Look at these men as the steward begins to search their sacks. Study their faces. Here is Judah, proud of his integrity. Here are Reuben and Levi, confident that their word will again be vindicated. See their confidence grow as the bundles are systematically opened beginning with the sack of the oldest. Reuben did not take the prime minister’s cup. Simeon does not have it. Levi and Judah are guiltless. So are Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher, Issachar and Zebulun. At last the steward comes to the sack of Benjamin. Who is worried now? Nobody! Benjamin of all persons is unlikely to be guilty of wrongdoing; he was not even in on the plot to sell Joseph. The sack is opened. The grain is sifted. Suddenly the bright Egyptian sun flashes on a metallic object. What? Is there something of silver in the sack? Slowly the steward draws forth the special cup.
Alas! The cup!
How did it get there? No matter! The cup is there in spite of all the men’s protestations. Who is guilty? Benjamin? Someone else who had hidden the stolen object in the baggage of the least suspicious person? No matter again! The truth is that they were all guilty of a far more blameworthy sin, and it was that sin which God was now uncovering and for which He was exacting vengeance.
This is stated in a strange way in the story. After the brothers tear their clothes in grief and consternation and return together to Egypt, Judah says to Joseph, ‘What can we say to my lord? …How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt” (v. 16). What a strange combination: “Our innocence, [our] guilt!” How can both properly be uttered in one sentence? The answer, of course, is that the words accurately and poignantly describe the situation. Innocent of the theft of Joseph’s cup, they were. But they were also deeply, irrevocably, damnably guilty of the dreadful sin of having sold their brother into slavery. This had now been brought forcefully to light.
This is what must happen to you if you are to be forgiven your sin and brought to salvation through the work of Jesus Christ. Apart from God’s persistent proving of our consciences we are as these brothers before the exposure of their sin. We are guilty of a great sin against God and against our elder brother, Jesus Christ. God is our Creator, and Jesus is our rightful master and Lord. But we have despised their claims and have gone about our lives self-confidently, priding ourselves in our supposed self-righteousness.
Jesus stands ready not only to expose but to forgive, not only to condemn but to cleanse and restore to useful service.
