They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”
Jacob has just blamed his sons for telling Egypt's ruler about Benjamin. They answer that the man questioned them closely about the family, and that they could not have guessed he would demand their brother.
Nature Versus Grace
The brothers did not offer Benjamin's name. The man drew it out with questions about their father and their family. Why would the ruler of Egypt care? One writer sets Jacob's complaint beside their reply:
Hamilton SmithAll this shows how impossible it is for nature to understand the ways of grace. "Why," says Jacob, speaking as the natural man does, "tell the man whether you had a brother?" (v. 6). Their reply shows the way grace had taken: "The man asked very closely after us, and of our kindred." Grace can forgive everything, but grace will have everything brought to light (v. 7).
The phrase quoted there is from an older translation; the ESV renders it, "The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred."
Joseph's Purpose Behind the Probing
Joseph knew these men. They had no idea who he was. One writer asks what all the hard questioning was for:
C. E. StuartJoseph, when he saw them, knew them, but they did not know him. He had purposes of grace toward them, as his conduct all through proved. There was no bitterness in the one they had treated so cruelly, and no desire for revenge. He wanted them at ease before him, and at home with him; but repentance had to be worked in them first. How did he bring this about? They had to judge themselves for the past.
When the Food Ran Out
Jacob resisted sending Benjamin. What changed his mind was not argument but hunger:
William KellyIt is in a world of evil and sorrow through sin that grace works for good. As long as the food lasted, the dreaded condition stayed in the background. But when their supply ran out, they had to face the facts. They found God above their hopes as much as above their fears. He turned their faults to their profit, and He was abundant in fitting mercy to His own glory.
Another writer makes the same point about the effect of pressure on a stubborn heart:
F. B. HoleFor the moment Jacob flatly refused to part with Benjamin, but Genesis 43 shows us how his stubborn refusal had to give way before the hard logic of facts.
Jacob's Plan: A Present
Jacob's own answer is to buy the man's goodwill. One writer sees in that plan how nature always thinks about God:
Hamilton SmithTaken up with their own doings, Jacob unfolds his plan. "Take," he says, "a present" to appease the man. "Take double money" to buy the grain. "Take also your brother, and get up and go again to the man." Nature cannot think of God as a giver, or of man as a receiver. Nature has no true knowledge of God or of man. It cannot imagine a God so rich in sovereign grace that He can only give, or a man so ruined and helpless that he can only receive.
Everything Comes Out — Now or Later
One writer quotes this exchange and then turns it on the reader:
W. T. P. WolstonMy friend, God means you to have everything out sooner or later. If you put it off, it will be a terrible thing to have it out with the Lord Jesus Christ at the judgment seat. Condemnation can be the only outcome then.
A Picture of Israel's Future
One writer sees in Joseph and his brothers a picture of what is still ahead for Israel:
William KellyThe same will be true of the generation of Israel's sons still to come. Their failure went far deeper, and it was against One immeasurably greater than Joseph... The repentance of that coming day will match it. The trials they must pass through under God's government, in payment for what they did, will be immense. But the end the Lord brings about will be rich in promised blessing, not only for Israel but for all the nations of the earth.
Summary
- Questioned. The brothers did not offer Benjamin's name. The ruler asked about their father and their family, and they answered his questions.
- Purposed. Behind the hard questions was a heart with no bitterness in it. Joseph wanted these men at ease and at home with him, but repentance had to come first.
- Exposed. Grace forgives everything. Grace also brings everything to light, so nothing stays hidden.
- Pressed. While the food lasted, the family avoided the issue. An empty store forced the facts out, and God turned their faults to their profit.
- Settled. What must come out at the judgment seat can come out now, before the One who already knows it all.