Genesis 44

Joseph's Final Test

1 Then Joseph commanded his steward: "Fill the men's bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each one's money at the top of his bag.

2 Put my cup, the silver one, at the top of the youngest one's bag, along with his grain money." So he did as Joseph told him.

3 At morning light, the men were sent off with their donkeys.

4 They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, "Get up. Pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid evil for good?^[a]

5 Isn't this the cup that my master drinks from and uses for divination? What you have done is wrong!' "

6 When he overtook them, he said these words to them.

7 They said to him, "Why does my lord say these things? Your servants could not possibly do such a thing.

8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found at the top of our bags. How could we steal gold and silver from your master's house?

9 If any of us is^[b] found to have it, he must die, and we also will become my lord's slaves."

10 The steward replied, "What you have said is proper, but only the one who is found to have it will be my slave, and the rest of you will be blameless."

11 So each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.

12 The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.

13 Then they tore their clothes, and each one loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

14 When Judah and his brothers reached Joseph's house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him.

15 "What is this you have done?" Joseph said to them. "Didn't you know that a man like me could uncover the truth by divination?"

16 "What can we say to my lord?" Judah replied. "How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed your servants' iniquity. We are now my lord's slaves-both we and the one in whose possession the cup was found."

17 Then Joseph said, "I swear that I will not do this. The man in whose possession the cup was found will be my slave. The rest of you can go in peace to your father."

Judah's Plea for Benjamin

18 But Judah approached him and said, "Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord.^[c] Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.

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

20 and we answered my lord, 'We have an elderly father and a young brother, the child of his old age. The boy's^[d] brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.'

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

22 But we said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.'

23 Then you said to your servants, 'If your younger brother does not come down with you, you will not see me again.'

24 "This is what happened when we went back to your servant my father: We reported your words to him.

25 But our father said, 'Go again, and buy us some food.'

26 We told him, 'We cannot go down unless our younger brother goes with us. But if our younger brother isn't with us, we cannot see the man.'

27 Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons.

28 One left-I said that he must have been torn to pieces-and I have never seen him again.

29 If you also take this one from me and anything happens to him, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.'^[e]

30 "So, if I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us-his life is wrapped up with the boy's life-

31 when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hairs of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.

32 Your servant became accountable to my father for the boy, saying, 'If I do not return him to you, I will always bear the guilt for sinning against [you,] my father.'

33 Now please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave, in place of the boy. Let him go back with his brothers.

34 For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see^[f] the grief that would overwhelm my father."

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. LXX adds Why have you stolen my silver cup?
• [b]. Lit If your servants are
• [c]. Lit speak a word in my lord's ears
• [d]. Lit His
• [e]. Gn 42:38
• [f]. Lit boy lest I see

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.