Genesis 44

CHAPTER 44

A Silver Cup in a Sack (44:1–34)

1–5 The final testing of Joseph’s brothers was about to take place. Joseph’s steward was instructed to return to the brothers the silver they had brought with them to pay for their new supply of grain; in addition, the steward was told to place in Benjamin’s sack a special silver cup that belonged to Joseph. The brothers set out for Canaan with their grain, still mystified, but no doubt satisfied with how things had turned out.

6 Their satisfaction did not last long. Joseph’s steward caught up with them and, as Joseph had instructed, accused the brothers of stealing Joseph’s silver cup, a cup that Joseph used not only for drinking but also for divination¹²⁸ (verse 5).

7–13 The brothers were dismayed; they couldn’t believe that one of them might be guilty. So they rashly promised that any one of them found guilty would be put to death (see Genesis 31:32) and the rest would become Joseph’s slaves.

The steward lessened the brothers self-imposed sentence; he said that only the guilty one would become Joseph’s slave. Then each brother opened his sack, and there in Benjamin’s sack was the silver cup (verse 12).

The brothers reacted with total despair. In grief they tore their clothes, much as Jacob had done when he learned that Joseph was lost (Genesis 37:34). Now once more they would have to tell their father that his most beloved son would not return.

14–17 When the brothers returned to Joseph’s house, they did not try to defend themselves. They confessed their guilt: “God has uncovered your servants’ guilt” (verse 16). But it wasn’t guilt over the stolen cup; their guilt went back twenty-two years to that day when they sold Joseph into slavery. They realized they were now finally being called to account for that terrible crime (see Genesis 42:21–22). Overwhelmed with guilt, they offered themselves as slaves to Joseph.

But Joseph told them that only Benjamin would have to stay; the rest were free to return to their father Jacob (verse 17). Thus we can see that Joseph’s purpose in all this testing was not to gain revenge but to bring his brothers to repentance. Now they were going to have to relive the very crime they had committed against Joseph: now their younger brother Benjamin was to be enslaved in Egypt and they were to return to their father without him.

18–32 In these verses Judah, as spokes–man for his brothers, pours out his heart to Joseph. Up till now, we have seen Judah to be a hard-hearted man: he was the one who proposed selling Joseph into slavery (Genesis 37:26–27), the one who demanded the death of his own daughter-in-law Tamar (Genesis 38:24). But now we see his heart softening in repentance, as he vividly describes the sorrow that will fall upon his father Jacob if the brothers return home leaving Benjamin behind.

33–34 After recounting in detail the events leading up to the brothers second journey to Egypt, Judah ended with an impassioned plea that he himself be allowed to take Benjamin’s punishment and remain a slave in Egypt, so that his father Jacob might not have to endure a second time so great a sorrow (see Genesis 37:34–35).

After hearing Judah’s confession and also his sincere expressions of repentance, love for his father, and willingness to offer himself as a slave in place of Benjamin, Joseph could keep silent no longer. The testing was over. And in the next chapter we shall witness the marvelous reuniting of this broken family.

In the story of Judah we have an example of a hardened sinner whose heart God gradually softened through circumstances. God began by awakening Judah’s guilt, awakening his conscience. Today we are told by humanistic teachers that we shouldn’t talk about sin and guilt; however, it is only by acknowledging sin and its accompanying guilt that we can find forgiveness and healing (1 John 1:9). The realization of sin leads to personal transformation. Guilt doesn’t have to drive us to despair; rather, it can drive us to God. The choice is ours: we can choose to respond to God’s grace, or we can choose to resist it. Like Judah, even the most hardened sinner can—by God’s grace—be broken, melted, molded, and made useful for the Master’s work. For Judah, this “work” consisted of being the direct ancestor of the kings of Judah and ultimately of the Messiah Himself. Our own work will be on a smaller scale; but whatever it is, it will be accomplished by God’s grace poured out on unworthy sinners. Let us not resist that grace.

In Hebrews 7:14, the writer says: . . . our Lord descended from Judah. As Judah interceded with Joseph on behalf of Benjamin, so the Lord intercedes with God on our behalf. As Judah offered to take Benjamin’s punishment, so the Lord has taken our punishment—if we have faith. On a human level, Judah’s “work” fore-shadowed the Lord’s work. We too are fellow workers with the Lord, both in intercession and in self-sacrifice.