Genesis
41-45 Chapter
Study
Outline
of Genesis -
I. Introduction • Chs. 1-11
II. The Patriarchs [Abraham & His Descendants]
• Chs. 12-50
A. Abraham – Chs.
12-25
B. Isaac – Chs.
26-28
C. Jacob – Chs.
28-36
D. Joseph – Chs.
37-50
We
ended last week with Joseph in prison in
He’d been falsely accused of attempted rape by an
Egyptian official’s wife.
While
in prison, having been put in charge of all the other prisoners, he made
acquaintance with two high officials of the Egyptian court who were under
investigation and so were being kept there.
Both men had troubling dreams one night and Joseph
interpreted them for them.
One of the men was convicted and executed while the
other was restored to his post.
But the restored official promptly forgot all about
Joseph and said nothing to Pharaoh about the terrible injustices Joseph had
endured.
Actually,
the reason why he forgot about Joseph and said nothing to Pharaoh was one more
part of God’s plan for Joseph, which was to do far more than just release him
from prison.
Joseph’s destiny was to rise to the very throne of
Ch. 41 tells us what that was . . .
a. 41:1-36 •
Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream
1Then it came to pass, at the end of two
full years,
Two
more years went by before that Egyptian official remembered Joseph and said
anything to Pharaoh. Two more years while Joseph waited, thinking
that that official would surely say something!
As we get older, it seems the years go by more and
more swiftly; but for the young, like Joseph, time passes more slowly.
And time can seem to drag by at a snail’s pace when you’re stuck in a monotonous place like a prison!
But while he waited, Joseph seems to have never lost
faith in God.
1Then it came to pass, at the
end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the
river. 2Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and
fat; and they fed in the meadow. 3Then behold, seven other cows came up after
them out of the river, ugly and gaunt, and stood by the other
cows on the bank of the river. 4And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven
fine looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke.
Those
who specialize in the science of sleep say that we only remember dreams if we wake up while having them.
Pharaoh had a dream, and it was so troubling, so
distressing in the sense of it’s importance that he
woke up and was able to remember it in vivid detail.
But then he went back to sleep and had another dream .
. .
5He slept and dreamed a second
time; and suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good.
6Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up after
them. 7And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So
Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it
was a dream.
The
dreams, while having different images, had the same theme and Pharaoh knew they
were more than just regular dreams.
The
Egyptians put a lot of stock in dreams.
They believed they were a walk of the person’s spirit
in the spiritual realm and carried tremendous portent.
The Egyptians had developed elaborate dream
interpretation manuals and a whole science of dreams grew up there.
So
the next day, Pharaoh called for the dream specialists.
8Now it came to pass in the
morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the
magicians of
The
king’s dreams defied their interpretive schemes and they couldn’t answer him.
9Then the chief butler spoke to
Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day. 10When Pharaoh was angry with
his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both
me and the chief baker, 11we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of
us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own
dream. 12Now there was a young Hebrew man with us
there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he
interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own
dream. 13And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He
restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”
This
whole challenge of interpreting dreams jogs the chief butler’s memory and he
then reports to Pharaoh the skill Joseph had exhibited 2 years before.
14Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph,
and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; and he shaved, changed his
clothing, and came to Pharaoh.
He’d
have had to have been made presentable at court before entering the king’s
presence.
15And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a
dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.
But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to
interpret it.” 16So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is
not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
There
is far more in this response of Joseph to Pharaoh than first meets the eye.
Everyone who came before Pharaoh was awestruck and
used that moment to try to rise to his favor.
Here’s
young Joseph, taken out of the destitution of a prison, and ushered into the
throne room of the world’s premier power – standing before the world’s most
powerful man, and he’s being asked a favor.
If there was ever a moment to grandstand, this is it!
But Joseph points Pharaoh and the court of Egypt at
the goodness and power of God instead of claiming the attention for himself.
Look
at the exchange again . . .
15And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I
have had a dream, and there
is no one
who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you
that you
can understand a dream, to interpret it.” 16So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying,
“It is not in me; God
will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
The
humility of Joseph demonstrated here is one of the most amazing moments in all
of the Bible, preceded as it has been by years of slavery, injustice, and
confusing circumstances.
17Then Pharaoh said to Joseph:
“Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river. 18Suddenly seven cows
came up out of the river, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow.
19Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and
gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the
25Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The
dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about
to do: 26The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are
seven years; the dreams are one. 27And the seven thin and ugly cows
which came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads
blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine. 28This is the thing
which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about
to do. 29Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land
of Egypt; 30but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty
will be forgotten in the
As
Joseph listened to Pharaoh recount his dream, God gave
him the interpretation, which Joseph faithfully repeated to the Egyptian king.
In the first dream, Pharaoh saw the cows come out out
of the
Each year,
But if there’s a drought and not enough water to flood
the
Pharaoh’s dream meant there would be a severe drought
that would virtually dry up the
Along with the interpretation, Joseph was also given a
word of wisdom to speak to Pharaoh and moved to share that as well . . .
33“Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the
God
handed Joseph a plan for enduring the famine that was coming.
The abundance of the coming 7 years of prosperity
would be more than enough to levy a 20% tax that would be put in reserve for
use during the 7 years of famine.
Joseph was suggesting a government-run welfare program
that would take some of the surplus of the fat years and save it for the lean
years.
It would be overseen by a chief administrator, who
would work with regional officials and warehoused in various locations throughout
the kingdom.
b. 41:37-57 • Joseph Becomes Prime Minister
37So the advice was good in the
eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. 38And Pharaoh said to his
servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?”
Joseph’s
plan was brilliant and the entire court recognized it as such.
Pharaoh then asked those standing round – “Have we,”
meaning among them there at court, “Have we someone like Joseph,” who obviously
had wisdom from above?
Since the plan Joseph suggested was excellent and
since Joseph had proven himself so capably – Pharaoh nominates him to implement
the plan.
39Then Pharaoh said to Joseph,
“Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is
no one as discerning and wise as you. 40You shall be over my house,
and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the
throne will I be greater than you.” 41And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have
set you over all the
Pharaoh
at this point delegated to Joseph all of the administrative tasks of ruling
He became the Prime minister, or Grand Vizier; and so
was the second most powerful man in the world’s most powerful kingdom.
42Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off
his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand;
This
ring was THE symbol of Pharaoh’s power.
and he clothed him in
garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.
Joseph
is being ensconced in his position with all of the accoutrements of power and
rank.
43And he had him ride in the
second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So
he set him over all the
Translating
Joseph’s name has proven difficult as it draws on roots which are archaic &
now obscure.
But the name Pharaoh gave him is a reflection of what Joseph became for
them; “Savior of the world.” [Keil & Delitzsche • “salvator mundi”][1]
What’s
provocative about this name is that it immediately makes us think of the
Messiah.
In fact, Joseph provides us a striking parallel to
Jesus, as we’ll se a bit later.
There’s
an important reason why Pharaoh renamed
Joseph, and decked him out with all of the trappings of royal power.
One
of the things that would prove a bit embarrassing
for the Egyptian court was that their Prime Minister wasn’t Egyptian!
You’ll remember a couple weeks ago I mentioned that
one of the reasons Joseph would be allowed to rise to a position of importance
in
The Hyksos had fully adopted the Egyptian fashions and
forms and tried to blend in as much as possible to the Egyptian culture.
But the ethnic Egyptians and original royal families
of
Pharaoh, a Hyksosian, knew that putting a Hebrew like Joseph in the position of
Prime Minister would be like salt in the wound to the ethnic Egyptians and
would inflame another round of virulent anti-Hyksos sentiment; especially
because what Joseph would implement with Pharaoh’s consent and authority, was a
radical restructuring of Egyptian society and economics.
Make no mistake – Joseph was implementing a government
program of taxation which would greatly expand government!
The Egyptians would see this as further Hyksosian
intrusion into their nation and lives.
So,
it was politically expedient for Pharaoh to make Joseph look as Egyptian as
possible.
And he gave him as a wife
Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So
Joseph went out over all the
The
final step in Egyptifying Joseph was
marrying him in to the Egyptian social
network.
Asenath was the daughter of the high priest of the
main religion of
The city of On, or
The priests of On comprised the most learned men in all
46Joseph was thirty years old when he
stood before Pharaoh king of
13 years had passed since his brothers had sold him not slavery!
13 years as a slave in Potiphar’s house, and as an
inmate in prison.
And throughout all that time, Joseph had maintained
his faith in God!
