Teks -- Genesis 42:1-4 (NET)

Joseph’s Brothers in Egypt

42:1 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?” 42:2 He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us so that we may live and not die.” 42:3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 42:4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “What if some accident happens to him?”

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Gen 42:1 - Jacob saw that there was corn

That is, he saw the corn that his neighbours had bought there and brought home.

Wesley: Gen 42:2 - Get you down thither

Masters of families must not only pray for daily bread for their families, but must with care and industry provide it.

JFB: Gen 42:1 - Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt

Learned from common rumor. It is evident from Jacob's language that his own and his sons' families had suffered greatly from the scarcity; and through the increasing severity of the scourge, those men, who had formerly shown both activity and spirit, were sinking into despondency. God would not interpose miraculously when natural means of preservation were within reach.

Clarke: Gen 42:1 - Jacob saw that there was corn

Jacob saw that there was corn - That is, Jacob heard from the report of others that there was plenty in Egypt. The operations of one sense, in Hebrew, are often put for those of another. Before agriculture was properly known and practiced, famines were frequent; Canaan seems to have been peculiarly vexed by them. There was one in this land in the time of Abraham, Gen 12:10; another in the days of Isaac, Gen 26:1; and now a third in the time of Jacob. To this St. Stephen alludes, Act 7:11 : there was great affliction, and our fathers found no sustenance.

Calvin: Gen 42:1 - Now when Jacob saw // Why do ye look one upon another?

1.Now when Jacob saw. Moses begins, in this chapter, to treat of the occasion which drew Jacob with his whole family into Egypt; and thus leaves it to us to consider by what hidden and unexpected methods God may perform whatever he has decreed. Though, therefore, the providence of God is in itself a labyrinth; yet when we connect the issue of things with their beginnings, that admirable method of operation shines clearly in our view, which is not generally acknowledged, only because it is far removed from our observation. Also our own indolence hinders us from perceiving God, with the eyes of faith, as holding the government of the world; because we either imagine fortune to be the mistress of events, or else, adhering to near and natural causes, we weave them together, and spread them as veils before our eyes. Whereas, therefore, scarcely any more illustrious representation of Divine Providence is to be found than this history furnishes; let pious readers carefully exercise themselves in meditation upon it, in order that they may acknowledge those things which, in appearance, are fortuitous, to be directed by the hand of God.

Why do ye look one upon another? Why do ye Men are said to look one upon another, when each is waiting for the other, and, for want of counsel, no one dares to attempt anything. Jacob, therefore, censures this inactivity of his sons, because none of them endeavors to provide for the present necessity. Moses also says that they went into Egypt at the command of their father, and even without Benjamin; by which he intimates that filial reverence at that time was great; because envy of their brother did not prevent them from leaving their wives and children, and undertaking a long journey. He also adds, that they came in the midst of a great crowd of people; which enhances the fame of Joseph; who, while supplying food for all Egypt, and dispensing it by measure, till the end of the drought, could also afford assistance to neighboring nations.

TSK: Gen 42:1 - when Jacob // saw // Why do ye

when Jacob : Gen 41:54, Gen 41:57; Act 7:12

saw : i.e. heard, from the report of others, that there was plenty in Egypt. The operations of one sense are frequently put for those of another in Hebrew (see the parallel passages). Gen 42:2; Exo 5:19, Exo 20:18; 1Ki 19:3; Hos 5:13; Gal 2:7

Why do ye : Jos 7:10; 2Ki 8:3, 2Ki 8:4; Ezr 10:4; Jer 8:14

TSK: Gen 42:2 - get you // that we

get you : Gen 43:2, Gen 43:4, Gen 45:9

that we : Gen 43:8; Psa 118:17; Isa 38:1; Mat 4:4

TSK: Gen 42:3

Gen 42:5, Gen 42:13

TSK: Gen 42:4 - Benjamin // Lest

Benjamin : Gen 35:16-19

Lest : Gen 42:38, Gen 3:22, Gen 11:4, Gen 33:1, Gen 33:2, Gen 43:14, Gen 43:29, Gen 44:20-22, Gen 44:27-34

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Gen 42:1 - Why do ye look one upon another

Why do ye look one upon another like lazy, careless, and helpless persons, each one expecting relief from the other, but none offering either counsel or help for all our subsistence?

Poole: Gen 42:2 - I have heard // Get you down // That we may live, and not die

I have heard: this word explains the word saw, Gen 42:1 .

Get you down for Egypt was lower than Canaan; whence, on the contrary, they are said to go up to Canaan, Gen 45:9 .

That we may live, and not die an emphatical repetition of the same thing, used here to make them more sensible of their danger.

Poole: Gen 42:4

Because he was very young, and now his best beloved son.

Haydock: Gen 42:1 - Careless

Careless. Hebrew, "gazing at one another," like idle people.

Gill: Gen 42:1 - Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt // Jacob said unto, his sons, why do ye look one upon another

Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt,.... That is, to be sold there, or otherwise it being there, unless it could be bought, would have been of no avail to foreigners; wherefore the Septuagint version is, that there was a sale ^w there, a sale of corn; the word has the signification of "breaking" ^x in it, because that bread corn is broke in the mill, or is broken from the heap when sold or distributed, or because when eaten it breaks the fast. Now Jacob had either seen persons passing by with corn, of whom he inquired from whence they had it, who replied, from Egypt; or he understood by the report of others that corn was to be bought there; though some of the Jewish writers would have it, as Jarchi observes, that he saw it by the revelation of the Holy Spirit:

Jacob said unto, his sons, why do ye look one upon another? like persons in surprise, distress and despair, at their wits' end, not knowing what to do, what course to take, and which way to turn themselves, and scarce able to speak to one another, and consult with each other what was proper to be done; for it seems not so agreeable that they should be charged as idle persons, careless and unconcerned, indifferent and inactive; but rather, if the other sense is not acceptable, the meaning may be, "why do ye look?" ^y here and there, in the land of Canaan, where it is to no purpose to look for corn; look where it is to be had.

Gill: Gen 42:2 - And he said, behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt // get ye down thither // and buy for us from thence, that we may live, and not die

And he said, behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt,.... This explains what is meant by the phrase he saw, one sense being put for another:

get ye down thither; as fast as you can without delay; Egypt lay lower than Canaan, and therefore they are bid to go down, as when they went from thence to Canaan they are said to go up, Gen 45:25,

and buy for us from thence, that we may live, and not die; which shows the famine was very pressing, since, unless they could buy corn from Egypt they could not live, but must die.

Gill: Gen 42:3 - And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.

And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. They obeyed their father's orders, and immediately set out for Egypt; "ten" of them went down in a body together, all but Benjamin, so that it is easily reckoned who they were, and they are called not Jacob's sons, as they were; but Joseph's brethren, whom they had sold into Egypt, and to whom now they were going, though they knew it not, to buy corn of him in their necessity, and to whom they would be obliged to yield obeisance, as they did.

Gill: Gen 42:4 - But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren // for he said, lest peradventure mischief befall him

But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren,.... Benjamin is called Joseph's brother, because he was so both by father and mother's side, as the rest were not; him Jacob kept with him, being the youngest and his darling, the only son he had with him of his beloved wife Rachel; and was very probably the more beloved by him since he had been bereft of Joseph; and it was not only to keep him company that he retained him at home, but for the reason following:

for he said, lest peradventure mischief befall him; as had to Joseph his brother, as he imagined; either that the journey would be too much for him, being young, or lest he should be seized with sickness on the road, or rather with death, as Aben Ezra interprets it according to the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan.