Joseph, being a man of God, and also highly favored by Him, also did things that was not right in His sight. One thing was planting a silver cup in his younger brothers sack, in order to cause him to be captured. He did this in order to make his brothers feel terrible inside in the same way he felt when he was sold into Egypt. This is how that went down, which you will see it is very wrong. It is written, “and he commanded 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 his sack’s mouth. And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses. And when they were gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?” (Genesis 44:1-4) Joseph lied and also had his men lie about the cup also, which I pray that he repented of later. These same men went along with Joseph’s trickery and told his brothers that cup was in one of their sacks.
You can just imagine the reaction Joseph’s brothers had when they were told that Joseph’s cup was in one of their sacks. This story reads, “Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing. And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words. And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing: Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord’s house silver or gold? With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen.” (Genesis 44:5-9) And as you will read later, the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. After this was known, Joseph’s brothers pleaded for Joseph’s men not to take Benjamin, for it would cause Jacob to have a heart ache and die. It is very sad that it had to come down to this trickery by Joseph. He could have already forgiven them, but instead he wanted to still get back at them. Thankfully, later on he does forgive them. We are to also not hold grudges and to not cause evil upon those in our family. Amen.
Let us pray:
Oh Lord, help us learn to forgive. Many things are to hard to get over, especially when someone purposely hurts us, and so we build up walls and hold different grudges. This is very sad, but all so true. I know how easy this can happen with me and people in my family. Although I have forgiven my sister and my other family members for saying I have I have a mental disability, being around them now is still difficult. They say these things because of how bold I am in sharing Your gospel message with people. They see it as pushy and that I must have some sort of mental issue for doing it. If they just knew that I tell people about You because of my great love for You and them. You have raised me up from death to life and I am so grateful. You have blessed my life like no other and placed me in the beloved. I wish that people could see the relationship we have made together. Then, they would want to know more and stop coitizing me for being Your witness on earth. As for my life, I will never stop telling people about You, Jesus, even until my last breath. I love You more than all things. Persecution will come, and in the same way, I will forgive these people for what they are doing. I trust in You, Lord. Amen.
