[9] And Joseph remembered
the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies;
to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. [10]
And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants
come. [11] We are all one man's sons;
we are true men, thy servants are no spies. [12]
And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are
come. [13] And they said, Thy servants
are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold,
the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. [14]
And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye
are spies: [15] Hereby ye shall be
proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your
youngest brother come hither. [16]
Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in
prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you:
or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. [17]
And he put them all together into ward three days. [18]
And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear
God: [19] If ye be true men, let one
of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn
for the famine of your houses: [20]
But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified,
and ye shall not die. And they did so.
He remembered the dreams, but they had forgot them. The
laying up of God's oracles in our hearts will be of excellent use to us
in all our conduct. Joseph had an eye to his dreams, which he knew to be
divine, in his carriage towards his brethren, and aimed at the accomplishment
of them, and the bringing his brethren to repentance; and both those points
were gained.
-
He shewed himself harsh with them: the very manner of his
speaking, considering the post he was in, was enough to frighten them,
for he spake roughly to them - He charged them with ill designs against
the government, treated them as dangerous persons, ye are spies, protesting
by the life of Pharaoh that they were so. Some make that an oath, others
make it no more but a vehement asseveration; however, it was more than
yea, yea, and nay, nay, and therefore came of evil.
-
They hereupon were very submissive; they spoke to him with
all respect; nay, my lord. They modestly deny the charge, we are no spies;
they tell him their business, they came to buy food, they give a particular
account of themselves and their family, Genesis 42:13, and that was it
he wanted.
-
He clapt them all up in prison three days.
-
He concluded with them at last, that one of them should be
left as a hostage, and the rest should go home and fetch Benjamin. It was
a very encouraging word he said, I fear God; q.d. You may assure yourselves,
I will do you no wrong, I dare not, for I know that as high as I am, there
is one higher than I. With those that fear God we have reason to expect
fair dealing: the fear of God will be a check upon those that are in power,
to restrain them from abusing their power to oppression and tyranny:
[21] And they said one to another,
We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish
of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this
distress come upon us. [22] And Reuben
answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against
the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is
required. [23] And they knew not that
Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
We are very guilty concerning our brother - We do not
read that they said this during their three days imprisonment; but now
when the matter was come to some issue, and they saw themselves still embarrassed,
they began to relent. Perhaps Joseph's mention of the fear of God, put
them upon consideration, and extorted this reflexion.
[24] And he turned himself about
from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them,
and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes. [25]
Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every
man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and
thus did he unto them. [26] And they
laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence. [27]
And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn,
he espied his money; for, behold, it was in his sack's mouth.
He took Simeon - He chose him for the hostage, probably
because he remembered him to have been his most bitter enemy, or because
he observed him now to be least humbled and concerned. He bound him before
their eyes, to affect them all.
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