Commentaria in Genesim
Chapter Forty-three. Synopsis of the Chapter
The brothers go into Egypt a second time with Benjamin to buy grain; Joseph, verse 27, receives them kindly and with a splendid banquet.
1. In the meantime the famine pressed heavily on the whole land. 2. And when they had consumed the food which they had brought out of Egypt, Jacob said to his sons: Go again, and buy us a little food. 3. Judah answered: The man declared to us under the attestation of an oath, saying: You shall not see my face, unless you bring your youngest brother with you. 4. If therefore you will send him with us, we will set out together, and will buy what is necessary for you: 5. but if you will not, we will not go; for the man, as we have often said, declared to us, saying: You shall not see my face without your youngest brother. 6. Israel said to them: You have done this for my misery, that you told him you had another brother. 7. But they answered: The man asked us in order about our kindred, whether our father were living, whether we had a brother; and we answered him accordingly, as he asked; could we know that he would say: Bring your brother with you? 8. And Judah said to his father: Send the boy with me, that we may set forward and live, lest both we and our children perish. 9. I take the boy upon me; require him at my hand: if I bring him not again, and restore him to you, I shall be guilty of sin against you for ever. 10. If delay had not been made, we had been here again twice.
12. Take also double money with you, and carry back what you found in your sacks, lest perhaps it was done by mistake: 13. and take your brother also, and go to the man. 14. And may my almighty God make him favourable to you; and send back with you your brother, whom he keeps, and this Benjamin: and as for me, I shall be as one bereaved without children. 15. So the men took the presents, and double money, and Benjamin; and went down into Egypt, and stood before Joseph. 16. And when he had seen them, and Benjamin with them, he commanded the steward of his house, saying: Bring in the men into the house, and kill victims, and prepare a feast, because they shall eat with me at noon. 17. He did as he was commanded, and brought the men into the house. 18. And there, being greatly afraid, they said to one another: Because of the money which we carried back the first time in our sacks, we are brought in, that he may bring a false accusation against us, and by violence bring us and our asses into bondage. 19. For which cause, approaching the steward of the house in the very door, 20. they said: We beseech you, my lord, to hear us. We came down before to buy food: 21. and when we had bought it, and were come to the inn, we opened our sacks, and found the money in the mouths of the sacks, which we have now brought again in the same weight. 22. But we have brought other money also, to buy what we need; we cannot tell who put it in our bags. 23. But he answered: Peace be with you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; for the money you gave me, I have had proved. And he brought Simeon out to them. 24. And having brought them into the house, he fetched water, and they washed their feet, and he gave provender to their asses. 25. But they made ready the presents, till Joseph should come at noon; for they had heard that they were to eat bread there. 26. Then Joseph came into his house, and they offered him the presents, holding them in their hands; and they bowed down with their faces to the ground. 27. But he, courteously saluting them again, asked them, saying: Is the old man your father, of whom you told me, in good health? Is he yet living? 28. And they answered: Your servant our father is in good health, he is yet living. And bowing down, they worshipped him. 29. And Joseph lifting up his eyes, saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, and said: Is this your youngest brother, of whom you told me? And he said: God be gracious to you, my son. 30. And he made haste, because his heart was moved upon his brother, and tears gushed out: and going into his chamber, he wept. 31. And when he had washed his face, coming out again, he refrained himself, and said: Set bread on the table. 32. And when it was set, for Joseph apart, and for his brethren apart, for the Egyptians also, who ate with him, apart (for it is unlawful for the Egyptians to eat with the Hebrews, and they think such a feast profane) 33. they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his age. And they wondered exceedingly, 34. taking the portions which they had received from him; and the greater portion came to Benjamin, so that it exceeded the others by five parts. And they drank, and were merry with him.
2. A LITTLE FOOD—that would suffice to relieve our hunger for this year. Jacob did not yet know that five years of barrenness and famine remained; for Jacob said and did this in the second year of the barrenness, as is clear from chapter 47, verse 9.
3. JUDAH—who among the brothers excelled in courage, prudence, eloquence and authority, says Philo.
UNDER THE ATTESTATION OF AN OATH.—In Hebrew it is: in testifying he testified to us, that is, he declared to us with an oath, saying: “By the life of Pharaoh.”