47Now in the seven plentiful
years the ground brought forth abundantly. 48So he gathered up all the food of
the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the
cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. 49Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until he
stopped counting, for it was immeasurable.
As
per his initial recommendations to Pharaoh, Joseph implemented a taxation
program over the produce of
Meticulous records were kept. But the stocks eventually got to the point
that they didn’t have numbers that high anymore and stopped counting.
What this means is that the abundance of the 7
plenteous years was beyond anything
50And to Joseph were born two
sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah
priest of On, bore to him. 51Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: [Forgetfulness] “For God has made me forget
all my toil and all my father’s house.” 52And the name
of the second he called Ephraim: [Fruitfulness]“For God has caused me to be fruitful
in the land of my affliction.”
While
Pharaoh wanted to Egyptianize Joseph,
Joseph maintained his legacy as a Hebrew by giving his sons through his
Egyptians wife Hebrew names.
While he’s risen to the throne of
53Then the seven years
of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended, 54and the seven
years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. The famine was in all
lands, but in all the
The
famine was probably due to drought, and this drought wasn’t merely regional to
55So when all the
In
ch. 47 we’ll discover that the famine lasted so long and was so severe, Joseph
ended up owning or gaining control of virtually all of the
The people had to come to him so often to buy bread,
that their savings were depleted and they ended up having to sell their lands
and property.
It was during this phase of Egyptian history that the
power of the Pharaoh spread so dramatically over the whole of
As
I mentioned a few moments ago, Joseph’s story provides us a striking parallel
to Jesus.
Consider
what we’ve seen just so far – Joseph . . .
1. Was a shepherd
2. Was loved by his father
3. Was sent unto his brethren
4. Was hated by his brothers
5. Prophesied his coming glory
6. Was rejected by his brothers
7. Endured unjust punishment from his brothers
8. Was sentenced to the pit
9. Was delivered to the pit, though a leader knew he should
go free
10. Was sold for pieces of silver
11. Was handed over to the Gentiles
12. Was regarded as dead, but raised out of the pit
13. Went to
14. Was made a servant
15. Was tempted severely, but did not sin
16. Was falsely accused
17. Made no defense
18. Was cast into prison, and numbered with sinners
and criminals
19. Endured unjust punishment from Gentiles
20. Associated with two other criminals; one was
pardoned and one was not
a. the butler, with his wine, and the baker, with his bread,
speak of the elements of communion.
b. the three-day
period before their case was resolved hints at the three days before the
resurrection of Jesus
21. Showed compassion
22. Brought a message of deliverance in prison
23. Wanted to be remembered
24. Was shown to have divine wisdom
25. Was recognized as having the Spirit of God
26. Was betrayed by friends
27. Was glorified after his humility
28. Was honored among Gentiles while still despised or
forgotten by his brethren
29. Was given a Gentile bride
30. Was 30 years old when he began his life’s work
31. Blessed the world with bread
32. Was the only
source of bread
33. The world is instructed to go to him and do
whatever he says to do
34. Given the name "Savior of the World"
c.
42:1-28 • Joseph’s Brothers Go To
1When Jacob saw that there was grain in
Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2And
he said, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in
Now
the scene shifts back to
Everyone knew there was food in
But when he mentioned
Because that’s where they’d sold their brother into
slavery to.
3So Joseph’s ten brothers went
down to buy grain in
Joseph’s
10 older brothers went on this mission to get relief supplies.
They all went because they would need the freightage
of their collective whole to bring back enough supplies to support the entire
household.
The only brother who didn’t go was Ben because he was
the last surviving son of Rachel and Jacob was loath to let him out of his
sight.
6Now Joseph was
governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land.
And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their
faces to the earth.
Thus fulfilling his dream from so many years before.
7Joseph saw his brothers and recognized
them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. Then he
said to them, “Where do you come from?”
And they said, “From the
Because
over 20 years had passed and he’d adopted the fashions of
9Then Joseph remembered the
dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are
spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!”
As
the story goes on to show, Joseph was not just trying to squeeze them here in
order to make them pay for the way he’d treated them.
Revenge is not his motive. Rather, he’s applying pressure because he
wants to see what kind of men they are now after 20 years.
Are they the same guys who treated him so cruelly, or
have the years served to soften them and teach them about God?
