on the traditional chronology, within a year of the first visit.
- Why
- To show Judah taking responsibility for his brother and to bring the family one step closer to reunion.
Historical context
The chapter is Judah's at its opening and Joseph's at its close, since Judah states the terms and stands surety for Benjamin and Joseph then receives eleven brothers at his own table. The time is the next stage of the same famine, after the grain of the first visit has been eaten. The places are Canaan for the argument and Joseph's house in Egypt for the meal.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The occasion is a second visit that cannot happen without the youngest brother. Jacob's gift is a shrewd reading of the market: balm and honey, gum and myrrh, pistachios and almonds, Canaanite goods that Egypt prized and did not produce.
What a first hearer knew is why the seating is the shock of the chapter. The brothers are placed in order from the firstborn to the youngest and stare at one another, because a stranger had no way to know their births. Benjamin's portion at five times the others is the honour portion of a formal meal.
The three tables are precise Egyptian custom, and John D. Currid records how deep Egyptian purity concerns ran about foreigners' food, herds and habits. The man hosting the meal was himself a Hebrew, seated on the Egyptian side of a line he could not cross.
Significance
Israel knew that table. Their fathers had lived for generations in a country that fed them and would not sit with them.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
In the middle of the ceremony the governor of Egypt left the room to weep, which is the chapter's reminder that the second man in the kingdom was still Jacob's son.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
Radak and Rashi read the opening of the chapter the same way, and the reading turns Judah into a tactician. Radak says Judah told his brothers "not to argue with their aged father until there would be no more bread in the house", at which point Jacob would give way over Benjamin (Radak on Genesis 43:1:1, translated by Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY), and Rashi puts the same counsel in Judah's mouth: "Judah said to them: Leave the old man alone until the house will run short of bread", on Midrash Tanchuma, Miketz 8 (Rashi on Genesis 43:2:1, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain). Judah's pledge for the boy Rashi reads strictly, "for I will not bring him back to you dead but alive" (Rashi on Genesis 43:9:1), and Judah's word about living he takes as prophecy kindled in him rather than a turn of phrase (Rashi on Genesis 43:8:1). Jacob's closing words over the journey he reads as the last thing a father can add: "Now you lack nothing except prayer, and therefore I pray for you", on Genesis Rabbah 91:11 (Rashi on Genesis 43:14:1). The steward's answer about the money he divides in two, the brothers' own merits first and their father's after them, and the laying of the meal he describes plainly, "they laid it out ornately in fine vessels" (Rashi on Genesis 43:23:1 and 43:25:1). Radak notices where the brothers chose to speak to the steward, "in order that the people of Joseph's household should not overhear them" (Radak on Genesis 43:19:1). Sforno reads the gift as the thing that will get them a hearing, citing Proverbs on a present that opens a way, and reads their account of the returned money as a claim about the coins themselves, that the same pieces came back in their sacks (Sforno on Genesis 43:13:1 and 43:21:1, Munk translation, CC-BY). Ibn Ezra comments here at 43:27:1 and stands as a citation, the corpus holding no English of him under a licence permitting quotation.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-seven of them Midrash and three Talmud. Midrash Sekhel Tov is the densest work here, cited at Bereshit 43:2:1, 43:3:1, 43:4:1, 43:5:1, 43:6:1, 43:6:2, 43:17:1, 43:21:1 and 43:22:1, following the argument with Jacob almost line by line. Bereshit Rabbah is cited at 40:6, 74:12, 91:10, 92:4 and 93:2, Bereshit Rabbati at Parashat Miketz 21, 22, 47 and 50 and at Parashat Vayechi 6, Midrash Aggadah at Genesis 43:7:1, 43:12:1, 43:19:1, 43:20:1 and 43:27:1, and Midrash Lekach Tov at Genesis 43:4:1, 43:5:1, 43:23:1 and 43:30:1 and at Genesis 41:1:1. Bamidbar Rabbah is cited at 13:3, 14:2 and 14:8, Aggadat Bereshit at 19:3, 73:1, 76:1 and 79:6, and Kohelet Rabbah at 9:11:1. The three Talmud locators are Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 1:1:16 at the warning the man gave them, Bava Batra 15a:12 at Jacob's choice of a present, and Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 9:3:4 at the preparing of the meal. Rashi hands on further sayings with their locators, among them Genesis Rabbah 91:11 and 92:5, Midrash Tanchuma, Miketz 8 and Yoma 69b.