Genesis 44

1. AND he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men’s sacks with food, as 2 much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth. And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did accord- 3 ing to the word that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the morning was light, the men were 4 sent away, they and their asses. And when they were gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake 5 them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is not this it in which my 6 lord drinketh, and whereby he indeed divineth? ye have done evil in so doing. And he over- 7 took them, and he spake unto them these words. And they said unto him, Wherefore speak- 8 eth my lord such words as these? God forbid that thy servants should do such a thing. Be- hold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the 9 land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord’s house silver or gold? With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen. 10 And he said, Now also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is found shall 11 be my bondman; and ye shall be blameless. Then they hastened, and took down every man 12 his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack. And he searched, and began at the 13 eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Then they rent 14 their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city. And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph’s house; and he was yet there: and they fell before him on the 15 ground. And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? know ye not that 16 such a man as I can indeed divine? And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord’s bondmen, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is 17 found. And he said, God forbid that I should do so: the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my bondman; but as for you, get you up in peace unto your father. 18 Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even 19 as Pharaoh. My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother? And we 20 said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and 21 his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him. And thou 22 saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his 23 father would die. And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come 24 down with you, ye shall see my face no more. And it came to pass when we came up unto 25 thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. And our father said, Go again, buy 26 us a little food. And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man’s face, except our youngest brother be with us, 27 And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: and the 28 one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I have not seen him

29 since : and if ye take this one also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my 30 gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, 31 and the lad be not with us ; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life ; it shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die : and thy servants shall bring 32 down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant be- came surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then shall I bear 33 the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, let thy servant, I pray thee, abide instead of 34 the lad a bondman to my lord ; and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me ? lest I see the evil that shall come on my father.

1-5. Joseph has had the satisfaction of seeing his brother Benjamin safe and well. He has heard his brothers acknowledging their guilt concerning himself. He resolves to put their attachment to Benjamin, and the genuineness of their change of disposition, to a test that will at the same time expose Benjamin to no hazard. M.—It is evidently his purpose to test the disposition of the ten toward his youngest brother and toward his father. At former interviews he had sought to awaken conscience ; now he seeks to ascertain the feelings of their hearts. Is their affection for Benjamin above the reach of envy ? their love for a father such that partiality shown to Rachel’s son will no longer excite malice ? Will they cling to a brother in adversity ? Will they make sacrifices to secure his return to a doting father ? J. S. V.

5. Whereby he divineth.** Divining by cups, we learn from this, was a common custom in Egypt. It is here mentioned to enhance the value of the cup. M.—The word rendered divineth (nichesh) means to hiss like a serpent (nichash), and hence to murmur incantations. There is no proof that Joseph himself really practised this divination : the whole intent is to inspire terror into his brethren, and impress them with his supernatural character. Alf.

7-14. The charge of treachery and of theft so took the brothers by surprise, that, in their conscious innocence, they offered to surrender the life of the guilty and the liberty of all the others, if the cup were found with any of them. But the steward had been otherwise instructed. He was to isolate Benjamin from the rest. With feigned generosity he now refused their proposal, and declared his purpose only to retain the guilty as bondsman. The search was made, and the cup found in the sack of Benjamin. Now the first great trial of their feelings ensued. They were all free to go home to their own wives and children ; Benjamin alone was to be a bondsman : the cup had been found in his sack ! Granting that, despite appearances, they knew him to be innocent, why should they stand by him ? They had formerly got rid of one favorite, why hesitate now, when Providence itself seemed to rid them of another ? What need, nay, what business had they to identify themselves with him ? Was it not enough that he had been put before them everywhere ; must they now destroy their whole family, and suffer their little ones to perish for the sake of one who, to say the best, seemed fated to involve them in misery and ruin ? So they might have reasoned. But so they did not reason, nor, indeed, did they reason at all ; for in all matters of duty reasoning is ever dangerous, and only absolute, immediate obedience to what is right, is safe. “They rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city.” In the presence of Joseph, “they fell before him on the ground” in mute grief. A. E.

The brothers, recognizing now their brotherhood, circled round Benjamin, and, to a man, resolved to go back with him to Egypt. Thus Joseph in seeking to gain one brother found eleven—for now there could be no doubt that they were very different men from those brethren who had so heartlessly sold into slavery their father’s favorite—men now with really brotherly feelings, by penitence and regard for their father so wrought together into one family, that this calamity, intended to fall only on one of their number, did in falling on him fall on them all. So far from wishing now to rid themselves of Rachel’s son and their father’s favorite, who had been put by their father in so prominent a place in his affection, they will not even give him up to suffer what seemed the just punishment of his theft, do not even reproach him with having brought them all into disgrace and difficulty, but, as humbled men who knew they had greater sins of their own to answer for, went quietly back to Egypt, determined to see their younger brother through his misfortune or to share his bondage with him. Had these men not been thoroughly changed, thoroughly convinced that at all costs upright dealing and brotherly love should continue ; had they not possessed that first and last of Christian virtues, love to their brother, then nothing could so certainly have revealed their want of it as this apparent theft of Benjamin’s. Dods.

