Genesis 42:27-38

The Return to Canaan

27. one of them Anticipating Genesis 42:35. Lit. "the one," i.e. the others followed. This verse and Genesis 42:28 are from J, according to which the money is found in the sacks at their first lodging place; see Genesis 43:21. According to E, the money is found in their sacks, when they reach their home (see Genesis 42:35). A word for "sack,"  "amtâhath, a very unusual one, occurs twice in Genesis 42:27 (end), 28, and thirteen times in chs. 43, 44 (J), but not in Genesis 42:35 or elsewhere in the O.T.

the lodging place i.e. "the shelter," or wayside quarters, where they could rest during the night. Cf. Exodus 4:24; Jeremiah 9:2. There is, perhaps, scarcely sufficient warrant for us to assume that this was a khan, or road-side inn. Such places hardly existed. A rough shelter, a meagre encampment of black tents, with a scanty protection of a few sticks, brushwood, and blankets, behind which the men and asses would rest, is perhaps all that is meant.