1105 – 1771 3 witnesses
“וקרהו אסון AND MISCHIEF BEFALL HIM — For Satan brings charges against men in the hour of danger (Genesis Rabbah 91.9). 'והורדתם את שיבתי וגו YE SHALL BRING DOWN MY GRAY HAIRS etc. — Whilst Benjamin is beside me I find comfort in him for the loss of his mother and his brother, so that if he dies it will seem to me as though the three of them died in the same day.”
“AND ‘ASON’ (HARM) BEFALL HIM, YE WILL BRING DOWN MY GRAY HAIRS. That is, “if harm befall him as it did to his brother Joseph, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.” Perhaps the expression, and ‘ason’ (harm) befall him, means that it will so happen to him on account of his being young and tender and not accustomed to travel on the road, this being analogous to what Jacob said above, Lest ‘ason’ (harm) should befall him,, 42:4. for the meaning of the word ason is accidental death, such as those killed by a human or a wild beast or the change of air on the road.”
“And if ye take this also from me,.... His son Benjamin, as he perhaps suspected they had taken Joseph, and made away with him: and mischief befall him; either in Egypt, or on the road, going or returning, any ill accident, especially death, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, or what may issue in it: ye shall bring my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave; it would be the means of his death, and while he lived he should be full of sorrow and grief; see Gen 42:38.”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.