Genesis 42:4

4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might befall him.

Genesis 42:4 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 42:4

But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his
brethren
Benjamin is called Joseph's brother, because he was so both by father and mother's side, as the rest were not; him Jacob kept with him, being the youngest and his darling, the only son he had with him of his beloved wife Rachel; and was very probably the more beloved by him since he had been bereft of Joseph; and it was not only to keep him company that he retained him at home, but for the reason following: for he said, lest peradventure mischief befall him;
as had to Joseph his brother, as he imagined; either that the journey would be too much for him, being young, or lest he should be seized with sickness on the road, or rather with death, as Aben Ezra interprets it according to the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan.

Genesis 42:4 In-Context

2 And he said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live, and not die."

3 So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.

4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might befall him.

5 Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6 Now Joseph was governor over the land; he it was who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came, and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.