The brothers of Joseph came (to Egypt) and visited him. He recognised them, though they did not recognise him.
58
Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (and joseph's brethren came) to egypt: there were ten of them (and presented themselves before him) before joseph, (and he knew them) joseph knew that they were his brothers (but they knew him not) they did not know he was their brother.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and joseph’s brothers came — except for benjamin — in order to secure provisions, when they found out that the [new] court officer of egypt was providing food at its [fair] price; and they entered to him, and he recognised them, to be his brothers, but they did not recognise him, not knowing who he was, because it had been a long time since they had seen him, and because they supposed that he had died. they spoke to him in hebrew and he said to them, as if reproaching them: ‘what brings you to my land?’ they replied, ‘[we have come] for supplies’. he said, ‘you might be spies!’ they said, ‘god forbid!’ he said, ‘so where are you from?’ they said, ‘from the land of canaan, our father is jacob, the prophet of god.’ he said, ‘does he have children other than you?’ they said, ‘yes. we used to be twelve, but the youngest of us passed away: he perished in the wild. he was the most beloved to him [our father] from among us; only his full brother remains, and so he keeps him by his side, in order to comfort himself with him in place of the other.’ he [joseph] commanded that they be given lodging and treated well.
