The Final Test
Life is not so much about what you did in the past as it is about what you are doing now. You may have done things you are not proud of. Oftentimes, there isn’t much you can do about your past, but you are in control of what you do now. You can learn and grow from your past mistakes and become a better version of yourself.
The Test
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.
- Genesis 44:1-3 NKJV
Previously Joseph had served Benjamin 5 times as much as their brothers (see my post Family Drama) and now Joseph has another test along the same lines. Joseph is determined to discover how his brothers feel about Benjamin. Joseph had been the favorite son, and his brothers had hated him for it (see Genesis 37:3 and my post Dysfunctional Family). Benjamin is likely the favorite son now and Joseph wants to know if his brothers will betray Benjamin like they did him.
The text makes it clear that Joseph cares for his family. He makes sure that their sacks of grain are filled to the brim and he also returns the money. Joseph is providing for his brothers and father and their families. Joseph’s primary interest is the character of his brothers. Are they still evil and selfish? Are they willing to betray and abandon their youngest brother?
Not so fast
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.’ ”
- Genesis 44:4-5 NKJV
Place yourself in the shoes of Joseph’s brothers, how would you feel?
Scared?
Confused?
Angry?
Supplement: Divination
Divination is the practice of foreseeing the future or discovering hidden knowledge. Hydromancy, the art of interpreting the liquids (water) in a cup or bowl, was widely practiced in the ancient Near East (other liquids included oil and wine). The common methods were interpreting the patterns of moving liquids or the patterns of floating objects in the liquid (cp. tasseomancy [tea leaf reading]). That Joseph is said to use the cup for “divination”351 (cf. comments on 30:27) is unexpected since this practice is outlawed in Israel (Lev 19:26; Deut 18:10). There is no instance of this practice in the Joseph narrative (cf. comments on 43:33), and since Joseph’s wisdom relies on the interpretation of dreams, it is best understood as part of the elaborate ploy. The importance of the divination cup is its personal ownership by the Egyptian lord (“my cup,” v. 2). By stealing the cup, the steward concludes, “This is a wicked thing you have done” (v. 5). Verse 6 is typical of good Hebrew narrative style, indicating that the messenger carried out his instructions.
- K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, vol. 1B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 798–799.
What are you talking about?
6 So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words. 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.”
- Geneis 44:6-9 NKJV
Joseph’s brothers are so sure that they are innocent that they make a hasty vow, that if they find anything, whoever has it should be put to death and all of them will become Joseph’s slaves. We, the readers/audience, know something that the brothers do not know. We know that Joseph placed his cup in Benjamin’s bag. What will happen next? Will Benjamin be killed? Will the brothers be taken as slaves?
Notice how all the brothers assume collective guilt. Even though only one among them would be found guilty they decided that they would stand or fall together. This could be a sign of restored family loyalty
An easy out?
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. 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.
- Genesis 44:10-13 NKJV
Joseph’s servant says that it will be done according to their words, but then he changes it slightly. Only the one with whom he finds the cup will be taken as Joseph’s slave, the remainder of the brothers will remain blameless. This is great news! No one has to die, and the brothers have the perfect way to get rid of their father’s favorite son. This means that they will each receive a larger part of the inheritance. This also means one of them could possibly become the new favorite. They could tell their father exactly what happened and they would be innocent. After all, had not Jacob said “And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!” (Genesis 43:14 NKJV)? The brothers now have an easy out with their father, Jacob.
Joseph’s officer here delivers an Oscar-worthy performance. He could have just gone straight to Benjamin’s sack and found the cup, but no, the search begins with the oldest brother. We already know that the cup will be found in the cup of the youngest brother, but they don’t know that. With each bag that is searched, the brothers experience relief, and their confidence that everything will be okay grows. They are sure that none of them have the cup, and they can’t wait to resume their journey home when suddenly something terrible happens.
The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack! How could this be? I imagine Benjamin pleading and explaining that he did not do it, that he did not take Joseph’s cup. Imagine how the brothers feel. We get a sense of it by how they react. They tore their clothes and loaded their donkeys and they all came back together with Benjamin. Once again we see evidence of the loyalty among the brothers. They were free to go. Only Benjamin had to stay. But all the brothers return to Egypt, and there is no grumbling or disagreement among them. Perhaps they have changed after all.
This turn of events calls our attention to the way in which it reveals the changed character of Judah and his brothers. If we assume that Benjamin was guilty, his act had brought disgrace upon all the brothers. If the brohter’s had been as they were of old it would have been perfectly easy to settle the question by killing Benjamin on the spot and clear themselves of any possible accusation of collaboration. But this was exactly what they did not and would not do. Instead, they returned to Egypt, and even more incredible, there was no reproach of Benjamin. They were certainly conscious of their own greater guilt, and so they returned to suffer together. At last, they were a united family; ready for God’s further and higher purposes concerning them. (W. H. Griffith Thomas, A Devotional Commentary: Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1946), 420.
What were you thinking?
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?”
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.”
17 But he said, “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.”
- Genesis 44:14-17 NKJV
“What is this that you have done?” (See also Genesis 3:13–14; 20:9; 26:10; 29:25) Joseph continues to play the part. Joseph does not really practice divination and he does not really need the cup. But he plays this role to test the character of his brothers and to see if they have changed since they betrayed him and sold him as a slave.
Notice how the text (Genesis 44:14) describes Judah and his brothers coming to Joseph’s house. Reuben was the oldest brother, Jacob’s firstborn, and the first child of Leah (Genesis 29:32) (see my blog post He loves me, he loves me not). Judah was Leah’s 4th son (Genesis 29:35), why does the story portray him as the leader of Jacob’s sons? The text describes the brothers following Judah and Judah is the one who speaks for the group. How come?
