“Genesis 44:14-17”

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

“When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him. 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?’ 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.’ 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.’”

---End of Scripture verses---

“When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him.” (verse 14) Judah had clearly emerged as the leader of the family at this point, and he was also the chief spokesman in this instance since he had pledged his own life as “surety” for safety of his father’s favorite son (Genesis 43:8-9). When the brothers returned to Joseph’s residence they threw themselves to the ground “not only in a way of reverence, again fulfilling his dream, but as persons in the utmost distress and affliction, throwing themselves at his feet for mercy.” (Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible) “Joseph was thoroughly testing his brothers. Here they had the opportunity to leave Benjamin and return to their father; but this they resolutely refused to do.” (James Burton Coffman)

“Joseph said to them, ‘What is this deed that you have done?” (verse 15) “Feigning anger, Joseph addresses them collectively, implying that they are all involved in the theft. His ‘leniency,’ soon to be displayed (v.17), thus appears to be all the more generous.” (Nahum Sarna) “Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed practice divination?” (verse 15) Joseph boasted of his ability to use the black art of “divination” to uncover the deception of their misdeed, even without his special and precious goblet that their youngest brother had supposedly stolen. It is possible they really believed that Benjamin had stolen the object and that Joseph was actually speaking truth, but they were all so devastated at that point that Joseph could have accused them of raiding Pharaoh’s tomb and he wouldn’t have gotten an argument out of them.

“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…” (verse 16) “Judah by this could not have meant that they were in any manner guilty as charged with reference to the cup. The thing that had haunted the guilty brothers for twenty years was their sinful, unmerciful hatred of their brother Joseph; and time had in no manner healed their guilty hearts. Their wicked act still seared and burned in their souls, and, therefore, in the present disaster, Judah confessed their guilt (in principle) and accepted the horrible penalty threatening them even as the penitent thief on Calvary had done, ‘as the just reward of our deeds!’ This was a plateau of spiritual perception far above anything that Joseph could have expected of his brothers.” (James Burton Coffman)

“Behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been found.” (verse 16) Judah relinquished the freedom of the entire family to Joseph and surrendered himself and his brothers to Joseph as humble, obedient slaves. At least then they would not have to face their poor, miserable father again and witness the compounding of his grief and despair. But Joseph’s “generous” response was: “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.” (verse 17) Of course, they would never again experience “peace” in their lives if they returned to their father without Benjamin in their company, so Judah proceeded to offer himself as slave to Joseph in the place of his father’s favorite.

Please read Genesis 44:18-34 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

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