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Genesis 43:2:1, 43:3:1, 43:7:1, 43:8:1, 43:9:1, 43:10:1, 43:11:1, 43:12:1, 43:14:1, 43:15:1, 43:16:1, 43:18:1, 43:20:1, 43:23:1, 43:24:1, 43:25:1, 43:26:1, 43:28:1 and 43:29:1, the Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929 to 1934, public domain; Radak, Radak on Genesis 43:1:1 and 43:19:1, translated by Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY; Sforno, Sforno on Genesis 43:13:1 and 43:21:1, translated by Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash, CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Genesis 43:27:1, cited only, no English version in the corpus under a licence permitting quotation; Midrash, Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 43:2:1, 43:3:1, 43:4:1, 43:5:1, 43:6:1, 43:6:2, 43:17:1, 43:21:1 and 43:22:1; Bereshit Rabbah 40:6, 74:12, 91:10, 92:4 and 93:2; Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Miketz 21, 22, 47 and 50 and Parashat Vayechi 6; Midrash Aggadah, Genesis 43:7:1, 43:12:1, 43:19:1, 43:20:1 and 43:27:1; Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 43:4:1, 43:5:1, 43:23:1, 43:30:1 and 41:1:1; Bamidbar Rabbah 13:3, 14:2 and 14:8; Aggadat Bereshit 19:3, 73:1, 76:1 and 79:6; Kohelet Rabbah 9:11:1; Genesis Rabbah 91:11 and Midrash Tanchuma, Miketz 8, as Rashi cites them; Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra 15a:12; Yoma 69b as Rashi cites it; Jerusalem Talmud, Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 1:1:16, Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 9:3:4.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Judah Pledges Himself for Benjamin
Genesis 43:1-2
the famine was still severe in the land: The grain they carried home from Egypt is eaten, and the famine is still severe. Jacob tells his sons to go back and buy a little more food. God had told Abram at 15:13 that his offspring would be strangers in a land not their own for four hundred years. This famine is what carries them there.
Genesis 43:1
“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.”
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Genesis 43:1
“For, since Abraham had a much larger number of servants, and mention has been made above of the servants of Isaac; it is incredible that Jacob was so entirely destitute, as to have no servants left. If we say, that he, being a stranger, had been compelled to sell them all, it is but an uncertain guess.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
Genesis 43:1
“The famine continued; and the corn they had bought was all spent, for it is meat that perisheth. Jacob, as a good master of a family, is in care to provide for those of his own house food convenient; and shall not God provide for his children, for the household of faith?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jacob asks for a little food, a small word for a large need, as if Benjamin could be left out of the errand. The whole household had lived on the first load until it ran out. Simeon has waited in Egypt all that time.
Genesis 43:2
“Go again, buy us a little food--It was no easy matter to bring Jacob to agree to the only conditions on which his sons could return to Egypt (Ge 42:15).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Genesis 43:3-5
Judah states the condition twice in three verses, that they will not see the man's face unless their brother is with them. John Calvin notes the firmness in Judah, who will go down on no other terms. The one thing the ruler wants is the son Jacob has kept at home. None of them knows who the man in Egypt is.
Genesis 43:3
“And since Joseph so ardently desired the sight of his brother Benjamin, it is not surprising that he should have labored, in every possible way, to obtain it. It may also have happened that he had caused some notification or legal summons to be served, by which his brother was cited to make his appearance, as in judicial causes.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
If you will send our brother with us: Judah now speaks for the brothers, and Reuben's offer of his two sons at 42:37 is set aside. He puts the choice to Jacob as two plain conditions, one in each verse. The same man proposed selling Joseph at 37:27.
Genesis 43:4
“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.”
To see a ruler's face is to be admitted to his presence. Pharaoh uses the same threat when he drives Moses out at Exodus 10:28. Without Benjamin the door to the grain is shut.
