John 3:12.

“When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, (there is a subtle, even subconsciously territorial allusion made here – a manifestation in the spiritual if not deliberate in the natural – indicating that Joseph wishes to distance himself in conscience from this questionable plan that he has devised, and yet, at the same time, he cannot help but persist in acting upon it, succumbing to the temptation to allow his elderly father and extended family to continue in abject starvation that while longer for the sake of retaining a measure of felt control over the brothers – most especially in keeping his dear Benjamin in close proximity to himself – outside of- and apart from the revealed Will of God; refusing to yield to the childlike Trust, if objective uncertainty, that submitting to Him always inevitably requires) Joseph said to his steward, (we also cannot help but notice how Men of God in positions of power furthermore feebly like to attempt to distance themselves from responsibility or accountability or burden of conscience when devising an ill-advised plan outside of the Will of God by delegating to their subjects; think for example also of King David when he [not so] inadvertently ordered poor Uriah’s death) “Get up, (notice the deliberate action by proxy implied in these words) follow the men;  (deliberately continue in their exact stead) and when you overtake them, (the inevitability of the success of what is essentially here phrased as an ambush, is secured by the fact that the steward is not weighed down by the cargo of grain and has the most sophisticated means of travel at his disposal, having the full backing of the palace; once again, so exacting is his acting on behalf of Joseph that from the outside it is evident for all to see that Joseph just as well could’ve taken these actions himself, even if he personally endeavours to continue in denial of said actions that little while longer) say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? (The reason why this plan is especially crafty [Genesis 3:1] is because it relies upon a prior sense of assumed guilt already firmly sowed, watered and brought to fruition in the hearts of the brothers, a guilt confirmed by their expressing it in so many words at the door to the palace to the steward but a day earlier. Let us consider what is taking place here from the enemy’s perspective: the enemy is of the opinion that he has now laid sufficient groundwork in the inner workings of the hearts and minds of the brothers, for: 1.) their relief at having been wrong the first time is yet too infant to bring forth enduring Trust, 2.) the promise of true favour is still too seemingly incomprehensible in their minds to have been established with any strength of conviction, and 3.) the age old festering guilt of the unconfessed sin [James 5:16] of their youth is yet too powerfully and deeply ingrained to overturn easily. This, together with the fact that he has effectively tempted Joseph into acting deceitfully and in his own strength, he must believe that he cannot fail in his attempts at destroying the Fathers of The Tribes of Israel and potentially even the Genetic Line of the Lord Jesus Himself, though I highly doubt he possesses such far-reaching knowledge, save for a vague suspicion based upon past experience that THE ONLY TRUE GOD is busy doing “something special” here. Furthermore, what makes this question posed to the brothers even more horrifying in all its gaslighting ugliness, is that it presumes upon an exceedingly important statute of God’s Perfect Law, namely not to repay Good with evil: we see here yet another age-old Pharisaical tactic – as we’ve since come to see and recognise it in the Light of our Lord Jesus’s time on earth – namely that of self-righteously utilising the very things of God to induce shame and guilt and remove the True Promises of Forgiveness and Absolution, of Grace and of Mercy, as far as possible from the mind of the one being accused; not so coincidentally, essentially by the Accuser, the devil, himself.) Is not this the one from which my lord drinks, and with which he indeed practices divination?  (After the initial shock of this phrase wears off, it becomes rather interesting upon closer examination: what with the undeniable significance of the symbolism of “The Lord’s Cup” beautifully woven throughout the Scriptures, it would be unthinkable not to ascribe to this vessel its inherently deep-seated  spiritual qualities. Let us not forget that the steward is not acting or speaking upon his own authority but is acting wholly as the exact proxy of Joseph, so much so that for all intents and purposes it might’ve just as well been Joseph himself speaking. We cannot therefore  interpret this phrase as an Egyptian steward misinterpreting the spiritual significance of a deeply symbolic object through the lens of his own pagan roots. No, this is Joseph himself rather hoping to veil his own Hebraic roots by “translating” its spiritual significance into Egyptian terms. What he succeeds in doing is sadly precisely the opposite however, for he is not doing so according to a pragmatic concession allowed for according to the Will of God as has been the case before and also for example in the life of Queen Esther as extrapolated upon earlier, no, he is doing so whilst under the influence of the enemy, having succumbed to temptation, in his own strength and outside of the Will of God: the irony therefore lies therein that in his defining the cup as an object of divination he is in fact describing it arightly – almost as a type of self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts – for that is exactly what he has made of it by using it to entrap and deceive in partnering with enemy forces!) You have done evil in so doing.'” (Again we see the Pharisaical war tactic inducing guilt and shame accusatorily being used, only now we detect yet another dark consequence inevitably associated with deception as a part of the “confusion and every evil thing that is found where self-seeking exists” according to James 3, namely projection – for it is of course our Joseph who has done the evil thing here 😔.) So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words (i.e. sadly, precisely because of the anointing and great Godly authority Joseph carries in the spiritual – but also of course more practically in the natural through a succession of blessed promotions over time – it happens precisely as he has decreed it).”

“⁴When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? ⁵Is not this the one from which my lord drinks, and with which he indeed practices divination? You have done evil in so doing. ‘ “

⁶So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words.”

– Genesis 44:4-6 (NKJV)