GE ESIS 44 COMME TARY EXPLORI G JOSEPH'S TEST OF HIS BROTHERS

GE ESIS 44 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
A Silver Cup in a Sack
1 ow Joseph gave these instructions to the
steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as
much food as they can carry, and put each man’s
silver in the mouth of his sack.
BAR ES, "Gen_44:1-5
And my cup. - Besides returning each man’s money as before, a silver cup of
Joseph’s is put in Benjamin’s bag, after which, when daylight comes, they are dismissed.
They are scarcely out of the town when Joseph’s steward is ordered to overtake them,
and charge them with stealing the cup. “And whereby indeed he divineth.” Divining by
cups, we learn from this, was a common custom in Egypt (Herodotus ii. 83). It is here
mentioned to enhance the value of the cup. Whether Joseph really practised any sort of
divination cannot be determined from this passage.
GILL, "And he commanded the steward of his house,.... Whom the Targum of
Jonathan again calls Manasseh, the eldest son of Joseph:
saying, fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry; this he
ordered out of his great affection for them, and that his father and his family might have
sufficient supply in this time of famine:
and put every man's money in his sack's mouth; not that which had been put into
their sacks the first time, for the steward acknowledged his receipt of it, but what they
had paid for their present corn, they were about to carry away.
HAWKER, "The interesting narrative of the Patriarchal history is still prosecuted
through this Chapter. The brethren of Joseph having purchased corn and laden their
cattle, take their leave of Joseph to return to their father. But Joseph, wishing to detain

them, having ordered his steward secretly to put their money in the mouth of their sacks,
and his silver cup in the bag of Benjamin; soon after their departure from the city sends
his steward after them to charge them with this breach of honesty. Their sacks are
examined, and the cup being found, they all return to Egypt in the greatest sorrow and
distress imaginable. In this state when brought before Joseph, Judah becomes the
mouth of the rest; and unconscious before whom he spoke, he feelingly represents the
history of his family in the several incidents of it: describes the supposed death of
Joseph: the distress of his father which was now again renewed in parting with
Benjamin; offers himself as a bond-slave forever, rather than that Benjamin should be
detained; and concludes with praying Joseph for mercy, that the grey hairs of his father
may not be brought down with sorrow to the grave.
Gen_44:1
Is there not a spiritual lesson here! Are not the ministers and stewards of GOD’S
mysteries to fill the hungry and to supply the thirsty: and that without money and
without price? See 1Co_4:1.
HE RY 1-5, "Joseph heaps further kindnesses upon his brethren, fills their sacks,
returns their money, and sends them away full of gladness; but he also exercises them
with further trials. Our God thus humbles those whom he loves and loads with benefits.
Joseph ordered his steward to put a fine silver cup which he had (and which, it is likely,
was used at his table when they dined with him) into Benjamin's sack's mouth, that it
might seem as if he had stolen it from the table, and put it here himself, after his corn
was delivered to him. If Benjamin had stolen it, it had been the basest piece of
dishonesty and ingratitude that could be and if Joseph, by ordering it to be there, had
designed really to take advantage against him, it had been in him most horrid cruelty
and oppression; but it proved, in the issue, that there was no harm done, nor any
designed, on either side. Observe,
I. How the pretended criminals were pursued and arrested, on suspicion of having
stolen a silver cup. The steward charged them with ingratitude - rewarding evil for good;
and with folly, in taking away a cup of daily use, and which therefore 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? Gen_44:5. Or, “By which, leaving it carelessly at your table, he would make
trial whether you were honest men or no.”
JAMISO , "Gen_44:1-34. Policy to stay his brethren.
And Joseph commanded the steward — The design of putting the cup into the
sack of Benjamin was obviously to bring that young man into a situation of difficulty or
danger, in order thereby to discover how far the brotherly feelings of the rest would be
roused to sympathize with his distress and stimulate their exertions in procuring his
deliverance. But for what purpose was the money restored? It was done, in the first
instance, from kindly feelings to his father; but another and further design seems to have
been the prevention of any injurious impressions as to the character of Benjamin. The
discovery of the cup in his possession, if there had been nothing else to judge by, might
have fastened a painful suspicion of guilt on the youngest brother; but the sight of the

money in each man’s sack would lead all to the same conclusion, that Benjamin was just
as innocent as themselves, although the additional circumstance of the cup being found
in his sack would bring him into greater trouble and danger.
K&D, "The Test. - After the dinner Joseph had his brothers' sacks filled by his
steward with corn, as much as they could hold, and every one's money placed inside; and
in addition to that, had his own silver goblet put into Benjamin's sack.
CALVI , "1.And he commanded the steward of his house. Here Moses relates how
skillfully Joseph had contrived to try the dispositions of his brethren. We have said
elsewhere that, whereas God has commanded us to cultivate simplicity, we are not to
take this, and similar examples, as affording license to turn aside to indirect and
crafty arts. For it may have been that Joseph was impelled by a special influence of
the Spirit to this course. He had also a reason, of no common kind, for inquiring
very strictly in what manner his brethren were affected. Charity is not suspicious.
Why, then, does he so distrust his brethren; and why cannot he suppose that they
have anything good, unless he shall first have subjected them to the most rigid
examination? Truly, since he had found them to be exceedingly cruel and
perfidious, it is but an excusable suspicion, if he does not believe them to be changed
for the better, until he has obtained a thorough perception and conviction of their
penitence. But since, in this respect, it is a rare and very difficult virtue to observe a
proper medium, we must beware of imitating the example of Joseph, in an austere
course of acting, unless we have laid all vindictive feelings aside, and are pure and
free from all enmity. For love, when it is pure, and exempt from all turbid influence,
will best decide how far it is right to proceed. It may, however, be asked, “If the sons
of Jacob had been easily induced to betray the safety of Benjamin, what would
Joseph himself have done?” We may readily conjecture, that he examined their
fidelity, in order that, if he should find them dishonest, he might retain Benjamin,
and drive them with shame from his presence. But, by pursuing this method, his
father would have been deserted, and the Church of God ruined. And certainly, it is
not without hazard to himself that he thus terrifies them: because he could scarcely
have avoided the necessity of denouncing some more grievous and severe
punishment against them, if they had again relapsed. It was, therefore, due to the
special favor of God, that they proved themselves different from what he had
feared. In the meantime, the advantage of his examination was twofold; first,
because the clearly ascertained integrity of his brethren rendered his mind more
placable towards them; and secondly, because it lightened, at least in some degree,
the former infamy, which they had contracted by their wickedness.

COFFMA , "Verses 1-3
"And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with
food, as 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 grain
money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the
morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses."
Why did Joseph order the actions related here? It is agreed by many that his
purpose was that of finding out whether or not his brothers had in any manner
changed from the heartless hatred of their father's favorite son as evidence in their
sale of Joseph so long ago. The fine point of the trial Joseph arranged for them was
just this: If given the opportunity, would the brothers abandon Benjamin, with a
perfectly valid excuse, and, ignoring the grief and distress of their aged father,
abandon their brother and return home without him? Everything in the procedure
here exhibits that purpose. Even the special partiality shown to Benjamin at the
preceding banquet fitted into this purpose of testing the true attitude of the
brothers.
CO STABLE, "Verses 1-5
That Joseph practiced divination is not clear from Genesis 44:5 or Genesis 44:15. He
may have, but this seems inconsistent with his character as a man of faith in
Yahweh. It also seems unlikely since Joseph had the gift of interpreting dreams
(divine revelations) from God. If anyone needed to resort to divination it would not
have been Joseph. Some interpreters, however, believe Joseph"s claim was just part
of his ruse. [ ote: E.g, Waltke, Genesis , p559; and Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26 ,
p799.] The first statement made by Joseph"s servant may have been a lie ( Genesis
44:5). The second statement made by Joseph did not claim to practice divination (
Genesis 44:15). Joseph said that such a person as he could do it. Leon Wood
believed that Joseph meant that he had information not available to ordinary
people. The Hebrew verb in both Genesis 44:5; Genesis 44:15 is nahash (to whisper,
mumble formulations, prophesy), not qasam, the word normally translated "to
divine." [ ote: Wood, The Prophets ..., pp32-33.] These references to divination
seem intended to impress Joseph"s brothers with the value of the cup that had
disappeared. The Hebrew word translated "cup" here, gabia", refers to a chalice or
goblet, not to a common drinking cup, a kos. The brothers inferred that Joseph used
it for purposes other than simply drinking.

GUZIK, "A. Joseph sends them on their way.
1. (1-5) Joseph puts money in his brothers bags again.
And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the mens sacks with food,
as much as they can carry, and put each mans money in the mouth of his sack. Also
put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his grain
money. So he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the
morning dawned, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. When they had
gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, Get up,
follow the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you repaid evil
for good? Is not this the one from which my lord drinks, and with which he indeed
practices divination? You have done evil in so doing.
a. As soon as the morning dawned, the men were sent away: The brothers left Egypt
in high spirits. They were treated well, had their sacks full of grain, and Simeon was
out of prison. Their father Jacobs fear of something horrible happening would not
be fulfilled.
b. Also put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his
grain money: As before, the grain sacks of the brothers are topped off by the money
they paid for the grain, but this time, Joseph has his special silver cup put in the
sack of Benjamin.
c. Why have you repaid evil for good? Some wrongly think that Joseph did this
simply to use his position of power to torment his brothers in revenge for their
cruelty towards him. Yet knowing the character of Joseph, this wasnt the case.
Guided by the hand of God, Joseph tested the hearts of his brothers and brought
them to complete repentance.
d. He indeed practices divination: We know from other sources that ancients did use

