Genesis 44:1-17
He commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in his sack’s mouth. Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, with his grain money.” He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good? Isn’t this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.’” He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them.
They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing! Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord’s house? With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondservants.”
He said, “Now also let it be according to your words: he with whom it is found will be my bondservant; and you will be blameless.”
Then they hurried, and each man took his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack. He searched, beginning with the eldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city.
Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him. Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Don’t you know that such a man as I can indeed divine?”
Judah said, “What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? Or how will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord’s bondservants, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found.”
He said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my bondservant; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”
In this account, we see that Joseph set up the same conditions in which his brothers had enviously sold him into slavery. He gave his brother Benjamin more food and better treatment than the others and then gave them a big opportunity to sell him into slavery and get away with it again. Joseph knew that nothing bad would happen to Benjamin because he would be with his own brother and live quite well in Egypt. I found the elaborateness of this test to be pretty amazing.
God had given Joseph a great deal of wisdom. This reminded me a lot of the wisdom that God would eventually give to Solomon. Notice that if his brothers chose to leave, then Joseph had a way to carry on without them. He could have even visited his father to make sure that He wouldn’t die. If, however, his brothers were to show a change of heart, they all could be saved.
God requires that all who come to believe in Jesus have a change of heart. You don’t just say a prayer to become a Christian, there must be a change from our old ways of thinking about things. That’s what the word “repent” means. Tests like this reveal whether we have changed our minds or not. That is what we are about to find out about Joseph’s brothers.