Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.
They tore their clothes because the silver cup had turned up in Benjamin's sack. The ten men were free to ride home. Instead they reloaded every donkey and went back to the man who could enslave them. That choice is the hinge of the whole story.
The search that ended at the youngest
The steward searched the sacks one by one. Each empty sack lifted the brothers' hopes — until he reached Benjamin's.
G C WillisWhile he hunted and could not find the cup they were happy, but when they saw him find the silver cup in Benjamin's sack, how did they feel? They tore their clothes, they were so sad! Twenty years before they had sold their little brother for a slave, but now what? Will they turn away and leave Benjamin to be a slave, and go home again? We see how wise and kind Joseph was; he used the same thing to make them remember... God had worked in the hearts of these ten men, so now they would not let their brother be a slave.
Dothan all over again
Benjamin now stood where Joseph once stood. He was the favourite young son heading for slavery, and his ten older brothers had a clear road home.
Hamilton SmithBenjamin stands in the place that once had been Joseph's — the youngest and best-loved son of his father. Benjamin will go into slavery, as Joseph once filled the place of a slave. The ten brothers are completely free, as they were before, to return to their father in peace. What will they do in these circumstances? Will they act again as they did long ago in the fields of Dothan? Will they abandon their brother to slavery knowing him to be innocent?
Their loaded donkeys answered the question. Dothan was the field where they had seized Joseph and sold him; this moment brought them back to it in spirit.
J. G. BellettThis place, this moment, was the field of Dothan again. They were returning, in spirit, to the place where all their offence was committed... Here Benjamin is claimed as a captive, because the cup was found in his sack. He is claimed as one who has forfeited his life and his freedom to the ruler of Egypt. In the same way the question is put to them: will they sacrifice him, and go on their way home, at ease, unconcerned and satisfied?
Torn clothes and a road back
The direction of their travel says more than their grief does. They turned around, and walked straight into the dreams they had once hated Joseph for.
William KellyTo repay the governor's kindness with such an evil as stealing his cup filled the brothers with anguish — all the more because the cup was found with Benjamin. No wonder they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city heartbroken. And now more than ever they paid Joseph the fullest homage fulfilling his dreams without knowing it, as they fell before him on the ground.
Innocent of the cup, guilty of a brother
Not one of them had touched the cup. Yet they make no protest about the charge. They confess something else instead.
J. G. BellettThey were innocent, indeed, when it came to the cup. But this is nothing to their consciences, and nothing on Judah's lips. Conviction loses sight of everything but sin. Its own offence is all it looks at... They had once hidden their guilt under the lie they sent to their father. Now they are willing to hide their innocence about the cup under the confession they make to Joseph.
But torn clothes on their own prove nothing. Grief over being caught is not the same as a changed mind.
C StanleyThere was, no doubt, a great change in them from that day when Joseph was cast into the pit. A person may feel any amount of anguish, sorrow and remorse, as Judas Iscariot did. There may still be no true conversion and no true change of mind.
Why Joseph put them through it
The pressure had a purpose. It ended at the point where Judah offered himself in Benjamin's place.
C E StuartThey are accused of stealing the cup, though they are not guilty of it. They declare that they are willing for the guilty one to die... They are horror-stricken when the search finds the cup in Benjamin's sack. All turned back to Egypt, and now Judah, to save Benjamin, volunteers to be the slave in his place. He faces the very doom he had forced on Joseph. Once he reached that point, relief came.
Summary
- Planted. Joseph had the cup hidden in Benjamin's sack. It was a test to make his brothers remember, not a trap to destroy them.
- Repeated. Benjamin now fills Joseph's old place. He is the loved youngest son bound for slavery, and the other ten are free to walk away.
- Reversed. Torn clothes could be mere remorse. The reloaded donkeys and the road back to the city mark the real change of heart.
- Redirected. Under conviction they never argue about the cup. Sin blots out everything else, and they confess old guilt instead of present innocence.
- Released. Judah offers to take the slave's place, and relief comes at once. The test ends the moment repentance is real.