Synopsis of the Chapter
Joseph commands that his cup be secretly placed in the sack of Benjamin. Hence he claims Benjamin as his slave for the supposed theft; Judah, in verse 18, offers himself into slavery in his place.
Verse 2: The Cup in Benjamin's Sack ¶
"The cup, etc., place in the mouth of the sack of the youngest" -- of Benjamin. Joseph did this in order to test by this means the hearts of his brothers: whether they envied Benjamin as the son of Rachel, and as the one who had received five times larger portions at the banquet; so that if he perceived this envy through the brothers' silence and neglect of Benjamin, he would keep him with himself, lest the brothers plot anything against him on the journey, as they had once done against Joseph himself. But if they showed brotherly love through their anxiety and effort to free him, he would send him away with them. So Philo, Josephus, St. Chrysostom, and Theodoret.
Verse 5: The Stolen Cup; On Divination ¶
"The cup that you have stolen." Note: Joseph could justly punish his brothers by striking this fear and terror into them, on account of the crime committed against him, so that, brought to their senses by this affliction, they would acknowledge their sin, as indeed they did, says St. Augustine. But he could not thus afflict Benjamin. Hence the accusation of cup-theft against him was a light and venial calumny; but it was devised for Benjamin's benefit, as I said at verse 2, and it was of short duration, which he soon compensated by revealing himself with the greatest joy and the greatest benefits. There was also a lie here; for Joseph did not say these things by way of testing and questioning, as he had done in chapter 42, verse 9, but by way of outright assertion. Yet this was a jocular lie, not a harmful one.
Therefore when St. Augustine, Question 125, tries to excuse Joseph from lying, understand this as referring to a serious and harmful lie.
Symbolically, just as Joseph played with Benjamin, whom at first he pretended to arrest and bind as a thief, but afterwards showed it was all done in jest, and embracing him preferred him above the other brothers: so God deals with the humble. He allows them to be despised, afflicted, and harassed; but if they bear these things humbly and patiently, He will be gracious to them and exalt them, so that they become more glorious in proportion to how lowly they were. Therefore the game of God is humility.
"In which he is accustomed to divine." The Septuagint renders: "in which he divines by augury." Therefore Rabbi Kimchi translates incorrectly: "for which he consulted augurs."
Julius Sirenius reports (Book IX On Fate, chapter 18) that the Egyptians and Assyrians were accustomed to fill basins (and likewise cups, as it seems) with water, then to summon a demon with certain words, and then the demon would utter responses by hissing from the waters concerning the matters about which he was consulted. Furthermore, the demon sometimes expressed in the water the appearance or image of the thing or author sought, just as our diviners now represent and display in the water, through their incantations, the author of a theft.
You will say: did Joseph then profess himself to be such an augur, that is, a magician and diviner? Calvin affirms this, and therefore asserts that Joseph sinned by a grave pretense against religion. But who would believe this of Joseph, who was a most devout and most holy prophet? St. Augustine therefore responds that Joseph here speaks not seriously, but jokingly; for he seems to speak thus in verse 45. Secondly, Theodoret says Joseph speaks interrogatively, not assertively. Thirdly, St. Thomas says Joseph speaks not from his own opinion, but from that of the Egyptians, who truly thought Joseph was an augur. But these explanations do not satisfy this verse and its context.
I say therefore that for "to divine," the Hebrew is nachas, which means to presage and divine, whether by augury or by natural sagacity, that is, to conjecture, to search out, and to investigate. Hence the Chaldee and Aben-Ezra translate it "to test." Joseph therefore, by this cup, offering it full of wine to his guests, naturally divined and explored the temperance, prudence, and secrets of his guests' hearts (for in wine there is truth), and here he was exploring what disposition each of his brothers had toward Benjamin, as I said at verse 2. Yet he allowed his brothers to be deceived, so that they would think he was truly and properly an augur, and therefore he used an ambiguous word.
So Pliny uses "augury" for "conjecture" in Book VII, epistle to Cornelius Tacitus, when he says: "I augur, nor does my augury deceive me, that your histories will be immortal." So Aristotle, Problems 9, section 33, calls a sneeze "a sacred augury of health of the head," because it is a sign that the head is well, able to digest and expel superfluous and harmful humors; for when the heat of the head overcomes and expels the extraneous, crude, and flatulent humor and spirit, then a sneeze is usually produced.
Verse 15: No One Like Me in Divining ¶
"That there is no one like me in the science of divining." "Divining," that is, of prophesying and conjecturing; for the Hebrew is nachas, as I said at verse 5. As if to say: Since Pharaoh and all Egypt acknowledge and honor me as an augur, that is, as a prophet and diviner, how is it that you alone thought you could hide from me and my divination in this theft?
Verse 16: God Has Found Out the Sin ¶
"God has found out the sin of your servants." Some, with St. Augustine, understand this as the sin of selling Joseph; as if to say: Because we sold Joseph into slavery, we are now justly subjected to slavery. Judah could have felt this in his heart, but outwardly he does not speak to Joseph about this sin, but about the sin of stealing the cup -- for that is what Joseph accused them of, and to the same charge Judah responded by acknowledging it. It seems therefore that Judah thought and suspected that Benjamin had truly stolen the cup, especially since Benjamin, when caught, was silent and did not defend himself. Or at least, in a doubtful and uncertain situation, Judah preferred to ascribe the sin to his brother and humbly beg pardon, and thus soften Joseph's anger, rather than provoke it further by excusing Benjamin and either expressly or tacitly turning the blame back on Joseph and his servants, charging them with fraud, deceit, and calumny. For from the fact that the cup was found in Benjamin's sack, there was a presumption of theft against Benjamin. So Abulensis. St. Augustine rightly says, Sentence 118: "Confession in evils is better than proud boasting in good things."
Hence when a hermit was asked what was the surest way he had found to heaven, he answered: "If a man always accuses himself." Blessed Dorotheus is the witness, Instruction 7. So St. Catherine of Siena and other humble and illustrious Saints, in response to all evils that befall themselves, their neighbors, or the state, were accustomed to say: "Through my fault this evil has occurred."
Verse 20: His Mother Has Him Alone ¶
"His mother has him alone" -- he alone survives from his mother; in Hebrew, "he remains alone of his mother," which can also be said of one who has died; for Rachel, the mother of Benjamin, was already dead.
Verse 21: I Will Set My Eyes upon Him ¶
"I will set my eyes upon him" -- I will look upon him kindly, I will be benevolent to him, I will favor and cherish him; hence the Septuagint translates: "I will take care of him."
Verse 30: His Life Depends on the Boy's Life ¶
"His life" -- the father's life depends on the life of the son; for if the son should die or be taken away, the father would die of grief.
Verse 32: I Will Be Your Servant in His Place ¶
"I will truly" -- let me be your personal servant, for I will be more useful to you in strength and experience than the boy Benjamin.