God Speaks and He Lives

Something in Joseph wouldn’t just let them go. He just had to know, when they were far from Jacob’s oversight, would they abandon Benjamin as they had abandoned him? I wonder if this plan just came to Joseph? Or had he been working through this ever since he had seen his first dream come to fruition as the 10 brothers bowed before him at their first visit? Did he decide that he couldn’t just take their word for it that they loved Benjamin and would never do anything to hurt him? He must have decided he needed to come up with a great test of their devotion to his youngest brother — his one full-blood brother, Benjamin. So here was the test. He sent his brothers away the next morning with their sacks full of grain and money, and Benjamin’s sack held his silver cup as well. After they had gone a short distance, Joseph sent his steward out to stop them, question them, and search their bags. He did so, and the men eagerly lowered their sacks to be searched. They were confident they had only taken the grain that they had paid for, and they even promised that if one of them was found with the cup, the Egyptians could kill him and the rest of them would stay and be servants. But the steward told them that only the one found with the cup would stay and be a servant, and that the rest would be free to go. He began with Reuben, being the oldest, and went through each bag in order to the youngest. The Bible doesn’t mention what anyone thought or said about the money being in each sack again. If one of the brothers saw it, I guess they hoped and prayed the steward was somehow blind to it! Nevertheless, everyone saw the silver cup in Benjamin’s sack. We’re told that the brothers tore their clothes — a sign of great grief — and they loaded their donkeys and returned to Joseph’s court. In a show of solidarity, none of them continued home, even though the steward had said the others would be free to go. Can you imagine the distress they all felt as they rode back to the city? I imagine it was very quiet, but each man knew that they would be completely unable to leave this city without Benjamin. It would have literally killed Jacob for them to return home without him. They got to Joseph’s house and all fell before him. As Joseph began to scold them, Judah, Jacob’s fourth born son, spoke up and said, “God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold we are my lord’s servants, both we and he in whose hand the cup has been found” (Genesis 44:16). What a shock to hear Judah saying these things in defense of Benjamin? Joseph knew that Judah couldn’t have been speaking of their guilt in stealing the cup because they didn’t steal it. He must’ve humbly been admitting guilt in the crime against Joseph when he was first sold into slavery. Judah was the one who devised the plan twenty-two years earlier to sell him. Seventeen-year-old Joseph must've been scared and hungry in that abandoned cistern and heard his brother Judah speak of the heinous act that they carried out shortly after. He must have remembered his older brother’s voice saying such cruel things to him as he was anxious and confused about what the future would hold for him. And now he heard Judah’s voice of compassion and sacrifice for Benjamin. For twenty-two years, Judah’s voice saying “sell him” had to have been ringing in Joseph’s ears. Here was that same voice in defense of Benjamin saying “save him”. Joseph pressed back harder. He said, “Far be it for me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father” (Genesis 44:17). It was Judah that continued to boldly approach Joseph. He detailed all of the events leading up to the brothers’ visit for more food. He reminded Joseph of their conversation the first time that the ten brothers came for food. He explained Jacob’s resistance to them bringing Benjamin with them as he’d already lost his favorite wife’s oldest son, and that he could not bear to lose the youngest one as well. Judah pleaded with Joseph saying “…please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father” (Genesis 44:33-34). Joseph’s face must have been blank. Before him stood a completely changed man. Judah himself spoke about the loss of Joseph as a great grief. He acknowledged that his father was so consumed with his loss, and only spoke of the love Jacob had for Joseph, Benjamin, and their mother. Judah didn’t seem hardened by the fact that Jacob showed no love for him, his other brothers, or their mother. And Judah still wanted to protect this father that he loved. Judah demonstrated great love for Jacob and Benjamin, even though Jacob had not demonstrated great love for him. He basically told Joseph that he’d rather die there in Egypt before he would allow his brother to be a slave. He offered himself as a substitute to receive the punishment that it seemed Benjamin deserved. I think that would be extremely hard to do… Not nearly as hard, but certainly a foreshadowing of how hard it must have been for the great, great, great, great… grandson of Judah, Jesus Christ. He offered himself for humanity that had many times over turned their backs on Him and his Father.