Discovery BoxGenesis 24:40 
Context24:40 He answered, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, 1 will send his angel with you. He will make your journey a success and you will find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family.
Genesis 42:7
Context42:7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger 2 to them and spoke to them harshly. He asked, “Where do you come from?” They answered, 3 “From the land of Canaan, to buy grain for food.” 4
Genesis 43:7
Context43:7 They replied, “The man questioned us 5 thoroughly 6 about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ 7 So we answered him in this way. 8 How could we possibly know 9 that he would say, 10 ‘Bring your brother down’?”
1 tn The verb is the Hitpael of הָלַךְ (halakh), meaning “live one’s life” (see Gen 17:1). The statement may simply refer to serving the
2 sn But pretended to be a stranger. Joseph intends to test his brothers to see if they have changed and have the integrity to be patriarchs of the tribes of Israel. He will do this by putting them in the same situations that they and he were in before. The first test will be to awaken their conscience.
3 tn Heb “said.”
4 tn The verb is denominative, meaning “to buy grain”; the word “food” could simply be the direct object, but may also be an adverbial accusative.
5 tn The word “us” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 tn The infinitive absolute with the perfect verbal form emphasizes that Joseph questioned them thoroughly.
7 sn The report given here concerning Joseph’s interrogation does not exactly match the previous account where they supplied the information to clear themselves (see 42:13). This section may reflect how they remembered the impact of his interrogation, whether he asked the specific questions or not. That may be twisting the truth to protect themselves, not wanting to admit that they volunteered the information. (They admitted as much in 42:31, but now they seem to be qualifying that comment.) On the other hand, when speaking to Joseph later (see 44:19), Judah claims that Joseph asked for the information about their family, making it possible that 42:13 leaves out some of the details of their first encounter.
8 tn Heb “and we told to him according to these words.”
9 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the imperfect verbal form, which here is a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of a past time).
10 tn Once again the imperfect verbal form is used as a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of past time).