YOU SHALL NOT SEE MY FACE—I will not allow you to deal with me, or to buy anything in all Egypt; I will punish you as spies. So Abulensis.
6. YOU HAVE DONE THIS FOR MY MISERY—not by intending it, but by giving occasion by your words to this misery of mine, by which I am deprived of my Benjamin. See Canon 20.
7. THE MAN ASKED US, etc., WHETHER WE HAD A BROTHER.—Judah reports the truth, as is clear from the following chapter, verse 19, although these very things are passed over in silence in chapter 42, verse 13; for there the matter is related only in summary, but here and in the following chapter the brothers recount the whole affair and the order of events more exactly and at greater length.
Verse 8. THE BOY—his youngest brother; for otherwise Benjamin was already 24 years old, and had begotten sons, as is clear from chapter 46, verse 21. For Benjamin was born in the sixteenth year of Joseph, in which he himself was sold into Egypt; but these events took place in the second year of the barrenness, when Joseph was 39 years old, as is clear from what has been said and from chapter 47, verse 9; now count from the 16th year of Joseph to his 39th, and you will have the 24 years of Benjamin.
Isaac was almost the same age, namely 25, when Abraham was commanded to sacrifice him; so Jacob here is compelled to give up his Benjamin at the same age, and to resign him into the hands of God.
“if we do not give up the boy, it will be the cause of destruction to us all; for we shall perish by famine unless you send him with us,” says St. Chrysostom, homily 64.
9. I SHALL BE GUILTY OF SIN AGAINST YOU FOR EVER—as if to say: As long as I live, reproach me with this sin, and inflict on me whatever punishment you wish.
10. IF DELAY HAD NOT BEEN MADE—if that delay had not been thrown in, by which you held us back, denying us the company of Benjamin.
11. TAKE OF THE BEST FRUITS OF THE LAND.—That is, take of the praise of the land. That which is excellent, noble, praiseworthy and worthy to be celebrated is called praise.
RESIN—that is, theriac, say the Jews; but wrongly: for resin is a juice flowing from a tree. Now there are various trees which yield resin. Such a tree is the ferula, whose juice or resin is called galbanum, says Dioscorides, book 3, chapter 81, and Abulensis after him. See also Pliny, book 12, chapter 26, at the end; Josephus also favours this, for in him a different reading seems to be required.
STORAX.—Storax is the tear of a tree which is called the styrax, of which Dioscorides treats, book 1, chapter 79, and Pliny, book 12, chapter 25; from it is made the styracine ointment, which imparts to the hair not only a good odour but also a yellow colour.
STACTE.—Stacte is a tear of myrrh, that is, the purest and finest liquor of myrrh.
TEREBINTH.—Terebinth here is the resin or juice which distils from the terebinth tree; in common speech it is called turpentine.
14. AND AS FOR ME, I SHALL BE AS ONE BEREAVED WITHOUT CHILDREN—while you are all absent, I shall seem to myself to be bereaved; and perhaps in fact I shall be bereaved of some, or even of all of you, on this journey.
Let parents learn here not to place their hopes and joys in their children. Behold, Jacob in his old age, when he thought to enjoy his children, is bereaved of them. Add that as children grow up, their faults often grow with their years, and so do their parents’ cares. Let the faithful learn, secondly, to depend on no worldly thing, but wholly on God. Behold, everything Jacob loved is taken from him, namely Rachel, Joseph, Benjamin, that he may withdraw his love from them and transfer it to God. Let them learn, thirdly, not to be broken by adversity, because happiness is nearest when men seem most wretched. For thus Jacob, afflicted here, is soon delivered from all evils. When therefore you see yourself forsaken and lost, take courage; know that prosperous fortune stands before the door and is close upon you. For behold, the Lord looks down upon us from on high, beholds us as we struggle and strengthens us, and appoints and prepares the rewards, as he himself said to St. Anthony when he was wonderfully harassed by demons.
16. KILL VICTIMS, AND PREPARE A FEAST.—“Victims” are here and elsewhere the name given to animals, namely sheep, calves, capons and fishes slaughtered not for sacrifice but for a banquet; for the Hebrew is teboach tebach, that is, slay a slaughtering, that is, slay the animals that are to be slain for the feast. Add that these animals are also called victims in respect of sacrifice itself; for the ancients used to sacrifice at their feasts. This is clear of the Jews from Exodus 12, where in his last supper he performed the paschal feast. Christ did the same at his last supper, whose banquet was likewise the sacred feast and sacrifice of the Eucharist.
