And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies:
The saying is a repetition of the charge that they are spies, made after they deny it and insist they have come into Egypt only to buy food, and it is delivered sternly. It is repeated to test their character and to learn whether they still possess the same haughty spirit they had when he lived with them. It is repeated to draw from them information about their home, about their father, and about whether Benjamin is safe. He insists on the charge to test whether their account of themselves is true.
The charge puts them under threat of confinement and makes them fear death or slavery. It meets them humbled by adversity, showing grief rather than anger, and they answer that they are no spies but twelve brothers, sons of one man, with the youngest then with their father and one gone. Their distress under the charge leads them to recall their past cruelty to Joseph and to wonder if their trouble is punishment for their sins.
The saying is a repetition of the charge that they are spies, made after they deny it and insist they have come into Egypt only to buy food, and it is delivered sternly. It is repeated to test their character and to learn whether they still possess the same haughty spirit they had when he lived with them. It is repeated to draw from them information about their home, about their father, and about whether Benjamin is safe. He insists on the charge to test whether their account of themselves is true.
The charge puts them under threat of confinement and makes them fear death or slavery. It meets them humbled by adversity, showing grief rather than anger, and they answer that they are no spies but twelve brothers, sons of one man, with the youngest then with their father and one gone. Their distress under the charge leads them to recall their past cruelty to Joseph and to wonder if their trouble is punishment for their sins.