Genesis 44:17

Joseph for a moment pretends that all this is nothing to him. This may be their business, if they like, but Benjamin was his. Benjamin is the guilty one, as far as the great man in Egypt is concerned. He must remain, and the rest may take themselves home as fast as they please. What could exceed this? Did Solomon's wisdom in settling the case between the two women exceed it? He sat in the place of judgment and found out the heart of a mother. Does not Joseph here, in the same wisdom from God, find out the heart of his brothers? The heart is indeed laid open.

Benjamin stands in the place that once was Joseph's — the youngest and best-loved son of his father. Benjamin shall pass into bondage, as once Joseph filled the place of a slave. The ten brothers are perfectly free, as once before, to return to their father in peace. What will they do in these circumstances? Will they again act as in the days of old in the fields of Dothan? Will they abandon their brother to slavery knowing him to be innocent?

This place, this moment, was the field of Dothan again. They were returning, in spirit, to the place where they committed their whole offence. In the field of Dothan, in Genesis 37, they had to answer one question. Would they sacrifice their innocent brother Joseph to their lusts, their envy, and their malice? Here the lord of Egypt claims Benjamin as a captive because of the cup found in his sack. He claims him as one who has forfeited life and liberty. In the same way the question comes to them: would they sacrifice him, and go on home, easy and careless and satisfied?

The moral government of God required a still deeper searching of the brothers. Joseph is His instrument, and he devises a still more trying test. It was meant to carry self-judgment to the uttermost, and also to prove that their love for their father and their brother was now sound and strong — after their deep guilt toward both long before. Love joined righteousness in working for their best good.

Severe as the trial was, love dictated it in the fear of God. Yet we may feel that the way he went about it was in no way what the New Testament would suggest to the Christian… Joseph acted according to his measure, weakened no doubt by the Egyptian life that surrounded him. Scripture tells us the facts as they were, without approval or apology.

The last words of Judah to Joseph are refreshing in the way they reach the root of the whole matter. He asks Joseph to let him take the place of Benjamin as a slave, and to let Benjamin return to his father (v. 33). What a contrast to the way Judah had before treated his younger brother Joseph! This was the end Joseph had been seeking. He wanted to see in Judah a genuine repentance, one willing to suffer as he had made his brother suffer.

In Genesis 42 to 44, Joseph's brothers foreshadow the twelve tribes of Israel, Judah included. They picture Israel's future restoration, when they will be led to accept the rejected but true Joseph. Their story also brings to light certain principles about the work of restoration and about true repentance.