sacred cups as divination devices. It is possible Joseph did also, because there was
not yet specific revelation from God that such a practice was forbidden. Yet, it was
not Joseph who said he used the cup for divination, but his servant, who may have
wrongly assumed Josephs spiritual insight and wisdom were more due to this cup
than to his relationship with the living God.
BI 1-15, "The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack
The trials of the innocent
I. That there is sorrow, and sorrow on a vast scale, is a great fact—a fact both too patent
and too painful to be gainsaid. Joseph put the cup in the sack to try his brothers’ faith,
love, and loyalty to their father.
1. Sorrow was sent into the world as a preventive of greater sorrow.
2. Sorrow gives occasion for the exercise of many an else impossible virtue.
3. This would be a lame excuse indeed if it stood alone. But grief is our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ.
4. When we remember our sins, we wonder, not that life has had so many sorrows,
but that it has had so few.
II. Why should sorrow so often smite us in the most sensitive place? or, to take up the
parable of the text—
1. Why should the cup be in Benjamin’s sack? Just because it is Benjamin’s, we reply.
The very thing that leads God to smite at all, leads Him to smite you here. God takes
away earthly pleasure, and thus helps you to remember your sin and repent of it.
2. The cup was put there to bring them to a better mind ever after.
3. It was put there to give Joseph the opportunity of making himself known to his
brethren.
4. It was put there to lead them out of the land of famine into the land of plenty.
From this we may learn three lessons:
(1) Learn to think more kindly of God and His dispensations, as you see how
much reason you have to expect sorrow, how little right to look for joy;
(2) Learn the lesson the lesser sorrows are meant to teach, lest you need the
greater;
(3) Take care lest you not only lose the joy, but lose the good the loss of joy was
meant to give. (J. B. Figgis.)
The final trial of Joseph’s brethren
I. THE SEVERITY OF THE TRIAL.
1. It was unexpected.
2. It exposed them to the agony of suspense between hope and fear.

3. They were conscious of innocence.
4. The trial touched them in the sorest place.
5. The bringing them into their present difficulty seemed to have the sanction of
religion.
6. They regard their case as hopeless.
II. THE PURPOSE OF THE TRIAL.
1. To stir up their consciences to the depths.
2. To show whether they were capable of receiving forgiveness. (T. H.Leale.)
Joseph puts his brethren to the test
I. THY. TEST TO WHICH JOSEPH EXPOSED HIS BRETHREN. There is at first sight
an apparent wantonness in the manner in which this was applied; but looking deeper we
see some motives for such a mode of action.
1. Probably it was designed as a kind of penalty for their former deeds. Joseph had
been basely treated. Though he forgave his injurers, yet it was good for them to see
their crime and feel it. His was not mere maudlin compassion; he desired first to
bring them to repentance, and then he was ready and willing to forgive. And in this
he is a type of God; God is the infinitely Forgiving One, but the Just One besides.
2. And a second motive which may be assigned for Joseph’s conduct is that perhaps
it was to compel them to feel that their lives were in his power. They are humbled to
the dust before him by the test. Now, in assigning to him such a natural motive, we
are not showing his conduct as anything superhuman. It was magnanimous, but yet
mixed with the human. Everything that man does has in it something of evil; even
his best actions have in them something that will not bear the light of day.
3. Again, Joseph may have wished to test his brethren’s capability of forgiveness.
II. THE CONDUCT OF JOSEPH’S BRETHREN UNDER THE TEST.
1. Judah cannot prove that his brother is not guilty, neither can he believe that he is
guilty; he therefore leaves that question entirely aside. Instead of denying it, in
modem language he showed cause why the law should not be put in force against
him.
2. We next notice the pathos of that speech (Gen_44:20).
3. Let us learn, in conclusion, that even in the worst of mankind there is something
good left. Judah was by no means an immaculate man; but from what a man was,
you cannot be certain what he is now. Here were men virtually guilty of the sin of
murder, really guilty of cupidity in selling their brother; but years after we find in
them something tender still, love for their father and compassion for their brother. It
is this spark of undestroyed good in man that the Spirit of Christ takes hold of; and
he alone who is able to discover this in the hearts of the worst, he alone will be in this
world successful in turning sinners to God. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Analogies

1. We see a striking analogy between the conduct of Joseph towards his brother
Benjamin, and that of Jesus towards His people. “Whom I love, I rebuke and
chasten.” The Lord often brings us into difficulties that He may detain us, as I may
say, from leaving Him. Were it not for these, He would have fewer importunate
applications at a throne of grace than He has. He does not afflict willingly or from
His heart; but from necessity, and that He may bring us nearer to Him.
2. We also see a striking analogy between Joseph’s conduct towards his brethren,
and that of the Lord towards us. In all he did, I suppose, it was his design to try
them. His putting the cup into Benjamin’s sack, and convicting him of the supposed
guilt, would try their love to him, and to their aged father. Had they been of the same
disposition as when they sold Joseph, they would not have cared for him. But,
happily, they are now of another mind. God appears to have made use of this
mysterious providence, and of Joseph’s behaviour, amongst other things, to bring
them to repentance. And the cup being found in Benjamin’s sack, would give them
occasion to manifest it. It must have afforded the most heartfelt satisfaction to
Joseph, amidst all the pain which it cost him, to witness their concern for Benjamin,
and for the life of their aged father. This of itself was sufficient to excite, on his part,
the fullest forgiveness. Thus God is represented as looking upon a contrite spirit, and
even overlooking heaven and earth for it (Isa_66:1-2). Next to the gift of His Son, He
accounts it the greatest blessing He can bestow upon a sinful creature. Now, that on
which He set so high a value, He may be expected to produce, even though it may be
at the expense of our present peace. Nor have we any cause of complaint, but the
contrary. What were the suspense, the anxiety, and the distress of Joseph’s brethren,
in comparison of that which followed? And what is the suspense, the anxiety, or the
distress of an awakened sinner, or a tried believer, in comparison of the joy of faith,
or the grace that shall be revealed at the appearing of Jesus Christ? It will then be
found that our light affliction, which was but for a moment, has been working for us
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. (A. Fuller.)
The cup in the sack
I. THE PRIVATE COMPLAINT.
1. Its nature. All” the money to be returned, and the silver cup to be placed in the
sack belonging to Benjamin. It may seem strange that the steward was to charge
them with stealing a cup wherein Joseph divined (if indeed the cup was not used for
that purpose, as we believe), knowing that Joseph was a servant of God. We may not,
with the higher standard of morality of these Christian times, approve this pretence;
but it is in keeping with the whole transaction, which is a feint throughout.
2. Motive. Doubtless to test the feeling of the rest towards Benjamin. Did they envy
this favourite as they did the other? If so, it was very likely that on being overtaken
they would abandon the man with whom the cup was found—Benjamin—to his fate.
Make no effort to procure his release. Return home without him, as they had once
gone without Joseph. Before he proceeded further in helping his family in the
famine, he would see if they had improved morally all these years.
II. THY OBNOXIOUS CHARGE. The confidential servant having received the
command, but most likely being ignorant of all his master’s plans and of the relation of
these guests, proceeds to put it in execution.
1. The brethren set off. Their journey. How unlike the last, when they were full of

perplexity, and had left Simeon behind. Now they talk of their good treatment, and
are accompanied by Simeon, and that Benjamin whom they had feared to lose.
2. They are pursued. Their astonishment at seeing the steward, who Gen_43:28) had
not long before spoken assuring words, hastening after them.
3. The charge. The steward faithfully, but to their great amazement, repeats the
command of his master.
4. Their indignant denial, Such conduct would be opposed to the will of God (Gen_
43:7). The idea was inconsistent with their proved honesty (Gen_43:8). They are
quite willing to abide by the results of search. And that the punishment should be
greater than hinted.
III. THE APPALLING DISCOVERY.
1. The search commences. They are willing. The steward begins as far as possible
from where he knows it is concealed. Thus they do not suspect him of any complicity,
and their confidence increases as he proceeds.
2. They see Benjamin’s sack opened, and there, shining in all its beauty, is the cup!
What could they think, or say, or do? They did not suffer Benjamin to return alone.
The test was successful. There was another discovery—an altered feeling towards the
old man and his favourite son. This discovery Joseph made.
3. They could only regard it as a plot of some one—perhaps the Lord of Egypt—to
find a pretext for keeping them in bondage. What would become now of their father,
and their wives and little ones. Learn:
I. That our religion admits not of pretences.
II. The time of confidence may be the hour of peril. (J. C. Gray.)
Money in the sack
Frederick, King of Prussia, one day rung his bell, and nobody answering, he opened his
door, and found his page fast asleep in an elbow chair. He advanced towards him and
was going to awaken him, when he perceived part of a letter hanging out of his pocket.
His curiosity prompting him to know what it was, he took it out and read it. It was a
letter from this young man’s mother, in which she thanked him for having sent her a
part of his wages to relieve her misery; and finished with telling him that God would
reward him for his dutiful affection. The king, after reading it, went back softly into his
chamber, took a bag full of ducats, and slipped it with the letter into the page’s pocket.
Returning to the chamber, he rang the bell so loudly, that it awakened the page, who
instantly made his appearance. “You have had a sound sleep,” said the king. The page
was at a loss how to excuse himself; and putting his hand into his pocket by chance, to
his utter astonishment, he there found a purse of ducats. He took it out, turned pale, and
looking at the king, shed a torrent of tears without being able to utter a single word.
“What is that,” said the king, “what is the matter?” “Ah, sire,” said the young man,
throwing himself on his knees, “somebody seeks my ruin! I know nothing of this money
which I have just found in my pocket.” “My young friend,” replied Frederick, “God often
does great things for us, even in our sleep. Send that to your mother; salute her on my
part, and assure her that I will take care of both her and you.” (Moral and Religious
Anecdotes.)

