Hunger (vv. 1-2). Jacob had a large family (46:26) and many servants, and as the famine continued, it became more and more difficult to feed them. Certainly the brothers knew what their father knew, that there was grain in Egypt, but they didn’t talk about it. Jacob noticed their strange attitude and asked, “Why do you keep staring at each other?” Why, indeed, did the brothers hesitate to talk about the problem or even offer to go to Egypt to purchase food?
For one thing, the trip to Egypt was long (250-300 miles) and dangerous, and a round trip could consume six weeks’ time. Even after arriving in Egypt, the men couldn’t be certain of a friendly reception. As foreigners from Canaan, they would be very vulnerable and could even be arrested and enslaved. If that happened to Jacob’s sons, who would care for their families and their aged father?
Perhaps, too, the memory of selling their innocent brother to traders going down to Egypt haunted Jacob’s sons. The brothers had done that evil deed over thirty years ago and by now were convinced that Joseph was dead (Gen. 42:13), but they hadn’t forgotten the scene (vv. 17-24). Conscience has a way of digging up the past and arousing doubts and fears within us.
As leader of the clan, Jacob made the decision to send everybody but Benjamin to Egypt to purchase food. After what had happened to Joseph, Jacob was no doubt suspicious of his sons, and that’s why he kept Benjamin at home. Now that Joseph was gone, Jacob’s youngest son was his only living link with his beloved Rachel, and the old father wasn’t about to lose the second of his two favorite sons (v. 38).
What Jacob and his sons didn’t know was that the sovereign God was at work making sure the ten brothers went to Egypt and bowed down before Joseph. In accomplishing His divine purposes, God can use a famine, a kidnapping (2 Kings 5:2-3), a royal beauty contest (Est. 2), a sudden death (Ezek. 24:15ff.), a dream (Dan. 2), a plague (Joel 1), and even a government census (Luke 2:1-7). “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him” (Ps. 115:3 niv).
Harsh words (vv. 6-14). As second ruler of the land, Joseph certainly didn’t participate in each individual grain transaction because he had many important things to do. Furthermore, the food supply was stored in several cities (41:46-49), and Joseph had commissioners assisting him (vv. 34-36). No doubt he provided for the resident Egyptians in a routine manner, while the foreigners had to be screened carefully lest they had plans for invading the land (vv. 56-57). In the providence of God, Joseph was on hand when his ten brothers arrived to buy grain, and he recognized them.
Even if they had expected to meet Joseph, which they didn’t, the ten men wouldn’t have recognized their brother. He was seventeen when they sold him, and in the ensuing twenty years he would have changed in appearance far more than his older brothers. Furthermore, he was now clean-shaven like an Egyptian, he was dressed like an Egyptian, and he spoke to them in the Egyptian language through an interpreter.
When the ten men bowed before him, Joseph knew that the faithful God was beginning to fulfill the promises He had revealed in the two dreams (37:7, 9). It must have been difficult for Joseph to control his emotions as he spoke harshly to his brothers, because his natural desire would have been to speak to them in Hebrew and reveal who he was. But that would have ruined everything, for he knew that all eleven brothers had to bow before him. This meant that Benjamin would have to come with them on their next trip. Furthermore, Joseph’s brothers had to be forced to face their sins and come to a place of honest confession, and that would take time.
Four times Joseph accused them of being in Egypt under false pretense (42:9, 12, 14, 16), and each time the ten brothers affirmed their innocence as “true men.” Their statement “one is not” must have moved Joseph deeply, but he rejoiced to hear that his father and younger brother were both alive and well.