seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Genesis 43:1 Now the famine was still severe in the land. 2 So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”
3 But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”
6 Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?”
7 They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’ We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”
3 But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”
6 Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?”
7 They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’ We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”
Ok... Simeon has been in jail while everyone else has been at home going about their business. Apparently it's been a while because now a years worth of food is almost gone. Simeon didn't go to jail after coercing everyone in the city to get circumcised and then murdering them. Simeon didn't go to jail after convincing his brothers to put Joseph down in the cistern to starve to death. Isn't it ironic that had Judah not convinced the brothers to sell Joseph into slavery, Joseph wouldn't be in Egypt with food, Simeon would be back at home starving with the family.
I got this from studylight.org.
Perhaps Jacob originally thought they had enough to survive the remainder of the famine and they would never need to go back with Benjamin, and never need to go back and get Simeon. The famine wore on, and eventually they ran out of food.
Necessity drove Jacob to do something he would normally never do. We might imagine Jacob prayed so hard for the famine to break, and asked God to send relief. We might imagine Jacob became angry and bitter against God for not answering those prayers. God knew what He was doing and had something so much better for Jacob than he could ever imagine.
Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother? Jacob was clearly desperate. They must have discussed this question a hundred times before, yet he brought it up again.
Necessity drove Jacob to do something he would normally never do. We might imagine Jacob prayed so hard for the famine to break, and asked God to send relief. We might imagine Jacob became angry and bitter against God for not answering those prayers. God knew what He was doing and had something so much better for Jacob than he could ever imagine.
Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother? Jacob was clearly desperate. They must have discussed this question a hundred times before, yet he brought it up again.
