Genesis 42:1 - Meaning and Application

Though all of Jacob’s sons were married and had families of their own, they still seem to have lived as one household under their father’s direction. Here we see Jacob’s order for them to go to Egypt and buy grain (Genesis 42:1-2). The famine was severe in the land of Canaan. That is striking, because the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all met famine in the land God had promised them. This was not only a test of their faith, to see whether they could trust God even when life was hard, but also a lesson to lift their hearts toward a better country, the heavenly one (Hebrews 11:14-16).

We need something to loosen our grip on this world and make us long for a better one. Yet when there was famine in Canaan, there was grain in Egypt. In this way, God orders life so that one place can help another, because we are all brothers. The Egyptians, descended from cursed Ham, had plenty while God’s blessed Israel was in need. In giving common blessings, God often crosses our expectations. Still, Egypt’s abundance came, under God, through Joseph’s wisdom and care. If Joseph’s brothers had not sold him into Egypt, but had honored him as they should have, who knows whether he might have done the same good for Jacob’s family that he now did for Pharaoh and the Egyptians? Those who push wise and good people away do not know what they are doing.

Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt. He had seen neighbors buy it there and bring it home. Seeing where help can be found should stir us to act, and seeing others supplied should stir us too. Shall others get food for their souls, while we go hungry when it is available? Jacob also rebuked his sons for delaying to provide for their families. “Why do you look at one another?” he asked. When we are in trouble and need, it is foolish to stand staring at each other in despair, as if there were no hope and no help. It is foolish to argue over who should go first, or who should risk going last. It is foolish to keep debating what to do while doing nothing. It is foolish to drift along in a kind of sleep, as if there were nothing to be done. And it is foolish to delay, as if time were ours to command. Let it never be said of us, “We left for tomorrow what we could have done today.”

Jacob urged them to go at once to Egypt. “Go down there,” he said. Heads of families must not only pray for daily bread and enough to live on, they must also work hard and carefully to provide it. They then obeyed and went down to buy grain (Genesis 42:3). They did not send servants. They went themselves, wisely taking care of their own business and spending their own money. No one should think himself too important or too good to take pains. Heads of households should use their own eyes and not leave too much to servants.

Only Benjamin did not go with them, because he was his father’s favorite. When they came to Egypt, with a large amount of grain to buy, they were brought before Joseph himself, who probably expected them to come. Then, according to custom, they bowed before him (Genesis 42:6). In this way, their empty sheaves paid respect to his full one. Compare this with (Isaiah 60:14) and (Revelation 3:9).