Genesis 43:6-7
Israel blames his sons for answering a stranger's questions honestly. His sons had taken a young goat and Joseph's robe to deceive him at 37:31. Their answer is the plain one, that the man questioned them in detail about themselves and their family. They answered him as he asked, and the demand for the brother came after.
The questions about a living father and another brother appear here for the first time. Chapter 42 recorded only the brothers' own words, and Judah repeats the questions at 44:19. Joseph was asking after Jacob and Benjamin from the first hour.
Judah puts it as survival for the whole house, and he counts in the brothers, their father, and their children. He asks for the boy and puts up himself. Adam Clarke notes that the word behind boy here is na'ar, used of a grown young man, and that Benjamin had a household of his own by now.
Genesis 43:8
“Send the lad with me - As the original is not ילד yeled, from which we have derived our word lad, but נער naar, it would have been better had our translators rendered it by some other term, such as the youth, or the young man, and thus the distinction in the Hebrew would have been better kept up. Benjamin was at this time at least twenty-four years of age, some think thirty, and had a family of his own.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Genesis 43:9-10
I will guarantee his safety: translates the Hebrew arab, to stand as surety, which is to become the pledge that answers for another. Judah offers to bear the guilt before his father all his life if the boy does not come back. He had left a pledge once before, the signet and staff at the roadside in 38:18. Hebrews 7:22 gives Jesus the same standing.
Genesis 43:9
“Let me bear the blame for ever - וחטאתי לך כל הימים - re vechatathi lecha col haiyamim, then shall I sin against thee all my days, and consequently be liable to punishment for violating my faith.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 43:9
“Judah's conscience had lately smitten him for what he had done a great while ago against Joseph; and as an evidence of the truth of his repentance, he is ready to undertake, as far as a man could do it, for Benjamin's security.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
If we had not delayed: Judah counts the cost of their father's delay, a whole trip to Egypt and back lost while Simeon waited in custody. The famine was still severe. His pledge for the boy in verse 9 comes first, and then this plain push to go.
Genesis 43:10
“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 losing time, and involving themselves and families in distress for want of corn.”
Genesis 43:11-13
the best products of the land: Israel sends balm and honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds down as a gift. The caravan that carried Joseph to Egypt in 37:25 was loaded with spices, balm and myrrh. The freight that took the son away is now the gift sent after him by a father who does not know it. He sends double the silver and calls it a mistake.
Genesis 43:11
“Carry down the man a present - From the very earliest times presents were used as means of introduction to great men. This is particularly noticed by Solomon: A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men, Pro 18:16. But what was the present brought to Joseph on this occasion? After all the labor of commentators, we are obliged to be contented with probabilities and conjecture. According to our translation, the gifts were balm, honey, spices, myrrh, nuts, and almonds.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 43:11
“Jacob had said ( ch. xlii. 38 ), My son shall not go down; but now he is over-persuaded to consent. Note, It is no fault, but our wisdom and duty, to alter our purposes and resolutions when there is a good reason for our so doing.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Take double the silver with you: Double the silver pays for new grain and returns what was found in the sacks. Jacob settles the error in full. His sons, once paid for a brother, now carry every coin back to its owner.
Genesis 43:12
“The restored money in the sacks' mouth was a perplexing circumstance. But it might have been done inadvertently by one of the servants--so Jacob persuaded himself--and happy it was for his own peace and the encouragement of the travellers that he took this view. Besides the duty of restoring it, honesty in their case was clearly the best, the safest policy.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Take your brother as well: Jacob names Benjamin last, after the gift and the silver. The words give the boy into the care of the brothers who once lost Joseph. Return at once, he says, with the urgency Judah pressed in verse 10.
Genesis 43:13
“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.”
May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man: God Almighty is El Shaddai, the covenant name given to Abraham at 17:1 and spoken over Jacob at Bethel in 35:11. He asks mercy before the man, that both sons come home. Then he lands on the flattest sentence in the chapter, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved. Adam Clarke takes the words as prophecy, an assurance that his sons would come back in safety.