The same is clear of the Gentiles from Athenaeus, Macrobius, Virgil and Homer. For sacrifices were as it were sacred banquets, in which God feasted with men; and therefore they are called victims,
23. PEACE BE WITH YOU—do not fear; I bid you be secure.
GOD HAS GIVEN YOU—through me, to whom Joseph, by God’s inspiration, gave the command.
Let rulers and princes learn here how, in Joseph, honours do not change character, or if they do change it, it is at the summit; let them retain in their former station a courtesy joined with maturity. Let each learn that Joseph sowed seeds of virtue everywhere and in all things: for he was innocent in his father’s house, patient in adversity, faithful in service, chaste in temptation, wise in the unfolding of hidden things, prudent in providing for the future, just in correcting his brothers, and now dutiful in receiving them.
So Willigis, as Nauclerus, Ziegler and others testify, born the son of a wheelwright, suddenly adopted by Otto III as the first among the Electors, in order that he might not be puffed up, often reminded himself: “See who you are, remember who you were.” Hence he had wheels painted on his study wall, and this inscribed beneath them: “Willigis, mindful of your former fortune, consider who you now are.” This wheel afterwards became the emblem of the archbishopric of Mainz, and was confirmed by the Emperor Henry II.
Benedict XI, raised from poverty to be Pope, when he saw his mother coming to him adorned by the Roman matrons in more splendid dress, pretended not to know her, and when told that his mother was present, said: “Shall I believe that my mother is in such showy attire? I do not know her; for I know my mother to be poor and lowly.” So she took off her silken garments and put on her own ragged ones; then the Pope embraced her and said: “In this dress I left my mother, and such I gladly acknowledge and receive her.”
King Francis, taken prisoner by Charles V, wrote on the wall: “Today for me, tomorrow for you.” Charles wrote beneath: “I am a man, and I think nothing human alien to me.”
Gelimer, king of the Vandals, taken and led in triumph by Justinian, laughed and said: “I laugh at the vicissitudes of fortune, that I who was lately a king am now a slave.”
TREASURES—the money secretly hidden by me in your sacks; for this in Hebrew is called matmon, in Chaldee mammon and mamona, from the root taman, that is, he hid, he laid away.
THE MONEY YOU GAVE ME—as the price of the grain which you bought from me.
I HAVE HAD PROVED.—The Hebrew is: Your money came to me; as if to say: I confess that I received it, and although I secretly gave it back to you, I nevertheless reckon and count it as received, and regard it as though I had it.
Verse 24. THEY WASHED THEIR FEET.—From this it is again clear that guests were formerly accustomed to have their feet washed before the meal, and this both at dinner and at supper; for this banquet of Joseph was a dinner, not a supper, as is clear from the next verse.
29. HE SAW BENJAMIN.—He had seen him before, but in passing and with dissembling; now he looks at him intently and speaks to him. Hence this sight drew tears from him, from tender love and affection.
30. AND HE MADE HASTE—as if called away to other business.
32. FOR IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR THE EGYPTIANS TO EAT WITH THE HEBREWS.—First, because the Egyptians, partly from pride and partly from superstition, abhorred shepherds and herdsmen, such as the Hebrews were. Second, because the sheep, calves and oxen on which the Hebrews fed were gods of the Egyptians, which therefore it was not lawful for them to kill or eat, Exodus 8, verse 26; not that such things were set before them at this banquet, but because they knew that the Hebrews were accustomed to eat such things.
33. THEY SAT.—From this it is clear that the custom of sitting at table is most ancient; for the custom of reclining, or lying at table, began much later.
THE FIRSTBORN ACCORDING TO HIS BIRTHRIGHT—as if to say: the firstborn, namely Reuben, sat in the first place; the second-born, namely Simeon, in the second place; the third in the third; the last-born, namely Benjamin, in the last. Joseph himself seems to have given this order to each of his brothers, and by his steward to have summoned them in this order and placed them at table; and therefore they wondered how he knew the age and order of each.
