John Gill Commentary Genesis 42:36

John Gill Commentary

Genesis 42:36

1697–1771
Reformed Baptist
John Gill
John Gill

John Gill Commentary

Genesis 42:36

1697–1771
Reformed Baptist
SCRIPTURE

"And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me." — Genesis 42:36 (ASV)

And Jacob their father said to them, you have bereaved me [of my children]
Which looks as if Jacob suspected that they had either sold or slain Joseph, and had done one or the other by Simeon: Joseph [is] not, and Simeon [is] not:

Neither of them were with him, and both were given up by him as dead, or, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, ``of Joseph you have said an evil beast has devoured him; and Simeon, you say, the king of the country has bound him;'' as for Joseph he did not know but he was dead, he feared he was; and as for Simeon, he being in the hands of so rough a man as they had represented the lord of the land to be, and especially as his release depended upon sending Benjamin, which he was determined at present not to do; he was reckoned by him as a lost or dead man:

and you will take Benjamin [away]; they were desirous of it, and he could not tell what their design was; he seems to have a strong suspicion that it was not good:

all these things are against me; against his will, his peace, and comfort, and happiness, though they were all working and would work as they did for his good, and for the good of his family, for the preservation of it during the seven years of famine; or are "upon me" F6, as heavy burdens, too heavy for him to bear, ready to sink him down to the earth.


FOOTNOTES:

  • F6: (yle) "super me", Montanus, Schmidt; "[vel.] in me", V. L. Vatablus.