44:1,2
Joseph continues with his trick. He tells the steward to fill the sacks to the brim, return the money and put Joseph’s silver cup in Benjamin’s sack, Benjamin being the youngest. This is going to cause more anguish for the brothers. One does wonder why Joseph went through all this rigmarole, why not tell them who he was sooner and more straightforwardly? Perhaps he was “getting his own back” to some degree, or perhaps he wanted to make sure the brothers were in a suitably penitent mood when he did reveal who he was? Or maybe it was all designed to get the whole family to Egypt?
44:3-5
So the brothers were sent away the next morning. This time Joseph did not wait for them to discover what had happened. Instead he sent his steward to chase after them and to accuse them of theft. The mention of “divination” may mean that Joseph had actually adopted some of the Egyptian religious practises, or it could just be a ruse to make the brothers think that Joseph could tell the future.
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