We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.
Accused of being spies, the brothers defended themselves by insisting they had come only to buy food, that they were honest men, all sons of one man, and not spies at all. Their reply presented them as a single family rather than as hostile intruders.
Joseph pressed the charge of espionage to test whether they still possessed the proud, haughty spirit they had shown when he had been with them, and to draw information from them about their family. He sought in this way to learn about his father and about Benjamin, while recognizing that what they told him might be deceptive.
Humbled by adversity, the brothers did not answer with anger but with grief. In that subdued spirit they enlarged their account to declare that they were twelve brothers in all, that the youngest was still with their father, and that one brother was gone.
Accused of being spies, the brothers defended themselves by insisting they had come only to buy food, that they were honest men, all sons of one man, and not spies at all. Their reply presented them as a single family rather than as hostile intruders.
Joseph pressed the charge of espionage to test whether they still possessed the proud, haughty spirit they had shown when he had been with them, and to draw information from them about their family. He sought in this way to learn about his father and about Benjamin, while recognizing that what they told him might be deceptive.
Humbled by adversity, the brothers did not answer with anger but with grief. In that subdued spirit they enlarged their account to declare that they were twelve brothers in all, that the youngest was still with their father, and that one brother was gone.