Genesis 42:4

But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

42:1-6 Jacob saw the corn his neighbours had bought in Egypt, and brought home. It is a spur to exertion to see others supplied. Shall others get food for their souls, and shall we starve while it is to be had? Having discovered where help is to be had, we should apply for it without delay, without shrinking from labour, or grudging expense, especially as regards our never-dying souls. There is provision in Christ; but we must come to him, and seek it from him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The aged Jacob is the only man of counsel. "Behold, I have heard there is grain in Mizraim:" go down and buy. The ten brothers are sent, and Benjamin, the youngest, is retained, not merely because of his youth, for he was now twenty-four years of age, but because he was the son of his father's old age, the only son of Rachel now with him, and the only full brother of the lost Joseph. "Lest mischief befall him," and so no child of Rachel would be left. "Among those that went." The dearth was widespread in the land of Kenaan.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 42

Ge 42:1-38. Journey into Egypt.

1. Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt—learned from common rumor. It is evident from Jacob's language that his own and his sons' families had suffered greatly from the scarcity; and through the increasing severity of the scourge, those men, who had formerly shown both activity and spirit, were sinking into despondency. God would not interpose miraculously when natural means of preservation were within reach.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Because he was very young, and now his best beloved son.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren,.... Benjamin is called Joseph's brother, because he was so both by father and mother's side, as the rest were not; him Jacob kept with him, being the youngest and his darling, the only son he had with him of his beloved wife Rachel; and was very probably the more beloved by him since he had been bereft of Joseph; and it was not only to keep him company that he retained him at home, but for the reason following:

for he said, lest peradventure mischief befall him; as had to Joseph his brother, as he imagined; either that the journey would be too much for him, being young, or lest he should be seized with sickness on the road, or rather with death, as Aben Ezra interprets it according to the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan.

Geneva Study Bible

But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. mischief] See Genesis 42:38. Jacob dares not part with Benjamin, for whom, both as his youngest child and as the surviving son of Rachel, he has special affection. On this trait the whole narrative turns, cf. Genesis 42:38, Genesis 44:20; Genesis 44:30-31.

5 (? J). And the sons of Israel, &c.] “Sons of Israel,” cf. Genesis 45:21, Genesis 46:5. The verse reads like the commencement of a new section; while the words “for the famine, &c.” are not necessary after Genesis 42:1-4. The change from the name of “Jacob” (Genesis 42:1-4) to that of “Israel” is another indication that this verse is drawn from a different source of narrative from Genesis 42:1-4.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - But (literally, and) Benjamin, Joseph's brother (vide Genesis 35:18), Jacob sent not with his brethren. Not because of his youth (Patrick, Lange), since he was now upwards of twenty years of age, but because he was Joseph's brother, and had taken Joseph's place in his father's affections (Lawson, Lange, Murphy, &c.), causing the old man to cherish him with tender solicitude. For he said (to, or within, himself, perhaps recalling the fate of Joseph), Lest peradventure mischief befall him. אָסון, from אָסַה, to hurt (Gesenius, Furst), and occurring only elsewhere in ver. 38, Genesis 44:29, and Exodus 21:22, 23, denotes any sort of personal injury in general, and in particular here such mischance as might happen to a traveler. Genesis 42:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

With the words "Why do ye look at one another!" viz., in such a helpless and undecided manner. Jacob exhorted his sons to fetch corn from Egypt, to preserve his family from starvation. Joseph's ten brothers went, as their aged father would not allow his youngest son Benjamin to go with them, for fear that some calamity might befall him (קרא equals קרה, Genesis 44:29 as in Genesis 42:38 and Genesis 49:1); and they came "in the midst of the comers," i.e., among others who came from the same necessity, and bowed down before Joseph with their faces to the earth. For he was "the ruler over the land," and had the supreme control of the sale of the corn, so that they were obliged to apply to him. השּׁלּיט seems to have been the standing title which the Shemites gave to Joseph as ruler in Egypt; and from this the later legend of Σάλατις the first king of the Hyksos arose (Josephus c. Ap. i. 14). The only other passages in which the word occurs in the Old Testament are in writings of the captivity or a still later date, and there it is taken from the Chaldee; it belongs, however, not merely to the Aramaean thesaurus, but to the Arabic also, from which it was introduced into the passage before us.