7/22/2008

Silver in the Sacks - Take Two

Genesis 44:1-9 - Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: "Fill the men's sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's silver in the mouth of his sack. Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one's sack, along with the silver for his grain." And he did as Joseph said.

As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, "Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid good with evil? Isn't this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.' "

When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. But they said to him, "Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master's house? If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord's slaves."

Considering all the strange things that happened the first time around, wouldn't you have checked your sack to be sure only grain was found in it the second time?

How did the Egyptians manage to get the silver into the sacks -- either the first or the second time -- without the brothers' knowledge? The sacks must have been filled out of their field of vision -- in another room, behind a wall or barrier or something similar. Were all customers' orders processed this way or was it special handling for the brothers? If it was special, did the brothers notice something was different compared to other foreigners (or Egyptians, for that matter) who were buying grain?

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