We are now moving to the big reveal in the story. Joseph is now almost reunited with his younger brother and there is evidence of repentance on his brothers’ part but they still do not know his true identity.
Read Genesis 44
Joseph gives instructions to his steward to again provide fo the brothers and return their silber. This time, he gives his personal, silver cup to the sward to place in Benjamin’s bag. He then instructs that this time, his servant is to pursue the brothers nd accuse them of theft. It is intriguing and no doubt troubling to see that he refers to the cup as used for divination. It is possible that it simply part of the act, to appear fully Egyptian but it is also possible that as a fallen human, that Joseph had become compromised in Egyptian practices (v1-5(.
The steward does this and of course the brothers protest their innocence, pointing out their prior exemplary behaviour in seeking to correct a mistake. Note how the steward speaks with Joseph’s voice “they will be my slave” (v6-10). When it turns out that the cup is in Benjamin’s sack, they are devastated. Though 10 are free to go, they all return to the city (v10-13). They offer themselves as slaves to Joseph but he insists that he will only take the guilty one (v14-17).
Now, Judah steps in, reminding Joseph about his previous questions and how they’d answered them. He talks about Benjamin’s life and his father’s life being bound up together. If Benjamin does not return, it will destroy Jacob (v18-31). The climax to this speech is that Judah now offers to stand in and take Bejamin’s place. He comes good and follows through on his promise to stand as surety for Benjami (v32-34).
Digging a little deeper
Judah is offering to stand in Benjamin’s place, to become a substitute, to bear his punishment, to pay his debt. It will mean that he will end his days in exile. He will become dead to his family and his old life. There is an extent to which here Judah is surely recognising that this is what he himself deserved. Yet the pointer is also to Christ who stands in as our substitute.
A look at ourselves
We should be careful not to place ourselves in the story as Judah if we think of his actions here paying for his own sin. He is of course modelling repentance but there needs to be recognition that we cannot make atonement for ourselves. We need the true substitute, the descendant of and and true and better Judah, Christ Jesus.
Faithroots 