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BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY
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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday April 28, 2019
JOSEPH’S SILVER CUP
Genesis 44:1-17
When his brothers
were ready to depart for home, Joseph gave instructions to his household manager
to fill each of their bags with as much grain as they could possibly hold, and
to put each man’s silver back into their own bags. Here in this passage, a
final test is perpetrated upon his brothers by Joseph, as, in verse 2, he
instructs his manager to, in addition to putting the money and grain into
Benjamin’s sack, to also put his own personal cup inside the bag, at the top,
where it can found quickly and easily.
This test by Joseph would, seemingly, to
the other brothers, put Benjamin into jeopardy of becoming a slave to Joseph by
way of the theft of one of Joseph’s personal items. This was the test that
Joseph felt would ultimately reveal whether or not his brothers could be
trusted, or had had any kind of spiritual transformation (especially Judah)
over the years, since they had indirectly sold him into chattel slavery in
Egypt.
Judah, whose flaws were also revealed to us
back in Genesis 38, here in this passage, seems to have been purged somewhat,
especially concerning the jealousy that he and the other brothers had toward
Joseph, because of Jacob’s blatant favoritism toward he, Benjamin, and their
mother, Rachel. Here we see, however, that Joseph may be more concerned about
his aging father and his grief, than he is about any danger to himself. And so
he now hatches a plan that would ultimately bring his father back to Egypt with
his entire family.
At dawn, on the day of their departure, the
brothers arose and set out on their journey back to Canaan. However, before
they were barely outside of the city limits, Joseph said to his manager, “Chase
after them and stop them and say to them, “Why have you repaid my act of
kindness with such evil? What do you mean by stealing my master’s personal
silver drinking cup, which he uses to predict the future? What a wicked thing
you have done!”
When the manager caught up to them and
asked them the things that Joseph had instructed him to ask, the brothers were
stunned and responded, “What kind of people do you think we are, that you
accuse us of such a terrible thing? Didn’t we bring back the money we found in
our sacks? Why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? If you
find his cup with any one of us, let that one die. And all the rest of us will
be your master’s slave forever”. “Fair enough” the steward replied, “except
only the one who stole the cup will be a slave, and the rest of you will go
free” (Vs.6-9).
The tension begins to mount as the steward
went through one bag after the other, starting with the bag of the oldest,
Reuben, and moving down to the bag of the youngest, Benjamin, where of course,
he already knew he had planted the cup to be discovered. When the cup was found
in Benjamin’s sack, the brothers all repented, and tore their clothes in
despair. They then loaded up their donkeys, and returned to Egypt to Joseph’s
palace, with his manager, and they all bowed low before Joseph, once again
Vs.10-14).
In verse 16 we see a repentant Judah
pleading with Joseph, decrying their innocence before him. He had now accepted
the thought that GOD may be punishing them for their sins (most likely he was
speaking of their sins against Joseph when they sold him into slavery). “We
have all (including Benjamin) returned to be your slaves”. However, Joseph said
that he was only interested in detaining one of them, the one who stole his silver
cup.
JUDAH SPEAKS FOR HIS BROTHERS
Genesis 44:18-34
This chapter ends with one of the most
heart-felt petitions in all of Scripture, as Judah steps up to intercede for
his brothers, and offer up his own life for the life of his brother Benjamin,
and, for the sanity of his aging father, Jacob. This lengthy plea from Judah,
which calls for him to be enslaved in place of his brother, and to spare the
suffering of his father in his old age, demonstrates his deep unselfish concern
for his family, something that he had not always shown, not even in the
not-too-distant past.
By Judah speaking for his brothers in this
way, it demonstrated to Joseph that they were perhaps, not the same evil
scoundrels that they used to be, especially Judah, who hatched the plan to have
him sold into slavery (Genesis 37:26-28), first to the Ishmaelite traders, who
then, subsequently, sold him to Potipher in Egypt. And so how would the, now
powerful Joseph, respond to this stirring petition from the brothers whom, in
spite of all that had happened in the past, still loved them all very much.
Again I say, stay tuned.
A
Sunday school lesson by,
Larry
D. Alexander
