†. Gen 42:9a . .Then he remembered his dreams about them
When Joseph had those dreams back in chapter 37, he probably had no clue
as to how they would be fulfilled. He was only aware, from his father Jacob's
interpretations, that he would be lord over his whole family, including his
parents. Now it's becoming clear to him just exactly how those dreams were
to play out in real life.
†. Gen 42:9b . . and said to them: You are spies! You have come to
see where our land is unprotected.
That was a reasonable suspicion. Incursions into Egypt by Asians coming via
the Way of Horus-- a military highway from Canaan that led through Gaza to
El-'Arish --were a recurrent problem. So it would be only natural to assume
that if Egypt was raided from the northeast during normal years, it could be
expected to be raided even more often, and with greater boldness, during a
food-related crisis that was effecting a huge part of the world of that day.
Foreign invaders would of course be encouraged to think that maybe the
Egyptians were so distracted by just trying to survive that they'd let their
guard down and have no heart for fighting. A nation in crises is a plausible
target of opportunity for any ambitious conqueror. It of course fell to
Joseph's responsibility to carefully screen foreigners to be certain of their
true purposes for entering Egypt. Were they looking for food; or were they
looking for weak points in Egypt's defenses?
Joseph really had no good reason at all to trust his own brothers. Not only
had they been so callous as to plot their own kid brother's murder, and sell
him to slave traders, but he no doubt remembered how two of them
viciously hacked to death the entire number of men in the town of Shechem
back in chapter 34. So far as he was concerned, they were capable of
anything, even of pillaging a vulnerable Egypt under the guise of ordinary
people just looking for something to eat like everybody else.
†. Gen 42:10-11 . . But they said to him: No, my lord! Truly, your
servants have come to procure food. We are all of us sons of the
same man; we are honest men; your servants have never been
spies!
Ten men all together is too obvious. I think that professional spies would
split up and not travel together nor even enter Egypt on the very same day.
Perhaps they hoped that by divulging details about their family, it would help
convince their inquisitor that they weren't entering Egypt for military
purposes. But even that story could be perceived as a cover to an official in
Joseph's position.
†. Gen 42:12 . . And he said to them: No, you have come to see the
land in its nakedness!
A word like "nakedness" can imply any number of things. One is that the
once majestic, and superior, land of Egypt was debased and embarrassed by
it's severely reduced agricultural production. It was world famous for
abundance, and proud of its independence. Egypt needed help from no one,
and asked for none. On the contrary, Egypt was everyone else's ace in the
hole in times of trouble. However, during this particular famine, the once
proud nation's agriculture was in ruins just like everybody else's and would
have been destitute just like everybody else too except for one thing: Joseph
and his federally-funded grain silos.
†. Gen 42:13 . . But they replied: Your servants were twelve
brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The
youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.
For the second time they volunteer personal information about themselves;
and probably for the same reason as the first. However, it was music to
Joseph's ears because no doubt when he didn't see his kid brother Benjamin
traveling with his eldest brothers, he began to be concerned that they had
done to him what they had previously wrought upon himself. Although they
lied about the "one" who is no more (lying about Joseph was by now
probably a reflexive habit) they certainly weren't lying about the youngest
because there was no reason to. If Benjamin were dead, then they simply
would have said "two" are no more.
†. Gen 42:14 . . Joseph said to them: It is just as I told you: You are
spies!
With Joseph's intelligence, and from his day after day experience with an
endless stream of truly desperate people, he would have known by now
(especially with that incredible intuition of his) that the ten weak-knees guys
standing before him certainly weren't professional soldiers. He's being
deliberately obtuse, and it's becoming obvious now (at least to us Bible
students who know Joseph's true identity) that he's feeling his brothers out
to ascertain whether or not they're the very same unrepentant,
unremorseful, cold-blooded, steely-eyed, dirty rotten scoundrels they were
in the past. Until he's certain they can be trusted, Joseph isn't going to
afford them the even tiniest hint of who he really is.
