11 And their father Israel said to them, If it is then so, do this: take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a gift: a little balsam and a little honey, tragacanth and ladanum, pistacia-nuts and almonds.
And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead; and their camels bore tragacanth, and balsam, and ladanum -- going to carry [it] down to Egypt.
Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? Why then is there no dressing applied for the healing of the daughter of my people?
A man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.
Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee.
The children of Dedan were thy traffickers; many isles were the mart of thy hand: they rendered in payment horns of ivory, and ebony.
Haste, my beloved, And be thou like a gazelle or a young hart Upon the mountains of spices.
A gift in secret pacifieth anger; and a present in the bosom, vehement fury.
Many court the favour of a noble; and every one is friend to a man that giveth.
Vow and pay unto Jehovah your God: let all that are round about him bring presents unto him that is to be feared.
The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall render presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer tribute:
And he lodged there that night; and took of what came to his hand a gift for Esau his brother -- two hundred she-goats, and twenty he-goats; two hundred ewes, and twenty rams; thirty milch camels with their colts; forty kine, and ten bulls; twenty she-asses, and ten young asses. And he delivered [them] into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself; and he said to his servants, Go on before me, and put a space between drove and drove. And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets thee, and asks thee, saying, Whose art thou, and where goest thou, and whose are these before thee? -- then thou shalt say, Thy servant Jacob's: it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he also is behind us. And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, According to this word shall ye speak to Esau when ye find him. And, moreover, ye shall say, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will propitiate him with the gift that goes before me, and afterwards I will see his face: perhaps he will accept me. And the gift went over before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp.
Go, gather together all the Jews that are found in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.
At that time Berodach-Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent a letter and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
And the king said to Hazael, Take a present in thy hand, and go, meet the man of God, and inquire of Jehovah by him, saying, Shall I recover from this disease?
There is a league between me and thee, [as] between my father and thy father; behold, I send thee a present of silver and gold: go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.
besides what [came] by the dealers, and by the traffic of the merchants, and by all the kings of Arabia, and by the governors of the country.
And Solomon ruled over all kingdoms from the river to the land of the Philistines, and as far as the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.
And Saul said to his servant, But if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and we have no present to give to the man of God: what have we?
And by the precious fruits of the sun, And by the precious things put forth by the months,
And the Almighty ùGod give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother and Benjamin! And I, if I be bereaved of children, am bereaved.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 43
Commentary on Genesis 43 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 43
Here the story of Joseph's brethren is carried on, and very particularly related
Gen 43:1-10
Here,
Gen 43:11-14
Observe here,
Gen 43:15-25
Jacob's sons, having got leave to take Benjamin with them, were observant of the orders their father had given them, and went down the second time into Egypt to buy corn. If we should ever know what a famine of the word means, let us not think it much to travel as far for spiritual food as they did for corporal food. Now here we have an account of what passed between them and Joseph's steward, who, some conjecture, was in the secret, and knew them to be Joseph's brethren, and helped to humour the thing; I rather think not, because no man was permitted to be present when Joseph afterwards made himself known to them, ch. 45:1. Observe,
Gen 43:26-34
Here is,