AND THEY WONDERED EXCEEDINGLY—both at the order assigned to each at table according to age, and at Joseph’s kindness, in that he sent each his portion and gift from his own dish, yet so that Benjamin, the youngest, received more than the rest, as follows.
34. TAKING THE PORTIONS WHICH THEY HAD RECEIVED FROM HIM.—The Hebrew signifies more clearly that Joseph, from his own table, sent a portion of his dishes, as a mark of honour, to each of his brothers sitting at another table.
SO THAT IT EXCEEDED THE OTHERS BY FIVE PARTS.—It seems, then, that Joseph sent five dishes more to Benjamin than to the rest; although Josephus and Abulensis think that Joseph sent five dishes to each of his brothers, but so that Benjamin received a double portion in each. Others think that one and the same portion was given to each, but five times larger and greater to Benjamin.
But the former view, which I have stated, the Hebrew signifies more. By this means Joseph wished to honour Benjamin above the others, as being his own mother’s son; of which the symbolic reason is given by Alexander [Arrian speaking of one who dissembles]: “When his long-restrained tears overcame him and burst forth, he went out; then he gave himself up to grief. When satisfied, with dry eyes and composed countenance he returned.”
Polyhistor, in Eusebius, book 9, last chapter: Because Leah, he says, had borne seven children, Rachel only two, lest Rachel should therefore seem inferior to Leah, Joseph adds five portions to her son Benjamin, that he might thus make her equal to Leah. For as Leah surpassed Rachel by five children, so Benjamin, and consequently Rachel, surpassed her brothers and Leah their mother by five portions or dishes at this table of Joseph.
Allegorically, Benjamin is St. Paul, sprung from the tribe of Benjamin, who was endowed by God above the other Apostles with wisdom, grace, eloquence, efficacy and zeal. So St. Ambrose and Prosper. “Benjamin is led forth,” says St. Ambrose, book On Joseph, chapter 9, “and comes accompanied by sweet odours, bearing with him resin, etc. For such was Paul’s preaching, that it took away the diseased affection and drained off the corrupt humour by the sting of his argument, desiring rather to burn the sick bowels of the mind than to cut them. That the incense of prayer, and cassia, and the drop of myrrh are the marks of burial, David taught us, saying: Myrrh, and stacte, and cassia from your garments. For Paul came to preach the cross of the Lord.” And chapter 10: “Therefore at the banquet his portion was made five times greater, because he was to be preferred to those before him, not only for prudence of mind, but also for the warfare of the body and the grace of chastity.”
AND THEY WERE MERRY—they were satisfied; they were cheered, they were warmed with wine, yet without surfeit or drunkenness; for the continent Joseph would not have allowed this at his table; nor are men refreshed by this, but, as St. Augustine says, they sink themselves in a flood. Hear Pliny, book 14, chapter 21: From wine and drunkenness, he says, arise pallor and sagging cheeks, ulcers of the eyes, trembling hands and tottering feet, frenzied dreams and restlessness by night, and the highest reward of drunkenness, monstrous lust and a pleasing crime. On the next day, foul breath from the mouth, and almost complete forgetfulness and death of memory, of prudence and of mind. Add the losses of time, of money and of honour, of which I spoke in chapter 19, at the end.
Admirably did Alfonso, king of Aragon, when asked why he so detested drunkenness, reply: “Because I know that fury and lust are its daughters. I know how much drunkenness damaged the glory of Alexander the Great.”
This, then, was a joyful and more liberal drinking of wine, by which the mind was not overwhelmed but cheered: so St. Jerome, Augustine and Philo. Hence the Greek word for being drunk is said to come from the words meaning “after the sacred rites,” because after sacrifices the ancients gave themselves joyfully to the cup; or rather from the word for “relaxation,” that is, the loosening and relaxing of the mind, even of a wise man, which comes about through the sweetness and gaiety of wine drunk a little more freely. So Eustathius from Athenaeus.
Aptly did Anacharsis say that in the vine there are three clusters, and three cups. The first cup, he says, is drunk for health; the second, for pleasure; the third, for insult and madness. Despise pleasures; vice does harm.
pleasure, bought with sorrow; look for eternal delights, ponder that verse: “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord.”