What kind of divination did Joseph do in Genesis 44:5, 15?

DIVINATION, qesem, 'prediction.' A remarkable passage in Ezek. 21:21-22 gives some instances of how the heathen divined. The king of Babylon had come to two roads, and wanting to know whether he should take the road to Rabbath or to Jerusalem, resorted to divination. First 'he shook his arrows' (as it should be translated). Doubtless two or more arrows were marked each with the name of one of the cities, and shaken in the quiver, whichever arrow was taken by the right hand decided which road was to be taken. Jerusalem fell to the right hand. Perhaps the king was doubtful, so he consulted with images, teraphim; it is not known how these were used for divination: cf. Zech. 10:2. The king still sought another guide: 'he looked in the liver.' By certain set rules the intestines of a sacrifice were said to be propitious or the reverse. The king using three sets of prognostications shows that he had no great confidence in his divinations: he may have been often deceived by them previously. How different from an answer from God vouchsafed to Israel!

Other means of divination are named, as, 'divining by the cup.' Gen. 44:5, 15. This was practised by the Egyptians and Persians and is thus described: small pieces of metal and stones, marked with signs were thrown into the cup, and answers gathered from the marks as they fell. Sometimes the cup was filled with water, and, as the sun fell upon the water, images were seen or fancied on its surface. Another reference is "My people ask counsel at their stocks and their staff declareth unto them." Hosea 4:12. The Arabs used two rods, on one of which was written God bids, and on the other God forbids, these were shaken together, and the first that fell, or was drawn, was taken for the answer; or one rod was thrown up and the direction in which it pointed when it fell was answer. It will be seen here that a 'stock' or god was invoked that what the staff declared should be controlled by him. So in all divination, incantations were used, and the gods invoked to let the replies given be the most favourable. Behind all this we know there were demons who controlled the results given, so as to work out the purposes of Satan.

I come to “The Cup” (p. 63). Three Scriptures are taken up on which the reading is based: Genesis 45:5; Psalm 116:12-15; 1 Corinthians 11:25. He says: “There is little doubt that the divining cup referred to in Genesis 45 suggests the way in which the true Joseph discovers where the affections of His people are. It is the way in which He brings into evidence affections which are genuine, hence it is the divining cup.” In the first place, it would be hard to make me believe that Joseph used enchantments at all, and that is the thought here in divining. I have very little doubt that Joseph was hiding his true self from them by giving them the impression that he was versed in the enchantments of the Egyptians, and was none other than an Egyptian lord. But I have no pronounced opinion on the subject. In the second place, it was not used for the purpose of getting at the affections of his brethren, but as a means of getting at their consciences. In this way will the Lord deal with the nation of Israel when He takes them up again, and brings them to the acknowledgement of their guiltiness with regard to their rejection of Him.

Benjamin stands in the place that once had been Joseph's — the youngest and best-loved son of his father. Benjamin shall pass into bondage, as once Joseph had 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? They had acted thus with Joseph; will they do so with Benjamin? Will they return to Jacob to face his grief with some false story to account for the absence of Benjamin as once they had accounted for the loss of Joseph? Ah, no! grace has wrought in these men, repentance has done its work. Under the searching questions of Joseph the whole truth is confessed. Joseph can say, "What deed is this that ye have done?" "Wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly make trial?" (6-15, marg). And this is ever the way grace takes. Thus it was the Lord dealt with a sinful woman "near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph." "Go call thy husband" was only another way of saying, "What deed is this that ye have done?" and how truly He made Himself known to that guilty sinner as the One that can "certainly divine," for she said, "He told me all things that ever I did." And none can be happy and at home in the presence of the Lord of glory until such times as they have learnt that the Lord knows the very worst thing about them, and yet loves them.

"And he commanded [him] that [was] over (or, the steward of) his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food as much as they can carry; and put every man's money in the mouth of his sack. And put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his corn-money. And he did according to the word of Joseph which he had spoken. In the morning when it was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses. They were gone out of the city, not far off, when Joseph said to his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou overtakest them, say to them, Why have you rewarded evil for good? [Is] not this [it] in what my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? Ye have done evil [in] what ye have done. And he overtook them, and spoke to them these words. And they said to him, Wherefore speaketh my lord such words as these? Far be it from thy servants to do such a thing! Behold, the money which we found in our sacks' mouths we brought again to thee out of the land of Canaan; and how should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or gold? With whomsoever of thy servants it is found, let him die; and we also will be my lord's bondmen. And he said, Now also [be] it according to your words: he with whom it is found shall be my bondman, and ye shall be blameless. And they hasted and laid down every man his sack on the ground, and opened every man his sack. And he searched carefully; he began at the eldest, and left at the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they rent their clothes, and loaded every man his ass, and returned to the city. And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house; and he [was] yet there; and they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said to them, What deed [is] this which ye have done? Know ye not that such a man as I can indeed divine? And Judah said, What shall we say to my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we [are] my lord's bondmen, both we and [he] also in whose hand the cup is found. And he said, Far be it that I should do so! The man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my bondman; but as for you, go up in peace to your father" (vers. 1-17).

