Joseph Tests His Brothers

Story:  Joseph Tests His Brothers

Passage: Genesis 44

Characters:  Joseph, Joseph’s brothers, Benjamin, Judah

Summary:  Joseph placed their money back in their sacks.  He also placed his silver cup in Benjamin’s sack.  He sent his servant to accuse them of stealing the cup.  The punishment was that the culprit would become his servant.  Judah petitioned Joseph explaining that their father would die if Benjamin did not return.  Judah offered himself in place of Benjamin. 

Notes:  Joseph’s actions were not cruel, but rather a test of his brothers and a method to bring them to full repentance.  The servant informed the brothers that Joseph used the cup for divination.  While it is possible that Joseph did use the cup like that since there was no command against it yet, it is also possible that his servant just assumed that Joseph’s wisdom came from divination.  The brothers confidently denied the accusations.  They obviously had a lot of trust for each other.  They said if anyone was found with the cup that person would be put to death and the rest of them would become slaves.  This certainly implies to me that they really trusted each other.  Their spirits would have been good too. They had just partied with the second in command in Egypt the night before and became intoxicated according to the last passage.  Now they had their food and were on their way.  Benjamin was safe and they had Simeon back!  Things were looking good; of course they didn’t steal it right?  The drama was intense as the bags were searched in birth order.  When Benjamin was found guilty, the brothers tore their clothes and went back ot Egypt with him.  The same brothers who watched their father’s favorite son be sold into slavery in Egypt are now actively trying to defend their father’s new favorite son as he is being taken to Egypt as a slave.  The brothers have changed!  Even more change is the fact that they offered themselves to serve as slaves with Benjamin.  They were fairly wealthy men resigning themselves to slavery!  Another interesting note from part of the story is that the brothers see this impending slavery in Egypt as punishment for selling Joseph to slavery in Egypt.  Judah then tells Joseph about their father.  He obviously has a lot of conviction about how his father would take the news of Benjamin’s slavery.  This is also totally different than it was when they told Jacob about Joseph.  They were as blunt as they could be then and almost seemed to enjoy telling him that Joseph was no more.  Judah then offers himself as a substitution for the punishment of Benjamin.  For the first time we see Christ like qualities in Judah who would be in the line of Christ.  This willingness to sacrifice is seen throughout scripture and is evidence of a changed life.  It is obvious that these brothers are indeed changed men!

Questions:  How did Joseph react to this reaction by the brothers?  How did his servant?  What did his servant think of the plan to make the brothers think they were guilty?  At what point did the brothers have their change of heart?

Lessons:  Total repentance makes your life look markedly different than it did before.  The brothers were completely different men.  Joseph put them in a carefully crafted situation that mimicked what they had done to him twenty years earlier.  Their response completely different!  Do our lives show this complete turnaround?  Are our lives totally different than they would be if we were not saved?