“And he said, “Now also let it be according to your words; (I recognise here a peculiar turn of phrase I recall from the young Mary’s exchange with the angel upon hearing that she is to bear the Lord Jesus in her womb: these are the words of a humble servant accepting the words of a higher authority in humility, for there is undoubtedly a sense in which every True Citizen of Heaven, both Old Covenant and New, carries in himself a Godly Authority that the humble are wise enough to recognise and respond to instinctively, even sadly when said authority is misapplied in haste and / or ignorance as is the case here) he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless.” (Thankfully, the steward in his wisdom and more objective perspective is already reducing the ‘self-imposed sentence’ so hastily proposed by the brothers in their defensiveness. Little does he know that he is also being led by the Spirit of God to remedy the folly of his master Joseph, keeping him from being overwhelmed with sorrow [also see Philippians 2:27] for so foolishly placing his beloved Benjamin in such a precarious situation – even the threat of death. At least now the other brothers might be freed to feed Jacob and the extended family and Benjamin is merely threatened with enslavement, and that at least in close proximity to Joseph. How deeply grateful we as the True Children of God can be when our loving Father intervenes on our behalf! Oh for woe is me if we had to face the consequences of our ignorance to the full measure, even more so inasmuch as it threatens the ones that we love! I myself have been exceedingly humbled by the Lord’s loving intervention concerning some poor decisions I myself have made whilst my dad was ill and in hospital – see ‘Daily Journal – 10 July 2021’.) Then each man speedily (notice the words ‘speedily’ again indicating defensiveness and insecurity; having been under the tutelage of Joseph so much so that he is able to act as his proxy, the steward always struck me as a reasonable-, even gentle man so it is doubtful that he intimidated them to “jump at his command” as a possible alternative explanation for their haste) let down his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack. (Because items have been found in the sacks apart from the previous knowledge of the brothers before, I can also imagine that they are hurriedly eager to find themselves declared blameless. I am definitely speculating here – as I cannot speak to the level of trust and unity amongst the brothers in absolute terms – but there might also be a degree of suspicion amongst them, questioning if perhaps one of them did perhaps take something on either occasion. My hope rather is that the law of Love that guards against stealing was so ingrained in the Hebrew People of God of old that such an act would be unthinkable and consequently not even occur to any of them. Sadly, knowing human beings in general and the continued assault of the enemy to prompt us to distrust and turn on one another, I doubt this to be the case.) So he searched. (Other little details I find fascinating to observe in the Scriptures is such as these: that the steward, holding quite a high rank in the palace, stoops low and humbly does the gruntwork i.e. sifting through the contents of many large bags of grain himself. One might argue that the principle of proxy has already been precisely illustrated in the Scriptures and consequently it is possible that “so he searched” might be understood to mean “those in his command searched on his behalf”, but I once again doubt this to be the case. I would dare to presume that, knowing deep down that what he is doing is outside of God’s will, Joseph sent only one individual – his right-hand man whom he trusts most – on this clandestine operation, hoping to obscure as much of his disobedience from the eyes of those who might wisely counsel him otherwise, if only in expression or gesture, therein hoping to veil his actions even from himself all the more successfully. A final argument one could pose is that the steward didn’t have much of a choice, for he cannot allow the brothers to leave or hide the stolen object without first being searched, nor is there anyone else there to conduct it, which does make some measure of sense, but I do hold fast to the impression given me initially throughout, namely that, in this particular steward, we have a man who is loyal, humble and hungry to learn from The True People of God – deeply desiring the Fruit and Relationship with The One True God that he sees in the life of his master Joseph. I am convinced that just as with countless others throughout the Scriptures – think Abraham’s servant tasked to find a wife for Isaac, Esther’s Hegai or the Babylonian servant who kindly assisted Daniel and his friends – there are gentile individuals drawn by God the Father Himself [John 6:44], it being granted them [John 6:65] to come to salvation as they humbly serve His People for His Purposes, and in so doing become True Christ-abiding, Fruit-Bearing Children of God themselves.) He began with the oldest and left off [literally: “finished with”] with the youngest; (again we see the Hebrew custom of honour according to birth taught by Joseph and upheld by his steward in play in this methodical, organised application; I also cannot help but chuckle a little, knowing the apprehension of the brothers, their desperation for the relief of being absolved of all guilt and the imminent “Murphy’s law” principle that is simultaneously coming into play as the offending object is found in the very last sack searched)  and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. (As we unfortunately knew it would.) Then they tore their clothes, (here we can also see an age-old Hebrew expression of grief-stricken despair woven throughout the Scriptures, predating even the giving of The Law in its official capacity, namely, tearing one’s clothes) and each man loaded his donkey (the donkeys! 🐴☺) and returned to the city (and so Joseph’s dear elderly father Jacob continues to go hungry that while longer, the first tangible consequence of Joseph’s folly now coming to pass; thankfully our Romans 8:28 God is yet always in control and most assuredly the more time passes, the more Jacob’s Faith muscles are developed; endurance and perseverance in the Lord always being key elements developed in the True Child of God as a matter of priority to Him; let us also not forget that journeys oftentimes took days to complete, there were no phones and a letter cannot arrive much faster than the inevitable trek itself, so waiting on God in absolute uncertainty without the consolation of any measure of reassurance or felt control over a situation, becomes the nature of the trial in its totality – yet another valuable lesson for me personally as I am writing this in facing my own trial of being far from the hospital into which my own beloved father has been admitted and unable to visit him there due to covid-related restrictions, and yet I have many modern means of communication at my disposal: oh how pampered is modern man in all these devices of his own strength’s making that lead him only unto wretched independence of His Maker 🤦🏻‍♀️!).”

“¹⁰And he said, “Now also let it be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless.” ¹¹Then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack. ¹²So he searched. He began with the oldest and left off with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.”

– Genesis 44:10-13 (NKJV)