NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible | Page 85

Genesis 42:19  | 89
41:50 o  Ge 46:20; 48:5
41:51 p  Ge  48:14, ​18, ​20
41:52 q  Ge  48:1, ​5;
50:23 r  Ge  17:6;
28:3; 49:22
41:54 s  ver  30;
Ps 105:11; Ac 7:11
41:55 t  Dt  32:24
u  ver  41
41:56 v  Ge  12:10
41:57 w  Ge 42:5; 47:15
42:1 x  Ac  7:12
42:2 y  Ge  43:8
42:4 z  ver  38
42:5 a  Ge  41:57
b  Ge 12:10; Ac 7:11
42:6 c  Ge  41:41
d  Ge  37:7‑10
42:7 e  ver  30
42:8 f  Ge  37:2
42:9 g  Ge  37:7
42:13 h  Ge  37:30, ​33;
44:20
42:15 i  1Sa  17:55
42:16 j  ver  11
42:17 k  Ge  40:4
42:18 l  Ge  20:11;
Lev 25:43
50 Be­fore the ­years of fam­ine came, two sons were born to Jo­seph by As­e­nath daugh­ter
of Po­tiph­era, ­priest of On.  o 51  Jo­seph ­named his first­born  p Ma­nas­seh  a and said, “It is be­
cause God has made me for­get all my trou­ble and all my fa­ther’s house­hold.” 52  The sec­ond
son he ­named Ephraim  b   q and said, “It is be­cause God has made me fruit­ful  r in the land
of my ­suf­fer­ing.”
53 The seven ­years of abun­dance in ­Egypt came to an end, 54 and the seven ­years of
fam­ine be­gan,  s just as Jo­seph had said. ­There was fam­ine in all the other ­lands, but in
the ­whole land of E
­ gypt t ­ here was food. 55 When all E
­ gypt be­gan to feel the fam­ine,  t the
peo­ple ­cried to Phar­aoh for food. Then Phar­aoh told all the Egyp­tians, “Go to Jo­seph and
do what he ­tells ­you.”  u
56 When the fam­ine had ­spread over the ­whole coun­try, Jo­seph ­opened all the store­
houses and sold g
­ rain to the Egyp­tians, for the fam­ine  v was se­vere through­out ­Egypt.
57 And all the ­world came to E
­ gypt to buy g
­ rain from Jo­seph,  w be­cause the fam­ine was
se­vere ­ev­ery­where.
Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt
42
When Ja­cob ­learned that ­there was ­grain in ­Egypt,  x he said to his sons, “Why do you
just keep look­ing at each other?” 2 He con­tin­ued, “I have h
­ eard that t ­ here is g
­ rain in
Egypt. Go down ­there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not ­die.”  y
3 Then ten of Jo­seph’s broth­ers went down to buy g
­ rain from ­Egypt. 4 But Ja­cob did not
send Ben­ja­min, Jo­seph’s brother, with the oth­ers, be­cause he was ­afraid that harm ­might
come to him.  z 5 So Is­ra­el’s sons were a
­ mong ­those who went to buy g
­ rain,  a for there was
fam­ine in the land of Ca­naan ­also.  b
6 Now Jo­seph was the gov­er­nor of the land,  c the per­son who sold ­grain to all its peo­
ple. So when Jo­seph’s broth­ers ar­rived, they b
­ owed down to him with t ­ heir faces to the
ground.  d 7 As soon as Jo­seph saw his broth­ers, he rec­og­nized them, but he pre­tended to be
a stranger and ­spoke harshly to them.  e “Where do you come from?” he ­asked.
“From the land of Ca­naan,” they re­plied, “to buy ­food.”
8 Al­though Jo­seph rec­og­nized his broth­ers, they did not rec­og­nize him.  f 9 Then he re­
mem­bered his ­dreams  g ­about them and said to them, “You are ­spies! You have come to
see ­where our land is ­un­pro­tected.”
10 “No, my lord,” they an­swered. “Your ser­vants have come to buy food. 11 We are all the
sons of one man. Your ser­vants are hon­est men, not ­spies.”
12 “No!” he said to them. “You have come to see ­where our land is ­un­pro­tected.”
13 But they re­plied, “Your ser­vants were t ­ welve broth­ers, the sons of one man, who l ­ ives
in the land of Ca­naan. The youn­gest is now with our fa­ther, and one is no ­more.”  h
14 Jo­seph said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are ­spies! 15 And this is how you will
be tested: As surely as Phar­aoh l ­ ives,  i you will not l ­ eave this p
­ lace un­less your youn­gest
brother ­comes here. 16 Send one of your num­ber to get your brother; the rest of you will be
kept in prison, so that your ­words may be tested to see if you are tell­ing the ­truth.  j If you
are not, then as surely as Phar­aoh ­lives, you are ­spies!” 17 And he put them all in cus­tody  k
for ­three ­days.
18 On the ­third day, Jo­seph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God:  l 19 If
you are hon­est men, let one of your broth­ers stay here in prison, ­while the rest of you go
a  51  Manasseh sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for forget.    b  52  Ephraim sounds like the Hebrew for
twice fruitful.   
41:50 – 52 The birth of Joseph’s sons coincides
with the fruitful years.
41:51 Manasseh. Conveys the idea of “forget”
(see NIV text note). Joseph wants to forget
past events involving his affliction and the
betrayal of his own brothers.
41:52  Ephraim. Means “twice fruitful” (see
NIV text note); Joseph sees the birth of two
sons as a sign of fruitfulness, an important
motif in Genesis (e.g., 1:28; 17:6; 28:3; 35:11;
47:27).
41:53 – 57  Repeated references to Joseph un-
derscore his role in providing food as famine
grips Egypt and surrounding countries.
the government of Egypt. By accusing his
brothers of spying, Joseph sets up a series of
events that eventually result in dramatically
reuniting Jacob’s family, but not before Jo-
seph discovers how much the guilt troubles
his brothers.
42:1 – 5  The famine is widespread, causing
food shortages in Canaan.
42:6  they bowed down to him. This recalls
the dreams Joseph had 20 years previously
as a teenager (37:5 – 11). His brothers unknow-
ingly fulfill those dreams.
42:7 – 12  Joseph disguises his true identity
from his brothers by using an interpreter
(v. 23). Over 20 years have passed since the
42:1 – 38  Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt. The brothers were last together; at that time
impact of the famine causes Jacob to send his Joseph was only 17 years old. Now almost
sons to Egypt. Having sold Joseph into slav- 40 years old, Joseph is dressed as a wealthy
ery 20 years previously, the brothers have no Egyptian administrator. Not surprisingly, his
reason to imagine that Joseph now oversees brothers do not recognize him. In order to dis-
cern something of their character, he charges
them with being spies sent to determine the
strength of Egyptian defenses.
42:13 one is no more. The brothers’ short re-
sponse ends ironically by alluding to Joseph.
42:17 custody for three days. Joseph places
them under arrest. Maintaining his accusation
that they are spies, Joseph demands that his
brothers prove their honesty.
42:18 – 20  When Joseph addresses his broth-
ers after three days, he reverses his prior deci-
sion to retain all the brothers in Egypt, apart
from one. Joseph keeps one of them hostage,
and he permits the other brothers to go to
Canaan to bring Benjam in back to prove their
honesty. By allowing most of the brothers to
return to Canaan, they will be able to take
grain back for their starving households.
Joseph justifies this change of heart on the
basis that he fears God (v. 18).