genesis 43:1-15 chiastic structure

Read Genesis 43:1-15 at Bible Gateway.

Hebrew paragraph division

Gen 41:1-44:17 {s}  Joseph the overseer

Gen 43:1-15 chiastic structure

1a) Gen 43:1-2 And the famine was sore in the land. And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them: “Go again, buy us a little food;”

1b) Gen 43:3-7 Judah: Unless we bring our brother down, we will not see the man’s face;

1a) Gen 43:3-5 Judah: Unless we bring our brother down, we will not see the man’s face;

1a) Gen 43:3 And Judah spoke to him, saying: “The man did earnestly forewarn us, saying: ‘You shall not see my face, except your brother be with you;’
1b) Gen 43:4a If you will send our brother with us, we will go down;
central axis) Gen 43:4b And buy you food;
2b) Gen 43:5a But if you will not send him, we will not go down;
2a) Gen 43:5b For the man said to us: ‘You shall not see my face, except your brother be with you;’”

1b) Gen 43:6 And Israel said: “Why did you deal so wrongfully with me, as to tell the man whether you had another brother?”
central axis) Gen 43:7a And they said: “The man asked us pointedly of our state, and of our family, saying: ‘Is your father yet alive? Have you another brother?’
2b) Gen 43:7b And we told him according to the tenor of these words;
2a) Gen 43:7c Could we possibly know that he would say: ‘Bring your brother down?’

central axis) Gen 43:8-10 Judah: I will be surety for Benjamin, of my hand you shall require him;

1a) Gen 43:8 And Judah said to Israel his father: Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones;
1b) Gen 43:9a I will be surety for him;
central axis) Gen 43:9b Of my hand shall you require him;
2b) Gen 43:9c If I bring him not to you + set him before you, let me bear the blame for ever;
2a) Gen 43:10 For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned a second time;

2b) Gen 43:11a And their father Israel said to them: If it must be so;

2a) Gen 43:11b-15 Israel: Go again to the man, and may God Almighty give you mercy;

1a.1) Gen 43:11b Now do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds;
1a.2) Gen 43:12 And take double money in your hand; and the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; perhaps it was an oversight;
1a.3) Gen 43:13a Take also your brother;
1a.4) Gen 43:13b And arise, go again to the man;
central axis) Gen 43:14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved;”
2a.1) Gen 43:15a And the men took that present;
2a.2) Gen 43:15b And they took double money in their hand;
2a.3) Gen 43:15c And Benjamin;
2a.4) Gen 43:15d And rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

Original Hebrew

The central axis of the structure highlights Judah’s offer to be surety for Benjamin.

surety

Strong’s H6148, arab, a primitive root meaning “to braid,” i.e., to intermix, to weave, to exchange, to become surety. The Lexicons show the pictographs of the root to be an ayin + resh + bet. The original ancient pictograph in this root in the place of the ayin was a ghah, a letter which exists in paleo Hebrew and other Semitic languages, but which has been absorbed into the ayin in modern Hebrew.

ghah = rope, thus twisted, goat, dark, negative
resh = the head of man, thus head, first, top, beginning, man
bet = the house, thus house, household, family, in, within

The story the ancient pictographs are telling is that rope (ghah) is braided by bringing the first strand (resh) within (bet). The verb form of arab means to braid, to intermix, or to exchange, thus to barter, to engage in commerce, as commerce entails the exchanging of one thing for something else. The concrete noun is a marketplace, the place one goes to barter, or a pledge, an item used in bartering. The abstract concept, then, is surety. as someone exchanges himself for another. According to Webster’s, surety is a formal engagement given for the fulfillment of an undertaking, as a guarantee; a basis of confidence or security; or one who has become legally liable for the debt, default, or failure in duty of another.