GENESIS 44
Joseph’s Cup
Last week, things were going fairly well for the sons of Jacob. Let’s look back at the last few words of:
Genesis 43:33
33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another.
34 Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.
- What was Joseph really doing? Was he trying to make his brothers uncomfortable making them to remember what they did to him? I don’t think so. These were tests to see if these men had changed. Joseph already knows the guilt they have been carrying around for 20 years. Has it changed them? This last test we are going to see today, is to see if they would protect Benjamin or through him into a proverbial pit, like they did to Joseph.
Genesis 44: 1-6 New King James Version
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 each man’s money in the mouth of his sack.
2 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.
3 As soon as the morning dawned, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys.
4 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?
5 Is not this the one from which my lord drinks, and with which he indeed practices divination? You have done evil in so doing.’ ”
6 So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words.
- We have to look at this word divination: Divination is the practice of seeking to uncover hidden knowledge, guidance, or future events through supernatural, occult, or intuitive means. Found in virtually every culture throughout history, it relies on reading signs, omens, or symbols to establish a bridge between the physical world and spiritual realms. This was common in Egypt. While fortune-telling is a well-known aspect of the practice, divination is heavily used for personal decision-making, understanding past events, and uncovering subconscious truths. We do not dabble in or play with divination in anyway, so, why is Joseph?
Remember, it was the steward who claimed Joseph practiced divination to sell the ruse that Joseph was an all-knowing Egyptian lord. This served a few key purposes:
- To heighten the brothers’ panic: It made them worry they couldn’t hide anything from him.
- To increase the gravity of the “theft”: It established the silver cup as an incredibly sacred and valuable tool, making the penalty for stealing it much worse.
- To conceal Joseph’s identity: By leaning into Egyptian cultural practices, Joseph ensured his brothers wouldn’t guess he was actually their Hebrew brother.
- Scholars generally agree Joseph did not actually practice divination: Instead, he used this narrative as a clever tactic to test his brothers’ hearts and see if they had changed.
But not to leave you hanging, does the Bible tell us not to practice divination? I’m so glad you asked:
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 New King James Version
10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,
11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. (1 Samuel 28)
12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you.
How about the New Testament
Galatians 5:19-20 New King James Version
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
Acts 16:16-18 New King James Version
16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
17 This girl followed Paul and Silas, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”
18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. Paul and Silas are imprisoned because of it!!
GENESIS 44:7-13
7 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.
8 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 lord’s house?
9 With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”
- 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.
- The brothers 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.
10 And he said, “Now also let it be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless.”
11 Then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack.
- They did it quickly, because they were certain they were innocent. They were so certain that they had just promised that if the stolen cup was found among them, the guilty one would stay in Egypt as a slave.
12 So he searched. He began with the oldest and left off with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
13 Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.
- The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack: The planted evidence was found. According to their oath, they would now be rid of the other favored son. If they hated Benjamin as much as they hated Joseph, they would be glad at this.
This was the test: How do they respond?
- Then they tore their clothes: This was an extreme expression of horror, as if someone had just died.
- They weren’t happy at the idea of being rid of Benjamin; they were horrified. They all tore their clothes and they all returned to the city.
- The reaction of the brothers showed that for them, this was the worst thing imaginable. The cup was found in the sack of their father’s favorite son, the one he worried about the most. Now Benjamin was sentenced to a life of slavery in Egypt, if not death.
- This was a radical change in the brothers. Before, they didn’t care about their father or his favored son. Now, the idea of hurting either their father or the son made them feel as bad as if someone had died.
- 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. Now, they were willing to stand with Benjamin as he faced slavery or death. This demonstrated a significant change in the hearts and attitude of Joseph’s brothers.
GENESIS 44:14-16
14 So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there; and they fell before him on the ground.
15 And Joseph said to them, “What deed is this you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?”
- When they fell before him on the ground, once again — for the third time — they fulfilled the dreams Joseph had more than 20 years before (Genesis 37:5-11).
- When they fell before him on the ground, it also demonstrated that the brothers were desperate to gain favor with the Egyptian official to obtain the release of Benjamin. They knew it was a genuine disaster to lose Benjamin and to bereave their father.
- Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination: Joseph spoke this way because it was important, for a little while longer, to play the part of an Egyptian and not allow them to know he was a Hebrew who worshipped Yahweh.
16 Then Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord?What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; here we are, my lord’s slaves, both we and he also with whom the cup was found.”
- With these words, Judah revealed God’s work among the brothers. In Judah’s mind, the bothers were now destined to live the rest of their lives as slaves in Egypt because they sold Joseph as a slave, some 20 years before this.
- The brothers were innocent of the sin of stealing the cup, but were guilty of far greater sins. In the same way, we might take pride because we are innocent of some sin or another, yet we are guilty of far greater. You can’t hide from your sin. Time does not erase the guilt of your sin; only the blood of Jesus can.
GENESIS 44:17-18
17 But he said, (Joseph speaking) “Far be it from me that I should do so; the man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father.”
Judah Intercedes for Benjamin
18 Then Judah came near to him and said: “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even like Pharaoh.
- Judah didn’t take this fatalistically. He made an appeal to the Egyptian official. Everything looked bad; the planted evidence against them seemed to seal their fate. Yet he makes an appeal.
- Judah’s impassioned speech to Joseph is a model of a heartfelt, desperate appeal. Of Judah’s speech, F.B. Meyer wrote: “In all literature, there is nothing more passionate than this appeal.” H.C. Leupold wrote, “This is one of the manliest, most straightforward speeches ever delivered by any man. For depth of feeling and sincerity of purpose, it stands unexcelled.” Barnhouse called it “the most moving address in all the Word of God.”
GENESIS 44:19-34
19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’
20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, who is young; his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’
21 Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’
22 And we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’
23 But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’
24 “So it was, when we went up to your servant my father, that we told him the words of my lord.
25 And our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.’
26 But we said, ‘We cannot go down; if our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we may not see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’
27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons;
28 and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn to pieces”; and I have not seen him since.
29 But if you take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.’
30 “Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad’s life,
31 it will happen, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. So your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave.
32 For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever.’
33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.
34 For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?”
- This is where the chapter ends, but the story is not over. I can’t let it end here, like Paul Harvey, we’re going to hear the rest of the story.
Genesis 45:1-8 New King James Version
1 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
2 And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.
3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.
4 And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
5 But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
7 And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
Genesis 45:9-15 New King James Version
9 “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry.
10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have.
11 There I will provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine.” ’
12 “And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you.
13 So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.”
14 Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
15 Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him.