10And they said to him, “No, my
lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 11We are
all one man’s sons; we are honest men;
your servants are not spies.” 12But he said to them, “No, but you have come to
see the nakedness of the land.” 13And they said, “Your servants are
twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of
Joseph’s
goal in all this was not to be cruel or mean but to see what the pressure would
do to them.
If they were the cruel, selfish men they’d been with
him 2 decades before, it wouldn’t be long until they were at each other’s
throats and making deals to do each other in.
Joseph
also knew that with his departure from Jacob’s house, his father would turn his
affection from the lost Joseph to his younger brother Benjamin.
And if the brothers would treat him the way they had,
they’d probably also scheme to get rid of Ben.
This was Joseph’s way of finding out how his elder
brothers felt about his younger brother.
Indeed – maybe they’d already killed him or sold him
into slavery too.
The only way to find out was to tell them to bring him
when they said he was still at home.
18Then Joseph said to them the
third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God: 19If you are
honest men, let one
of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain
for the famine of your houses. 20And bring your youngest brother to me; so your
words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so.
Joseph
had originally said 9 of them would stay confined in
Now he says one will stay and the 9 may return with
grain as relief for the household.
21Then they said to one another,
“We are truly guilty concerning our
brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we
would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.”
Now
they are feeling guilty for the way they treated Joseph so many years before.
One of them will have to stay in prison in
Once more they will have to go to Jacob with the news
they’ve lost a brother.
This is just too eerily like what they did with
22And Reuben answered them,
saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you
would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.” 23But
they did not know that Joseph understood them,
for he spoke to them through an interpreter. 24And he turned himself away from
them and wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he
took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
As
they spoke to one another of their guilt, they spoke in Hebrew and Joseph
understood them.
He saw their remorse and was overwhelmed with emotion.
But he still did not know how they would treat
Benjamin if given the chance and if pressed.
He had to play it out and carry through the trial of
their character.
Were they truly repentant of their treatment of him,
or just regretful that they were now having to pay
their just desserts?
Joseph
chose Simeon as the brother to keep in confinement in
This is where we get the clue that it was Simeon who’d
led in the original plot against Joseph.
We know Simeon was a cruel and treacherous man as the
slaughter of the Shechemites proves.
Simeon may have been the bad seed that poisoned the
minds of the others and by removing him, Joseph knows
he’s purging the brothers’ counsel of treachery.
25Then Joseph gave a command to fill
their sacks with grain, to restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give
them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them. 26So they loaded their
donkeys with the grain and departed from there. 27But as one of them
opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money;
and there it was, in the mouth of his sack. 28So he said to his brothers, “My
money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts failed
them and they were afraid, saying to
one another, “What is this that
God has done to us?”
They
were fearful because it would appear that they had bought provisions in
They didn’t know Joseph had given instructions that
their money be returned to their sacks.
They only knew how it would appear if they were
stopped and inspected.
d. 42:29-38
• They Return to Jacob
29Then they went to Jacob their
father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them,
saying: 30“The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly
to us, and took us for spies of the country. 31But we said to him, ‘We are
honest men; we are not spies. 32We are
twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is
no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the
What
a pathetic thing to say! The fact of the
matter is – God was working to affect a wonderful reunion! But Jacob was
looking at his circumstances instead of God!
Contrast
Joseph’s faith with Jacob’s.
Joseph’s circumstances were far worse than his dad’s,
yet he never lost hope in the Lord.
Jacob’s view of God has been eclipsed by his circumstances.
The
“all things” Jacob thinks are against him, are the “all things” Joseph knows
are working together for good!
What
are the all things of your life doing? Are they against you or working for you?
Joseph
didn’t have the promise of Romans 8:28 on paper, but
he did have it in his heart.
Many of us have Romans 8:28 on paper, but not in our hearts.
37Then Reuben spoke to his
father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back
to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”
What
a foolish thing for Reuben to say. What comfort will Jacob gain by killing two
of his grandsons?
But
Reuben is speaking out of frustration at his father’s unreasonable obstinacy
here.
Simeon is in prison and will only be release when
Benjamin is brought.
In fact, unless they take Ben, there’ll be no more
relief supplies for them from
They all stand in danger of dying if Ben does return
with them.
38But he said, “My son shall not go down
with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should
befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray
hair with sorrow to the grave.”