Cont.
/
When Joseph had those dreams back in chapter 37, he probably had no clue
as to how they would be fulfilled. He was only aware, from his father Jacob's
interpretations, that he would be lord over his whole family, including his
parents. Now it's becoming clear to him just exactly how those dreams were
to play out in real life.
†. Gen 42:9b . . and said to them: You are spies! You have come to
see where our land is unprotected.
That was a reasonable suspicion. Incursions into Egypt by Asians coming via
the Way of Horus-- a military highway from Canaan that led through Gaza to
El-'Arish --were a recurrent problem. So it would be only natural to assume
that if Egypt was raided from the northeast during normal years, it could be
expected to be raided even more often, and with greater boldness, during a
food-related crisis that was effecting a huge part of the world of that day.
Foreign invaders would of course be encouraged to think that maybe the
Egyptians were so distracted by just trying to survive that they'd let their
guard down and have no heart for fighting. A nation in crises is a plausible
target of opportunity for any ambitious conqueror. It of course fell to
Joseph's responsibility to carefully screen foreigners to be certain of their
true purposes for entering Egypt. Were they looking for food; or were they
looking for weak points in Egypt's defenses?
Joseph really had no good reason at all to trust his own brothers. Not only
had they been so callous as to plot their own kid brother's murder, and sell
him to slave traders, but he no doubt remembered how two of them
viciously hacked to death the entire number of men in the town of Shechem
back in chapter 34. So far as he was concerned, they were capable of
anything, even of pillaging a vulnerable Egypt under the guise of ordinary
people just looking for something to eat like everybody else.
†. Gen 42:10-11 . . But they said to him: No, my lord! Truly, your
servants have come to procure food. We are all of us sons of the
same man; we are honest men; your servants have never been
spies!
Ten men all together is too obvious. I think that professional spies would
split up and not travel together nor even enter Egypt on the very same day.
Perhaps they hoped that by divulging details about their family, it would help
convince their inquisitor that they weren't entering Egypt for military
purposes. But even that story could be perceived as a cover to an official in
Joseph's position.
†. Gen 42:12 . . And he said to them: No, you have come to see the
land in its nakedness!
A word like "nakedness" can imply any number of things. One is that the
once majestic, and superior, land of Egypt was debased and embarrassed by
it's severely reduced agricultural production. It was world famous for
abundance, and proud of its independence. Egypt needed help from no one,
and asked for none. On the contrary, Egypt was everyone else's ace in the
hole in times of trouble. However, during this particular famine, the once
proud nation's agriculture was in ruins just like everybody else's and would
have been destitute just like everybody else too except for one thing: Joseph
and his federally-funded grain silos.
†. Gen 42:13 . . But they replied: Your servants were twelve
brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The
youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.
For the second time they volunteer personal information about themselves;
and probably for the same reason as the first. However, it was music to
Joseph's ears because no doubt when he didn't see his kid brother Benjamin
traveling with his eldest brothers, he began to be concerned that they had
done to him what they had previously wrought upon himself. Although they
lied about the "one" who is no more (lying about Joseph was by now
probably a reflexive habit) they certainly weren't lying about the youngest
because there was no reason to. If Benjamin were dead, then they simply
would have said "two" are no more.
†. Gen 42:14 . . Joseph said to them: It is just as I told you: You are
spies!
With Joseph's intelligence, and from his day after day experience with an
endless stream of truly desperate people, he would have known by now
(especially with that incredible intuition of his) that the ten weak-knees guys
standing before him certainly weren't professional soldiers. He's being
deliberately obtuse, and it's becoming obvious now (at least to us Bible
students who know Joseph's true identity) that he's feeling his brothers out
to ascertain whether or not they're the very same unrepentant,
unremorseful, cold-blooded, steely-eyed, dirty rotten scoundrels they were
in the past. Until he's certain they can be trusted, Joseph isn't going to
afford them the even tiniest hint of who he really is.
Cont.
/
