A Test of Repentance & Loyalty

If you have Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to Genesis 44, as we continue through our study of Joseph.

We have noted throughout the over-arching theme of God's providence (CONCEALED GUIDENCE), not only does the Lord tell us in the story of Joseph,

how Israel wound up in Egypt,

not only does He tell us how God made this family of Jacob into a great nation in accordance with His promises to Abraham in Genesis 12 and 15 and 17,

but God also shows us something of His strategy in redemption with His people to bring blessing where there is estrangement, to bring reconciliation where there is enmity.

And now, we come to Genesis 44. We have said throughout that we have seen a pattern of humiliation and exultation in the life of Joseph.

He began life as a favored son, and in the very context of the rivalry with his brothers experienced the great humiliation of his life.

He is sold into slavery, he serves well as a servant in the house of Potiphar.

He finds himself falsely accused and imprisoned in a royal prison.

He is even after helping one of the kings servants and encouraging him in his time forgotten for a period of years in this prison.

He is finally released and then his exultation begins.

He is made the second ranking official behind Pharaoh and in the very context of his exultation, even as he has with his own mouth and heart uttered the words, God has caused me to forget his father's household, the Lord brings his father's household right into his backyard and begins to do a work that even Joseph could not imagine.

And so we come now to Genesis 44, as Joseph's test reaches its great culmination.

You remember in our study of Genesis 42 and Gen. 43, Joseph's family had been brought to Egypt because of the famine.

In Genesis 42 he had kindly given them grain, though he had kept Simeon.

They had been accused of being spies, as an assurance that they would return, Simeon was kept.

And indeed, they did return as they had promised bringing Benjamin, it took them a great deal of persuading of Jacob, their father. But they did return with Benjamin and again they were treated greatly, they were feasted royally, treated kindly by Joseph, brought into his own household. They drank with him, were shown mercy in which Jacob had prayed for and were marry,

… and now in this passage, they are preparing to depart.

But Joseph has yet one more test to bring to bear on his brothers In Gen. 44.

We see here today how Joseph decides to test their loyalty. Where does their loyalty now lie.

He is able to place them within a very similar situation to see if given the same opportunity, would they repeat their sins, or would they show that they have changed.

Main Point: For the purpose of God revealing our sin, God at times puts a cup in our bags to test and lead us to repentance, allowing His people to see a better life of sacrificial love.

So let's hear God's Word here in Genesis 44.

The Set Up & The Brother’s Response (Vv. 1-13)

Genesis 44:1–13 ESV

1 Then he commanded the steward of his house, “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, 2 and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him. 3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. 4 They had gone only a short distance from the city. Now Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? 5 Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’ ” 6 When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. 7 They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! 8 Behold, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? 9 Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my lord’s servants.” 10 He said, “Let it be as you say: he who is found with it shall be my servant, and the rest of you shall be innocent.” 11 Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

Verses 1-6

As the brothers prepare to depart, Joseph gives his steward instructions that will test the brothers again (cf. 42:15).

Just as before, the steward places their money in their bags. But this time, he also puts Joseph’s silver cup in “the youngest one’s bag” (v. 2). Why the brothers do not check their bags before setting out, particularly considering what happened when they left Egypt previously, is unclear.

Perhaps the lingering effects of their drinking have something to do with it. Regardless, they make haste to return home from their successful journey on the day after the feast, having not only secured additional grain but also Simeon’s liberation and Benjamin’s safe return.

Joseph says to his steward to ask them…

Why have you repaid evil for good?

Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he practices divination?

You have done evil in doing this.

Jospeh throughout this narrative has brilliantly created this tension for the brothers. This is now Joseph’s master stroke.

In doing this… Joseph is testing their concern for Benjamin by giving them this opportunity to either repeat their evil in which they did to him or go about their actions in a completely different way… which would reveal a repentant attitude.

Verses 7-13

In verses 7-9, the brothers strenuously deny their guilt.

They offer arguments for their trustworthiness in verse 8.

They say, look if we were going to steal a cup from your household, why would we have brought the money in the sacks back to Egypt and given it to you? It doesn't make sense.

We have already shown that we are honest men.

Their consciences were clear and so they argued very strenuously.

In fact, they went on to ask for, to appeal for the most strenuous punishment against the guilt of anyone who was found. Indeed, they said, kill the one who has done this, and the rest of us will be slaves. That is how confident they were in their own innocence.

The steward responds to them in verse 10, laying a trap for their hearts, testing their hearts. He says to them, “Oh no. Though you have proposed that the guilty man be killed, and the rest of you enslaved. All I am asking for is for the guilty man to be enslaved. The rest of you, you may go free.”

And so by that statement, they are tested in their concern for their brother, and in their love for their father.

Will they look out for their own skins, or will they be loyal to Benjamin? Will they care about their father, or will they forsake Benjamin, protect themselves and go back home with the dreadful news?

And so the search commences in verses 11 and 12. And Benjamin is the last one searched. You can imagine the tension building as sack after sack after sack is opened, and their search from oldest to youngest again, just like they had been seated at the table and suddenly the sack is opened and there they find the cup.

