Matthew Henry on Genesis 42:21-28
Here is, I. The penitent reflection Joseph's brethren made upon the wrong they had formerly done to him, Gen 42:21. They talked the matter over in the Hebrew tongue, not suspecting that Joseph, whom they took for a native of Egypt, understood them, much less that he was the person they spoke of.
1. They remembered with regret the barbarous cruelty wherewith they persecuted him: We are verily guilty concerning our brother. We do not read that they said this during their three days' imprisonment; but now, when the matter had come to some issue and they saw themselves still embarrassed, now they began to relent. Perhaps Joseph's mention of the fear of God (Gen 42:18) put them upon consideration…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 42:25
Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money--This private generosity was not an infringement of his duty--a defrauding of the revenue. He would have a discretionary power--he was daily enriching the king's exchequer--and he might have paid the sum from his own purse.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 42:26
They laded their asses - Amounting, no doubt, to several scores, if not hundreds, else they could not have brought a sufficiency of corn for the support of so large a family as that of Jacob.
John Gill on Genesis 42:26
And they laded their asses with the corn,.... Cattle very fit to carry burdens, and no doubt they had each of them one at least:
and departed thence; from the place where Joseph was, and from the land of Egypt.
John Calvin on Genesis 42:22-26
And Reuben answered them. Because he had attempted to deliver Joseph out of the hands of his brethren, in order to restore him in safety to his father, he magnifies their fault, in not having, at that time, listened to any prudent counsel: and I understand his words as conveying a reproof for their too late repentance. Whereas Joseph was not yet satisfied with this confession, but retained Simeon in bonds, [165] and dismissed the rest in suspense and perplexity, this was not done from malevolence, but because he was not certain about the safety of his brother Benjamin, and the state of his father's house. For he might justly fear lest, when they found that their wicked contrivance of putting…
