Genesis 44

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?

9 Whichever one of us the goblet is found with, let him be put to death - and the rest of us will be my lord's slaves!"

10 He replied, "Fine; let it be as you have said: whichever one it is found with will be my slave. But the rest of you will be blameless."

11 Then each hurried to put his pack down on the ground, and each one opened his pack.

12 He searched, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest; and the goblet was found in the pack belonging to Binyamin.

13 At this, they tore their clothes from grief. Then each man loaded up his donkey and returned to the city. (A: Maftir)

14 Y'hudah and his brothers arrived at Yosef's house. He was still there, and they fell down before him on the ground. (S: Maftir)

15 Yosef said to them, "How could you do such a thing? Don't you know that a man such as myself can learn the truth by divination?"

16 Y'hudah said, "There's nothing we can say to my lord! How can we speak? There's no way we can clear ourselves! God has revealed your servants' guilt; so here we are, my lord's slaves - both we and also the one in whose possession the cup was found."

17 But he replied, "Heaven forbid that I should act in such a way. The man in whose possession the goblet was found will be my slave; but as for you, go in peace to your father."

18 Then Y'hudah approached Yosef and said, "Please, my lord! Let your servant say something to you privately; and don't be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself.

19 My lord asked his servants, 'Do you have a father? or a brother?'

20 We answered my lord, 'We have a father who is an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one whose brother is dead; so that of his mother's children he alone is left; and his father loves him.'

21 But you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, so that I can see him.'

22 We answered my lord, 'The boy can't leave his father; if he were to leave his father, his father would die.'

23 You said to your servants, 'You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.'

24 We went up to your servant my father and told him what my lord had said;

25 but when our father said, 'Go again, and buy us some food,'

26 we answered, 'We can't go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go down, because we can't see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

27 Then your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons:

28 the one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he has been torn to pieces," and I haven't seen him since.

29 Now if you take this one away from me too, and something happens to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sh'ol with grief.'

30 So now if I go to your servant my father, and the boy isn't with us - seeing how his heart is bound up with the boy's heart -

31 when he sees that the boy isn't with us, he will die; and your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sh'ol with grief.

32 For your servant himself guaranteed his safety; I said, 'If I fail to bring him to you, then I will bear the blame before my father forever.'

33 Therefore, I beg you, let your servant stay as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go up with his brothers.

34 For how can I go up to my father if the boy isn't with me? I couldn't bear to see my father so overwhelmed by anguish."

Genesis 44 Commentary

Chapter 44

Joseph's policy to stay his brethren, and try their affection for Benjamin. (1-17) Judah's supplication to Joseph. (18-34)

Verses 1-17 Joseph tried how his brethren felt towards Benjamin. Had they envied and hated the other son of Rachel as they had hated him, and if they had the same want of feeling towards their father Jacob as heretofore, they would now have shown it. When the cup was found upon Benjamin, they would have a pretext for leaving him to be a slave. But we cannot judge what men are now, by what they have been formerly; nor what they will do, by what they have done. The steward charged them with being ungrateful, rewarding evil for good; with folly, in taking away the cup of daily use, which would soon be missed, and diligent search made for it; for so it may be read, Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, as having a particular fondness for it, and for which he would search thoroughly? Or, By which, leaving it carelessly at your table, he would make trial whether you were honest men or not? They throw themselves upon Joseph's mercy, and acknowledge the righteousness of God, perhaps thinking of the injury they had formerly done to Joseph, for which they thought God was now reckoning with them. Even in afflictions wherein we believe ourselves wronged by men, we must own that God is righteous, and finds out our sin.

Verses 18-34 Had Joseph been, as Judah supposed him, an utter stranger to the family, he could not but be wrought upon by his powerful reasonings. But neither Jacob nor Benjamin need an intercessor with Joseph; for he himself loved them. Judah's faithful cleaving to Benjamin, now, in his distress, was recompensed long afterwards by the tribe of Benjamin keeping with the tribe of Judah, when the other tribes deserted it. The apostle, when discoursing of the mediation of Christ, observes, that our Lord sprang out of Judah, ( Hebrews 7:14 ) ; and he not only made intercession for the transgressors, but he became a Surety for them, testifying therein tender concern, both for his Father and for his brethren. Jesus, the great antitype of Joseph, humbles and proves his people, even after they have had some tastes of his loving-kindness. He brings their sins to their remembrance, that they may exercise and show repentance, and feel how much they owe to his mercy.

Chapter Summary

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.