But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him.
Famine has reached Canaan, and Jacob sends his sons to Egypt for grain — but he keeps one of them at home. Jacob acted out of fear. That one choice shapes everything that follows, and the picture inside it.
A father's fear
The reason Jacob holds Benjamin back is not hard to find. He had already lost one son on a journey, and Benjamin was all he had left of the same mother.
L. M. GrantBenjamin does not go with them, because Jacob feared for his safety. No doubt he felt this all the more because he had lost Joseph earlier, and Benjamin was the only son of Rachel left to him.
A grief that still ruled him
Jacob never says why he is afraid. The commentary notices that the old wound is doing the deciding, and that Jacob's caution had no power to alter what God was quietly bringing about.
William KellyOnly Benjamin must not go, in case harm came to him as it had to his brother Joseph. That burden was never spoken, but it always weighed on Jacob's heart. How little he could foresee that before long Benjamin must go too! But God was working out His good and holy design — surely, even if slowly. Man's will and man's cleverness had nothing to do with bringing it all about according to His word.
Why the brothers had to go down at all
The journey itself was not merely a food run. Commentators read the famine as part of a deliberate work on the ten men who had wronged their brother.
F. B. HoleHe was now raised high among the Gentiles and acting as saviour of the world. But his brothers needed his generous supply as much as anyone else. But by their own wicked actions they had shattered all the links that once bound them to him. Only severe dealings could restore those links properly. Those dealings were very painful, yet they were meant to work real repentance in them. The terrible famine, whatever else it might do, was meant to play a part in bringing about that desirable end.
The brother they had thrown away holds the bread
The famine forces the family toward the one person they had tried to erase. Everything they need is now in his hands.
Hamilton SmithDuring the days of plenty the world took little notice of Joseph. Of his brothers we hear nothing; they had no interest in him at all. But when the shortage set in, need woke up. The need calls out a cry for bread. The Gentiles have to learn it, and his brothers discover it: no one can meet that need except the one they once scorned and rejected. The man they once rejected is now raised high, and he is the only supply — for the Gentile nations and for Jacob and his sons alike.
Benjamin, the son of the right hand
Benjamin's name means "son of the right hand." Writers see in him a second picture of Christ, set beside Joseph's. Joseph shows the suffering; Benjamin shows the power.
William KellyBenjamin himself, the son of his father's right hand, is a picture of Christ. He does not stand for Christ as head of the church. He stands for Him as the conquering Son of might, when God sets up the kingdom in the land, and indeed over the earth, and the enemies perish before Him. This looks on to the future day of power and glory for the earth. It stands in clear contrast with Him who suffered and now sits hidden in the heavens.
Benjamin's absence from the journey fits that picture. As the brothers set out, they have neither side of Christ in view.
L. M. GrantJoseph's brothers had rejected him, a picture of Israel's rejection of the Lord Jesus. So Joseph is a picture of Christ suffering before He is raised high. Benjamin ("son of the right hand") is a picture of Christ the Messiah reigning in glory. When Israel is awakened again by their need, they will not recognise Christ as the rejected Sufferer. Even thoughts of a glorious Messiah will lie almost asleep in their minds.
Summary
- The fear — Jacob keeps Benjamin home. He has already lost Rachel's other son, and Benjamin is all he has left of her.
- The famine — the shortage is not random. It is painful pressure, meant to work real repentance and restore what the brothers had shattered.
- The rejected one — the only bread is in the hands of the brother they scorned and rejected. Need drives them straight to him.
- The one held back — Benjamin, "son of the right hand," pictures Christ reigning in power; Joseph pictures Christ suffering. On this journey the brothers see neither.
- The design — Jacob's caution delays nothing. Benjamin will go, because God's purpose moves forward whether or not a man can see it.