Genesis 44
The Final Test
Gen 44:1 He instructed the servant who was over his household, “Fill the sacks of the men with as much food as they can carry and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack.
The servant was to give the brothers more grain than their money was worth.
2Then put my cup – the silver cup – in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the money for his grain.” He did as Joseph instructed.
The silver cup was used for divination, or for telling the future. Most of the ancient cultures were involved in the occult. This was a test. The brothers were being set up.
3When morning came, the men and their donkeys were sent off.
The brothers left very happily, as they became friends with the Egyptian official, they regained their brother, and they purchased more grain than their money was worth.
4They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to the servant who was over his household, “Pursue the men at once! When you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?
The trap was set. Would the brothers allow Benjamin to be taken away once they received their grain?
5Doesn’t my master drink from this cup and use it for divination? You have done wrong!’”
The Hebrew word for “divination” was נַחֵ֥שׁ (nachash), meaning serpent. The silver cup was used to divine with demons. The Egyptian priests would pour oil into the water of the silver cup, interpret the flow, and then make predictions of the future. Joseph did not actually divine from the cup. He just used this pagan silver cup as a ruse to test his brothers.
6When the man overtook them, he spoke these words to them.
Joseph’s servants overtook the brothers in chariots. They most likely rode with an armed Egyptian cavalry police force.
7They answered him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!
The brothers proclaimed that they were innocent.
8Look, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. Why then would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?
The brothers reminded the servant of their honest efforts of the past.
9If one of us has it, he will die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves!”
Egyptian law allowed the guilty to choose their punishment. The brothers chose the death penalty for the guilty brother, thinking that every one of them was innocent.
10He replied, “You have suggested your own punishment! The one who has it will become my slave, but the rest of you will go free.”
The guilty person was to be enslaved instead of executed.
11So each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it.
The test began. Would the brothers betray or protect Benjamin?
12Then the man searched. He began with the oldest and finished with the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack!
Joseph chose the order so that suspense could be built. The silver cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. How would the brother’s respond?
13They all tore their clothes! Then each man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.
This was shocking news. Every one of the brothers tore his garment in mourning. This was a great tragedy for the tribe of Jacob.
14So Judah and his brothers came back to Joseph’s house. He was still there, and they threw themselves to the ground before him.
Notice that Judah, not Reuben or Simeon, was the leader. Judah would later become the seed-son. They knelt down to Joseph once again, fulfilling Joseph's earlier dream.
15Joseph said to them, “What did you think you were doing? Don’t you know that a man like me can find out things like this by divination?”
Joseph did not practice divination. He used this ploy to test his brothers.
16Judah replied, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? God has exposed the sin of your servants! We are now my lord’s slaves, we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
The sin of the brothers was the selling of Joseph into slavery 23 years earlier. Judah had no defense.
17But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do this! The man in whose hand the cup was found will become my slave, but the rest of you may go back to your father in peace.”
Joseph would not accept collective punishment. This was the real test. Would the brothers abandon Benjamin in order to save themselves?
18Then Judah approached him and said, “My lord, please allow your servant to speak a word with you. Please do not get angry with your servant, for you are just like Pharaoh.
Judah once again takes the lead. He interceded for his little brother.
19My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’
Joseph asked this question to Judah.
20We said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young boy who was born when our father was old. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’
Judah thought that Joseph had died.
21“Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him.’
Joseph ordered that Benjamin was to be brought to Egypt.
22We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he leaves his father, his father will die.’
Judah explained the emotional situation to Joseph.
23But you said to your servants, ‘If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not see my face again.’
Jacob would die if he lost Benjamin.
24When we returned to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.
The brothers reported the details of their visit to the Egyptian official.
25“Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.’
Jacob sent the brothers to Egypt.
26But we replied, ‘We cannot go down there. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go, for we won’t be permitted to see the man’s face if our youngest brother is not with us.’
The brothers would not go without Benjamin.
27“Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave me two sons.
Rachel was the favorite wife of Jacob. She gave Jacob two sons.
28The first disappeared and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” I have not seen him since.
Jacob did not know that Joseph had been sold into slavery. He thought that Joseph was torn to pieces by a wild animal.
29If you take this one from me too and an accident happens to him, then you will bring down my gray hair in tragedy to the grave.’
Jacob will not be able to emotionally survive the loss of Benjamin.
30“So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us – his very life is bound up in his son’s life.
Judah explained how much Jacob loved Benjamin.
31When he sees the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave.
Jacob lost Rachel and Joseph. His life was tied up in Benjamin.
32Indeed, your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’
Judah pledged his life for Benjamin.
33“So now, please let your servant remain as my lord’s slave instead of the boy. As for the boy, let him go back with his brothers.
Judah offered himself as a slave in place of Benjamin. Judah demonstrated agape love. He was willing to sacrifice his life for Benjamin. This is why Judah will be chosen as the seed-son.
34For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see my father’s pain.”
Judah loved his father with so much agape love, that he was willing to offer his life in slavery. One cannot experience agape love unless one is filled with Bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God.
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The human viewpoint of the satanic world system is that anyone can possess agape love.
The divine viewpoint of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God is that only believers can possess agape love. According to the Book of Lamentations, those unbelievers and carnal Christians of the satanic world system will eventually devolve and choose cannibalism over agape love. Without the Word of God, man does not evolve, but he devolves through a spiraling cycle of sin (which Paul teaches in Romans 1). This concept is difficult to digest and will sound foolish to those who are not grounded in the entire counsel of the Word of God at the deepest level. Cannibalism is the end result of liberalism. A vote for liberalism is a vote into national and global darkness. It is a vote for this dark cycle of degradation.