Grace unknown in the heart
A child of God may have the kingdom of grace in his heart, yet not know it. The cup was
in Benjamin’s sack, though he did not know it was there; thou mayest have faith in thy
heart, the cup may be in thy sack though thou knowest it not. Old Jacob wept for his son
Joseph, when Joseph was alive; thou mayest weep for grace, when grace may be alive in
thy heart. The seed may be in the ground, when we do not see it spring up; the seed of
God may be sown in thy heart, though thou dost not perceive the springing up of it.
Think not grace is lost because it is hid. (T. Watson.)
Divining cups
The Ancient Egyptians, and still more, the Persians, practised a mode of divination from
goblets. Small pieces of gold or silver, together with precious stones, marked with
strange figures and signs, were thrown into the vessel; after which, certain incantations
were pronounced, and the evil demon was invoked; the latter was then supposed to give
the answer, either by intelligible words, or by pointing to some of the characters on the
precious stones, or in some other more mysterious manner. Sometimes the goblet was
filled with pure water, upon which the sun was allowed to play; and the figures which
were thus formed, or which a lively imagination fancied it saw, were interpreted as the
desired omen—a method of taking auguries still employed in Egypt and Nubia. The
goblets were usually of a spherical form; and for this reason, as well as because they were
believed to teach men all natural and many supernatural things, they were called
“celestial globes.” Most celebrated was the magnificent vase of turquoise of the wife
Jemsheed, the Solomon among the ancient Persian kings, the founder of Persepolis; and
Alexander the Great, so eager to imitate Eastern manners, is said to have adopted the
sacred goblets also. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)
TRAPP, "Gen_44:1 And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men’s
sacks [with] food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s
mouth.
Ver. 1. And he commanded the steward.] Peccata extrinsecus radere, et non intrinsecus
eradicare, fictio est, saith Bernard. Humiliation for sin must be sound and soaking, or
else it is to no purpose. Hypocrites "hang down their heads as a bulrush," {Isa_58:5}
while some storm of trouble is upon them; but in a fair sunshine day, they lift up their
heads as upright as ever. Something they do about sin, but nothing against it. As
artificial magic seem to wound, but do not; or as players seem to thrust themselves
through their bodies, but the sword passeth only through their clothes. This Joseph well
knew; and therefore, that his brethren might make sure work, and have their hearts
leavened and soured (as David’s was, Psa_73:21) with the greatness of godly sorrow;
that they might mourn as men do in the death of their dearest friends; {Zec_12:10} that
their sorrow might be "according to God" ( ç êáôá Yåïí ëõðç , 2Co_7:10), deep and daily,
like that sorrow, 2Sa_13:36; that waters of Marah might flow from their eyes, and their
hearts fall asunder in their bosoms like drops of water; he puts them to one more
grievous fright and agony before he makes himself known unto them. And this was a
high point of heavenly wisdom in him. For had he presently entertained and embraced

them as his brethren, they would sooner have gloried of their wickedness than repented
of it. Neither would a little repentance serve for a sin so ingrained, and such a long time
lain in. Their hearts were woefully hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, their consciences
festered: and had it been fit for him to break their bones before they were set; and lap up
their sores before they were searched? "Repent ye," saith St Peter to those that had
crucified Christ, and were now "pricked in their hearts." {Act_2:37-38} He saith not, "Be
of good cheer, your sins are forgiven," now that you feel some remorse for them; but,
Stay a while upon the work of repentance, and be thorough in it; leave not circumcising
your hearts, till you find them as sore as the Shechemites felt their bodies the third day.
And this the apostle said to such as already felt the nails wherewith they had crucified
Christ sticking fast in their own hearts and piercing them with horror. Take we heed of
laying cordials upon full and foul stomachs: "the feeble minded" only are to be
"comforted," such as are in danger to be swallowed up with grief. But some men’s stains
are so inveterate, that they will hardly be got out till the cloth be almost rubbed to pieces.
Put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth.] Should they not have been content that
their sacks were filled with corn, though there had not been money in the mouth of
them? And should not we also rest satisfied with our many mercies? &c.
2 Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of
the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for
his grain.” And he did as Joseph said.
CLARKE, "Put my cup in the sack’s mouth of the youngest - The stratagem of
the cup seems to have been designed to bring Joseph’s brethren into the highest state of
perplexity and distress, that their deliverance by the discovery that Joseph was their
brother might have its highest effect.
GILL, "And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the
youngest,.... Benjamin; this he ordered to be done, partly to put him in apparent
danger, and try how his brethren would behave towards him in such circumstances, and

thereby know how they stood affected to him; and partly that he might have an excuse
for retaining him with him. This cup was valuable both for the matter of it, being of
silver, and for the use of it, being what Joseph himself drank out of: and by the word
used to express it, it seems to have been a large embossed cup, a kind of goblet, for it has
the signification of a little hill. Jarchi says it was a long cup, which they called
"mederno". The Septuagint render it by "condy", which is said to be a Persian word, and
a kind of an Attalic cup, that held ten cotylae (g), or four or five quarts, and weighed
ninety ounces; but a cup so large seems to be too large to drink out of:
and his corn money; what he had paid for his corn:
and he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken; put every man's
money in the mouth of his sack, and his silver cup with the corn money into Benjamin's
sack.
JAMISO , "put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth — It was a large
goblet, as the original denotes, highly valued by its owner, on account of its costly
material or its elegant finish and which had probably graced his table at the sumptuous
entertainment of the previous day.
K&D 3-6, "Then as soon as it was light (‫ּור‬‫א‬, 3rd pers. perf. in o: Ges. §72, 1), they
were sent away with their asses. But they were hardly outside the town, “not far off,”
when he directed his steward to follow the men, and as soon as he overtook them, to say,
“Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is it not this from which my lord drinketh,
and he is accustomed to prophesy from it? Ye have done an evil deed!” By these words
they were accused of theft; the thing was taken for granted as well known to them all,
and the goblet purloined was simply described as a very valuable possession of Joseph's.
‫שׁ‬ ַ‫ח‬ָ‫:נ‬ lit., to whisper, to mumble out formularies, incantations, then to prophesy,
divinare. According to this, the Egyptians at that time practised λεκανοσκοπίη or
λεκανοµαντεία and ᆓδροµαντεία, the plate and water incantations, of which Jamblichus
speaks (de myst. iii. 14), and which consisted in pouring clean water into a goblet, and
then looking into the water for representations of future events; or in pouring water into
a goblet or dish, dropping in pieces of gold and silver, also precious stones, and then
observing and interpreting the appearances in the water (cf. Varro apud August. civ. Dei
7, 35; Plin. h. n. 37, 73; Strabo, xvi. p. 762). Traces of this have been continued even to
our own day (see Norden's Journey through Egypt and Nubia). But we cannot infer with
certainty from this, that Joseph actually adopted this superstitious practice. The
intention of the statement may simply have been to represent the goblet as a sacred
vessel, and Joseph as acquainted with the most secret things (Gen_44:15).
CALVI , "2.And put my cup, the silver cup. It may seem wonderful that,
considering his great opulence, Joseph had not rather drunk out of a golden cup.
Doubtless, either the moderation of that age was still greater than has since
prevailed, and the splendor of it less sumptuous; or else this conduct must be

attributed to the moderation of the man, who, in the midst of universal license, yet
was contented with a plain and decent, rather than with a magnificent style of
living. Unless, perhaps, on account of the excellence of the workmanship, the silver
was more valuable than gold: as it is manifest from secular history, that the
workmanship has often been more expensive than the material itself. It is, however,
probable, that Joseph was sparing in domestic splendor, for the sake of avoiding
envy. For unless he had been prudently on his guard, a contention would have
arisen between him and the courtiers, resulting from a spirit of emulation.
Moreover, he commands the cup to be enclosed in Benjamin’s sack, in order that he
might claim him as his own, when convicted of the theft, and might send the rest
away: however, he accuses all alike, as if he knew not who among them had
committed the crime. And first, he reproves their ingratitude, because, when they
had been so kindly received, they made the worst possible return; next, he contends
that the crime was inexpiable, because they had stolen what was most valuable to
him; namely, the cup in which he was accustomed both to drink and to divine. And
he does this through his steward, whom he had not trained to acts of tyranny and
violence. Whence I infer, that the steward was not altogether ignorant of his
master’s design.
BE SO , "Genesis 44:2. Put my cup, the silver cup — Probably a large cup of
great value, and much used by Joseph; in the sack’s mouth of the youngest —
Hereby, it seems, Joseph meant to try his brethren’s affection to Benjamin, whether
they would assist him in his extremity, and also their regard for their father,
whether they would willingly give up and leave in confinement his favourite son.
Had they hated Benjamin as they had Joseph, and been influenced by the same
unfeeling disposition as they formerly were toward their father, they certainly
would have discovered themselves on this occasion: and no doubt Joseph would
have taken his measures in dealing with them accordingly.
ELLICOTT, "(2) Put my cup . . . —Rather bowl, as it signifies a large round vessel
from which the wine was poured into the drinking cups. Joseph’s purpose
apparently was to detain no one but Benjamin, and it was only when Judah spake so
very nobly, and pointed out that Jacob’s heart would be broken with grief if he lost
the one remaining son of Rachel, made more dear to him by his brother’s fate, that
he determined to give a home to them all. He naturally supposed that his father had
long since ceased to grieve for himself, and probably even hoped to prevail upon
him subsequently to join him in Egypt. But when Judah offered himself for slavery
rather than that his father should suffer the grief of seeing them return without

