Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 43:16

"And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, Bring the men into the house, and slay, and make ready; for the men shall dine with me at noon." — Genesis 43:16 (ASV)

Slay. —The charge of inaccuracy brought against the narrator, upon the supposition that the higher classes in Egypt, especially the priests, did not eat flesh, has been abundantly disproved, as the representations of feasts belonging to this period show that an abundance of animal food was consumed. Animals, moreover, sacred in one district were freely eaten in another. Generally the priests might eat the flesh of oxen and geese, but not mutton, pork or fish. (Rawlinson’s Egypt, i. 438.)