Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 42:24
And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.
24. wept ] Cf. Gen 43:30. Joseph’s feelings are deeply stirred by overhearing words that indicate his brethren’s contrition for their inhuman conduct towards himself.
Simeon ] Simeon was selected to be retained in prison as the next oldest after Reuben. Reuben may have been spared, either for his previous kindness, or because, as the eldest, he would be responsible for carrying the report to Jacob. That Simeon was also the most cruel is an inference from Gen 34:25 and Gen 49:5-7, taken in conjunction with the present passage. The retention of Simeon provided a pledge tor the return of the others; which otherwise might be rendered improbable through fear of further harshness from “the lord of the land.” The return of their money and the gift of “provision” are meant also to stir their feelings.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 42:24
He turned himself about from them and wept
Josephs feelings on seeing his brethren
After the lapse of twenty years, Joseph on seeing his brethren wept.
Why, he might have been vengeful! It is easy for us glibly to read the words, Joseph turned himself about and wept. But consider what the words might have been! We oftentimes see results, not processes. We do not see how men have had to bind themselves down, crucify themselves–hands, feet, head, and side–and undergo death in the presence of God, before they could look society in the face with anything like benignity and gentleness and forgiveness. What the words might have been! Joseph, when he saw his brethren, might have said, Now I have you! Once you put me in a pit–I shall shake you over hell; once you sold me–I will imprison you and torture you day and night; you smote me with whips–I shall scourge you with scorpions! It shall be easier to go through a circle of fire than to escape my just and indignant vengeance to-day! He might have said, I shall operate upon the law, A tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye. That is the law of nature; that is elementary morality. It is not vengeance, it is not resentment; it is alphabetic justice–justice at its lowest point–incipient righteousness. It is not two eyes for an eye, two teeth for a tooth; but an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a blow for a blow, a pit for a pit, selling for selling, and so on. A great many men are perfectly content with elementary morality and alphabetic justice. People dont educate themselves from this kind of righteousness into Christian nobility of disposition. It is not a question of education; it is a question of sanctification. Few men can rise beyond mere justice. Many men find in mere justice all the moral satisfaction which their shallow natures require; they cannot see that mercy is the very highest point in justice, and that when a man stoops to forgive be becomes a prince and a king and a crowned ruler in the house and kingdom of God. It requires all that God can do to teach men this: That there is something higher than the law of retaliation, that forgiveness is better than resentment, and that to release men is oftentimes-if done from moral consideration and not from moral neglect–the highest form of Christian justice. But revenge is sweet! I am afraid that some of us like just a little revenge; not that we would ourselves personally and directly inflict it, but if our enemies could, somehow or another, be tripped up, and tumble half way at least into a pit, we should not feel that compunction and sorrow and distress of soul which, sentimentally, appears to be so very fine and beautiful. Nothing but God the Holy Ghost can train a man to this greatness of answering the memory of injury with tears, and accepting processes in which men only appear to have a part, as if God, after all, had been over-ruling and directing the whole scheme.. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The secret sorrows of men
And Joseph turned himself about from them and wept. Afterwards he left their presence and went into his chamber and wept. Think of the secret sorrows of men! The tears did not flow in the presence of the ten men. The tears were shed in secret. We do not know one another altogether, because there is a private life. There are secret experiences. Some of us are two men. Joseph was two men. He spake roughly unto his brethren. He put it on, he assumed roughness for the occasion. But if you had seen him when he had got away into his secret chamber, no woman ever shed hotter, bitterer tears than streamed from that mans eyes. We do not know one another altogether. We come to false conclusions about each others character and disposition. Many a time we say about men, They are very harsh, rough, abrupt; not knowing that they have other days when their very souls are dissolved within them; that they can suffer more in one hour than shallower natures could endure in an eternity. Let us be hopeful about the very worst of men. Some men cannot cry in public. Some men are unfortunately afflicted with coarse, harsh voices, which get for them a reputation for austerity, unkindliness, ungeniality. Other men are gifted with fairness and openness of countenance, gentleness and tunefulness of voice. When they curse and swear it seems as though they were half praying, or just about to enter into some religious exercise. When they speak, when they smile, they get a reputation for being very amiable men, yet they do not know what amiability is. They have no secret life. They weep for reputation; they make their tears an investment for a paltry renown. We do not want all our history to be known. We are content for men to read a little of what they see on the outside, and they profoundly mistake that oftentimes. But the secret history, the inner room of life, what we are and what we do when we are alone, no man can ever tell–the dearest, truest, tenderest friend can never understand. Do not let us treat Josephs tears lightly. Under this feeling there are great moral principles and moral impulses. The man might have been stern, vengeful, resentful. Instead of that he is tender as a forgiving sister. When he looks he yearns, when he listens to their voices all the gladness and none of the bitterness of his old home comes back again on his soul. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Josephs emotion
The hearing of the bitter reflections made by his brethren, upon their barbarous treatment of himself, brought rivers of waters from Josephs eyes. Many passions, many unpleasant and many pleasant remembrances, struggled together in his mind. He tenderly sympathized with the distress of his brethren. He was grieved when he found it necessary to inflict such grief upon men so dear to him, after all they had done to ruin his comfort. He wept at the remembrance of that anguish which he had felt in the day of his calamity, and of the unavailing applications to his hard-hearted brethren, extorted by strong necessity and bitter anguish. He called to mind his afflictions and his misery, the wormwood and the gall; but he remembered also how the Lord had sent from above, and taken and drawn him out of many waters, and set him in a large place, and established his goings. Although Joseph was now exalted to glory and power, he was not in the place where all tears are wiped from every eye. We must in this world weep often, even for ourselves; we must often weep for our friends; but they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Joseph wished not that his brethren should see his tears. When he found he could not refrain, he turned himself from them and wept. Tears shed in secret are the truest indication of the heart. Jeremiah wept in secret places for the calamities coming upon his people, when the Lords flock was to be carried away captive. (G. Lawson, D. D.)