Benjamin, Joseph understood that Jacob’s anguish would be great beyond
endurance, and he also became aware that his brethren were no longer as heartless
as they had shown themselves of old.
(5) Whereby he divineth.—Cup divination was common in Egypt in ancient times,
and was a kind of clairvoyance, the bowl being partly filled with water, and the eye
of the diviner fixed upon some one point in it till, wearied with gazing, a state of half
stupor was induced, during which the mind, freed from the control of reason, acted
in a manner parallel to its operation in dreams. The same effect can be produced by
gazing intently on a globe of glass, and other such things. In Genesis 44:15, Joseph
asserts that he practised this art, and innocently. Though used now generally for
imposture, there is in clairvoyance a real physical basis, which would be
inexplicable in an unscientific age; and the genuine piety and goodness of Joseph
would not raise him above the reach of the superstitions of his time.
3 As morning dawned, the men were sent on their
way with their donkeys.
EXPOSITORS DICTIO ARY OF TEXTS, "Temperament and Grace
Genesis 44:3-4
A man"s reputation after death is a very haphazard thing. History is full of minor
characters of whom after ages have formed a very definite, but possibly wholly
wrong idea, based on some single and perhaps insignificant incident in their career,
or a chance remark upon them. The same thing may even happen in lifetime:

sometimes a man or woman carries about through mature years a wholly false
character, founded on some irrelevant thing they did or said in childhood, and
which is the only thing their circle of friends remember them by. One wonders, is
this the case of Reuben, son of Jacob, who has carried down the ages the burden of a
name for "instability".
I. But first, are we sure what his father meant by "unstable as water"? I fancy most
of us think he referred to the weak and yielding nature of that element. We are
wrong. He meant "boiling over like water". He was thinking of a caldron placed on
a fire of desert thorns. The blaze of the quick fuel heats the pot and suddenly the
water bubbles up; as suddenly the treacherous fuel gives out, and the boiling water
drops again, flat, silent, chill. What Jacob meant to say of Reuben by this gipsy
metaphor was that he was a spirit which boiled up readily and as readily grew cold.
We may safely take it that in Reuben we have the type of what we call the impulsive
Prayer of Manasseh , with the merits and the defects of that temperament.
II. It has struck me that there is a Reuben also in the ew Testament. This ew
Testament Reuben is not a shepherd but a fisherman, but he is generous, warm-
hearted, strong in impulse, weak in constancy, he boils up and he falls cold. Peter is
Reuben in temperament: yet Reuben was a moral failure, "he could not excel,"
while Peter was a saint and did excel.
III. The moral I desire to fix on the Old Testament story is that whatever be our
temperament, too fast like Reuben"s, or too slow like some others, Christ can so
remake us that we shall not be failures in life. I do not mean that Christ alters our
temperaments. He did not alter Peter"s. The dissimilation at Antioch, the tradition
of Peter"s flight from persecution at Rome and his return to die, tell us that he was
in natural make the same man. But the power of Christ recovered him as surely as
he fell.
—J. H. Skrine, The Heart"s Counsel, p85.
References.—XLIV.—F. W. Robertson, otes on Genesis , p161. XLV:1-5.—
Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xliii. o2516. XLV:1-15.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of

Holy Scripture— Genesis , p260. XLV:3.—R. C. Trench, Sermons ew and Old,
p37. G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p370. H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, o1488 , p41.
XLV:3-5.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii. o449. Genesis 45:4
"The true tears are those which are called forth by the beauty of poetry; there must
be as much admiration in them as sorrow. They are the tears which come to our
eyes... when Joseph cries out, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into
Egypt". Who does not feel that the man who wrote that was no shallow rhetorician,
but a born man of genius, with the true instinct for what is really admirable?"
—M. Arnold, in his Essay on Tarbert.
References.—XLV:4.—S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii. p78.
4 They had not gone far from the city when
Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men at
once, and when you catch up with them, say to
them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?
GILL, "And when they were gone out of the city, and not yet far off,.... Which

perhaps was Tanis, the Zoan of the Scriptures; see Eze_30:14, margin:
Joseph said unto his steward, up, follow after the men; who no doubt was ready
provided with men and horses, to go out and pursue when Joseph should give the
orders, he being privy to Joseph's intentions, and with whom the scheme was concerted,
and the secret was. Joseph appears to have been up very early this morning, and had
observed the exact time of his brethren's departure, and guessed whereabouts they
might be when he sent his steward, and others after them; for it can hardly be thought
he was sent alone after eleven men, and to charge them with a theft, and bring them back
again:
and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, wherefore have ye
rewarded evil for good? in taking away the silver cup, when they had been so kindly
and bountifully entertained. This he was to represent as base ingratitude, as it would
have appeared, had it been fact. In much such manner was Esop used by the inhabitants
of Delphos; they, being displeased with him, put a sacred cup or vial into his bags, which
he, being ignorant of, went on his way towards Phocis; and they ran after him, and
seized him, and charged him with sacrilege (h).
JAMISO , "When they were gone out of the city ... Joseph said unto his
steward — They were brought to a sudden halt by the stunning intelligence that an
article of rare value was missing from the governor’s house. It was a silver cup; so strong
suspicions were entertained against them that a special messenger was despatched to
search them.
"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 them, say unto
them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is not this that in which my lord
drinketh, whereby he indeed divineth? ye have done evil in so doing. And he
overtook them, and he spake unto them these words."
"And when they were gone out of the city ..." Willis said, "Unfortunately it is
impossible to know what city in Egypt is intended here."[4] Although our curiosity
would be gratified by having such information, it is characteristic of the divine
writings to ignore many things that men would have considered important. It is
wrong, however, to make the omission of the name of the city where these events
happened an excuse for supposing "some different tradition" is involved, at
variance with the frequent mention of place-names connected with the life of Jacob,
such as Bethel, Shechem, etc. Keller noted that, "The story of Joseph, like so much

of what the Bible relates, has received the most astonishing confirmation."[5]
Joseph had taken his steward into his confidence, as indicated when the steward
gave permission for all the brothers except Benjamin to return to Canaan.
One of the points of interest here is the matter of that silver cup and Joseph's use of
it for "divination." "Whether Joseph is conceived of as really practicing divination,
or only wishing his brothers to think so, does not appear."[6] Many have mentioned
the various ways of divination by means of a cup. Sometimes, "Such a divination
cup was filled with water, then oil was poured on the water; and the future was
predicted on the basis of the forms that appeared on the surface."[7]
"Mesopotamian sources indicate that ... water was poured into oil, or fragments of
silver and gold were dropped into water or oil, and a priest or diviner read the
message in the way the globules arranged themselves."[8] Dummelow gave the name
of this type of magic as "hydromancy."[9] Regarding the question, whether or not
Joseph actually practiced such a thing, we do not consider it out of reason that he
actually did so. After all, his mother Rachel stole the false gods of her father, and we
have already noted that the evidence in this part of Genesis points to a significant
spiritual drift away from the truth in Joseph himself.
PETT, "Verses 4-6
‘And when they had left the city and were as yet no great distance Joseph said to his
steward, “Up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them say to them, “Why
have you rewarded evil for good? Is not this cup the one in which my lord drinks,
and by which indeed he divines? You have done evil in so doing.” And he overtook
them and spoke to them these words.’
Joseph now sends his steward after the brothers to call them to task because of the
cup. It is stressed that the cup is a special one, for it not only has a use for drinking
but it is also his divining cup. It is thus a sacred object and the penalty for such a
theft is death (compare 31:30-32). Whether Joseph actually used the cup for this
purpose we do not know, but every great man in Egypt would have his divining cup.
The divining would be carried out by specialists. Divining with a cup was a common
practise in the ancient world. Small objects were placed in the cup and the future
was deduced by the effect produced on the liquid.

TRAPP, "Gen_44:4 [And] when they were gone out of the city, [and] not [yet] far
off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost
overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?
Ver. 4. Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?] This, blind nature saw to be the
sum of all sins. Ingratum dixeris, omnia dixeris. Some vices are such as nature
smiles upon, though frowned at by divine justice; not so this. Hercules is much
condemned by the heathens for killing his schoolmaster Linus; Alexander, for doing
the like by his friend Clitus; ero, by his tutor Seneca: Muleasses, king of Tunis, is
cried out on, for torturing to death the Manifet and Mesnar, by whose means
especially he had aspired to the kingdom. {a} Philip, king of Macedonia, caused a
soldier of his, that had offered unkindness to one that had kindly entertained him, to
be branded in the forehead, with these two words; Hospes ingratus. Unthankfulness
is a monster in nature, a solecism in manners, a paradox in divinity, a parching
wind to dry up the fountain of further favour. Benjamin’s five fold mess was no
small aggravation to the theft here laid to his charge. {b}
5 Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and
also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing
you have done.’”
CLARKE, "Whereby - he divineth? - Divination by cups has been from time
immemorial prevalent among the Asiatics; and for want of knowing this, commentators

have spent a profusion of learned labor upon these words, in order to reduce them to
that kind of meaning which would at once be consistent with the scope and design of the
history, and save Joseph from the impeachment of sorcery and divination. I take the
word ‫נחש‬ nachash here in its general acceptation of to view attentively, to inquire. Now
there has been in the east a tradition, the commencement of which is lost in immemorial
time, that there was a Cup, which had passed successively into the hands of different
potentates, which possessed the strange property of representing in it the whole world,
and all the things which were then doing in it. The cup is called jami Jemsheed, the cup of
Jemsheed, a very ancient king of Persia, whom late historians and poets have
confounded with Bacchus, Solomon, Alexander the Great, etc. This Cup, filled with the
elixir of immortality, they say was discovered when digging to lay the foundations of
Persepolis. The Persian poets are full of allusions to this cup, which, from its property of
representing the whole world and its transactions, is styled by them jam jehan nima, “the
cup showing the universe;” and to the intelligence received by means of it they attribute
the great prosperity of their ancient monarchs, as by it they understood all events, past,
present, and to come. Many of the Mohammedan princes and governors affect still to
have information of futurity by means of a cup. When Mr. Norden was at Derri in the
farthest part of Egypt, in a very dangerous situation, an ill-natured and powerful Arab, in
a threatening way, told one of their people whom they sent to him that “he knew what
sort of people they were, for he had consulted his cup, and found by it that they were
those of whom one of their prophets had said, that Franks (Europeans) would come in
disguise; and, passing everywhere, examine the state of the country; and afterwards
bring over a great number of other Franks, conquer the country, and exterminate all.” By
this we see that the tradition of the divining cup still exists, and in the very same country
too in which Joseph formerly ruled. Now though it is not at all likely that Joseph
practiced any kind of divination, yet probably, according to the superstition of those
times, (for I suppose the tradition to be even older than the time of Joseph),
supernatural influence might be attributed to his cup; and as the whole transaction
related here was merely intended to deceive his brethren for a short time, he might as
well affect divination by his cup, as he affected to believe they had stolen it. The steward
therefore uses the word ‫נחש‬ nachash in its proper meaning: Is not this it out of which my
lord drinketh, and in which he inspecteth accurately? Gen_44:5. And hence Joseph says,
Gen_44:15 : Wot ye not - did ye not know, that such a person as I (having such a cup)
would accurately and attentively look into it? As I consider this to be the true meaning, I
shall not trouble the reader with other modes of interpretation.
GILL, "Is not this it, in which my lord drinketh,.... Which was for his own
particular use, and so the more ungrateful in them to take it:
and whereby indeed he divineth? according to our version and others, Joseph is
here represented by his steward as a diviner or soothsayer, and so he might be thought
to be by the Egyptians, from being such an exact interpreter of dreams, foretelling things
to come, and that he made his divinations by the silver cup; and we are told that the
Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians, used to fill basins with water, in which they put
plates of silver and precious stones, marked with certain characters, and pronouncing
certain words, called to the devil, who uttered a voice in the water like an hissing, and
returned answers to the things inquired about (i): a like practice is used by the Africans
now (k); which method Andronicus took to know who would be his successor, but was