Genesis 43:14
“This verse may be literally translated thus: - “And God, the all-sufficient, shall give you tender mercies before the man, and send to you your other brother, and Benjamin; and I, as I shall be childless, so I shall be childless.” That is, I will submit to this privation, till God shall restore my children. It appears that this verse is spoken prophetically; and that God at this time gave Jacob a supernatural evidence that his children should be restored.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Brought to the Steward's House
Genesis 43:15-17
So the men took these gifts: They carry down the three things Jacob named, the gift, the double silver, and Benjamin. Joseph's whole demand was the last of them, and the moment he sees Benjamin he tells his steward to slaughter an animal and prepare it. The brothers are to dine with him at noon. He speaks to the steward about them, and the chapter keeps him a stranger to them.
Genesis 43:15
“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 their petitions for more corn, as well as to answer to any questions that should be asked them.”
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 43:15
“For on this occasion nothing occurs there but what is agreeable and pleasant. Jacob Unwilling to Part with Benjamin. 1 And the famine was sore in the land.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
he said to the steward of his house: The steward of his house holds the post Joseph once held for Potiphar at 39:4, overseer of a great man's household. Joseph gives his orders the moment he sees Benjamin. The feast is his first answer to the sight of Rachel's son.
Genesis 43:16
“Slay, and make ready - טבח טבח teboach tebach, slay a slaying, or make a great slaughter - let preparations be made for a great feast or entertainment. See a similar form of speech, Pro 9:2 (note); 1Sa 25:11 (note); and Gen 31:54 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
took the brothers to Joseph’s house: The steward obeys at once, and the brothers are led inside the ruler's own house. Men who came as buyers at a market are brought into a private home, and the change frightens them in verse 18. Joseph once came into Potiphar's house as a bought slave.
Genesis 43:17
“And the man did as Joseph bade: and the man brought the men into Joseph's house.”
Genesis 43:18-20
the brothers were frightened: An invitation to dinner reads to them as arrest. They name the silver returned in their bags as the reason they were brought to Joseph's house. The fear they speak is that the steward will overpower them and take them as slaves with their donkeys. Adam Clarke's line on it is that a guilty conscience needs no accuser, and Ambrose of Milan noticed that they plead at the entrance before anyone accuses them.
Genesis 43:18
“And the men were afraid - A guilty conscience needs no accuser. Every thing alarms them; they now feel that God is exacting retribution, and they know not what the degrees shall be, nor where it shall stop. Fall upon us - התגלל עלינו hithgolel alainu, roll himself upon us. A metaphor taken from wrestlers; when a man has overthrown his antagonist, he rolls himself upon him, in order to keep him down.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
spoke to him at the entrance to the house: They stop at the entrance and speak to the steward before going into Joseph's house, afraid of being taken as slaves. At Dothan these men plotted against a brother in secret. Here they explain the silver in their sacks before anyone asks.
Genesis 43:19
“And they began to desire to plead their case to the man who was steward of the house at the door of the house. They still hesitate to enter in and prefer to be justified from their works, for they desire to prove a case rather than to receive grace, and so they are refuted at the gates. But the one who awaits the fruit of the Virgin's womb and the inheritance of the Lord is dealing in the goods of the Son and is not ashamed at the gate.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On Joseph the Patriarchpatristic
Please, sir renders the Hebrew bi adoni, the plea of a lesser man before a great one. Judah will open his long speech at 44:18 with the same two words. They insist first on why they came, to buy food.
Genesis 43:20
“O sir, we came indeed - to buy food - There is a frankness now in the conduct of Joseph’s brethren that did not exist before; they simply and honestly relate the whole circumstance of the money being found in their sacks on their return from their last journey. Afflictions from the hand of God, and under his direction, have a wonderful tendency to humble the soul. Did men know how gracious his designs are in sending such, no murmur would ever be heard against the dispensations of Divine Providence.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Genesis 43:21-23
each of us found his silver in the mouth of his sack!: They tell the whole story of the silver without being asked, down to the full amount, and the honesty is new in these men. The steward answers that their God, the God of their father, gave them the treasure in their sacks, and then says he received their silver. The man who says it is an Egyptian in Joseph's house. Simeon comes out before a word of accusation is spoken.
