The cup in Benjamin's sack
1 He commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in his sack’s mouth. 2 Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, with his grain money.” He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. 3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. 4 When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good? 5 Isn’t this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.’” 6 He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them. 7 They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing! 8 Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord’s house? 9 With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.” 10 He said, “Now also let it be according to your words. He with whom it is found will be my slave; and you will be blameless.” 11 Then they hurried, and each man took his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 He searched, beginning with the oldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city. 14 Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Don’t you know that such a man as I can indeed do divination?” 16 Judah said, “What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? How will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and he also in whose hand the cup is found.” 17 He said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”
A planted cup gives the brothers the chance to walk away free and leave Rachel's favored son in slavery — exactly as they did once before.
The final test is set with care. Every man's money goes back in his sack again, and the silver cup goes into Benjamin's.
What the arrangement produces is not a trap so much as an opportunity, and it recreates the original crime with precision. The favored son of Rachel is about to be lost to slavery in Egypt. The other ten are free to go home. Their father will be told something. Nobody will ever be able to prove anything against them.
It is the situation of chapter thirty-seven with the names changed, and Joseph has built it so that they can take the same way out a second time if they want it.
The steward's accusation includes a detail worth noting: the cup is the one by which his lord indeed divines. Joseph will repeat the claim himself. Whether he actually practiced divination is not something the text asserts anywhere — he has said three times that interpretation belongs to God — and the likeliest reading is that a man playing an Egyptian official is using the props of one. It is part of the disguise, and it is also how he explains knowing things he should not know.
The brothers' confidence is total and it is the confidence of the innocent: Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing! Their argument is good — men who carried silver back from Canaan are not thieves — and they offer terms no guilty party would offer: With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's slaves.
The steward immediately softens it in a way that sharpens the test: He with whom it is found will be my slave; and you will be blameless. One man, and the rest go free. That is the offer.
The search is drawn out deliberately — beginning with the oldest, and ending at the youngest — nine sacks opened and cleared while the relief grows, and then the last one.
Then they tore their clothes. The gesture is grief, and it is the first thing to notice. Nobody says a word about Benjamin's guilt or innocence. And the second thing is what they do next: each man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city. All of them. They were told they could go home blameless, and every one of them turns around.
That is the answer to the test, and it is given before anybody makes a speech.
Judah speaks for them, and his words are not a defense: What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? How will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants.
He is not talking about a cup. They did not take it and he knows it. What he is confessing is an old iniquity that has finally caught up with them, and he includes all ten — we are my lord's slaves, both we and he also in whose hand the cup is found. They will go into slavery together rather than let the youngest go alone.
And Joseph refuses, because the test is not finished: The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.
Go home in peace. Leave the boy. It is the last time they are offered the choice.
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