תשים בפי אמתחת הקטן “place at the top of thetravelling bag of the junior brother!” The reason that Joseph prepared to indict Binyamin as being guilty of theft, was because he had not recognised him as his brother, seeing that at the time Joseph had been sold he was only about 10 years old and had not yet grown a beard. He said to himself: “maybe this lad is not even my brother and they brought some orphan they picked up somewhere in order to deceive me. If I indict him and he is not their brother they will not interfere and will abandon him.”

הבקר אור והאנשים שולחו, “it was already bright daylight, and the men had been sent off;” even though most of the people who had come to buy grain rose very early in the morning to start on their return journey, Joseph did not see them off until was daylight, as he was afraid they would kill the official he sent after them in order to search their belongings. If this would occur when nobody was about yet, they would be able to get away with this without fearing detection.

לאשר על ביתו, “to the manager of his household;” according to a comment in Bereshit Rabbah, this was Menashe, Joseph’s older son, and seeing that the brothers rent their garments on account of the false accusations leveled at them by Menashe, the latter’s ancestral territory in the land of Israel was also torn apart, most of it being on the east bank of the river Jordan.

והוא נחש ינחש בו, “and he also uses it to divine by means of it;” this is why he left it on the table and acted as if he had forgotten it, in order to test you and find out if you would steal it. (Ibn Ezra) A different exegesis: the words: והוא נחש ינחש בו mean that you should have realised that Joseph would enquire from diviners what had happened to his goblet. A man of his stature has many diviners at his beck and call, and would find out quickly who had taken it. Still another explanation for these words: the expression describes an omen. An example of it being used in that context is found in Genesis 30,27: נחשתי ויברכני, Lavan saying to Yaakov: “I have found out that I have been blessed through your presence, by having resorted to divination.” In this instance the reverse was true, i.e. Joseph claimed that it seemed as a bad omen for him to have lost such a precious goblet. The word should not be explained as Joseph having used magic, as this would not be fitting for a man of his stature.

כדבריכם כן הוא, “you are quite correct, i.e. the thief will be guilty of the death penalty. You yourselves have condemned him as such. However, I do not wish to apply such a harsh penalty. Seeing that only one of you is guilty, the others will not become slaves. The thief will, however, become a slave as his penalty. This was the accepted penalty for stealing in those days before the Torah had been given. Compare Genesis 43,18, where the brothers had been afraid of just that when thinking they had been framed by having had their money restored to them. After the Torah was given, the standard penalty for stealing was for the thief to pay compensation worth twice the value of the stolen object. (Exodus 22,2) If he did not have the money to pay such compensation he would become indentured as a servant for 6 years, the victim being paid by the court from the monies it had received from the indentured thief’s owner.

וימצא הגביע, “the goblet was found;” as far as the money found in the bags also is concerned this was not part of the accusation of thievery, as it could not be proven that it was not excess money that the brothers had had with them not knowing the price of their purchase in advance.

מה נאמר לאדוני, “what can we say to my lord?” This question referred to the return of their money after the first trip. מה נדבר, “what can we speak?” this question referred to the money found in their bags during the search now. מה נצטדק, “how can we justify ourselves?” This referred to the goblet being found in the bag of one of them.

גם אנחנו גם אשר נמצא הגביע בידו, “both we and the one in whose hand the goblet has been found etc.;” why did Yehudah use the word גם, “also” twice in this verse? This was to teach us that also those of us against whom there is no evidence or suspicion at all, are prepared to remain as your master’s slaves, not to mention our brother in whose bag the goblet has been found. The difference between what Yehudah says now and what he had said in verse 9 is that in that verse he had accepted the death penalty for the person in whose bag the goblet would be found, as he had been so sure that none of their bags would contain it. When the brothers saw that it had been found in Binyamin’s bag, they offered themselves as slaves also, but backtracked on acknowledging that Binyamin would be sentenced to death. They hoped that their offer would save Binyamin from being convicted of the death penalty.

ויגש אליו יהודה, “Yehudah approached him;” seeing that he could not remove every official surrounding Joseph, as Joseph did later on, he had no choice but to approach him face to face.

יהודה, the reason why Yehudah was the one carrying on this dialogue was that it was he who had guaranteed Binyamin’s safe return to their father.

באזני אדוני, “for the ears of my lord only.” ואל יחר אפך בעבדך, “so that you will not become angry at your servant.” I have reason to fear this as you are just like Pharaoh in stature and your anger is something that is feared by everyone. Who else is there for me to lodge a complaint to if I feel I have been wronged?

כי כמוך כפרעה, “for you are just like Pharaoh.” Compare a similar expression in Kings II 3,7: כמוני כמוך, “me and you .” Or Hoseah 4,9: כעם ככהן, the common people just like the priests.” Or, Kohelet 9,2: כטוב כחוטא, “the sinner just as the good one.” Or, Psalms 139,12: כחשיכה כאורה, “darkness and light are the same.”According to Rashi, what Yehudah meant was that “just as Pharaoh issues decrees and does not keep his promises, so you decree and do not keep your promise.” According to a Midrash, what Yehudah referred to was that Joseph had only demanded to “see” Binyamin before releasing Shimon and letting us buy food and return to the land of Canaan. Instead he had detained them, invited them. caused them to become drunk with him, etc., as a result of which they found themselves in their present predicament. Another Midrash quotes Yehudah as saying: just as Pharaoh violated the Egyptian law that a slave cannot be appointed ruler and he appointed you, so you too act illegally. Furthermore, Pharaoh had announced to the whole world that everybody was welcome to buy grain in Egypt, whereas his family had been discriminated against by having to bring his youngest brother all the way from the land of Canaan in order to buy grain for their starving family.

אדוני שאל, “my lord had asked: etc.; actually, we do not find that Joseph had asked if they had a father or brother. They had volunteered this information without having been asked for it.

ותאמר אל עבדיך הורידוהו אלי, “You said to your servants: ‘bring him down to me.!’” The reason why I, Yedudah, am now speaking up on his behalf, is that I have guaranteed him.”An alternate explanation: when you said: ואשימה עיני עלי, “I will put my eye on him,” I thought that you meant that you will personally protect him. Instead you are doing the reverse and accuse him of having committed a crime. You are looking for ways to detain him.

ישב נא עבדך, “let your servant (myself) remain;” (of his own free will) Yehudah’s proposal sounds strange, seeing that he feels Joseph’s charges are all trumped up and without substance. He claims that Joseph has no legal right to detain any of them and is acting like a kidnapper.