We have brought additional silver with us to buy food: The additional silver backs up their story, since thieves would hardly carry more money back to the house they robbed. They leave the question of the sacks open. The answer is Joseph's own order at 42:25.
Genesis 43:22
“And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food,.... Double money for a double quantity, or because the price of corn was now doubled; and their bringing this besides the other showed their honest and upright intentions: we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks; we are quite ignorant of it, and can by no means account for it, and therefore hope no blame will be laid on us.”
It is fine,” said the steward. “Do not be afraid: It is fine renders shalom lakhem, peace to you. Do not be afraid is the word God spoke to Abram at 15:1 and to Isaac at 26:24, and here an Egyptian servant speaks it. Simeon's release comes with the greeting.
Genesis 43:23
“They indeed had said to him, "We found the money of each one of us in our sacks. We have brought back our money in full weight." O mighty mysteries, and mysteries clearly portrayed! This is to say: Why are you puffed up? Do you assume too often that the money you have in your sacks is your own? What indeed do you have which you have not received? But if you have received it, why do you boast as if you have not received it?”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On Joseph the Patriarchpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 43:23
“And he said - The address of the steward in this verse plainly proves that the knowledge of the true God was in Egypt. It is probable that the steward himself was a Hebrew, and that Joseph had given him intimation of the whole affair; and though he was not at liberty to reveal it, yet he gives them assurances that the whole business would issue happily. I had your money - כספכם בא אלי caspechem ba elai, your money comes to me. As I am the steward, the cash for the corn belongs to me.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Genesis 43:24-25
gave them water to wash their feet: Water to wash their feet and food for the donkeys is the courtesy Abraham offered the three men at his tent door in 18:4. Here it is offered to men who came expecting chains. They spend the morning preparing their gift for a man who has already ordered them a feast. Everything the brothers are anxious about has already been settled inside Joseph's house.
Genesis 43:24
“Brought the men into Joseph’s house, etc. - This is exactly the way in which a Hindoo receives a guest. As soon as he enters, one of the civilities is the presenting of water to wash his feet. So indispensable is this, that water to wash the feet makes a part of the offering to an image.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
they prepared their gift: Gift is minchah, the word for the present Jacob sent ahead to Esau at 32:13 to win a brother's favour. Jacob's sons follow their father's way of approaching a man they fear. Here the man they fear is also a brother.
Genesis 43:25
“And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon,.... They took it out of their vessels or bags in which they brought it, having unladen their asses, and disposed of it in a proper manner to present it to him when he came home at noon to dine: for they heard that they should eat bread there; dine there, bread being put for all provision: this was told them, very probably, by the steward, or by some of the servants in the house, or they overheard what Joseph said to the steward, Gen 43:16.”
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 43:25
"And they made ready the presents, until Joseph came at noon." Paul's faith hastened the coming of noon. Before, Paul was blind; afterward he began to see the light of justice, because if anyone opens his way to the Lord and hopes in him, the Lord will also bring forth his justice as the light and his judgment as the noon. And when God appeared to Abraham by the oak of Mamre, it was noon, and the everlasting light from the Lord's presence shone on him. It is noon when the real Joseph enters into his house to dine.
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On Joseph the Patriarchpatristic
A Feast, and Benjamin's Five Portions
Genesis 43:26-28
they bowed to the ground before him: Joseph's question at the meal is about his father, whether the old man is still alive. They answer that their father is well, and they call him your servant. The words put Jacob under the son he believes dead. They bowed when they handed over the gift and bowed again when they answered about their father.
Genesis 43:26
“When they brought him the present, they bowed themselves before him, and again, when they gave him an account of their father's health, they made obeisance, and called him, Thy servant, our father - Thus were Joseph's dreams fulfilled more and more; and even the father, by the sons, bowed before him.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
He asked if they were well: The Hebrew behind He asked if they were well speaks of their peace, shalom, the word the steward used in verse 23. Joseph asks after the old man with more care than a stranger would show. The question comes again in his own voice at 45:3.
