Bereshis 42:5

5 And the Bnei Yisroel came to make purchase among those that were coming; for the ra’av (famine) was in Eretz Kena’an.

Bereshis 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.

Bereshis 42:5 In-Context

3 Achei Yosef asarah (Yosef’s ten brothers) then went down to buy grain in Mitzrayim.

4 But Binyamin, achi Yosef, Ya’akov sent not with his achim; for he said, Lest ason (evil, harm) befall him.

5 And the Bnei Yisroel came to make purchase among those that were coming; for the ra’av (famine) was in Eretz Kena’an.

6 And Yosef was the Shalit Al HaAretz, and he it was that sold to kol Am HaAretz: and Achei Yosef came, and prostrated themselves before him with their faces to the ground.

7 And Yosef saw his achim, and he recognized them, but made himself a stranger unto them, and spoke roughly unto them; and he said unto them, From where come ye? And they said, From Eretz Kena’an to buy ochel.