Genesis 42:36

36 Their father Jacob said to them, "You are robbing me of all my children. Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin away, too. Everything is against me."

Genesis 42:36 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 42:36

And Jacob their father said unto them, me have ye bereaved
[of my children]
Which looks as if Jacob suspected that they had either sold or slain Joseph, and had done one or the other by Simeon: Joseph [is] not, and Simeon [is] not:
neither of them were with him, and both were given up by him as dead, or, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it,

``of Joseph ye have said an evil beast hath devoured him; and Simeon, ye say, the king of the country hath bound him;''

as for Joseph he knew not but he was dead, he feared he was; and as for Simeon, he being in the hands of so rough a man as they had represented the lord of the land to be, and especially as his release depended upon sending Benjamin, which he was determined at present not to do; he was reckoned by him as a lost or dead man: and ye will take Benjamin [away];
they were desirous of it, and what their design was he could not tell; he seems to have a strong suspicion that it was not good: all these things are against me;
against his will, his peace, and comfort, and happiness, though they were all working and would work as they did for his good, and for the good of his family, for the preservation of it during the seven years of famine; or are "upon me" {f}, as heavy burdens, too heavy for him to bear, ready to sink him down to the earth.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 (yle) "super me", Montanus, Schmidt; "[vel.] in me", V. L. Vatablus.

Genesis 42:36 In-Context

34 And bring your youngest brother to me so I will know you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give you back your brother whom you leave with me, and you can move about freely in our land.'"

35 As the brothers emptied their sacks, each of them found his money in his sack. When they and their father saw it, they were afraid.

36 Their father Jacob said to them, "You are robbing me of all my children. Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin away, too. Everything is against me."

37 Then Reuben said to his father, "You may put my two sons to death if I don't bring Benjamin back to you. Trust him to my care, and I will bring him back to you."

38 But Jacob said, "I will not allow Benjamin to go with you. His brother is dead, and he is the only son left from my wife Rachel. I am afraid something terrible might happen to him during the trip to Egypt. Then I would be sad until the day I die."