Genesis 43:27
And he asked them of their welfare - This verse may be thus translated: “And he asked them concerning their prosperity; and he said, is your father prosperous, the old man who ye told me was alive? And they said, Thy servant our father prospers; he is yet alive.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
And they bowed down to honor him: Two Hebrew verbs stand behind the bowing, qadad, to bend the head, and shachah, to fall prostrate. Abraham's servant used the same pair before the LORD at 24:26. Here the brothers bowed down to Joseph with it while naming their father his servant.
Genesis 43:28
“The great kindness that Joseph showed to them, while they little thought it was a brotherly kindness. His kind enquiry concerning Jacob: Is he yet alive? --a very fit question to be asked concerning any, especially concerning old people; for we are dying daily: it is strange that we are yet alive.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Genesis 43:29-31
his own mother’s son: The text calls Benjamin his own mother's son, the one man in the room who shares Rachel with Joseph. Rachel died bearing this boy at 35:18, and Joseph has not seen him since. His first words to Benjamin are a blessing, God be gracious to you, my son. Then he hurries out to a private room and weeps.
Genesis 43:29
“He lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin - They were probably introduced to him successively; and as Benjamin was the youngest, he would of course be introduced last. God be gracious unto thee, my son! - A usual salutation in the east from the aged and superiors to the younger and inferiors, which, though very emphatic and expressive in ancient times, in the present day means no more than “I am your humble servant,” or “I am exceedingly glad to see you;” words which among us mean-just nothing.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 43:29
“Joseph's favour, though he was the lord of the land, would do him little good, unless God were gracious to him. Many seek the ruler's favour, but Joseph directs him to seek the favour of the ruler of rulers.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
he was moved to tears for his brother: Moved translates a Hebrew phrase for compassion growing warm, and the word for compassion is rachamim. Jacob prayed at verse 14 that God would grant his sons rachamim before the man. The prayer is answered in this room.
Regaining his composure: translates aphaq, to hold oneself in, the verb used when Joseph can hold back no longer at 45:1. Here he washes his face and gives the order to serve. The restraint lasts two more chapters.
Genesis 43:31
“Joseph said, Set on bread--equivalent to having dinner served, "bread" being a term inclusive of all victuals. The table was a small stool, most probably the usual round form, "since persons might even then be seated according to their rank or seniority, and the modern Egyptian table is not without its post of honor and a fixed gradation of place" [WILKINSON].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Genesis 43:32-33
They ate separately because the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews: Three tables are set, one for Joseph, one for his brothers, and one for the Egyptians, who held it detestable to eat with Hebrews. Matthew Henry read Joseph's own table as the seat of a man keeping his Hebrew birth to himself while he governed Egypt. Then a stranger seats eleven men in exact birth order, from the firstborn to the youngest. The men looked at one another, astonished.
Genesis 43:32
“Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination--The prejudice probably arose from the detestation in which, from the oppressions of the shepherd-kings, the nation held all of that occupation.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
in order by age, from the firstborn to the youngest: Birth order among these eleven crossed four mothers, and only someone raised in Jacob's tents could have known it. A ruler seating them by it looks like divining, the claim Joseph makes at 44:15. The brothers see the order and cannot explain it.
Genesis 43:33
“Joseph began to make his brothers sit down as if around his [divining] cup; the elder according to his status as elder and the youngest according to his youth.”
Ephrem the Syrian · written before 373 · COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 37:7patristic
Benjamin’s portion was five times larger: The youngest is openly favoured in front of the older brothers with five times the portion. That is the situation that produced the coat and the pit in chapter 37, and this time they feast and drink freely with him. The fivefold measure keeps returning around Joseph, the fifth of Egypt's harvest at 41:34, five sets of clothing for Benjamin at 45:22, and five brothers before Pharaoh at 47:2. Nobody at the table objects.
