The Cup in Benjamin's Sack
44 1 Then Joseph ordered his household manager: "Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's silver at the top of his sack. 2 And put my cup, the silver cup, at the top of the youngest's sack, with his grain money." And he did exactly as Joseph had told him. 3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. 4 They had gone out of the city and were not yet far away when Joseph said to his household manager, "Go after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid evil for good?'" 5 "Is this not the cup my lord drinks from, the one he uses for divination? What you have done is evil." 6 When he overtook them, he spoke these words to them.
7 They said to him, "Why would my lord say such things? Your servants would never do such a thing! 8 Look, the silver we found at the tops of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord's house? 9 With whichever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's slaves."
10 He said, "Very well, let it be as you say. The one with whom it is found will be my slave, and the rest of you will be innocent."
11 Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.
14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there, and they fell before him to the ground. 15 Joseph said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?"
16 Judah said, "What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? Our Father has found out the guilt of your servants. Look, we are my lord's slaves — both we and the one in whose hand the cup was found." a a v16 Judah recognizes our Father's hand uncovering the long-buried guilt of selling Joseph — drawing the brothers toward repentance.
17 But he said, "I would never do such a thing! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found will be my slave. As for you, go back to your father in peace."
18 Then Judah stepped forward and said, "Please, my lord, let your servant say just one word to you, and please do not be angry with your servant — for you are equal to Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Do you have a father or a brother?' 20 And we said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and a young son born in his old age. 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 so I may see him for myself.' 22 We said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.' 23 Then you said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.' 24 When we went back to my father, your servant, we told him what you had said. 25 And when our father said, 'Go again, buy us a little food,' 26 we said, 'We cannot make the journey. If our youngest brother comes with us, then we will go. For we cannot 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 One left me, and I said, "He must have been torn to pieces," and I have not seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to the grave.' 30 Now therefore, when I come to my father, your servant, and the boy is not with us — since his life is bound up in the boy's life 31 —when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will send your servant our father to his grave in sorrow. 32 For your servant stood as guarantor for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.' 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a slave to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. b b v33 Judah offers his own life in Benjamin's place — the first canonical substitution by a son of Israel. Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, fulfills this pattern by taking our place at the cross. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I cannot bear to see the grief that would come upon my father."