Severe as the trial was, love dictated it in the fear of God, though we may feel that the mode adopted was in no way what the N.T. would suggest to the Christian. Unfriendly eyes ignorantly misapply the light of Christ to such as had not that light as we have, to disparage the ancient scriptures, and set the one against the other. Joseph acted according to his measure, impaired no doubt by the Egyptian life which surrounded him; and scripture tells us the facts as they were, without sanction or apology. So it is even in the N.T. when the true light was already shining: the record is not a divine sanction. But the written word is always the truth of things, be it what it may; and this is what God alone gives; and it is what we need and can find nowhere else. And the steward knew well what his master intended.

The steward approved of their words, but was much more lenient in answering them. Of course Joseph had instructed him. He tells them that the guilty one would be kept as a slave to Joseph and the rest could go free. The search began at the eldest, finishing with the youngest, in whose sack the silver cup was found (v.12). What a shock to them all! What a traumatic experience for Benjamin who knew himself innocent!

The brothers knew they could not leave Benjamin and go home under these circumstances. Heavy-hearted they return to the city, where Joseph was still in his house. Again they bow down to him. Joseph asks them, "What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can practice divination?" (v.15).

The steward approved of their words, but was much more lenient in answering them. Of course Joseph had instructed him. He tells them that the guilty one would be kept as a slave to Joseph and the rest could go free, The search began at the eldest, finishing with the youngest, in whose sack the silver cup was found (v. 12). What a shock to them all! What a traumatic experience for Benjamin who knew himself innocent!

The brothers knew they could not leave Benjamin and go home under these circumstances. Heavy-hearted they return to the city, where Joseph was still in his house. Again they bow down to him. Joseph asks them, “What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can practice divination?” (v. 15).

His type Joseph was here to carry out the necessary probe for the clearance of all the past mischief, and the forming of a new heart and a new spirit in his brethren. It was for God's sake and their sakes, rather than his own, that there might be the reality and the evidence of a divine work in their conscience and heart. This dictated the cup in Benjamin's sack. No doubt the shock of its discovery there acutely troubled the brothers. But so it must be where sin of the deepest kind lay at the bottom of all; and this was but a means that it might be duly felt and judged. After all, the pain of the means employed was very brief (not more than a few hours compared with what Joseph drank so deeply for years), and the same day followed with forgiveness and joy and tender love.

But the next chapter takes us a step further. "And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house; for he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground" (Gen. 44:14). They had gone away and were on their way home, but Joseph's silver cup was in one of their sacks, so they had to come back. And Joseph was still waiting there. He was waiting for them, and Judah had a sort of feeling that they were discovered. Joseph says, "What deed is this that ye have done?" (Gen. 44:15); and Judah says, "How shall we clear ourselves?" Friend, are you anxious to clear yourself? Listen to me. Confess your sins. That is the necessity. To that point were Joseph's brethren brought, as they say, "God has found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord's servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found" (Gen. 44:16). Tell me, what iniquity was there in relation to the cup? None; but it served to rouse conscience. It brought up the twenty pieces of silver, and the wickedness of their history in days gone by. Well said the poet, "Conscience makes cowards of us all," and miserable was their state as they say to Joseph, "And let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh" (Gen. 44:18). But the truth must come out. And it is a great thing when the conscience is thus divinely reached.

As they are preparing the second time to return to Canaan with food for them and their households, Joseph's cup is put in Benjamin's sack — as we all know, for it is a favourite story — and they set out on their journey. But this, simple as it seems, is the crisis. Their own lips will now have to pronounce the verdict; for the question is now about to be put, whether they are as once they were, or whether a heart of flesh has been given to them. Will the sorrows of Benjamin move them, as the cries of Joseph once failed to do? Will the grief of the aged father at home plead with their heart, as once it did not? This place, this moment, was the field of Dothan again. They were returning, in spirit, to the place where all their offence was committed. In the field of Dothan, in Gen. 37, they had to say, Would they sacrifice their innocent brother Joseph to their lusts, their envy, and their malice? Here, when Benjamin is claimed as a captive because of the cup found in his sack — claimed as one who has forfeited life and liberty to the lord of Egypt — it is in like manner put to them to say whether they would sacrifice him, and return on their way home, easy and careless and satisfied.

The wisdom of Joseph is seen now in such a way as to lead his brothers to repentance without accusing them. He instructed his steward to fill the brothers' sacks with food and again restore their money to them in their sacks (v. 1). But as well as this he tells him to put his own (Joseph's) silver cup into the mouth of the sack of Benjamin. the next morning they were on their way, no doubt rejoicing that this time everything had gone so well.