Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 42:19
If ye [be] true [men], let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
19. let one of your brethren ] Joseph’s previous sentence in Gen 42:16, by which one brother should be sent back, while the remainder should be kept in prison, is here reversed. The three days’ interval had moderated Joseph’s threat and his first appearance of indignation. The change to a more generous treatment is part of his whole policy: see note on Gen 42:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 42:19-20
Let one of your brethren be bound
Lessons
1.
To prove truth among national parties, it is not unequal to give hostages.
2. Hostages being taken it is but equal that parties have liberty to manifest truth.
3. Nature will not, much less grace, dispatch hungry men without food.
4. Bread-corn is the break-neck of hunger (Gen 42:19).
5. Reasonable testimonies of truth may be peremptorily demanded of suspected persons.
6. Justification and security are to be afforded to men of truth.
7. It is reasonable for men under trials to yield to just terms for deliverance (Gen 42:20). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Your prison, in which you are now imprisoned, and are still like to be so, if you accept not this condition.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
If ye [be] true [men],…. As you say you are:
let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison; agree among yourselves which of you (for one of you must) remain in prison where you are: and the rest being set at liberty,
go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses; Joseph, though he dealt with them after this manner to get what knowledge he could of his family, and to get sight of his brother, yet was concerned for the good of them and theirs, lest they should be in extreme want through the famine, and that they might have a speedy supply of corn, was not willing to detain them any longer.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Gen 42:19 If ye [be] true [men], let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
Ver. 19. Let one of your brethren be bound. ] By binding Simeon, he brought down Benjamin to himself. So doth God, by chastening our bodies, save our souls.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
house: Gen 40:3, Isa 42:7, Isa 42:22, Jer 37:15
carry corn: Gen 42:1, Gen 42:2, Gen 42:26, Gen 41:56, Gen 43:1, Gen 43:2, Gen 45:23
Reciprocal: Gen 42:7 – roughly unto them Gen 42:11 – true men Gen 42:16 – kept in prison Gen 42:33 – General