www.biblemaster.com (Wesley’s Explanatory Notes) used throughout
Joseph having entertained his brethren, dismissed them: but here we have them brought back in a greater fright than any they had been in yet. Observe.
I. What method he took, both to humble them farther, and to try their affections to his brother Benjamin, by which he would be able to judge the sincerity of their repentance for what they had done against him. This he contrived to do by bringing Benjamin into distress, verse 1-17.
II. The good success of the experiment: he found them all heartily concerned, and Judah particularly, both for the safety of Benjamin, and for the comfort of their aged father, verse 18-34.
Then he commanded his house steward, 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 "Put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his money for the grain." And he did as Joseph had told him.
3 As soon as it was light, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys.
4 They had just gone out of the city, and were not far off, when Joseph said to his house steward, "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 which he indeed uses for divination? You have done wrong in doing this.' " This was a set up.
Is not this it in which my lord drinketh? And for which he would search thoroughly - So it may be rendered.
6 So he overtook them and spoke these words to them.
7 They said to him, "Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing.
8 "Behold, the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks we have brought back to you from the land of Canaan. 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."
10 So he said, "Now let it also be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and the rest of you shall be innocent."
11 Then they hurried, each man lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack.
12 He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
13 Then they tore their clothes, and when each man loaded his donkey, they returned to the city.
14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him.
15 Joseph said to them, "What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed practice divination?"
16 So Judah said, "What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord's slaves, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been found." This shows the grief they were experiencing.
God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants - Referring to the injury they had formerly done to Joseph, for which they thought God was now reckoning with them. Even in those afflictions wherein we apprehend ourselves wronged by men, yet we must own that God is righteous, and finds out our iniquity. We cannot judge what men are, by what they have been formerly, not what they will do, by what they have done. Age and experience may make men wiser and better, They that had sold Joseph, yet would not abandon Benjamin.
17 But he said, "Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father."
18 Then Judah approached him, and said, "Oh my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord's ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are equal to Pharaoh.
And Judah said - We have here a most pathetic speech which Judah made to Joseph on Benjamin's behalf. Either Judah was a better friend to Benjamin than the rest, and more solicitous to bring him off; or he thought himself under greater obligations to endeavour it than the rest, because he had passed his word to his father for his safe return. His address, as it is here recorded, is so very natural, and so expressive of his present passion, that we cannot but suppose Moses, who wrote it so long after, to have written it under the special direction of him that made man's mouth. A great deal of unaffected art, and unstudied rhetoric there is in this speech.
1. He addressed himself to Joseph with a great deal of respect calls him his lord, himself and his brethren his servants, begs his patient hearing, and passeth a mighty compliment upon him, Thou art even as Pharaoh, whose favour we desire, and whose wrath we dread as we do Pharaoh's.
2. He represented Benjamin as one well worthy of his compassionate consideration, he was a little one, compared with the rest; the youngest, not acquainted with the world, nor inured to hardship, having been always brought up tenderly with his father. It made the case the more piteous that he alone was left of his mother, and his brother was dead, viz. Joseph; little did Judah think what a tender point he touched upon now. Judah knew that Joseph was sold, and therefore had reason enough to think that he was not alive.
3. He urged it closely that Joseph had himself constrained them to bring Benjamin with them, had expressed a desire to see him, had forbidden them his presence, unless they brought Benjamin with them, all which intimated, that he designed him some kindness. And must he be brought with so much difficulty to the preferment of a perpetual slavery? Was he not brought to Egypt in obedience, purely in obedience to the command of Joseph, and would not he shew him some mercy?
4. The great argument he insists upon was the insupportable grief it would be to his aged father, if Benjamin should be left behind in servitude. His father loves him, Genesis 44:20. Thus they had pleaded against Joseph's insisting on his coming down Genesis 44:22. If he should leave his father, his father would die, much more if he now be left behind, never to return. This the old man of whom they spake, had pleaded against his going down. If mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my grey hairs, that crown of glory, with sorrow to the grave. This therefore Judah presseth with a great deal of earnestness, his life is bound up in the lad's life, when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will faint away and die immediately, or will abandon himself to such a degree of sorrow, as will, in a few days, make an end of him, And (lastly) Judah pleads, that, for his part, he could not bear to see this. Let me not see the evil that shall come on my father.
5. Judah, in honour to the justice of Joseph's sentence, and to shew his sincerity in this plea, offers himself to become a bond-man instead of Benjamin. Thus the law would be satisfied; Joseph would be no loser, for we may suppose Judah a more able bodied man than Benjamin; Jacob would better bear that than the loss of Benjamin. Now, so far was he from grieving at his father's particular fondness for Benjamin, than he is himself willing to be a bond-man to indulge it. Now, had Joseph been, as Judah supposed, an utter stranger to the family, yet even common humanity could not but be wrought upon by such powerful reasonings as these; for nothing could be said more moving, more tender; it was enough to melt a heart of stone: but to Joseph, who was nearer a-kin to Benjamin than Judah himself, and who, at this time, felt a greater passion for him and his aged father, than Judah did, nothing could be more pleasingly nor more happily said. Neither Jacob nor Benjamin needed an intercessor with Joseph, for he himself loved them. Upon the whole, let us take notice,
(1.) How prudently Judah suppressed all mention of the crime that was charged upon Benjamin. Had he said any thing by way of acknowledgment of it, he had reflected on Benjamin's honesty. Had he said any thing by way of denial of it, he had reflected on Joseph's justice; therefore he wholly waves that head, and appeals to Joseph's pity.
(2.) What good reason dying Jacob had to say, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, Genesis 49:8, for he excelled them all in boldness, wisdom, eloquence, and especially tenderness for their father and family.
(3.) Judah's faithful adherence to Benjamin now in his distress was recompensed long after, by the constant adherence of the tribe of Benjamin to the tribe of Judah, when all the other ten tribes deserted it.
19 "My lord asked his servants, saying, `Have you a father or a brother?'
20 "We said to my lord, `We have an old father and a little child of his old age. Now his brother (Joseph) is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, 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 "But we said to my lord, `The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.'
23 "You said to your servants, however, `Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.'
24 "Thus it came about when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.
25 "Our father said, `Go back, 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 cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'
27 "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 in pieces," and I have not seen him since.
29 `If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.'
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 when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.
32 "For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, `If I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever.'
33 "Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad 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--for fear that I see the evil that would overtake my father?" This story shows how Joseph is setting up a family reunion, albeit in a deceitful way.
Sheol – (Strong's 7585) underworld, grave, hell, pit, the OT designation for the abode of the dead, place of no return (LIKE THE KANSAS SONG, POINT), without praise of God, wicked sent there for punishment, righteous not abandoned to it, of the place of exile (fig), of extreme degradation, in sin
SUMMARY / APPLICATION / CONCLUSION
1. Divination = dream interpretation; We should pray for the gifts / fruit of the Spirit.
2. We may experience grief. The Lord, our family, and true friends will comfort us.
3. v. 16 God has found out the iniquity of your servants.
Psalms 32:5 - I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
1 John 1: 9 “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness.“
4. We need Jesus to avoid Sheol / hell, but it’s more than fire insurance, it’s for quality of life.
