Genesis 44:1-8

1 Then he ordered the manager of his household, "Fill the men's packs with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money just inside his pack.

2 And put my goblet, the silver one, just inside the pack of the youngest, along with his grain money." He did what Yosef told him to do.

3 At daybreak the men were sent off with their donkeys;

4 but before they were far from the city Yosef said to his manager, "Up, go after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid good with evil?

5 Isn't this the goblet my lord drinks from, indeed the one he uses for divination? What you have done is evil!'"

6 So he caught up with them and said these words to them.

7 They replied, "Why does my lord speak this way? Heaven forbid that we should do such a thing!

8 Why, the money we found inside our packs we brought back to you from the land of Kena'an! So how would we steal silver or gold from your lord's house?

Genesis 44:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 44

This chapter relates the policy of Joseph in making an experiment of his brethren's regard and affection for Benjamin; he ordered his steward to put every man's money into his sack, and his silver cup in Benjamin's, and when they were got out of the city, to follow after them, and charge them with the theft, as he did; and having searched their sacks, as they desired he would, found the cup with Benjamin, which threw them into the utmost distress, and obliged them to return to Joseph, Ge 44:1-14; who charged them with their ill behaviour towards him; they acknowledge it, and propose to be his servants; but he orders them to depart to their father, retaining Benjamin in servitude, Ge 44:15-17; upon which Judah addressed him in a very polite and affectionate manner, and relates the whole story, both of what passed between Joseph and them, concerning Benjamin, the first time they were in Egypt, and between their father and them upon the same subject, when he directed them to go a second time thither to buy corn, and how he became a surety to his father for him, and therefore proposed to be his bondman now, not being able to see his father's face without Benjamin, Ge 44:18-34.