The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:3
And Joseph's ten brethren went down —either it was for safety that all the ten went, or because, the corn being sold to individuals, the quantity received would depend on their numbers (Lange)— to buy corn —the word for corn, בָּר , if not a primitive, like the Latin far (Furst), may be derived from בָּרַר , to separate, sever, choose out, hence purify (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Gesenius), and may describe grain as that which has been cleaned from chaff, as in Jeremiah 4:11 — in ... read more
The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 42:2
And he said, Behold, I have heard (this does not imply that the rumor had not also reached Jacob's sons, but only that the proposal to visit Egypt did not originate with them) that there is corn — שֶׁבֶר ut supra , σῖτος ( LXX .) , triticum (Vulgate)— in Egypt: get you down thither. That Jacob did not, like Abraham ( Genesis 12:10 )and Isaac ( Genesis 26:2 ), propose to remove his family to Egypt, may be explained either by the length of the journey, which was too... read more