Genesis 42:5 Commentary and Bible Study

We notice that the narrative switches from talking about Jacob to calling him Israel. That's always very important. When the narrative uses Israel, there's a purpose and a point. That is Jacob's divinely given name. The seed royal runs through Jacob, so the narrator wants us to think about the motive for what Jacob is doing. It's the sons of Israel came to buy corn: the real reason why Jacob had sent them to buy corn for their survival was to preserve the seed royal. The promised Saviour had to come one day; the great descendant had to emerge, and in order for him to come, life had to be preserved. Many were coming to Egypt to buy corn. Through his instrumentality, Egypt was in abundance, and the corn had been preserved for the years of famine. ‘And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land.’ Put out of mind Joseph as a storeman. He was the supreme governor in the land; he didn’t meet personally with everyone who came. You can imagine that there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of people coming from all directions to get corn from Egypt. Probably, he only dealt with significant visitors, or those who looked hostile. But he might well have been expecting his family to come for relief, especially when he remembered his dreams, and it is likely that he had told his staff to look out for them. He now knew more clearly what that meant. He was going to be their provider, their saviour, as it were, their deliverer in the future. His own family is in a desperate plight. The narrative is brief, but he is made aware that they have come and summons them. They bow with their faces to the ground. Now that is significant, and he would have taken note of it immediately.