Genesis 43:34
“Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs - Sir John Chardin observes that “in Persia, Arabia, and the Indies, there are several houses where they place several plates in large salvers, and set one of these before each person, or before two or three, according to the magnificence of each house. This is the method among the Hindoos; the dishes are not placed on the table, but messes are sent to each individual by the master of the feast or by his substitute.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Genesis 43:34
“This was the more generous in him, and the more obliging to them, because of the present scarcity of provisions. In a day of famine, it is enough to be fed; but here they were feasted.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: Narrative, the second visit to Egypt, opened by a pledge and closed by a meal, as Calvin classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Unless your brother is with you | Judah states the condition twice in three verses, at verses 3 and 5, in the same words both times, that they will not see the man's face unless their brother is with them. John Calvin marks the firmness of it, since Judah will go down on no other terms and leaves his father no third way.John Calvin, Commentaries, 1554, on Genesis 43:3. | Genesis 43:3, Genesis 43:5 |
| The gift Jacob sends down | Verse 11 lists what goes in the bags, a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds, the best products of the land. Genesis 37:25 had loaded a caravan with spices, balm and myrrh and carried Joseph to Egypt on it, so the freight that took the son away is the gift the father now sends after him without knowing it.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Genesis 43:11. | Genesis 43:11, Genesis 37:25 |
| Is your father well, the old man | The first thing Joseph asks at verse 27, before anything about the cup or the silver, is whether the old man they spoke of is still alive. They answer that their father is well and call him your servant, which puts Jacob under the son he believes dead. Matthew Henry reads the whole scene as a man holding himself in while his own household stands in front of him.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Genesis 43:29. | Genesis 43:27, Genesis 43:28 |
| Five times the portion | Benjamin's portion at verse 34 is five times larger than any other, which repeats in front of ten older brothers the open favour that produced the robe and the pit in chapter 37. The measure of five runs through the account: a fifth of Egypt's harvest at 41:34, five sets of clothing for Benjamin at 45:22, and five brothers presented to Pharaoh at 47:2, counted in the Berean text in the store. Matthew Henry reads the portion as favour shown openly, and this time the brothers feast and drink freely with him.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Genesis 43:34. | Genesis 43:34, Genesis 41:34, Genesis 45:22, Genesis 47:2 |
The historical value
8 more paragraphs on the patterns
Verse 32 states an Egyptian custom as the reason for the three tables, that the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews because it was detestable to them. Herodotus records the same kind of separation in Egypt in his own day at Histories 2.41, where no Egyptian would use a Greek knife, spit or cauldron, or taste the flesh of an ox cut with a Greek knife, because of the sanctity of the cow. Herodotus wrote many centuries after this chapter and about Greeks rather than Hebrews, so his report shows the custom's kind and long life in Egypt rather than the particular rule of Joseph's household.
The gift at verse 11 is a list of what Canaan could send that Egypt did not have, balm, honey, spices, myrrh, pistachios and almonds. The same goods are on the camels of the caravan at 37:25 that carried Joseph down, which is the trade route the chapter assumes.
The debated concept
What the steward knew is the chapter's open question. At verse 23 he tells them that their God, the God of their father, gave them the treasure in their sacks, and then says he received their silver. He is either an Egyptian repeating what his master told him to say, or a servant who has learned something of his master's God. Genesis reports the words and gives no account of the man.
How far Jacob's prayer at verse 14 reaches is a second. He calls on God Almighty, which is El Shaddai, the name given to Abraham at 17:1 and spoken over Jacob himself at Bethel at 35:11, and asks mercy before the man so that both sons come home. Adam Clarke takes the closing words, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved, as a prophecy of their safe return. Read plainly they are the words of a man who has run out of alternatives and is releasing the boy.
The divine connection
The chapter is the second step of the road God had described to Abram at 15:13, that his descendants would be strangers in a land not their own. The famine empties the sacks, the condition requires Benjamin, and the whole family is drawn a step closer to the land where they will live four hundred years. Nothing in the chapter is done by anyone who knows that.
Judah's surety at verse 9 is the first time a son of Jacob offers to carry another man's guilt, and he repeats the offer in person at 44:33. Hebrews 7:22 uses the same standing of Jesus, who has become the guarantee of a better covenant, and Hebrews 7:14 says that our Lord descended from Judah.
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Genesis 43:18; John Calvin, Commentaries, 1554, on Genesis 43:3 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Genesis 43:32.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, On Joseph the Patriarch; Chuck Missler, The Book of Genesis; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.