Took from them Simeon, and bound him:–
Harsh steps sometimes necessary
The circumstances of the case required such a behaviour from Joseph as ought not to be made a precedent, unless similar circumstances, or different circumstances of a very uncommon kind, render it advisable. It was not sufficient to satisfy Joseph that he heard his brethren sorely regret their conduct towards himself. In the judgment of charity, he hoped their repentance was sincere; but farther proofs of their sincerity were requisite, before he could place that confidence which he wished to do, in any professions they might have made. Parents are not to be blamed when they forgive their offending but penitent children, although they watch over them with anxious jealousy, lest they should not bring forth fruits meet for repentance. The surgeon is not to be blamed although he give great pain to his patient, by incisions deeper than appear to ordinary beholders to be necessary. Joseph had too good reason to know the stubborn spirit of some of his brethren, and in particular of Simeon; and who knows but he had particular directions from God about the proper means for taming it? During the two or three days of his brethrens imprisonment, he had time to acknowledge the Lord in this important affair, and the Lord directed his steps. You must not be rash in passing judgment on mens conduct. A tree, says our Lord, is known by its fruit. And yet there are cases in which the fruit is to be judged of from the tree. If a good man does actions that are certainly bad, that charity which rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, will not hinder you from assigning them that character which they deserve. But if actions are dubious, charity, which believeth all things, hopeth all things, forbids you to pronounce them bad till better evidence appear. He bound Simeon before their eyes. This circumstance of Simeons imprisonment puts us in mind of Nebuchadnezzars cruelty to Zedekiah, king of Judah, whose sons he slew before their fathers eyes, and then caused his eyes to be put out, that he might never behold another object. His intention was to double the calamities of the loss of sight, and of the murder of his children. But those actions may be not only different, but opposite in their nature, which present the same appearance when viewed with a careless eye. An enemy wounds that he may destroy, but faithful are the wounds of a friend. All Josephs brethren now with him, except Reuben, needed severe rebukes; and no reproofs of the tongue were so likely to subdue their haughty spirit, as the sight of the distress of their brother and companion in iniquity. But it is probable that Josephs chief design in presenting this melancholy spectacle to their eyes was, that they might be excited to return more speedily with their younger brother, whom Joseph was impatient to see. The eye affects the heart. Envy hindered them from regarding the distress of Joseph in the pit; but it was to be hoped that they would compassionate the sufferings of that brother who had never offended them by his dreams, nor received from his father a coat of divers colours. We cannot pretend either to the power or to the wisdom of Joseph. We do not enjoy such intercourse with Heaven by immediate revelation as he frequently enjoyed; and therefore, it would be presumptuous in us to pretend to take such methods as he employed, to humble the spirits of those who have offended us. We have never met with usage that can be compared to the treatment which he had received from his brethren. We must not, however, hope to pass through life without trials to our patience and meekness. Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among us? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. (G. Lawson, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 24. Took – Simeon and bound him before their eyes.] This was retaliation, if, as the rabbins suppose, it was Simeon who bound Joseph, and put him into the pit. A recollection of this circumstance must exceedingly deepen the sense he had of his guilt.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He turned himself and wept tears, partly of natural affection and compassion towards his brethren, now in great distress and anguish; and partly of joy, to see the happy success of his design and rigorous carriage, in bringing them to the sight of their sins.