reckoned among the most infamous and scandalous parts of the magic art (l) wherefore,
as Joseph never practised any thing of this kind, so neither would he dissemble, or make
as if he did; though it must be owned that the Arabs (m) in Egypt at this day pretend to
consult with the cup and divine by it: but the words will bear another version and sense,
for it may signify to tempt, to try, to make an experiment, and by experience to know a
thing, as in Gen_30:27; and so the Arabic version, "and indeed he hath tried you by it":
so Aben Ezra interprets it of his trying of them by it, whether they were thieves or not,
whether they were a parcel of light fingered filching fellows: the cup, he pretends, was
set before them, and he turned himself another way, either Joseph or the steward, and
they took the opportunity of carrying it off; or else, as others think, he tried them by
drinking in it very freely and liberally, what sort of men they were, how they would
behave themselves in their cups, when truth is commonly spoke, the wit being out when
the wine is in: but of these two senses the former is to be preferred; though it seems best
of all to understand this not of the cup as the instrument by which he tried, searched,
and inquired into things, but as the object searched after and inquired of; for the word
signifies to inquire, and make a strict observation of things, and thereby make shrewd
guesses and conjectures, as in 1Ki_20:33; and so the sense is, either according to R.
Jonah (n), that his master would diligently inquire of the soothsayers concerning it, in
order to find out who took it away, and so Ben Melech; for the words may be rendered,
"for which he certainly makes", or has made, or will make "divination", which agrees
with Gen_44:15; for if the cup was gone, how could he make divination with it? it must
be for it; or indeed they might well conclude themselves, that as such a thing would soon
be missed, diligent inquiry would be made after it, and it would be at once conjectured
that it was taken away, not by any of the household, but by those strangers that had
dined with Joseph; and a man of his sagacity and penetration would soon find it out, and
therefore it was madness and folly to do such an action, and think to get off clear:
ye have done evil in so doing: both a mad and foolish action, and a base, wicked, and
ungrateful one, as well as what was infamous and scandalous; for nothing was reckoned
more so than for a guest at a prince's table to carry away a cup, or anything of that kind,
with him: so Claudius the Roman emperor, a guest of his, the day before, having taken
away a golden cup, as was supposed, ordered an earthen one to be put in its place (o),
which was a putting him to public shame and reproach: Dioxippus the Athenian, being
at table with Alexander the great, a golden cup was taken away privately, by some that
envied him; and the hint being given as if he had done it, all eyes were turned on him as
the thief, which he could not bear, but went out, and wrote a letter to the king, and then
killed himself (p).
HE RY, ". How the pretended criminals were pursued and arrested, on suspicion of
having stolen a silver cup. The steward charged them with ingratitude - rewarding evil
for good; and with folly, in taking away a cup of daily use, and which therefore 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? Gen_44:5. Or, “By which, leaving it carelessly at your table, he
would make trial whether you were honest men or no.”
JAMISO , "Is not this it in which my lord drinketh — not only kept for the
governor’s personal use, but whereby he divines. Divination by cups, to ascertain the

course of futurity, was one of the prevalent superstitions of ancient Egypt, as it is of
Eastern countries still. It is not likely that Joseph, a pious believer in the true God,
would have addicted himself to this superstitious practice. But he might have availed
himself of that popular notion to carry out the successful execution of his stratagem for
the last decisive trial of his brethren.
CALVI , "5.Whereby indeed, he divineth (171) This clause is variously expounded.
For some take it as if Joseph pretended that he consulted soothsayers in order to
find out the thief. Others translate it, “by which he has tried you, or searched you
out;” others, that the stolen cup had given Joseph an unfavorable omen. The
genuine sense seems to me to be this: that he had used the cup for divinations and
for magical arts; which, however, we have said, he feigned, for the sake of
aggravating the charge brought against them. But the question arises, how does
Joseph allow himself to resort to such an expedient? For besides that it was sinful
for him to profess augury; he vainly and unworthily transfers to imaginary deities
the honor due only to divine grace. On a former occasion, he had declared that he
was unable to interpret dreams, except so far as God should suggest the truth to
him; now he obscures this entire ascription of praise to divine grace; and what is
worse, by boasting that he is a magician rather than proclaiming himself a prophet
of God, he impiously profanes the gift of the Holy Spirit. Doubtless, in this
dissimulation, it is not to be denied, that he sinned grievously. Yet I think that, at
the first, he had endeavored, by all means in his power, to give unto God his due
honor; and it was not his fault that the whole kingdom of Egypt was ignorant of the
fact that he excelled in skill, not by magical arts, but by a celestial gift. But since the
Egyptians were accustomed to the illusions of the magicians, this ancient error so
prevailed, that they believed Joseph to be one of them; and I do not doubt that this
rumor was spread abroad among the people, although contrary to his desire and
intention. ow Joseph, in feigning himself to be a stranger to his brethren, combines
many falsehoods in one, and takes advantage of the prevailing vulgar opinion that
he used auguries. Whence we gather, that when any one swerves from the right line,
he is prone to fall into various sins. Wherefore, being warned by this example, let us
learn to allow ourselves in nothing except what we know is approved by God. But
especially must we avoid all dissimulation, which either produces or confirms
mischievous impostures. Besides, we are warned, that it is not sufficient for any one
to oppose a prevailing vice for a time; unless he add constancy of resistance, even
though the evil may become excessive. For he discharges his duty very defectively,
who, having once testified that he is displeased with what is evil, afterwards, by his
silence or connivance, gives it a kind of assent.

BE SO , "Genesis 44:5. Whereby indeed he divineth — The original word may be
rendered, For which he would search thoroughly, or, Concerning which he would
certainly divine, or make trial and discovery. As if he had said, Did you think that
you could deceive my master? Did you not know that he could divine and discover
secret things, whence he hath both his name and preferment? And this cup being
much prized and used by him, you might easily think that he would use his art to
recover it. You have done evil — Very evil, have acted unjustly, unthankfully, and
foolishly in so doing.
COKE, "Genesis 44:5. Whereby indeed he divineth— This cup, which the
Septuagint call κονδυ, kondu, the AEgyptian name for a cup, was a goblet or bowl,
it is thought, with a great belly. It is plain, this was a cup used for common
purposes; for the steward says, is not this it in which my lord drinketh? It is evident
also, from Genesis 44:15 that to divine signifies to know or foretel things which are
beyond the reach of common understandings: it is therefore probable, that there
was some sort of divination by cups then in use among the AEgyptians. The Greeks
and Romans, who had much of their religion from AEgypt, practised this method of
divination, particularly, by observing the sparkling of the wine in their libations. It
does not however follow, that Joseph really practised any such art; the steward may
be supposed only to ask this question, to make the brethren think that he did so;
and perhaps, from his being a known interpreter of dreams, the people might fancy
that he was skilled in divination. Some interpreters, of good authority, think, that as
the original word sometimes signifies simply to try, or make experiment, ch. Genesis
30:27. 1 Kings 20:33 the passage might be expounded thus, and whereby indeed he
would make trial, namely, of your honesty. Others, who refer the word it, not to the
cup, but to the theft, would read, will he not, by making trial, search it out? i.e.. do
you imagine that your theft can be concealed from one who is so sagacious in
discovering secrets? But as Joseph, in the 15th verse, speaks in the character of an
AEgyptian, still desirous to conceal himself from them, I should rather think he
refers to some custom or method of divination among the AEgyptians. The author of
Observations on Passages of sacred Scripture observes, that "when Mr. orden was
at Derri, in the farther part of AEgypt, or rather in ubia, in a very dangerous
situation, from which he and his company endeavoured to extricate themselves by
exerting great spirit; a spiteful and powerful Arab told one of his people whom they
sent to him in a threatening way, that he knew what sort of people they were; that
he had consulted his cup, and had found by it that they were those, of whom one of
their prophets said, that Franks would come in disguise, and, passing every where,
examine the state of the country, and afterwards bring over a great many other
Franks, conquer the country, and exterminate them all." ord. Voy. vol. 2: p. 150.