Jacob
is just being foolish here! He’s
condemning his entire household to starvation.
But he says it would be better to go that way than to
part with Benjamin.
e.
43:1-34 • They Return to
1Now the famine was
severe in the land. 2And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain
which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back,
buy us a little food.” 3But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly
warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is
with you.’ 4If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food.
5But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the
man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is
with you.’” 6And
When
Joseph had interrogated them, they’d answered truthfully, not wanting to
jeopardize either their lives or their mission.
They had no way of knowing how the Egyptian official
would use the information they provided.
8Then Judah said to Israel his
father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and
not die, both we and you and
also our little ones. 9I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall
require him. If I do not bring him back
to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10For if we
had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.”
What
11And their father
Notice
that Jacob is referred to here by his new name,
What will be will be – he cannot fight the purposes of
God and has surrendered himself and sons into the Lord’s
keeping.
15So the men took that present
and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went down
to
The
brothers see this transfer to Joseph’s house as a prelude to an official
inquiry so they decide to intervene by quickly going to the man who’s been
given charge of them to tell what happened on their first trip.
They hadn’t stolen anything – someone put their money
back in their sacks and they want to make sure they give it back to whomever it
belongs.
But the steward tells them he had the purchase money
they’d brought.
It they found money in their sacks – it must be the
miraculous provision of God.
Of course, it was the steward who put the money back n
their sacks – he’s playing with their minds and setting them up for the final
test Joseph needs to put them through to determine their attitude toward
Benjamin.
24So the man brought the men
into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their
feet; and he gave their donkeys feed. 25Then they made the present ready for Joseph’s
coming at
This
is now the second time they’ve bowed down to him, just as he’d had two dreams
in which they prostrated themselves before him.
29Then he lifted his eyes and
saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is
this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be
gracious to you, my son.”
Remember,
it’s been 20 something years and when he last saw Benjamin,
he was just a lad – now he’s a young man.
30Now his heart yearned for his
brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his
chamber and wept there. 31Then he washed his face and came out; and he
restrained himself, and said, “Serve the bread.” 32So they set him a place by himself, and
them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because
the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is
an abomination to the Egyptians. 33And they sat before him, the firstborn
according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the
men looked in astonishment at one another. 34Then he took servings to them from
before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So
they drank and were merry with him.
When
the tables were set, they were arranged in three groups.
Joseph had a table to himself; his brothers had their
own table, then the Egyptian attendants had another..
Even though Joseph was Prime Minister, he was still
not ethnic Egyptian and according to religious rules, they could not share a
common table.
When the brothers saw Joseph at his own table, it
ought to have been a huge clue to them about his identity.
But then, Joseph moved to make it even more clear – HE served
them himself!
And he had them sit at their table according to
birth-order.
When he got to Ben’s plate, he piled up a portion 5
times what he gave the rest!
All
of this really ought to have prompted them to take a closer look at Joseph, but
they were so relieved at the kind treatment they were receiving they didn’t pay
attention to all the little hints Joseph was leaving them.
f. 44:1-34 •
Joseph’s Final test oF His Brothers
1And 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 the mouth of his sack. 2Also put my cup, the silver
cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his grain money.” So he did
according to the word that Joseph had spoken. 3As soon as the morning dawned,
the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. 4When they had gone out of the
city, and were not yet
far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow the men; and when you
overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? 5Is
not this the one from which my lord drinks, and
with which he indeed practices divination? You have done evil in so doing.’”
Joseph’s
test of the brothers is almost complete.
There is just one last thing to determine; what will they do with
Benjamin if given the chance?
So he gave instructions that a special silver cup of
his be put in Benjamin’s sack of grain.
Joseph calls it his cup of divination but he’s not
serious – that’s not what he used it for.
He was simply drawing on a well known practice among
the Egyptian wise men to let his brothers know they could not trifle with such
a powerful man.
6So he [the steward] overtook them, and he spoke to
them these same words. 7And they said to him, “Why does my lord say these
words? Far be it from us that your servants should do such a thing. 8Look, we
brought back to you from the
The
brothers had no idea that the cup was in Ben’s sack!
None of them had stolen anything and they were so
certain of their innocence they make this pledge – with whomever the cup is
found, he’ll die and the rest will be slaves!
10And he said, “Now also let