44
📚And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in his sack’s mouth. 2 📚And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his grain money”. And he did according to Joseph’s spoken command.3 As soon as it was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. 4 📚When they had gone out of the city, but not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow the men. And when you catch up to them, say to them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good? 5 📚Is not this cup the one my lord drinks out of, and indeed which he uses for divination? You have done wrong in doing this.’ ”
44:5 Verse 15. Later in history, divination was forbidden to God’s people (Lev 19:26; Deut 18:10-12; 2 Kings 17:17). If Joseph practiced such a thing surely it was in ignorance that God was displeased with it. But it is possible that he actually had nothing to do with divination, and in v 15 was merely speaking as his brothers would expect him to speak as an Egyptian.⚜
6 And he caught up to them, and spoke to them these same words. 7 📚And they said to him, “Why is my master saying these words? Far be it from 📖 your servants to do such a thing. 8 📚See, the money which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? 9 📚Whoever of your servants it is found with, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves”.
10 📚And he said, “Now also let it be according to your words. The one with whom it is found will be my servant, and the rest of you will be blameless”.
11 Then quickly each one put his sack down on the ground, and each one opened his sack. 12 📚And he searched, beginning at the eldest, and leaving off at the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 📚Then they tore their clothes, and each one loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.
44:13 Tearing clothes indicated shock or grief.⚜
14 📚And Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, for he was still there. And in his presence they fell on the ground. 15 📚And Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Don’t you know that such a man as I can certainly divine 📖?”
16 📚And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the wickedness 📖 of your servants. See, we are my lord’s servants, both we, and also the one with whom the cup was found”.
17 📚And he said, “Far be it from me to do so. The man in whose hand the cup was found, he will be my servant. As for you, go on in peace to your father”.
18 📚Then Judah approached him and said, “Oh my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are just like Pharaoh. 19 📚My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Do you have a father, or a brother?’ 20 📚And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and there is a son of his old age, who is young. And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him 📖.’
21 📚“And you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I can see him.’ 22 📚And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he leaves his father, his father would die.’ 23 📚And you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.’ 24 📚And when we went to your servant my father, it came about that we told him the words of my lord.
25 📚“And our father said, ‘Go back, and buy us a little food.’ 26 📚And we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down, for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’
27 📚“And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife 📖 bore me two sons. 28 📚And the one went away from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn in pieces”, and I haven’t seen him since. 29 📚And if you also take this one from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave 📖.’
30 📚“So now when I go to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, since his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 📚this is what will happen: When he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave. 32 📚For your servant became the guarantee for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him to you, then I will bear the blame before my father forever.’
33 📚“So now, please, instead of the boy, let your servant stay as a slave to my lord, and let the boy go up with his brothers. 34 📚For how can I go to my father when the boy is not with me? Then I would have to see the misery that would come on my father”.
44:33-34 What has happened to the hard man of former years? Surely this speech of Judah’s, showing his compassion and willingness to suffer for another, was like music in Joseph’s ears. See how God works to change people’s hearts and attitudes.⚜