TRAPP, "Gen_44:5 [Is] not this [it] in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed
he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing.
Ver. 5. And whereby indeed he divineth.] Junius reads it thus - Et nonne ipse
experimento certo didicerit per illum, quales sitls? q.d., Hath he not by this fact of
yours, found out your fraud and false dealing; whereby ye have hitherto sought to
delude him? Is it not plain ye are spies and naughty-packs? The Jerusalem Targum
seemeth to tax Joseph here for a soothsayer; or, at least, a seeker to such; which God
forbade. {Deu_18:10} Calvin also thinks he did grievously offend in pretending to be
such a one; and did impiously profane the gift of the Spirit in professing himself a
magician. But, pace tanti viri, this is too heavy a censure, and a forcing of the text,
saith Junius. All that Joseph did was to sift his brethren, and to try their affection to
Benjamin. And if he took upon him to be a diviner, he did it not seriously; but made
use of that conceit the vulgar had of him: like as St Paul made use of that
superstitious custom among the Corinthians, of baptizing over the dead, to prove
the resurrection. {a}
6 When he caught up with them, he repeated these
words to them.
BAR ES, "Gen_44:6-12
The cup is found in Benjamin’s bag. “Spake unto them these words.” The words of
Joseph, supplying of course the mention of the cup which is expressed in the text only by
the pronoun this. “We brought back to thee.” Silver that we might have retained, and to
which you made no claim when we tendered it, we brought back. How or why should we
therefore, steal silver? “Now also according to your words let it be.” He adopts their
terms with a mitigation. He with whom the cup is found shall become a slave for life, and
the rest be acquitted. The steward searches from the oldest to the youngest. The cup is

found where it was put.
GILL, "And he overtook them,.... Their asses being laden with corn could not travel
very fast, and he and his attendants being mounted on swift horses:
and he spake unto them these same words; that Joseph had ordered him to say,
and so what follows particularly, Gen_44:10.
JAMISO , "he overtook them, and he spake ... these words — The steward’s
words must have come upon them like a thunderbolt, and one of their most
predominant feelings must have been the humiliating and galling sense of being made so
often objects of suspicion. Protesting their innocence, they invited a search. The
challenge was accepted [Gen_44:10, Gen_44:11]. Beginning with the eldest, every sack
was examined, and the cup being found in Benjamin’s [Gen_44:12], they all returned in
an indescribable agony of mind to the house of the governor [Gen_44:13], throwing
themselves at his feet [Gen_44:14], with the remarkable confession, “God hath found
out the iniquity of thy servants” [Gen_44:16].
CO STABLE, "Verses 6-13
The brothers" promise was not only rash but foolish since the contents of their
sacks had surprised them previously ( Genesis 44:9). Years earlier Laban had
searched through Jacob"s possessions for his teraphim that remained hidden in
Rachel"s tent. Jacob had rashly pronounced a death sentence on the guilty person
(cf. Genesis 31:23; Genesis 31:25; Genesis 31:33; Genesis 31:35). ow the Egyptians
searched for Joseph"s cup of divination and found it in the sack of Benjamin,
Rachel"s son. The brothers here also rashly pronounced a death sentence on the
guilty person.
Joseph"s steward did not hold the brothers to their promise but simply stated that
the "guilty" person would become a slave ( Genesis 44:10). Joseph had set his
brothers up with a perfect excuse to abandon Benjamin and free themselves from
slavery.
Tearing one"s clothing was a sign of great personal distress in the ancient ear East
( Genesis 44:13; cf. Genesis 37:29). Here it expressed the brothers" sincere agony at
the prospect of having to turn Benjamin over to the Egyptians and return to Jacob
only to break his heart. They tore their clothes in anguish, as Jacob had done when

he received news of Joseph"s apparent death ( Genesis 37:34). The brothers did not
suspect that they were the victims of fraud any more than Jacob did when his sons
gave him Joseph"s bloody coat. [ ote: Hamilton, The Book . . . Chapters18-50 ,
p564.]
"That all the brothers suffered such distress is a telling sign of the new sense of
unity they had developed. They had already been informed that the innocent will be
released ( Genesis 44:10). Moreover, that they all return to Egypt underscores their
commitment to Benjamin. The brothers are of one accord without any grumbling or
dissent. ... They were guilty [previously] but did not show remorse; now they are
innocent and demonstrate deepest agony." [ ote: Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26 ,
p800.]
GUZIK, " (6-10) The brothers claim they are innocent of theft.
So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words. And they said to him,
Why does my lord say these words? Far be it from us that your servants should do
such a thing. Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money
which we found in the mouth of our sacks. How then could we steal silver or gold
from your lords house? With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and
we also will be my lords slaves. And he said, ow also let it be according to your
words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless.
a. Far be it from us that your servants should do such a thing: The brothers
confidently stated they did not have the cup. This showed that they had a healthy
trust in each other. If they did not trust each other they would have immediately
wondered which brother stole the cup.
b. With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my
lords slaves: They were so confident they did not have the cup (and trusted each
other so much), they declared the thief should be killed and all the others taken as
slaves.

c. ow also let it be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my
slave: Joseph did not repeat their offer of a death sentence because he wanted no
bloodshed. Joseph had a plan for agreeing with the brothers suggestion that the
guilty parties be taken as slaves.
7 But they said to him, “Why does my lord say
such things? Far be it from your servants to do
anything like that!
GILL, "And they said unto him, wherefore saith my lord these words?.... One
of them, in the name of the rest, perhaps Judah, made answer, as astonished at the
charge laid against them, suggesting that there was not the least foundation for it, and
were quite surprised to hear anything of this kind alleged against them:
God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing; expressing the
utmost detestation of such a fact, as being what they could never be guilty of.
HE RY, "How they pleaded for themselves. They solemnly protested their
innocence, and detestation of so base a thing (Gen_44:7), urged it as an instance of their
honesty that they had brought their money back (Gen_44:8), and offered to submit to
the severest punishment if they should be found guilty, Gen_44:9, Gen_44:10.
III. How the theft was fastened upon Benjamin. In his sack the cup was found to
whom Joseph had been particularly kind. Benjamin, no doubt, was ready to deny, upon
oath, the taking of the cup, and we may suppose him as little liable to suspicion as any of
them; but it is in vain to confront such notorious evidence: the cup is found in his
custody; they dare not arraign Joseph's justice, nor so much as suggest that perhaps he
that had put their money in their sacks' mouths had put the cup there; but they throw
themselves upon Joseph's mercy. And,

K&D, "In the consciousness of their innocence the brethren repelled this charge with
indignation, and appealed to the fact that they brought back the gold which was found in
their sacks, and therefore could not possibly have stolen gold or silver; and declared that
whoever should be found in possession of the goblet, should be put to death, and the rest
become slaves.
CALVI , "7.And they said unto him. The sons of Jacob boldly excuse themselves,
because a good conscience gives them confidence. They also argue from the greater
to the less: for they contend, that their having voluntarily brought back the money,
which they might with impunity have applied to their own use, was such a proof of
their honesty, as to make it incredible that they should have been so blinded by a
little gain, as to bring upon themselves the greatest disgrace, together with
immediate danger of their lives. They, therefore, declared themselves ready to
submit to any punishment, if they were found guilty of the theft. When the cup was
discovered in Benjamin’s sack, Moses does not relate any of their complaints; but
only declares, that they testified the most bitter grief by rending their garments. I do
not doubt that they were struck dumb by the unexpected result; for they were
confounded, not only by the magnitude of their grief, but by perceiving themselves
to be obnoxious to punishment, for that of which their conscience did not accuse
them. Therefore, when they come into the presence of Joseph, they confess the
injury, not because they acknowledge that the crime has been committed by them,
but because excuse would be of no avail; as if they would say, “It is of no use to deny
a thing which is manifest in itself.” In this sense, they say that their iniquity has
been found out by God; because, although they had some secret suspicion of fraud,
thinking that this had been a contrivance for the purpose of bringing an unjust
charge against them, they choose rather to trace the cause of their punishment to the
secret judgment of God. (172) Some interpreters believe that they here confessed
their crime committed against Joseph; but that opinion is easily refuted, because
they constantly affirm that he had been torn by a wild beast, or had perished by
some accident. Therefore, the more simple meaning is that which I have adduced;
that although the truth of the fact is not apparent, yet they are punished by God as
guilty persons. They do not, however, speak hypocritically; but being troubled and
astonished in their perplexed affairs, there is nothing left for them but the
consciousness that this punishment is inflicted by the secret judgment of God. And I
wish that they who, when smitten by the rod of God, do not immediately perceive
the cause, would adopt the same course; and when they find that men are unjustly
incensed against them, would recall to mind the secret judgments of God, by which
it becomes us to be humbled. Moreover, whereas Judah speaks in the name of them
all, we may hence infer, that he had already obtained precedence among his
brethren. And Moses exhibits him as their head and chief, when he expressly states
that he and the rest came. For though the dignity of primogeniture had not yet been

conferred upon him, by the solemn judgment of his father, yet it was intended for
him. Certainly, in taking the post of speaker for the rest, his authority appears in his
language. Again, it is necessary to recall to memory, in reference to the language of
Joseph, what I have before said, that although at first he had endeavored to ascribe
the glory to God, he now sins in pretending that he is a soothsayer or diviner. Some,
to extenuate the fault, say that the allusion is, not to the art of augury, but to his skill
in judging; there is, however, no need to resort to forced expositions for the sake of
excusing the man; for he speaks according to the common understanding of the
multitude, and thus foolishly countenances the received opinion.
"And they said unto him, Wherefore speaketh my lord such words as these? Far be
it from thy servants that they should do such a thing. Behold, the money which we
found in our sack's mouths, we brought unto thee out of the land of Canaan: how
then should we steal out of thy lord's house silver and gold? With whomsoever of
thy servants it be found, let him die, and we will be my lord's bondmen. And he
said, ow also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is found shall be
my bondman; and ye shall be blameless."
An essential part of Joseph's trap so carefully laid for the brothers was that of
providing them an excellent chance to abandon Benjamin and return to Jacob
without him. The steward was in on the arrangements, and therefore, he modified
their words by granting immediate freedom for all of them except the one with
whom the cup should be found.
The brothers, of course, vigorously protested their innocence, for it was based upon
what they were certain was the truth. We are not told whether or not they believed
in Benjamin's guilt, but, apparently, they attributed the disaster as, in some strange
manner, a visitation of God Himself upon them for their sins. One cannot fail to
appreciate the shock and consternation which came to the brothers, as related in the
next verses.
TRAPP, "Gen_44:7 And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my lord these words?
God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing:

