G
E N E S I S
CHAP. XLIV.
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
further and also to try their affection to his brother Benjamin, by which he
would be able to judge of the sincerity of their repentance for what they had
done against himself, of which he was desirous to be satisfied before he
manifested his reconciliation to them. This he contrived to do by bringing
Benjamin into distress, ver. 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, ver. 18, &c.
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Joseph's
Policy.
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B. C. 1707.
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1 And he commanded the steward of his
house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can
carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth. 2 And put my
cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn money.
And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. 3 As soon
as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses.
4 And when they were gone out of the city, and not yet
far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou
dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for
good? 5 Is not this it in which my lord drinketh,
and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing. 6
And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words. 7
And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that
thy servants should do according to this thing: 8 Behold, the
money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again unto thee out of
the land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or
gold? 9 With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him
die, and we also will be my lord's bondmen. 10 And he said, Now
also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is
found shall be my servant; and ye shall be blameless. 11 Then they
speedily took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his
sack. 12 And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left
at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. 13 Then
they rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the
city. 14 And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house; for he
was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground. 15
And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? wot ye
not that such a man as I can certainly divine? 16 And Judah said,
What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear
ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are
my lord's servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is
found. 17 And he said, God forbid that I should do so: but
the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for
you, get you up in peace unto your father.
Joseph heaps
further kindnesses upon his brethren, fills their sacks, returns their money,
and sends them away full of gladness; but he also exercises them with further
trials. Our God thus humbles those whom he loves and loads with benefits.
Joseph ordered his steward to put a fine silver cup which he had (and which,
it is likely, was used at his table when they dined with him) into Benjamin's
sack's mouth, that it might seem as if he had stolen it from the table, and
put it here himself, after his corn was delivered to him. If Benjamin had
stolen it, it had been the basest piece of dishonesty and ingratitude that
could be and if Joseph, by ordering it to be there, had
designed really to take advantage against him, it had been in him most horrid
cruelty and oppression; but it proved, in the issue, that there was no harm
done, nor any designed, on either side. Observe,
I. How the
pretended criminals were pursued and arrested, on suspicion of having stolen a
silver cup. The steward charged them with ingratitude--rewarding evil for
good; and with folly, in taking away a cup of daily use, and which therefore
would soon be missed, and diligent search made for it; for so it may be read: Is
not this it in which my lord drinketh (as having a particular fondness for
it), and for which he would search thoroughly? v. 5. Or,
"By which, leaving it carelessly at your table, he would make trial
whether you were honest men or no."
II. How they
pleaded for themselves. They solemnly protested their innocence, and
detestation of so base a thing (v. 7), urged it as an instance of their
honesty that they had brought their money back (v. 8), and offered to
submit to the severest punishment if they should be found guilty, v. 9,
10.
III. How the
theft was fastened upon Benjamin. In his sack the cup was found to whom Joseph
had been particularly kind. Benjamin, no doubt, was ready to deny, upon oath,
the taking of the cup, and we may suppose him as little liable to suspicion as
any of them; but it is in vain to confront such notorious evidence: the cup is
found in his custody; they dare not arraign Joseph's justice, nor so much as
suggest that perhaps he that had put their money in their sacks' mouths had
put the cup there; but they throw themselves upon Joseph's mercy. And,
IV. Here is their
humble submission, v. 16. 1. They acknowledge the righteousness of God:
God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants, perhaps referring to
the injury they had formerly done to Joseph, for which they thought God was
now reckoning with them. Note, Even in those afflictions wherein we apprehend
ourselves wronged by men yet we must own that God is righteous, and finds out
our iniquity. 2. They surrender themselves prisoners to Joseph: We are my
lord's servants. Now Joseph's dreams were accomplished to the utmost.
Their bowing so often, and doing homage, might be looked upon but as a
compliment, and no more than what other strangers did; but the construction
they themselves, in their pride, had put upon his dreams was, Shalt thou
have dominion over us? (ch. xxxvii. 8), and in this sense it is now
at length fulfilled,; they own themselves his vassals. Since they did
invidiously so understand it, so it shall be fulfilled in them.
V. Joseph, with
an air of justice, gives sentence that Benjamin only should be kept in
bondage, and the rest should be dismissed; for why should any suffer but the
guilty? Perhaps Joseph intended hereby to try Benjamin's temper, whether he
could bear such a hardship as this with the calmness and composure of mind
that became a wise and good man: in short, whether he was indeed his own
brother, in spirit as well as blood; for Joseph himself had been
falsely accused, and had suffered hard things in consequence, and yet kept
possession of his own soul. However, it is plain he intended hereby to try the
affection of his brethren to Benjamin and to their father. If they had gone
away contentedly, and left Benjamin in bonds, no doubt Joseph would soon have
released and promoted him, and sent notice to Jacob, and would have left the
rest of his brethren justly to suffer for their hard-heartedness; but they
proved to be better affected to Benjamin than he feared. Note, We cannot judge
what men are by what they have been formerly, nor what they will do by what
they have done: age and experience may make men wiser and better. Those that
had sold Joseph would not now abandon Benjamin. The worst may mend in time.
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Judah's Appeal on Behalf of Benjamin.
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B. C. 1707.
