42:7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger15 to them and spoke to them harshly. He asked, “Where do you come from?” They answered,16 “From the land of Canaan, to buy grain for food.”17
snBut 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.