John Gill Commentary Genesis 42

Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt That is, to be sold there, or otherwise it being there, unless it could be bought, would have been of no avail to foreigners; therefore the Septuagint version is, that there was a sale ^F23 there, a sale of corn; the word has the signification of "breaking" ^F24 in it, because that bread corn is broke in the mill, or is broken from the heap when sold or distributed, or because when eaten it breaks the fast. Now Jacob had either seen persons passing by with corn, of whom he inquired from where they had it, who replied, from Egypt; or he understood by the report of others that corn was to be bought there; though some of the Jewish writers would have it, as Jarchi observes, that he saw it by the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

Jacob said unto, his sons, why do you look one upon another? like persons in surprise, distress and despair, at their wits' end, not knowing what to do, what course to take, and which way to turn themselves, and scarce able to speak to one another, and consult with each other what was proper to be done; for it seems not so agreeable that they should be charged as idle persons, careless and unconcerned, indifferent and inactive; but rather, if the other sense is not acceptable, the meaning may be, "why do you look?" ^F25 here and there, in the land of Canaan, where it is to no purpose to look for corn; look where it is to be had.

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: (rby) (prasiv) Sept. "frumentum venale", Schmidt; so Ainsworth, and the Targum of Jonathan.
• F24: "Fractio", Montanus, Munster, Piscator.
• F25: (wartt hml) "ut quid circumspicitis", Schmidt.

And he said, behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt ,
&c.] This explains what is meant by the phrase he saw, one sense being put for another: get you down thither ;
as fast as you can without delay; Egypt lay lower than Canaan, and therefore they are bid to go down, as when they went from thence to Canaan they are said to go up, (Genesis 45:25) ; and buy for us from thence, that we may live, and not die ;
which shows the famine was very pressing, since, unless they could buy corn from Egypt they could not live, but must die.

And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt .
] They obeyed their father's orders, and immediately set out for Egypt; "ten" of them went down in a body together, all but Benjamin, so that it is easily reckoned who they were, and they are called not Jacob's sons, as they were; but Joseph's brethren, whom they had sold into Egypt, and to whom now they were going, though they knew it not, to buy corn of him in their necessity, and to whom they would be obliged to yield obeisance, as they did.

But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren Benjamin is called Joseph's brother, because he was so both by father and mother's side, as the rest were not; him Jacob kept with him, being the youngest and his darling, the only son he had with him of his beloved wife Rachel; and was very probably the more beloved by him since he had been bereft of Joseph; and it was not only to keep him company that he retained him at home, but for the reason following: for he said, lest peradventure mischief befall him ; as had to Joseph his brother, as he imagined; either that the journey would be too much for him, being young, or lest he should be seized with sickness on the road, or rather with death, as Aben Ezra interprets it according to the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan.

And the sons of Israel came to buy [corn] among those that came Either among the Egyptians that came to buy, or among those who came from different countries, or rather particularly among the Canaanites, as the Targum of Jonathan; with these they might join upon the road, and go together in a body where the market for corn was:

for the famine was in the land of Canaan : which obliged the inhabitants of it as well as Jacob's family to seek for corn elsewhere, and confirms the sense of the preceding clause: this, though a very fruitful land, yet when God withheld a blessing from it, it became barren, as it had been before, (Genesis 12:10) (26:1) , and was to try the faith of those good men to whom God had given it, and to wean their hearts from being set upon it, and to put them upon seeking a better country, as they did.