Ver. 7. God forbid that thy servants should do.] Rapine and robbery was ever
condemned amongst very heathens, and severely punished. Tamerlane, in his
expedition against Bajazet, took such order with his soldiers that none were injured;
insomuch, that if a soldier had but taken an apple, or other thing of like value from
any man, he died for it. One of his soldiers having taken a little milk from a country
woman, and she thereof complaining, he ripped up his stomach; where when he
found the milk, he contented the woman and sent her away, who had otherwise died
for her false accusation. {a}
8 We even brought back to you from the land of
Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of
our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold
from your master’s house?
GILL, "With whomsoever of thy servants it be found,.... The silver cup:
both let him die; which was rashly said, since they might have thought the cup might
be put in one of their sacks unknown to them, as their money had been before; and
besides, death was a punishment too severe for such a crime, and therefore is by the
steward himself moderated; but this they said the more strongly to express their
innocence:
and we also will be my lord's bondmen; his servants, as long as they lived: this was
likewise carrying the matter too far, and exceeding all bounds of justice, which could
only require satisfaction of the offender.
BE SO , "Genesis 44:8-9. How then should we steal, &c. — It is not probable that
we, who restored that which it was in our power to keep, and to conceal without any
danger, should steal that which was likely to be discovered with so much shame and

hazard to ourselves. With whomsoever it is found, let him die — They suspected no
fraud, and were so conscious of their innocence, that they consented to suffer the
severest punishment, if found guilty. Their offer, however, was rash and
inconsiderate.
COKE, "Genesis 44:8. Behold, the money— Joseph's brethren urge, as a good proof
of their honesty, and of the improbability of the charge laid against them, that it
could never be supposed that they, who so faithfully restored the money found in
their sacks, which they might so easily have concealed, would scandalously pilfer
what was of so much less value, and which might be so easily discovered. Conscious
of their innocence, they make the most confident, though incautious proposal; for,
having been so strangely deceived with respect to the money found in their sacks,
they ought to have been slower, at least, in the present case; see Genesis 44:9.
9 If any of your servants is found to have it, he
will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s
slaves.”
GILL, "With whomsoever of thy servants it be found,.... The silver cup:
both let him die; which was rashly said, since they might have thought the cup might
be put in one of their sacks unknown to them, as their money had been before; and
besides, death was a punishment too severe for such a crime, and therefore is by the
steward himself moderated; but this they said the more strongly to express their

innocence:
and we also will be my lord's bondmen; his servants, as long as they lived: this was
likewise carrying the matter too far, and exceeding all bounds of justice, which could
only require satisfaction of the offender.
ELLICOTT, "(9-13) Let him die.—Joseph’s brethren, conscious of their innocence,
deny the theft, and, like Jacob when accused of stealing the teraphim (Genesis
31:32), declare that the guilty person shall die, and the rest be made slaves; readily
too they consent to be searched, and take their travelling-bags from off the asses on
which they were riding. The steward, who knew where the bowl was, answers that
only the man in whose bag it is found shall be punished, and that not by death but
by slavery. Beginning with Reuben’s bag, the money is found, but this the steward
makes light of; he then takes the next, and as each brother sees that he has with him
more than he knew of, their minds must have been filled with confusion and terror.
They would be liable to slavery for taking the money, but when the bowl is found in
Benjamin’s possession all hope was gone, and they rent their clothes in
uncontrollable grief.
10 “Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say.
Whoever is found to have it will become my slave;
the rest of you will be free from blame.”
GILL, "And he said, now also let it be according unto your words,.... Not
according to the full extent of their words, but according to a part of them; that be only
should be a servant that was found guilty; so moderating the punishment which they had
fixed, and were willing to submit to, and therefore could not object to what he next
proposes:

he with whom it is found shall be my servant; speaking in the name of Joseph,
whom he represented, and who had directed him what to say:
and ye shall be blameless; acquitted of the charge, and pronounced innocent, and let
go free.
K&D, "The man replied, “Now let it be even (‫ם‬ַ placed first for the sake of emphasis)
according to your words: with whom it is found, he shall be my slave, and ye (the rest)
shall remain blameless.” Thus he modified the sentence, to assume the appearance of
justice.
COKE, "Genesis 44:10. Let it be according unto your words— There appears a
contradiction in this translation; the steward offering to accept their terms, and yet
immediately proposing different ones; compare the ninth verse. Calmet is for
rendering the verse thus: Certainly at present it would be just to treat you according
to your own words; but he only who hath committed the theft, shall be my slave; I
will take no advantage; the rest of you shall be blameless.
PETT, "Verse 10
‘And he said, “Let it now be as you have said. He with whom it is found shall be my
bondman, and you shall be blameless.’
“As you have said.” ot in the detail but in the fact of punishment. The servant
lessens the sentence. Joseph does not want to drive his brothers too far. The guilty
man will become a bondman and the rest will be seen as blameless and can go free.
This was not in accordance with ancient practise which demanded collective
responsibility. Those who consorted with a guilty man were themselves seen as
guilty, as the brothers had themselves admitted.
11 Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the
ground and opened it.

GILL, "Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground,.... To
be opened and examined, and this they did in all haste, as having a clear conscience, and
being confident that nothing could be found upon them, and desirous of having the
affair issued as soon as possible, that the steward might have full satisfaction, and they
proceed on in their journey:
and opened every man his sack; showing neither reluctance nor fear, being
conscious of their innocence.
K&D, "They then took down their sacks as quickly as possible; and he examined
them, beginning with the eldest and finishing with the youngest; and the goblet was
found in Benjamin's sack. With anguish and alarm at this new calamity they rent their
clothes (vid., Gen_37:34), loaded their asses again, and returned to the city. It would
now be seen how they felt in their inmost hearts towards their father's favourite, who
had been so distinguished by the great man of Egypt: whether now as formerly they were
capable of giving up their brother, and bringing their aged father with sorrow to the
grave; or whether they were ready, with unenvying, self-sacrificing love, to give up their
own liberty and lives for him. And they stood this test.
"Then they hasted, and took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened
every man his sack. And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left off at the
youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they rent their clothes,
and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city."
The brothers met the situation with full honor and filial devotion to the wishes of
their aged father. Instead of returning without Benjamin, they accepted the plight of
their brother as their very own, tore their clothes, and together returned to the city
to face the consequences.
GUZIK, "(11-13) The cup is found in Benjamins sack.

Then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack.
So he searched. He began with the oldest and left off with the youngest; and the cup
was found in Benjamins sack. Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his
donkey and returned to the city.
a. The cup was found in Benjamins sack: The reaction of the brothers showed that
for them, this was the worst thing imaginable. ot only was the cup found among
them, but that it was in Benjamins sack - their fathers favorite son, the one he
worried about the most. ow Benjamin was sentenced to a life of slavery in Egypt, if
not death.
b. Each man loaded his donkey and returned: When Joseph was taken as a slave the
brothers allowed him to go and thought nothing of it. ow they were willing to
stand with Benjamin as he faced slavery or death. This demonstrated a significant
change in the heart and attitude of Josephs brothers.
PETT, "Verse 11-12
‘Then they acted hurriedly and every man took his sack to the ground, and every
man opened his sack. And he searched and began at the eldest and finished at the
youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.’
The search is described. They act with the speed of the innocent and each opens his
sack. The silver found in each sack is passed over without comment. The servant is
not interested in it, he knows exactly what he is looking for and where to find it. The
brothers, watching in a daze are mute. They have become used to finding silver in
their sacks. Perhaps, as they see it, it also begins to dawn on them that the cup will
also be found. They know now that they are simply the victims of a determined
effort to destroy them.
The writer balances his work well. To comment on the silver would be to draw out
the situation too much and to overload the narrative. The servant has already
previously accepted that any silver in their sacks comes from God (Genesis 43:23).
o one pretends it is important. All know that what matters is the silver cup. That is

a different matter. And everyone but the brothers know where it is.
So the servant proceeds with his search. It is all really a charade. He knows exactly
where to find it, he put it there himself. And at length he produces it from
Benjamin’s sack.
12 Then the steward proceeded to search,
beginning with the oldest and ending with the
youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s
sack.
GILL, "And he searched,.... To the bottom of them, not content to look into the
mouth of them being opened, but rummaged them, and searched deeply into them to
find the cup, which was the thing charged upon them he was solicitous to find; as for the
money in the sack's mouth he took no notice of that, nor is there any mention of it:
and began at the oldest; at Reuben, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it: the
steward might know their different ages in course, by the order in which they were
placed at Joseph's table when they dined with him:
and left off at the youngest; at Benjamin, he ended his scrutiny with him; this
method he took partly to hold them in fear as long as he could, and partly to prevent any
suspicion of design, which might have been entertained had he went directly to
Benjamin's sack:

and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack; where the steward himself had put it,
and as it is usually said, they that hide can find.
SBC, "I. That there is sorrow, and sorrow on a vast scale, is a great fact—a fact both too
patent and too painful to be gainsaid. Joseph put the cup in the sack to try his brothers’
faith, love, and loyalty to their father. (1) Sorrow was sent into the world as a preventive
of greater sorrow. (2) Sorrow gives occasion for the exercise of many an else impossible
virtue. (3) This would be a lame excuse indeed if it stood alone. But grief is our
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. (4) When we remember our sins, we wonder, not that
life has had so many sorrows, but that it has had so few.
II. Why should sorrow so often smite us in the most sensitive place? or, to take up the
parable of the text, (1) Why should the cup be in Benjamin’s sack? Just because it is
Benjamin’s, we reply. The very thing that leads God to smite at all, leads Him to smite
you here. God takes away earthly pleasure, and thus helps you to remember your sin and
repent of it. (2) The cup was put there to bring them to a better mind ever after. (3) It
was put there to give Joseph the opportunity of making himself known to his brethren.
(4) It was put there to lead them out of the land of famine into the land of plenty. From
this we may learn three lessons: (a) Learn to think more kindly of God and His
dispensations, as you see how much reason you have to expect sorrow, how little right to
look for joy; (b) learn the lesson the lesser sorrows are meant to teach, lest you need the
greater; (c) take care lest you not only lose the joy, but lose the good the loss of joy was
meant to give.
J. B. Figgis, The Preacher’s Lantern, vol. ii., p. 694.
TRAPP, "Gen_44:12 And he searched, [and] began at the eldest, and left at the youngest:
and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
Ver. 12. And he searched, and began at the eldest.] The better to avoid suspicion, for he
knew well enough where to find the cup. So Jonadab, Amnon’s carnal friend but
spiritual enemy, could tell David that not all the king’s sons, as the report ran, but
Amnon only was slain by Absalom. The devil also when he hath conveyed his cups into
our sacks, his goods into our houses, - as the Russians use to deal by their enemies, and
then accuse them of theft, - his {a} injections into our hearts, if we fancy them never so
little, will accuse us to God, and claim both them and us too for his own.
And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.] Sacco soluto apparuit argentum, saith
Ambrose. When God comes to turn the bottom of the bag upward, all will out. Sin not,
therefore, in hope of secrecy; on the fair day, at the last day, all packs shall be opened.
ISBET, "THE CUP DISCOVERED
‘The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.’

