When his brothers were ready to leave, Joseph gave these
instructions to his palace manager: “Fill each of their sacks with as much
grain as they can carry, and put each man’s money back into his sack. Then put my personal silver cup at the top of the youngest
brother’s sack, along with the money for his grain.” So the manager did as Joseph instructed him.
The brothers were up at dawn and were sent on their journey with
their loaded donkeys. But when they had gone only a short distance and
were barely out of the city, Joseph said to his palace manager, “Chase after
them and stop them. When you catch up with them, ask them, ‘Why have you repaid
my kindness with such evil? Why have you stolen my master’s silver cup, which
he uses to predict the future? What a wicked thing you have done!’”
When the palace manager caught up with the men, he spoke to them
as he had been instructed.
“What are you talking about?” the brothers responded. “We are
your servants and would never do such a thing! Didn’t we return the money
we found in our sacks? We brought it back all the way from the land of Canaan.
Why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? If you find his cup with any one of us, let that man die.
And all the rest of us, my lord, will be your slaves.”
“That’s fair,” the man replied. “But only the one who stole the
cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go free.”
They all quickly took their sacks from the backs of their
donkeys and opened them. The palace manager searched the brothers’ sacks,
from the oldest to the youngest. And
the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack! When
the brothers saw this, they tore their clothing in despair. Then they loaded
their donkeys again and returned to the city.
Joseph was still in his palace when Judah and his brothers
arrived, and they fell to the ground before him. “What have you done?”
Joseph demanded. “Don’t you know that a man like me can predict the future?”
Judah answered, “Oh, my lord, what can we say to you? How can we
explain this? How can we prove our innocence? God is punishing us for our sins.
My lord, we have all returned to be your slaves—all of us, not just our brother
who had your cup in his sack.”
“No,” Joseph said. “I would never do such a thing! Only the man
who stole the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go back to your father
in peace.”
Then Judah stepped forward and said, “Please, my lord, let your
servant say just one word to you. Please, do not be angry with me, even though
you are as powerful as Pharaoh himself.
“My lord, previously you asked us, your servants, ‘Do you have a
father or a brother?’ And we responded, ‘Yes, my lord, we have a father
who is an old man, and his youngest son is a child of his old age. His full
brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father
loves him very much.’
“And you said to us, ‘Bring him here so I can see him with my
own eyes.’ But we said to you, ‘My lord, the boy cannot leave his father,
for his father would die.’ But you told us, ‘Unless your youngest brother
comes with you, you will never see my face again.’
“So we returned to your servant, our father, and told him what
you had said. Later, when he said, ‘Go back again and buy us more food,’ we replied, ‘We can’t go unless you let our youngest
brother go with us. We’ll never get to see the man’s face unless our youngest
brother is with us.’
“Then my father said to us, ‘As you know, my wife had two sons, and one of them went away and never returned. Doubtless he
was torn to pieces by some wild animal. I have never seen him since. Now if you take his brother away from me, and any harm
comes to him, you will send this grieving, white-haired man to his grave.’
“And now, my lord, I cannot go back to my father without the
boy. Our father’s life is bound up in the boy’s life. If he sees that the
boy is not with us, our father will die. We, your servants, will indeed be
responsible for sending that grieving, white-haired man to his grave. My lord, I guaranteed to my father that I would take care
of the boy. I told him, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, I will bear the
blame forever.’
“So please, my lord, let me stay here as a slave instead of the
boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. For how can I return to my
father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see the anguish this would
cause my father!”
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