It was Judah who had suggested to his brothers that they sell Joseph (Genesis 37:26-28 see also Betrayed by Family) You could argue that Judah stood to gain by accepting the Egyptian’s judgment to incarcerate only Benjamin (Genesis 44:17) as he had gained from Joseph’s sale (Genesis 37:27–28). Judah’s self-serving plan resulted in a life of guilt that included his own sad experiences of losing sons and of suffering deception (Genesis 38, Strong Female Character). Judah, faced with a second chance, seizes his opportunity to do the right thing. Judah is done acting in a selfish and self-serving manner.
Judah’s cruelty towards Joseph proved to be Judah’s “cross” to bear. But unlike Jesus, who was innocent of wrongdoing, bearing the undeserved punishment of others (1 Peter 3:18), Judah was not innocent. Granted, he had not stolen and had no knowledge of the silver chalice, but he interpreted the judgment against the brothers as God’s just retribution for their unanswered crime against Joseph. Judah especially took the lead in doing away with his brother Joseph (Genesis 37:26–28), and now he fittingly takes on the weight of the responsibility (Genesis 43:9; 44:33).
Judah is neither a hero nor a villain. The character of Judah is too real, too complex for such facile categories.
[…]
Judah has undergone a moral reformation, not through a single event here or there but through the cumulative effect of life’s vicissitudes
- K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27–50:26, vol. 1B, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 794.
Judah does not claim to be innocent, but he also does not confess to stealing the chalice, they did not steal it. However, Judah knows they have not atoned for the sin of betraying their brother Joseph. For Judah, this mistaken charge against them is the recompense for their crime against Joseph.
Judah’s Plea
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. 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?”
- Genesis 44:18-34 NKJV
What do you think of Judah’s speech?
Here’s what some Bible commentaries had to say.
“[Judah’s] lengthy plea to be imprisoned in place of Benjamin is among the finest and most moving of all petitions.”
- Allen P. Ross, “Genesis,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 94.
This speech has appropriately been called one of the masterpieces of Hebrew literary composition, one of the finest specimens of natural eloquence in the world.”
- Francis D. Nichol, ed., The Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1 (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1978), 460.
Truly has Luther said: “What would I not give to be able to pray before the Lord as Judah here interceded for Benjamin, for it is a perfect model of prayer, nay, of the strong feeling which must underlie all prayer.” And, blessed be God, One has so interceded for us, Who has given Himself as our surety, and become a bondsman for us. His advocacy has been heard; His substitution accepted; and His intercession for us is ever continued, and ever prevails. The Lord Jesus Christ is “the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David,” and “hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.”
- Alfred Edersheim, Bible History: Old Testament, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1975), 171.
The speech of Judah in behalf of his young brother Benjamin has been fittingly characterised as “one of the masterpieces of Hebrew composition” (Kalisch), “one of the grandest and fairest to be found in the Old Testament” (Lange), “a more moving oration than ever orator pronounced” (Lawson), “one of the finest specimens of natural eloquence in the world” (Inglis). Without being distinguished by either brilliant imagination or highly poetic diction, “its inimitable charm and excellence consist in the power of psychological truth, easy simplicity, and affecting pathos” (Kalisch)
- H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., Genesis, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 490.
The pathos of the recital is also deeply touching and almost perfect as he goes on to show how the old man, bereaved of his two favorite sons, will be brought down to his grave in sorrow. Then the appeal closes with the heroic offer to become a bondman in the place of Benjamin, to sacrifice himself on behalf of his brother. “For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.”
- W. H. Griffith Thomas, A Devotional Commentary: Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1946), 420.
One of the aspects of the speech that caught my attention is Judah’s self-sacrifice. He voluntarily submits himself to servitude on behalf of his younger brother, from a different mother, who enjoyed a higher degree of parental affection. He does all this in order to save his aged father from experiencing fresh sorrow and anguish. He knew that his father would miss him less than he would miss Benjamin. That’s gotta hurt. Judah’s self-forgetful magnanimity is admirable. Judah emerges from this terrible trial as a truly converted man, a worthy ancestor of the promised seed, and worthy to give his name to the chosen people of God.
Joseph could no longer doubt that a complete change had come over his brothers, and over Judah in particular, since the day when he had so eloquently urged the sale of Joseph into slavery. Joseph’s tactics had proved eminently successful. He was now convinced regarding the attitude of his brothers, and satisfied that their conversion was genuine. There was no further need to test them, and he was therefore ready to reveal his identity. (Francis D. Nichol, ed., p.461.) (H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed. p.490–491.)
Takeaway
So what do you take away from this story?
After reading Genesis 38 it would be difficult to imagine Judah ever recovering from such a shameful situation. Yet in Genesis 44 Judah arises as a leader and delivers a moving speech in behalf of his brother Benjamin. I believe this chapter highlights that life is not about how far we fall, but about how willing we are to change, grow, and become a better person.
Judah had strayed from God and done terrible things yet he returned to God and over time God molded and transformed him into a leader that unified his brothers in the right path.
It does not matter how badly you have messed up in the past. The question is, are you willing to humble yourself and admit your faults before God?
Are you willing to allow God to transform you into the person He desires you to be?
God desires to bless you and to use you in a mighty way. God will by no means clear the guilty, but He will forgive the sins of all who humbly come to Him.
Your best days are ahead of you when you choose to follow God today.
I did not say easy days, I said your best days. What Judah did was not easy, but it was the right thing and it continues to impact lives to this day. His transformation was so significant that it is out of his descendants that King David and ultimately Jesus will come. (Matthew 1:3-6, 16)
Choose God today.
God has already chosen you.
Let God mold you into the best version of yourself.
