Genesis 42:5

5 Then the sons of Israel went to buy grain amid those [other people] who went [as well], for there was famine in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 42:5 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 42:5

And the sons of Israel came to buy [corn] among those that
came
Either among the Egyptians that came to buy, or among those who came from different countries, or rather particularly among the Canaanites, as the Targum of Jonathan; with these they might join upon the road, and go together in a body where the market for corn was: for the famine was in the land of Canaan:
which obliged the inhabitants of it as well as Jacob's family to seek for corn elsewhere, and confirms the sense of the preceding clause: this, though a very fruitful land, yet when God withheld a blessing from it, it became barren, as it had been before, ( Genesis 12:10 ) ( 26:1 ) , and was to try the faith of those good men to whom God had given it, and to wean their hearts from being set upon it, and to put them upon seeking a better country, as they did.

Genesis 42:5 In-Context

3 And the ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt.

4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, for {he feared harm would come to him}.

5 Then the sons of Israel went to buy grain amid those [other people] who went [as well], for there was famine in the land of Canaan.

6 Now Joseph was the governor over the land. He [was] the one who sold [food] to all the people of the land. And the brothers of Joseph came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.

7 And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger to them. And he spoke with them harshly and said to them, "From where have you come?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."