Matthew Henry on Genesis 42:7-20
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 to Canaan, to visit his aged father, when he was in the borders of Egypt, that lay next to Canaan. Perhaps it would not have been above three or four days' journey for him in his chariot. It is a probable conjecture that his whole management of himself in this affair was by special direction from Heaven, that the purpose of God concerning Jacob and…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 42:17
put them . . . into ward three days--Their confinement had been designed to bring them to salutary reflection. And this object was attained, for they looked upon the retributive justice of God as now pursuing them in that foreign land. The drift of their conversation is one of the most striking instances on record of the power of conscience [Gen 42:21-22].
Adam Clarke on Genesis 42:18
I fear God - את האלהים אני ירא eth haelohim ani yare, literally translated the passage runs thus, I also fear the gods; but the emphatic ה ha is probably added by Joseph, both here and in his conversation with Pharaoh, the more particularly to point out the eminence and perfection of the Supreme Being as contradistinguished from the gods of Egypt. He seems to say to his brethren, I am a worshipper of the true God, and ye have nothing to fear.
John Gill on Genesis 42:20
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 when found out:
and they did so; they left one of their brethren behind; they carried corn to their houses or families in Canaan, and brought their brother Benjamin with them when they returned to Egypt.
