Hebrew Bible Study
Hebrew Bible Study

Commentary for Genesis 43:2

וַיְהִ֗י כַּאֲשֶׁ֤ר כִּלּוּ֙ לֶאֱכֹ֣ל אֶת־הַשֶּׁ֔בֶר אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֵבִ֖יאוּ מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם֙ אֲבִיהֶ֔ם שֻׁ֖בוּ שִׁבְרוּ־לָ֥נוּ מְעַט־אֹֽכֶל׃

And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, that their father said unto them: ‘Go again, buy us a little food.’

Rashi on Genesis

כאשר כלו לאכל WHEN THEY HAD EATEN UP — Judah said to them: Leave the old man alone until the house will run short of bread (Midrash Tanchuma, Miketz 8).
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Sforno on Genesis

שובו שברו לנו, for he thought that their intent in wanting to take Binyamin with them was in order to lose him as they had lost Joseph. He had previously accused them of bereaving him (deliberately) when he had said (42,36) אותי שכלתם, “you have bereaved me,” (transitive active conjugation). He meant to deny that what they had told him at the time had been the truth.
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Or HaChaim on Genesis

כאשר כלו לאכול, when they had finished eating, etc. Perhaps the Torah mentions this fact to indicate that they had just enough grain left to last them for a journey to and from Egypt. The reason the Torah describes the supply as if it had already come to an end is that now there was a need to bring more grain. It could also be that the Torah considered the food consumed by the brothers while journeying back and forth as part of the supply that Jacob had stored in anticipation of the famine as we have learned in Taanit 10 based on the words למה תתראו in 42,1. This is the reason why the Torah emphasises that what had been eaten up was the "grain they had brought from Egypt" as distinct from their total store.
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Gur Aryeh on Bereishit

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Rashi on Genesis

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