Genesis 42:6

6 And Joseph was ruler of the land; he sold to all the people of the land. And the brethren of Joseph, having come, did reverence to him, with the face to the ground.

Genesis 42:6 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 42:6

And Joseph [was] the governor over the land
Not the land of Canaan last mentioned, but the land of Egypt; under Pharaoh, he had the chief and sole authority, and especially in the affair of the corn, and the disposal of that; [and] he [it was] that sold to all the people of the land:
of Egypt, and also to all that came out of other lands; not that he in person could do all this, but by those that acted under him: and Joseph's brethren came;
to Joseph to buy corn of him: and bowed down themselves before him, [with] their faces to the earth;
not only bowed the knee as the Egyptians did, but prostrated their whole bodies, stretching out their hands and feet, and touching the ground with their faces, as was the manner of the eastern countries, at least some of them; and so of Canaan; and thus did they submit themselves to him in the most humble manner, and thereby, though without their knowledge, fulfilled his dream of their sheaves making obeisance to his sheaf, ( Genesis 37:7 ) .

Genesis 42:6 In-Context

4 But sent not Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, with his brethren; for he said, Lest, haply, disease befall him.

5 And the sons of Israel came to buy with those that came, for the famine was in the land of Chanaan.

6 And Joseph was ruler of the land; he sold to all the people of the land. And the brethren of Joseph, having come, did reverence to him, with the face to the ground.

7 And when Joseph saw his brethren, he knew them, and estranged himself from them, and spoke hard words to them; and said to them, Whence are ye come? And they said, Out of the land of Chanaan, to buy food.

8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.