And the men, it is very clear from what Judah will say in verse 16, immediately they recognized that the hand of providence had struck. They forget all the temporal aspects of this. You see no protestation that it is a set up. You see no protestation of their innocence. Immediately they recognize that God has laid His finger on them. They tear their clothes. They show, they display their broken heartedness, and their repentance.

CHURCH… there is a reality within this Christian walk that we must understand… that God has the right in His sovereignty to allow the placing of cups in our sacks.

To see how we react,

to see how we respond,

to see how we either begin to seek after our own understanding or to seek after His understanding…

Ultimately, the cups being placed within our sacks, though at the time may be confusing to us, though at the time may mean pain, difficulty, uncertainty… it is always for ultimately for the good of God’s chosen people.

Reaching hearts,

Revealing our sin

Guiding His people to repentance

Here are a few examples:

Exodus 20:20a—“Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you.”Job 23:10—“He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.”Psalm 66:10—“You, O God, have tested us.”

Why does God test His people? So He can know them! This is made clear in the Old Testament by understanding two Hebrew words. Nacah is the Hebrew word for “tested” or “proved,” and it means, “To test, try, prove, tempt, assay.” Yada is the Hebrew word for “know,” and it means, “to know,” but, like ginōskō, it describes intimate knowledge: “Adam knew (yada) his wife, and she conceived and bore a son” (Genesis 4:1). David used both words when asking God to “test” him to “know” his heart:

Psalm 26:2—“Examine me, O LORD, and prove (nacah) me; Try my mind and my heart.”Psalm 139:23–24—“Search me, O God, and know (yada) my heart; Try me…see if there is any wicked way in me.”

When God tests people, it is not to imply He did not already “know” them. Nacah is also translated as “prove,” because when God tests us with trials, He is proving what is in our hearts:

Fawcett, John. Christ Precious to Those Who Believe. Bottom of the Hill Publishing, 2013, p165.Losses and disappointments are the trials of our faith, our patience, and our obedience. When we are in the midst of prosperity, it is difficult to know whether we have a love for God or only for His blessings. It is in the midst of trials that our faith is put to the test.

Consider these accounts that reveal God’s testing through trials:

God Tested Israel

Moses could not go with Israel into the Promised Land. Deuteronomy contains his final words to the people he loved and led for forty years. In chapter 8, he discussed the difficult time of testing in the wilderness and why God put Israel through it: “You shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test (nacah) you, to know (yada) what was in your heart” (Deuteronomy 8:2). God tested Israel in the wilderness to know them.

Fast-forward to Israel entering the Promised Land. God left the enemies in Canaan. Why? Again, God wanted to test Israel to know them: “[The Canaanites] were left, that [God] might test (nacah) Israel [by them] to know (yada) whether they would obey [His] commandments” (Judges 3:4). God tested the Israelites to know (or prove) whether they would obey Him.

God Tested Hezekiah

Hezekiah was one of the greatest kings in the Old Testament, but he failed when Babylon sent messengers to visit him. This evil nation was the superpower of the day and Hezekiah pridefully wanted to impress them; therefore, he showed them his nation’s wealth. Second Chronicles 32:31 gives spiritual insight into what took place: “Regarding the ambassadors [from] Babylon…God withdrew from [Hezekiah], in order to test (nacah) him, that He might know (yada) all that was in his heart.” God tested Hezekiah to know (or prove) what was in his heart.

God Tested Abraham

People struggle with God’s command for Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. How could God want a father to sacrifice his own son? God did not want Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. We know that because He stopped it from happening. In Genesis 22:11–12a, the Angel of the LORD said, “Abraham, Abraham! Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him.” The repetition of Abraham’s name shows the urgency with which God prevented it, and not only was Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac, he was not to “do anything to him.”

If God did not want Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, why did He ask him to do it? The answer is revealed at the beginning of the account: “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested (nacah) Abraham” (Genesis 22:1). This was always only a test. It was never about Abraham sacrificing Isaac. It was only about whether Abraham would sacrifice Isaac.

This is probably the most fitting picture of a test in all of Scripture. Scholars take notice of the first time God uses a word. It is called “The Principle of First Mention,” and the idea is when a word occurs for the first time it reveals the truest meaning. Genesis 22:1 is the first time God uses the word nacah. There were more painful tests—such as what Job experienced—but as far as having faith tested, it is hard to imagine anything tougher than Abraham’s experience. He is the “Father of Faith” (Romans 4:11–18) and fittingly He faced the premier test of faith. After he passed, God said, “Now I know (yada) that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:12b). God knew the courageous man who dared to pick up the knife would not have hesitated to perform the sacrifice.

The account might look foreign to us because God would never command us to sacrifice a child. There is a relationship though—God tested (nacah) Abraham to know (yada) him, and God tests us to know us. When Abraham’s faith withstood the test, the Angel said it revealed his fear of God. When our faith withstands tests as James 1:3 and 1 Peter 1:3 describe, it reveals our fear of God, which is “the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10).

