Genesis 42:15

Joseph had no thought of vengeance; nor would he go to law or trust the legal process. With grace in his heart, he does not spare lessons that will profit the conscience of the guilty. So he speaks like the governor of Egypt, which he truly was. He makes himself a stranger to them for one purpose only: their real good.

When they asked to buy food, he accused them of being spies. This was not true, but Joseph was trying to stir their hearts about their past dishonesty. They protest that they are true men, the sons of one man. They must later be brought to confess that they have not been true.

He must get their conscience working, whatever it costs him in personal feeling. His love, for the present, must be firm; its hour for melting and tenderness lies ahead. It will be satisfied by and by; for now it must serve.

The men, however, were speaking the truth as far as they knew it. Their confession gave a good opportunity to put them to the test. Benjamin was a son of Rachel, as Joseph himself was, and therefore specially loved by Jacob. He would demand that they bring Benjamin from his father's side. Until they produced him, one of them would stay behind as a hostage. How would the brothers react to that?

In all this it is plain how everything turns on Benjamin and their attitude toward him. This is made the test of their condition. But only Joseph holds the power to set them free. And everything they go through over Benjamin works to wake up their conscience and their heart about their sin against Joseph.

They say they are twelve brothers. The youngest is with their father. Then, meaning Joseph himself, they say, "And one is not." The cord is pulled a little tighter. Unless they change and bring their youngest brother, they will not leave. Instead of grain, they are all put into prison. And so God sometimes seems rough with the awakened soul. Instead of giving salvation, the anxious one finds himself in Joseph's prison. But on the third day — for resurrection is the only door out of Joseph's prison — "Do this and you will live," says Joseph.

As they were all guilty, which no one on earth knew so well as Joseph, he committed them all to custody. But underneath the governor's frown lay compassion for them all. On the good witness of the third day, he proposed that only one should stay in prison. The rest were to go back to the comfort of their families, carrying the food he supplied them free of charge — though they never suspected it. But there was one condition, which had to be laid down for their sakes as much as his: "Bring your youngest brother to me." No doubt such a word sent a pang into their hearts, for they knew well what Benjamin was to his father and to them in the difficulties they now faced. They had sinned against their father, and above all about one brother — the brother they were sure was dead, who was the very lord now standing in front of them.