Genesis 44:1 Commentary and Bible Study

The same plan is repeated, but this time it is going to affect them in a way that will bring about a crisis of concern for Benjamin. This is the situation which Joseph is engineering. The brothers are convicted, half broken, but still they have taken no action to confirm their repentance. Not that you do anything in repentance; repentance is not a work; it is a gift of God. But to be genuine it must be accompanied by ‘works meet for repentance.’ You must forsake sin. Joseph wants to see these to be sure, and he is working towards this. The plan relies strongly on the brothers continuing to be ignorant of Joseph’s true identity. If they discover who he is, the situation he is creating will not have the desired effect on them. It will lose its power to make them come to Benjamin’s defence. They will know that Joseph is incapable of hurting Benjamin, and their fears will not be sufficiently aroused to make them willing to sacrifice themselves for their brother. These are not haphazard actions on Joseph’s part, but carefully thought-out schemes to bring them to repent before God. He has their spiritual good at heart. He is acting as the saviour of their bodies and their souls. He is not acting out of revenge, for he could have executed his vengeance on them in a moment if he chose, but does not do this. He has sufficient power in Egypt to do whatever he pleases and no one will call him to account.Joseph is doing them good. They are to be given as much grain as their animals can carry on the long journey home. But it is not enough to send a few sacks of corn to Canaan from time to time. Joseph must bring them into a place of plenty, and so he orders more corn to be put in their sacks. Their sacks are packed for them by Joseph’s servants. Again, Joseph is not going to take money off his own family, and he commands their money to be secretly returned to them in their sacks. But then he does something that will entangle his younger brother, Benjamin, whom he loves, and allow Joseph to seemingly have a claim on him. He places his personal cup, his silver cup, in Benjamin’s sack with the intention of charging him with stealing it. How then will the brothers react? What will they, who were willing to sell Joseph to slave traders, do to rescue Benjamin? Their sacks are packed, their animals loaded and they are sent off home, but Joseph knows what he is going to do next.