Broken Repentance & Loyalty Before Joseph. (Vv. 14-34

Genesis 44:14–34 ESV

14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell before him to the ground. 15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?” 16 And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.” 17 But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.” 18 Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ 21 Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23 Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’ 24 “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’ 30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

When the brothers once again find themselves before Egypt’s second-in-command, they fall down before him in yet another fulfillment of his dream (37:5–11).

After only a question or two from him, they collectively declare their guilt.

Thus, they do not accept the steward’s decision to punish only Benjamin. Rather, together they declare themselves to be Joseph’s “slaves” (44:16).

Joseph, however, insists he will only punish the supposedly guilty party, Rachel’s only remaining son, and send the rest of them back to their “father” (v. 17).

Before, Joseph was thrust into slavery because of the actions of these brothers; now, Benjamin will become a slave if the brothers choose to abandon him.

Joseph’s telling the brothers that they can go in “peace” (shalom) is ironic in that there will be no peace in the tents of Jacob’s family if Benjamin is left behind (v. 17).

In Matthew 4 Jesus goes into the wilderness after his baptism and is tempted by Satan three times. The third temptation has the same offer as that made to Joseph’s brothers (Matt 4:8): Jesus could have peace (all the kingdoms of the world) through slavery (bowing down to worship Satan). However, both Judah and Jesus reject the offer.

To his credit, Judah speaks up on behalf of his family throughout this scene. Woven into his response are threads of a pattern of [confession and repentance ]consistent with what God calls Christians to do when we are wrestling with sin in our lives.

**Now, we must recognize that Judah is neither a hero nor a villain.

1. First, Judah owns their most glaring sin by saying that Benjamin’s only full-blooded brother “is dead” (v. 20). Though he doesn’t elaborate on this, he acknowledges the one he has sinned against, having no idea that he is speaking to that very person. Moreover, his words in verse 16 admit they have no justification for their sin: “What can we say to my lord?… How can we justify ourselves?” (v. 16). Though innocent in the matter of the cup, they are guilty of other crimes and have no credible defense before Joseph. [Owning our sin is the first step in repentance.] “How can we justify ourselves?” is a question every sinner must confront in his or her own heart. Repentant Christians recognize that there is no place for defending or justifying themselves amid sin.

2. Second, Judah acknowledges God’s role in revealing secret sin. He says, “God has exposed your servants’ iniquity” (v. 16; cf. Num 32:23). Similarly, Christians must recognize the Holy Spirit’s role in exposing and convicting us of sin as we seek forgiveness (John 16:8)

John 16:8 ESV

8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

The kindness of the Lord brings us to repentance by exposing our iniquity (Rom 2:4)

Romans 2:4 ESV

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

3. Third, Judah surrenders to the authority of the master when he declares he and his brothers are now Joseph’s “slaves” (Gen 44:16).

Christians must recognize that everyone who seeks repentance must come to the same point of surrender. Though they have turned away from their heavenly Father by seeking the forbidden fruit of sin, their only hope of forgiveness is to surrender to his mercy. Just as Judah declares they are now slaves of Joseph, the believer must declare through action that he or she is no longer a slave of sin but a slave of righteousness (Rom 6:17–18)

Romans 6:17–18 ESV

17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

4. Judah makes a final appeal, in what is one of the longest speeches in Genesis (vv. 18–34). After pleading with Joseph not to be angry (v. 18), Judah tells Joseph all that has transpired since they left Egypt the first time.

Judah recounts that “the boy’s brother is dead” to him, not realizing that Joseph is in fact alive and listening to him (v. 20).

The story focuses on Jacob’s reluctance to allow Benjamin to come and his eventual acquiescence to Judah’s pleas. Judah knows that if he returns without Benjamin, Jacob will be devastated and will die because “his life is wrapped up with the boy’s life” (v. 30). After telling Joseph what Benjamin’s enslavement will mean for Jacob, Judah attempts to personally take responsibility for Benjamin’s apparent stealing of the cup. Judah states that he is “accountable to [his] father for the boy,” which of course is true (cf. 43:9). He also humbly acknowledges the shame that his sin will carry if he returns without Benjamin: “I will always bear the guilt for sinning against [Jacob]” (44:32). Judah sees his personal responsibility for sin in the same way we all should. Each of us bears the guilt for our sin. Our sin is not an abstract issue but a personal affront to our heavenly Father. Judah’s solution to the mess is to ask Joseph if he can take Benjamin’s place (v. 33). He offers himself as a substitute to suffer for Benjamin’s sin. Joseph responds to Judah’s pleading with the determination to punish only the guilty rather than the entire group. This is the first instance in the Bible of a human serving as a substitute. Readers must not miss the typological significance of this event. Judah offering himself as a substitute for Benjamin points ahead to the coming Messiah from the line of Judah. Only Jesus doesn’t just offer up his freedom but actually offers his own life. Nevertheless, both men trade freedom for the sake of restoring brothers for the sake of pleasing a father. Jesus becomes our substitute both to set us free from slavery to sin and to reconcile us to our heavenly Father (cf. John 15:13; 2 Cor 5:21).