“And they said to him, “Why does my lord say these words? (Notice how the brothers too acknowledge in their reply that the steward is speaking wholly as Joseph’s proxy, as if it is Joseph himself speaking to them.) Far be it from us that your servants should do such a thing. (How lovely also to behold that once one has been publicly absolved, shown favour and assured of one’s innocence, one inevitably gains confidence and begins to view oneself in that affirmed light, for here we see the brothers boldly able to reiterate the words spoken unto them not that long ago by that selfsame steward, convinced of their own irreproachability & their identity as righteous effectively restored by his initial reassurance, even if only temporarily, as the wounds of their age-old as yet unconfessed guilt continues to fester in their subconscious – “behind the scenes” if you will. I also cannot help but chuckle at how quickly the flesh, the “pride of man” as it were, hastens to defend itself the moment it is able to evade the initial trap of even false guilt and shame – how pitifully easily us human beings are swayed from one extreme to the other by the schemes of the enemy if we are not rooted in the Absolute Truth of Perfect Absolution from a Righteousness not our own, IN Christ Jesus.) Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks. (i.e. “behold our blameless conduct; recognise our inherent bent toward honesty; how dare he accuse us so?” 😋 ) How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? (And so the further the brothers digress from humility and the more entrenched this new-found sense of self-righteousness becomes, the more evasive they become: for here we see yet another instance of those attempting to distance themselves from the deeper error of their ways – in this first instance via prideful utterances attempting to manufacture a righteousness of their own making, upon their own merit, for their own glory’s sake – then, by, in a manner of speaking, “not looking Joseph in the eye”, namely by no longer addressing him directly through a proxy as “my lord”, but addressing him in a manner once removed, namely “your lord” : preferring the audience of the proxy as if he himself might be an easier vindicator or judge to appease. There is also undoubtedly an allusion made here of avoiding the glare of the Christlike One in favour of the “pagan substitute”, hoping he might be less prone to detecting their sinfulness of old. This is quite ironic, for symbolically the Christlike One is Family i.e. where Mercy, Gentleness, Kindness and Long-suffering is found, as opposed to the “foreign god” who will be prone to cruelty and is impossible to appease by human intellect, reasoning or other self-righteous means, and yet continues to demand it. I speak here solely in terms of spiritual principles, for neither is Joseph the Christ, especially in this deceptive plan of his, nor the poor loyal servant sent to do his “dirty work”, a pagan god. As a matter of fact dear reader, if you do not fully comprehend what it is that I am attempting to convey here, you will surely not be less the wiser for it; let us call it an optional exercise for the exceedingly zealous.) With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.” (What we see here is what I would typically call “the lady doth protest too much”, for once one has persevered in explaining or defending for too long, either because of . . . a.) the insecurity brought on from being objectively guilty sons of Adam, b.) the wounds of age-old – if here unrelated – sin yet heretofore unrepented of, or c.) the effects of narcissistic abuse or other deep-seated insecurities of yet unexplored origin that often results in a distinct lack of identity . . . one tends to be deceived into reverting to maxims [see Romans 7:7-13] and ultimatums such as the ones posited here, that sadly will only serve to entrap one all the more in an even bigger mess. As a matter of fact the mess we find ourselves in now has gone full circle and has become the consequence of Joseph’s actions – the Lord’s loving discipline of a child He holds to a higher standard, for: precisely the brother, Benjamin, that Joseph intended to cling to outside of the Lord’s Perfect Will and Timing – fearfully and without Trusting in the Lord but relying upon his own strength and understanding in concocting this foolish plan – is now the very innocent who is in threat of being condemned to death: the result of the equally foolish hasty utterances of defensive men, insecurely attempting to prove their innocence and therein walking straight into the enemy’s snare, prompting them to speak such words of death over a blameless child and quite literally to offer themselves up as slaves to bondage, as seen in the phrase “and we also will be my lord’s slaves”. As a matter of fact one would not be blamed for thinking that the enemy is now running the whole show, for the mistakes and errors seem now to be multiplying exponentially at every turn and should serve as warning to the reader that trespassing onto enemy territory is no small digression and it is with good reason that we are encouraged in The Lord’s Prayer to be forgiven our trespasses and not to be led into temptation, daily. Another indication of the fact that the discipline of Joseph is conceded for by the Lord and has now effectively come into play, is their re-reverting in their address to “my lord”. Finally, in unpacking these Scriptures I cannot help but marvel that however eloquent or sophisticated arguments or methods we employ in an attempt to manufacture a righteousness we can call our own – a state of being perfectly blameless in the sight of perfect objectivity – there truly, truly is no other Righteousness to be enjoyed any sense of lasting Peace from-; no other Righteousness from which to glean any sense of secure and lasting identity from-, than The Righteousness of Christ: the Righteousness hard won and dearly bought through Perfect Love on our behalf upon that horrifying, wonderful Cross, a Righteousness we are clothed with by the Will of a Loving Father as a Free Gift we can do nothing, nothing, nothing, but simply receive. Humbly. Gratefully: Thank You ABBA!).”

“⁷And they said to him, “Why does my lord say these words? Far be it from us that your servants should do such a thing. ⁸Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? ⁹With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.” ”

– Genesis 44:7-9 (NKJV)