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18 Then Judah came near unto him, and
said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's
ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art
even as Pharaoh. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a
father, or a brother? 20 And we said unto my lord, We have a
father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother
is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.
21 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set
mine eyes upon him. 22 And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot
leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father
would die. 23 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your
youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.
24 And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him
the words of my lord. 25 And our father said, Go again, and
buy us a little food. 26 And we said, We cannot go down: if our
youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the
man's face, except our youngest brother be with us. 27 And
thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons:
28 And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he
is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since: 29 And if ye take this
also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with
sorrow to the grave. 30 Now therefore when I come to thy servant
my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up
in the lad's life; 31 It shall come to pass, when he seeth that
the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall
bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the
grave. 32 For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my
father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to
my father for ever. 33 Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant
abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his
brethren. 34 For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be
not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.
We have here a
most ingenious and pathetic speech which Judah made to Joseph on Benjamin's
behalf, to obtain his discharge from the sentence passed upon him. Perhaps
Judah was a better friend to Benjamin than the rest were, and more solicitous
to bring him off; or he thought himself under greater obligations to attempt
it than the rest, because he had passed his word to his father for his safe
return; or the rest chose him for their spokesman, because he was a man of
better sense, and better spirit, and had a greater command of language than
any of them. His address, as it is here recorded, is so very natural and so
expressive of his present feelings 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.
I. A great deal
of unaffected art, and unstudied unforced rhetoric, there is in this speech.
1. He addresses himself to Joseph with a great deal of respect and deference,
calls him his lord, himself and his brethren his servants, begs
his patient hearing, and ascribes sovereign authority to him: "Thou
art even as Pharaoh, one whose favour we desire and whose wrath we dread
as we do Pharaoh's." Religion does not destroy good manners, and it is
prudence to speak respectfully to those at whose mercy we lie: titles of
honour to those that are entitled to them are not flattering titles. 2. He
represented Benjamin as one well worthy of his compassionate consideration (v.
20); he was a little one, compared with the rest of them; the youngest,
not acquainted with the world, nor ever inured to hardship, having always been
brought up tenderly with his father. It made the case the more pitiable that
he alone was left of his mother, and his brother was dead, namely, 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
alive; at least he could not be sure that he was dead: but they had made their
father believe he was dead; and now they had told that lie so long that they
had forgotten the truth, and begun to believe the lie themselves. 3. He urged
it very closely that Joseph had himself constrained them to bring Benjamin
with them, had expressed a desire to see him (v. 21), and had forbidden
them his presence unless they brought Benjamin with them (v. 23, 26),
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 he not show him some mercy? Some observe that Jacob's sons, in
reasoning with their father, had said, We will not go down unless Benjamin
go with us (ch. xliii. 5); but that when Judah comes to relate the
story he expresses it more decently: "We cannot go down with any
expectation to speed well." Indecent words spoken in haste to our
superiors should be recalled and amended. 4. The great argument he insisted
upon was the insupportable grief it would be to his aged father if Benjamin
should be left behind in servitude: His father loveth him, v.
20. This they had pleaded against Joseph's insisting on his coming down (v.
22): "If he should leave his father, his father would die; much
more if now he be left behind, never more to return to him." This the old
man, of whom they spoke, had pleaded against his going down: If mischief
befal him, you shall bring down my gray hairs, that crown of glory, with
sorrow to the grave, v. 29. This therefore Judah presses with a
great deal of earnestness: "His life is bound up in the lad's life
(v. 30); when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will faint away,
and die immediately (v. 31), 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, v. 34. Note, It is the
duty of children to be very tender of their parents' comfort, and to be afraid
of every thing that may be an occasion of grief to them. Thus the love that
descended first must again ascend, and something must be done towards a
recompense for their care. 5. Judah, in honour to the justice of Joseph's
sentence, and to show his sincerity in this plea, offers
himself to become a bondsman instead of Benjamin, v. 33. Thus the law
would be satisfied; Joseph would be no loser (for we may suppose Judah a more
able-bodied man than Benjamin, and fitter for service); and Jacob would better
bear the loss of him than of Benjamin. Now, so far was he from grieving at his
father's particular fondness for Benjamin, that he was himself willing to be a
bondman to indulge it.
Now, had Joseph
been, as Judah supposed him, 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 akin to Benjamin than Judah
himself was, and who, at this time, felt a greater affection both 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.
II. Upon the
whole matter 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 would have reflected on Benjamin's honesty, and
seemed too forward to suspect that; had he said any thing by way of denial of
it, he would have reflected on Joseph's justice, and the sentence he had
passed: therefore he wholly waives that head, and appeals to Joseph's pity.
Compare with this that of Job, in humbling himself before God (Job ix. 15), Though
I were righteous, yet would I not answer; I would not argue, but petition;
I would make supplication to my Judge. 2. What good reason dying Jacob
had to say, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise (ch.
xlix. 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. 4. How fitly does the apostle, when he is
discoursing of the mediation of Christ, observe, that our Lord sprang out
of Judah (Heb. vii. 14); for, like his father Judah, he not only made
intercession for the transgressors, but he became a surety for them, as it
follows there (v. 22), testifying therein a very tender concern both
for his father and for his brethren.
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