Genesis 43:8

_AND JUDAH SPAKE UNTO HIM, SAYING, THE MAN DID SOLEMNLY PROTEST UNTO US, SAYING, YE SHALL NOT SEE MY FACE, EXCEPT YOUR BROTHER BE WITH YOU._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-14 Jacob urges his sons to go and buy a little food; now, in time of dearth, a little must suffice. Judah urges that Benjamin should go with them. It is not against the honour and duty children owe their parents, humbly to advise them, and when needful, to reason with them. Jacob saw the necessity of the case, and yielded. His prudence and justice appeared in three things. 1. He sent back the money they had found in the sack. Honesty obliges us to restore not only that which comes to us by our own fault, but that which comes to us by the mistakes of others. Though we get it by oversight, if we keep it when the oversight is discovered, it is kept by deceit. 2. He sent as much again as they took the time before; the price of corn might be risen, or they might have to pay a ransom for Simeon. 3. He sent a present of such things as the land afforded, and as were scarce in Egypt, balm, and...

Verse 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. See Genesis 46:21. _THAT WE MAY LIVE, AND NOT DIE_] An argument drawn from self-preservation, what some have termed _the first law of nature_. By your keeping Benjamin we are prevented from going to Egypt; if we go not to Egypt we shall get no corn; if we get no corn we shall all perish by famine; and Benj

- Joseph and His Eleven Brethren 11. דבשׁ _d__e__bash_, “honey,” from the bee, or sirup from the juice of the grape. בטנים _bôṭ__e__n_, “pistachio nuts.” שׁקד _shâqêd_, “almond tree;” related: “awake.” The tree is also called לוּז _lûz_. Some refer the former to the fruit, the latter to the tree. The eleven brothers are now to bow down before Joseph. Genesis 43:1 The famine was severe. The pressure began to be felt more and more. The twelve households had at length consumed all the corn they had purchased, and the famine still pressed heavily upon them. Jacob directs them

EXPOSITION GENESIS 43:1, GENESIS 43:2 AND THE FAMINE WAS SORE (literally, _was heavy_)_ _IN THE LAND (_sc_._ _of Canaan). AND IT CAME TO PASS, when they had eaten up—literally, _had finished to eat up, i.e._ not nearly (Mercerus, Bush), but entirely consumed—THE CORN WHICH THEY HAD BROUGHT OUT OF EGYPT,—it is probable that only Jacob's family partook of the Egyptian corn, the slaves supporting themselves on roots, vegetables, and milk (Calvin, Rosenmüller, Gerlach)—THEIR FATHER SAID UNTO THEM, GO AGAIN, BUY US A LITTLE FOOD. What they could buy would be little in proportion to their needs....

AND JUDAH SAID UNTO ISRAEL HIS FATHER, SEND THE LAD WITH ME, AND WE WILL ARISE AND GO,.... Directly to Egypt for corn; Judah calls Benjamin a lad, because the youngest brother, and tenderly brought up by his father, who had an affectionate fondness for him as if he had been a child; otherwise he must be thirty two years of age, for he was seven years younger than Joseph, who was now thirty nine years of age; yea, Benjamin must have children of his own, who went with him and his father into Egypt, Genesis 46:21; for the computation of Benjamin's age, see Genesis 30:22; THAT WE MAY LIVE, AND NOT DIE, BOTH WE, AND THOU, [AND] ALSO OUR LITTLE ONES; he argues, that if they with Benjamin went down to Egypt for corn, there was a possibility, yea, a probability that they wo

CHAPTER 43 THE SECOND VISIT TO JOSEPH _ 1. The journey to Egypt with Benjamin (Genesis 43:1)_ 2. The kindness of Joseph (Genesis 43:16)...

GENESIS 43. THE BROTHERS RETURN TO EGYPT WITH BENJAMIN. It is generally held that this chapter is from J except for the references to Simeon in Genesis 43:14 and Genesis 43:23_ b_. According to J, Simeon seems to have played no special part, and there is not the same urgency for return as in E; the discussion as to Benjamin is postponed till the corn is spent. Genesis 42:38 perhaps originally stood after Genesis 43:2. In the conversation Judah takes the part taken by Reuben in E (as in the discussion as to the killing of Joseph), and we learn that Joseph had ascertained Benjamin's existence by inquiry. Arrived in Egypt, they are tak

The Return to Egypt 2. _Go again_ That Jacob seems to forget about Simeon, is due to the change from the E to the J narrative....

SEND THE LAD— Benjamin was now more than twenty-four years of age, and a father of several children, see ch. Genesis 46:21. The Hebrews call the youngest of the family _a lad,_ without regard to age, 2 Samuel 18:12, 1 Chronicles 22:5. See also ch. Genesis 37:30. _THAT WE MAY LIVE AND NOT DIE_— The famine being severe, their corn is quickly spent. Jacob, with tender regard for his family, presses them to go; but Judah convinces him of the hopelessness of their journey, unless he will spare Benjamin, solemnly engaging to be surety for his return in safety. Judah's argument was very persuasive; he urged