"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 ones'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.' " (Genesis 44:1-9 NIV)
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Joseph is apparently setting up a reason to bring his brothers back to his home. This is actually just a part of a larger plan to test his brothers.
The brothers are understandably upset at this accusation. We are not told which one of the brothers indignantly said that if any of them had stolen the cup, they would be put to death and the rest enslaved, but it seemed as though all of the brothers agreed with this rather rash statement.
Fortunately, in this case, the steward was acting in their best interests.
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