He chooseth to punish
Simeon, partly, because next to Reuben he was the eldest, and, as it may be probably gathered from his bloody disposition, Gen 34:25; 49:6, the most fierce and forward against Joseph, when Reuben was for milder counsels, as we see here, Gen 42:22; 38:29; and partly, because the detainment of one of so perverse and furious a temper would least afflict his father, and most secure Benjamin, who was to come with his brethren. He
bound him before their eyes, that it might make deeper impression upon their hard hearts, and make their repentance more effectual.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24. took . . . Simeon, and boundhimHe had probably been the chief instigatorthe mostviolent actor in the outrage upon Joseph; and if so, his selection tobe the imprisoned and fettered hostage for their return would, in thepresent course of their reflections, have a painful significance.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he turned himself about from them, and wept,…. Hearing his brethren confess their sin and guilt to one another in selling him, and Reuben’s affectionate concern for him, it wrought so much upon his affections, being naturally of a tender spirit, that he could no longer act the part he had, and keep up the sternness and severity of his countenance; wherefore he turned his face from them, that they might not discern it, and his back upon them, and went into another room: and after he had given vent to his passion, and composed himself,
and returned to them again, and communed with them; upon the same subject, of going with their corn to Canaan, and bringing their youngest brother with them upon their return, and promising moreover, for their encouragement, a free traffic in the land of Egypt,
Ge 42:34:
and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes; who perhaps was the most cruel and hardhearted among them; and it appears from the affair of Shechem, that he was a man of a fierce and bloody disposition. According to Jarchi, it was he that said to Levi, on sight of Joseph, behold this dreamer cometh; and that it was he that cast him into the pit; and, as the Targum says, advised to kill him: and perhaps Joseph might pitch upon him as the hostage, not only because he had used him more evilly than the rest, but because he might observe he was less concerned, and not so much humbled now for the evil he had done as the rest were; as also he might choose to detain him, as being not so much in his father’s affection, because of the affair of Shechem, and so be a less affliction to him than if it was another; and besides, he might fear that being of a perverse and boisterous disposition, he would vehemently oppose the sending of Benjamin into Egypt, which Joseph was so very desirous of: and he bound him in their presence to terrify them, and let them know what they must expect if they did not obey his orders, and the more to humble them for the sin they had been guilty of, and was now upon their minds; though perhaps, as Jarchi observes, when they were gone he let him out, and gave him food and drink; or however might give him some liberty, and use him with mildness and gentleness.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(24) He turned . . . and wept.There was no bitterness in Josephs heart, and at their first word of regret he melted. But lest he should lose Benjamin he overcame his feelings, and commanded that Simeon should be bound, choosing him, probably, as the one chiefly guilty of the wrong done him. As soon as the rest had departed, he would probably make his imprisonment as easy as possible, especially as he was detained, not as an evil-doer, but as a hostage.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24. Turned and wept On hearing their words of conscientious fear, he cannot control his feelings in their presence .
Took from them Simeon Probably his cruel temper (lxix, 5,) had largely instigated and controlled the action of his brethren in making away with Joseph.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he turned himself away from them and wept, and he returned to them and spoke to them and took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes.’
Joseph overhears what they are saying and it brings tears to his eyes. Whether he actually goes out prior to speaking to them again through the interpreter we are not specifically told. Then he acts promptly. Simeon is placed in custody (‘bound’) and they are made to watch. Whether ‘bound’ includes being tied up with ropes we do not know, although as Joseph wanted to make the greatest possible impression it is quite possible.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 42:24. Turned himself about from them, and wept If the conduct of Joseph’s brethren presents us with a striking proof of the power of conscience, Joseph himself affords us as striking a proof of the power of nature: affected at their confusion and distress, all the tenderness of the brother filled his heart, and drew tears from his eyes. Severe as he seemed to them in outward behaviour, his soul and his affections were full of kindness towards them. His looks, his mien, his voice, his dress, were those of a stranger; but his heart was that of a brother.
HetookSimeon, and bound him The Rabbis and Philo affirm, that Joseph determined to retain Simeon rather than any other, because he threw Joseph into the pit. The tradition is not improbable; it is certain, that Reuben was desirous to save Joseph, and Judah inclined to favour him; so that if Simeon had joined with them, their authority might have prevailed to deliver him. We may add to this, that Simeon was a violent man, as the affair of the Sechemites proves; and that Joseph thought it best to detain him, as it would least afflict his father, and prevent any obstacle to his desire of embracing his brother Benjamin. Having gained what information he wanted concerning his father and Benjamin, he now hastens their departure.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
That is a blessed scripture, Isa 63:9 . And who shall take upon him to say to what extent those yearnings of JESUS over his people in their sorrows are carried, before the time comes for his openly manifesting himself to them as their Savior.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 42:24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.
Ver. 24. And wept; and returned, &c. ] The better any one is, the more inclined to weeping; as David, than Jonathan. 1Sa 20:41
“Nam faciles motus mens generosa capit.”
Paulus non tam atramento quam lachrymis chartas inficiebat, saith Lorinus.
And took from them Simeon, and bound him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Simeon. Probably because his cruel nature (Gen 34:25, Compare Gen 49:5) made him the deviser of the evil.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
wept: Gen 43:30, Isa 63:9, Luk 19:41, Rom 12:15, 1Co 12:26, Heb 4:15
Simeon: Gen 34:25, Gen 49:5-7, Jud 1:22, Jud 1:23
Reciprocal: Gen 29:33 – called Gen 42:23 – he spake unto them by an interpreter Gen 43:23 – Simeon Num 1:22 – General Joh 11:6 – he abode
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
42:24 And he turned himself about from them, and {h} wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.
(h) Though he acts harshly, yet his brotherly affection remained.