What does Genesis 42:29 mean?
This is a moment Joseph's brothers (Genesis 42:1–5) would have been dreading. They are returning home to their father, Jacob, without one of his sons—again (Genesis 37:28, 31–33). The governor of Egypt has kept Simeon (Genesis 42:19) and sent the other nine back (Genesis 42:20) to return with their youngest brother Benjamin. This news will be doubly painful for their father. One son is in prison in Egypt and the ruler there is demanding the last remaining son of his beloved Rachel.What the brothers do not know is that the Egyptian governor is the brother, Joseph, himself (Genesis 42:7–8). They've already concluded their suffering is punishment for what they did to their younger brother (Genesis 42:21–22). Now, giving bad news to their aging father, they are acutely reminded of the day they returned to Jacob without Joseph. Their father had mourned for Joseph with great desperation for a long time (Genesis 37:35).