Genesis 44:1–13 (ESV)

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, 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.

As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. 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? Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’”

When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! 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? Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my lord's servants.” 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.” Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

It’s now obvious that the steward is in on Joseph’s schemes. He conspires with Joseph to ratchet up the pressure on Joseph’s brothers. He puts the cup into Benjamin’s sack, then pretends to discover it. Next, he reduces the punishment, instead of going along with the brothers’ plan to execute the person who “stole” the cup.

This reduced punishment makes the scene match what the brothers did with Joseph many years ago. The brothers now face the prospect of telling their father that his favorite son is a slave. That was the story the last time, and they made up a lie that was worse than the truth. Now that option isn’t open to them, and they’re totally panicked.

They returned to the city, ripe for repentance.

Just as Joseph lays his brothers’ sin before their eyes, we all need to be confronted with our sin. It’s easy to come to a place where we pay lip service to our sin but think that we’ve advanced far enough that it’s no longer a crisis.

Oh, but it is—for you and for me—and for the rest of our lives. Like Joseph’s brothers, we need to have our eyes opened to our sin. We need newly repentant hearts. Ask the Lord for the courage to deal with the pain of admitting how bad we are. The truth is that we need a savior—not, we needed one.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. — 1 John 1:9 (ESV)

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NASB stands for the New American Standard Bible. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.