Genesis 44
Benjamin Framed for Stealing Joseph’s Cup
Then Joseph secretly ordered his servant,
“Fill each of their sacks with as much food as they can carry, but also put their money back in their sacks. And put my silver cup in the youngest one’s sack.”
The servant followed Joseph’s orders, and the brothers were sent on their way as soon as the sun came up the next morning. Not long after they had left, Joseph told his servant,
“Go follow them. When you catch up to them, ask them why they repaid my hospitality with animosity. Scold them for taking the cup I use for drinking and divination.”
So the servant caught up to them and told delivered Joseph’s message. The brothers responded,
“What do you mean? We’re never do such a thing—we’re your servants! We brought back all the money we found in our sacks the first time, so why would we steal anything from your superior’s house? If you find his cup in any of our sacks, you can put that person to death and take the rest of us as your slaves!”
Joseph’s servant agreed and said,
“If I find it on any of you, that one will become my slave, and the rest of you can go free.”
Each brother quickly put his sack on the ground and opened it up. The servant inspected all of them starting with the oldest and going down to the youngest—and when he got to Benjamin’s, he found the cup. When that happened, all the brothers tore their shirts. Then they all loaded their donkeys and went back into the city.
Joseph was still home when the brothers arrived, so they all fell on the ground in front of him. Joseph said,
“What have you done? Don’t you realize that a man like myself practices divination?”
Judah said,
“What could we ever say in this situation, sir? How could we ever justify ourselves?* God has revealed our guilt, so now all of pledge to be your slaves—not just the one who had your cup, but all of us.”
Joseph said,
“I would never do such a thing. I’ll take the one caught with the cup to be my slave, but the rest of you can go back to your father in peace.”
Judah Begs to Take Benjamin’s Place
Then Judah addressed him and said,
“My superior, may I please have a word with you? Please don’t get mad at me, because I’m your servant and you are Pharaoh’s equal.
“When you first asked about our family, we told you that our father was elderly, and that he had one more son who was still young. The boy’s only other brother has passed away, which leaves him as his mother’s only child. So our dad really loves him.
“When you asked us to bring the boy here, we told you that we couldn’t because it would kill our father to take the boy away from him. You insisted that the only way we’d ever see your face again was if we had the boy with us. So when our dad asked us to come back here, we told him we’d have to bring the boy. Our dad reminded us that the boy’s mother only had two sons and that one of them was dead. He said that if anything bad were to happen to him, we’d be sending him and his gray head down to the grave in misery.
“My dad’s soul is so attached to that boy. If I go back home without him, my dad would die… and we’d be sending him to his grave in anguish. I vouched to my dad that I myself would be collateral for the boy. I told him that if I came back without him, I’d bear the blame forever. So please… let ME stay as your slave instead of the boy so that my brothers can take him back to my father. How could I ever return to my father without that boy? I’d never be able to witness the misery that it would cause my father.”
* When the brothers stand before Joseph and ask “How could we ever justify ourselves?” it symbolizes the way we will stand before Jesus asking the same question.
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