Genesis 44:12
The cup was discovered, and now the brethren, with heavy hearts, went back to
Joseph. It must have seemed to them like an uneasy dream, though they could not
foresee what the awaking would be. And then on their return, and when they stand
in Joseph’s presence, Judah makes his defence of his brethren. It is a pathetic and a
powerful speech, for out of the fulness of the heart the mouth is speaking. Its
wisdom is shown in its silence about the cup; its earnestness in its unstudied
simplicity. Dying Jacob had good reason to say, ‘Judah, thou art he whom thy
brethren shall praise’ (Genesis 49:8). Should we not remember, too, what the ew
Testament writer tells us, that our Lord sprang out of Judah (Hebrews 7:14), for
our Lord also, like Judah in this story, made intercession for the transgressors, and
became surety for them?
I. First, then, let us note the strategy of love. Had Joseph willed it, nothing would
have been easier than to have revealed himself to his brethren at the first. Indeed,
we may wonder sometimes that at the very outset he did not speak one word and
close the matter. But had he done so, we should have lost an exquisite story, and the
loss would have left the world of childhood poorer; and had he done so, he could
never have been certain of the tone and temper of his brothers’ hearts. All this delay
and concealment and confusion was not the idle whim of a great potentate; far less
was it the dark and cunning artifice that so often distinguishes oriental hate; the
beauty of the strategy lay in this, that it was all the strategy of love, and was meant
to discipline and to reveal the hearts that had played such a part of treachery at
Dothan. In all true love there is strategy like that. There is no passion so ingenious
as love. If God is love, and if God hideth Himself (Is. Genesis 45:15), we may expect
to light on love doing the same. And the reserve of love, and its sweet ingenuity, and
its intermediate roughness before disclosure, are all intended (as were the plans of
Joseph) to reveal the depths of the beloved’s heart.
II. ext note how the brothers associate slavery and death with sin. When the
steward overtook the brothers, and told them of the theft of Joseph’s cup, we can
readily picture their utter incredulity that any of their number should be guilty.
They protested that it was quite impossible—let their own past conduct be taken as
their witness; but then they added, ‘With whomsoever of thy servants it be found,
both let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen’ (v. 9). ow that quick
response is worthy of attention, for it sprang from the heart, and was ratified by all.
And it implies that in these early ages, and when the light of heaven was but dimly
shining, men had already grasped this fearful truth that salvery and death are

linked with sin. They felt, though they could not have explained their feelings, that
these were the penalties that must follow wrong-doing. And we need hardly be
reminded that this dawning sense of the connection of slavery and death with sin, is
insisted on, with awful emphasis, in the gospel that centres in the death on Calvary.
One of the early fathers of the Church spoke of the mind being naturally Christian.
He meant that there was that within the heart which responded to the appeal of
revelation. And this is true, for the most mysterious doctrines that have been given
us in the Gospel of Christ Jesus, come to us, somehow, in familiar garb, and are
recognised in the secrets of the soul.
III. ext note how sin committed long ago will rise to trouble us. Amid the palaces
of Egypt the memories of Dothan vividly revived. At home, in the quiet days of
peace and plenty, it may be that Joseph was seldom thought upon. But famine came,
and with the famine trouble, and all the dark experiences of Egypt, and the
conscience of the brethren awoke, and they remembered the dark deed of long ago.
Let none of us think that we can do that which is wrong, and then forget it
absolutely and utterly. The ‘whirligig of time brings its revenges,’ and the sin we
thought to be dead is only sleeping. Sometimes it rises before us in our after days, as
it rose before the brethren of Joseph; always it will rise up in that great hour when
we shall be judged of the deeds done in the body. How wise it is, then, and what an
urgent duty, to look (every day that we live) to Jesus crucified, and not only in song
but in deed, to ‘lay our sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God.’
IV. Then, lastly, observe that the brothers were changed men. They were tried and
tested, and were not found wanting. The stratagems of Joseph were rewarded, for
he discovered all that he longed to find. At Dothan they had betrayed their
brother—Joseph had been deserted there. Were the men still unchanged, and would
they now desert Benjamin? And would they go home once more with some trumped-
up story to Jacob? ‘They rent their clothes,’ we read, ‘and laded every man his ass,
and returned to the city’ (v. 13). There must be no deserting of a brother now. They
would stand by Benjamin through thick and thin. They were altered men, repentant
of their past, alive now to the meaning of true brotherhood. It was this that Joseph
was so keen to find, and having found it, he proclaimed himself.
Illustration

‘It must have required extraordinary tenacity of purpose for Joseph to make his
brethren suffer like this, but he dared to enforce the ordeal because he so clearly
saw its necessity, the result to which they were coming, and for which they were
being prepared. What a revelation this is of the reasons for the sorrows through
which we have to pass! Jesus is behind them all, determining each, its duration and
character and intensity. He sits as a refiner of silver. He dares to make us suffer to
rid us of sin and to prepare us for a solid blessedness which shall last through all the
sunny years that await us. But what pain it costs Him to give us pain! Like Joseph,
He often turns aside to weep. And like Judah, He pleads for us in the presence of
God.’
13 At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all
loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.
BAR ES, "Gen_44:13-17
“They rent their garments;” the natural token of a sorrow that knows no remedy. “And
Judah went.” He had pledged himself for the safety of Benjamin to his father. And he
was yet there; awaiting no doubt the result which he anticipated. “They fell before him
on the earth.” It is no longer a bending of the head or bowing of the body, but the
posture of deepest humiliation. How deeply that early dream penetrated into the stern
reality! “Wot ye not that such a man as I doth certainly divine?” Joseph keeps up the
show of resentment for a little longer, and brings out from Judah the most pathetic plea
of its kind that ever was uttered. “The God,” the great and only God, “hath found out the
iniquity of thy servants;” in our dark and treacherous dealing with our brother. “Behold,
we are servants to my lord.” He resigns himself and all to perpetual bondage, as the
doom of a just God upon their still-remembered crime. “He shall be my servant; and ye,
go up in peace to your father.” Now is the test applied with the nicest adjustment. Now is
the moment of agony and suspense to Joseph. Will my brothers prove true? says he
within himself. Will Judah prove adequate to the occasion? say we. His pleading with his
father augured well.

GILL, "Gen_44:13-17
“They rent their garments;” the natural token of a sorrow that knows no remedy. “And
Judah went.” He had pledged himself for the safety of Benjamin to his father. And he
was yet there; awaiting no doubt the result which he anticipated. “They fell before him
on the earth.” It is no longer a bending of the head or bowing of the body, but the
posture of deepest humiliation. How deeply that early dream penetrated into the stern
reality! “Wot ye not that such a man as I doth certainly divine?” Joseph keeps up the
show of resentment for a little longer, and brings out from Judah the most pathetic plea
of its kind that ever was uttered. “The God,” the great and only God, “hath found out the
iniquity of thy servants;” in our dark and treacherous dealing with our brother. “Behold,
we are servants to my lord.” He resigns himself and all to perpetual bondage, as the
doom of a just God upon their still-remembered crime. “He shall be my servant; and ye,
go up in peace to your father.” Now is the test applied with the nicest adjustment. Now is
the moment of agony and suspense to Joseph. Will my brothers prove true? says he
within himself. Will Judah prove adequate to the occasion? say we. His pleading with his
father augured well.
BE SO , "Genesis 44:13-14. They rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass,
&c. — othing can be more moving than this verse. ever was there a more striking
picture drawn in words. Whole passages on the subject would not have affected the
mind so much. These two or three words have a greater effect than the most
pompous description of their amazement and trouble. Imagination supplies all the
circumstances to us, and we see them before our eyes returning to the city, with
silent sorrow, dreadful fear, the utmost confusion and perplexity, wholly at a loss
what to say or do. They fell before him on the ground — Here again Joseph’s dream
was fulfilled; but it must needs affect him greatly to see his brethren thus covered
with shame and rent with anguish.
COKE, "Genesis 44:13. Rent their clothes— Loniginus lays it down in his Treatise
on the Sublime, that one of the first means to attain it, is an accurate and judicious
choice of the most suitable circumstances. We cannot have a higher instance of this
excellence, than in that striking circumstance in the present narration, which fills
the mind with a vast series of ideas: they rent their clothes, says Moses, by which
single expression he paints their anguish and confusion, in more lively colours than
could have been done by an enumeration of every circumstance indicating grief.
PETT, "Verse 13
‘Then they tore their clothes and every man loaded his ass and returned to the city.’
The joy of freedom and success has gone. They accepted that the verdict of guilty

GE ESIS 44 COMME TARY EXPLORI G JOSEPH'S TEST OF HIS BROTHERS

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