Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (23.5)

The Book of Genesis

Genesis Chapter 44 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

Joseph Tests His Brothers’ Loyalty and Love

v.1-5 Joseph’s strategy, already brilliantly successful in creating the tensions he required through the two visits of the brothers, now executed this master stroke.  First, he gave instruction for the men’s sacks to be filled with food, then to “put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth” (v.1).  The final test involved placing Joseph’s cup in Benjamin’s sack (v.2), and to allow them to depart for a distance (v.3) before pursuing them (v.4).  Thus, Joseph placed his brothers in a situation, whereby they have opportunity to recall their crime of disloyalty to Joseph but not to repeat it with Benjamin.

The accusation is powerfully worded – “Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?” and “ye have done evil in so doing” (v.5).  The idea is that they have been greatly favoured in Egypt but now were accused of responding to that good with an evil act.   On a deeper level, these words would have struck a responsive chord concerning the evil they had earlier done to someone who was “good”. The contrast between the “evil” done by the brothers and the “good” intended and accomplished by God (cf. 50:20) expresses the central question of the Joseph narratives.  Stated in such a general way, the question appears to include the question of the brothers' treatment of him over 20 years ago (cf. chapter 37), raising again the matter of the brothers’ guilt in their treatment of Joseph.  It seemed as if everywhere they turned, they heard an echo of their mistreatment of their brother Joseph.  Hence, we are presented with a picture of a world in which ultimately justice does prevail and where an “evil” once done will not go unnoticed or unattended.

v.6-13 In response to the steward’s accusation (v.6), the brothers strongly protested their innocence (v.7) and defended their integrity by pointing out that they had attempted to return “the money, which [they] found in [their] sack’s mouth” (v.8).  The conclusion, based on this proof that they were honest men, was that they therefore could not possibly have stolen from Joseph’s house.

In fact, the brothers were so eager to prove their innocence and so confident that they were innocent that they rashly placed a death penalty on “whomsoever of thy servants [the cup] be found” (v.9), and endangered the freedom of the rest.  However, the steward declared that only “he with whom it is found shall be my servant; and ye shall be blameless” (v.10).  The search began (v.11) according to the age of the brothers once more, which was another subtle reminder of their guilty past, and “the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack” (v.12).  Upon this discovery, their response was one of complete hopelessness – “they rent their clothes…and returned to the city” (v.13).  Curiously, their response was a mirror image of their father's response upon hearing their own report of the loss of Joseph (cf. 37:34, “Then Jacob rent his clothes”).  The grief they had caused their father had returned on their own heads.  Now, they would understand the grief they had caused to their father as their worst possible fears in their 2nd visit to Egypt were being realised before their eyes.

v.14-17 The brothers “came to Joseph’s house…and fell before him on the ground” (v.14).  Joseph does not repeat the charge of his steward but instead accuses them in general terms, and rebuked them with an interesting statement – “wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?” (v.15).  The form of divination referred to here involved the examination and interpretation of the configurations that form when oil and water are mixed in a divination cup.   So important was divination in Mesopotamia that divinatory texts developed into the largest single category of their literature by sheer numbers!  Joseph was simply playing his part as an Egyptian governor and he could have either meant “Don’t you know I need my cup for divination?” or “Don’t you know I am a master of divination and would have found you out, one way or another?”

Through Joseph’s testings, his brothers were coming to an awareness of their guilt and were now ready to acknowledge it.  Their utter frustration was expressed in their repetition of the question, “What shall we say unto my lord?” (v.16) and they confessed their guilt – “or how shall we clear ourselves?”  Thus, they finally concluded – “God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants”.  Although the immediate issue is the lost “cup,” their conclusion takes on the scope of a confession of their former guilt as well because they knew they did not steal the cup.  So, when they speak of God uncovering their guilt, it is a clear indication that they were acknowledging in this incident the working of the higher moral order of God in bringing about the justice due to them through their present distress.

In response to Judah’s declaration that “we are my lord’s servants,” Joseph steered the matter in a direction that even more closely resembles his brothers' treatment of him – Benjamin was to be sold into slavery in Egypt, and the brothers were to return to their father (v.17).  Hence, the stage was set for the final test of loyalty of Joseph’s brothers – they now have the opportunity to abandon Benjamin selfishly, or they could attempt to rescue him somehow selflessly.

v.18-34 In Judah's final speech to appeal in behalf of Benjamin (v.18), he retold the whole of the Joseph’s story (v.20).  His own retelling of the story reveals the brothers' perception of the events (v.21-29), as well as the hopelessness of their situation.  Through it, Judah showed himself to be a man fit for leadership.  His fine and moving intercession demonstrated great love for his brother and great concern for his father (v.30-31).  This was not the Judah of old!  He was now a true man of his word and confessed his promise to Jacob before Joseph in the hour of crisis (v.32).  The wonderful testimony of a genuine change came when Judah exhibited a self-sacrificial loyalty in his request – “let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord” (v.33).  His request, based on the fear of “the evil that shall come on [his] father” (v.34), revealed the love and deep concern they now had for him.  It appears that the anguish of Jacob over the loss of Joseph, over which they could not console Jacob, had been felt by all, and they had been overwhelmed by it.

In this final and great test of loyalty, the brothers thus demonstrated that they had indeed changed, and that they were repentant over their sin against their brother.  There was now concern for their father and self-sacrificing love for the half-brother.  No nation could long survive without such care and compassion; no people could be rescued from life-threatening dangers without self-sacrificing love in action.  There is a path that leads from the Joseph story right up to the very threshold of community, whether it is a physical or spiritual community – the healing of a breach is possible only when there is one who is ready to take the suffering upon oneself.  The great act of love Judah was willing to perform in behalf of his brother was the greatest act Jesus Christ performed in behalf of the entire world lost in sin.  As our Lord Jesus said before He went to the cross, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13).

Such self-sacrificing love is likewise required of believers (Mark 8:34-36) by God.  Where there are unresolved conflicts and wounds, such loyalty may need to be fostered through the uncovering of past sins.  If Christians have been envious and hateful of others in the past, then God might have to put them through stressful situations to make them realise how much they must do for their fellow believers to prevent great evil in the family of God.  But once they come to the point of laying down their lives for others, they will find that there is truly no greater love, and no greater testimony to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Jn. 13:34-35).  A walk of faith in God and a heart of hatred towards others can never exist together for God is love.  As 1 John 2:10-11 declares to us, “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.  But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.”

Therefore, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8)