15. Know ye not that I can divine?** This pretence of practising divination is in keeping with the whole transaction, which was a feint throughout. Joseph was supporting the character of an Egyptian of rank, and as it was known that such a person would daily consult his divining cup for the good or evil auguries of the day, the prompt detection of the alleged theft would be the more readily accounted for. Kit.—It is plain that he is merely carrying on to its final development the trial which he was making of the temper of his brethren. He put on a stern aspect, and upbraided them with a pretended crime, but it was to give them occasion to show their innocency and their repentance. Bush.

16. Judah comes to the front here; it is “Judah and his brethren” who come to Joseph’s house, and Judah who makes the plea in behalf of Benjamin. The historian is careful to say again that when they met Joseph “they fell before him on the ground.” He also remarks that Joseph was yet in his house, having remained there ever since the caravan left in the early morning, too full of thought on this subject to turn to any other business. Now he expects to learn how they feel toward Benjamin and toward their aged father. He must be sure they are all right on these points before he lifts the vail and shows them himself. They are brought as criminals before him. With a sternness that is not at all in his heart but in his assumed manner only, he says—What deed is this that ye have done? Were ye not aware that I have the power of positive and certain divination? Judah is in deep perplexity, but he speaks frankly. H. C.—In saying “God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants,” he does not mean to plead guilty to the present charge, nor make a definite acknowledgment of any particular offence, but to say in general, that it was in consequence of former misdeeds that God had suffered them to fall into this unhappy predicament, and to express a willingness that he should punish them in this way, if he saw fit. They well knew that they had sold Joseph for a slave, and filled up many of the years of their father’s life with bitter anguish, and they admit that it were a righteous thing with God to make them all slaves for crimes which their consciences charged upon them, but of which they supposed Joseph to be profoundly ignorant. Bush.

18-34. In mute despair all the brothers remain prostrate on the ground; only Judah, equally bold and humble, ventures to come near to the severe ruler of Egypt. His heart, full of love and sorrow, of repentance and grief, finds vent in speech, which, like a pent-up stream, breaks through the dam—artless and simple, but impressive and convincing, eloquent and irresistible, as scarce speech had ever flowed from man’s lips. The vividness of his description is inimitable. Rapidly he relates the state of matters; he describes the attachment with which his father cleaves to the youth, the anxious care with which he had dismissed him, and the wretchedness through which, in consequence of his loss, his gray hairs would go down to the grave with sorrow. Then he adds that himself had become surety for the lad, and entreats to allow him to remain as slave in his room. Kit.

We can imagine nothing more perfect than this address of Judah for the object of overpowering the sensibilities of him to whom it was spoken. In simplicity and touching pathos it excels every composition I ever met; nor can I figure a combination of traits and circumstances more fitted to tell on the heart of Joseph, and to operate as a fit precursor for the emotions which he could no longer repress. The most effective of these references were to his father, an old man; and the child of his old age; and the death of the brother, and the love borne by Jacob to the only surviving child of his mother, now taken from them. Then there was Jacob’s conjecture of him who was torn in pieces, and his saying, that if the other should be taken from him, his gray hairs would be brought with sorrow to the grave. The expression of these things is varied in the course of the address, but so as to give additional intensity and power to the representation: such as Jacob’s life being bound up in the lad’s life; and Judah’s entreaty to be detained instead of Benjamin—for he could not look on the evil that was to come upon his father. No wonder that Joseph, unable longer to contain himself, should burst forth into a flood of tenderness at the time he did. Estimated as a mere literary composition, we can see nothing to equal this in any of the greatest masters of eloquence and poetry. Chalmers.

Kalisch justly calls this pleading speech of Judah’s “one of the masterpieces of Hebrew composition.” Its beauty mainly consists in the simple and pathetic statement of facts. Luther says, “I would that I could pray so well to our Lord God, as Judah prays here to Joseph, for it is a perfect example of prayer and of the earnestness which should be in prayer.” Aif.

had taken place, and without a strong guard both on their hearts and their lips they would be in danger of conceiving mutual resentments, hurtful to their comfort and their peace. If

he had forgiven them all, it was highly rea- sonable that they should forgive one another. Joseph therefore was a peacemaker both by pre- cept and example. Bush.