Children of the Old Testament | Page 6

him in his own room weeping like a child for very joy,
they would have been more astonished still.
The meal was served, and the ten brothers were surprised when the
Egyptian ruler set them at a table all in the order of their ages; but even
yet they did not know who he was. Joseph sat at a table by himself,
with a beautiful silver wine-cup before him, and he sent plates of
choice food to each of his brothers; but he sent to Benjamin five times
as much as to any of the rest.
Next morning they were sent home with their asses laden with
well-filled corn-sacks. They were very glad to get away so quickly, and
they wondered as they went why the great Egyptian had been so kind to
them. But even yet the thought that he might be none other than Joseph
had not entered their minds.
III.
Now Joseph had told his overseer that as he filled the brothers'
corn-sacks he was to put their money into them again, and also to take
his own beautiful silver cup and put it into the mouth of Benjamin's
sack. This was done for a purpose, as we shall see.

Next day, when the brothers had set out on their journey, the overseer
was sent for by his young master, who ordered him to put horses into
his chariot, to ride after the ten Hebrews, and to ask them why they had
stolen his master's silver cup.
Cracking his whip as he went, the Egyptian drove along the road, and
soon overtook the returning travellers. Checking his horses, he stepped
out of his red chariot and sternly asked why they had returned evil for
good by stealing his master's precious silver cup; and he smiled when
he saw the fear in the faces of the dusky Hebrews, and laughed when
they all said that they knew nothing of the cup.
He did not believe them, he said, and would search for the cup himself;
and he laughed again when they said he could search at once, and if he
found it with any one of them, he could put that man to death and make
all the rest of them the slaves of his master.
Of course the silver cup was found in Benjamin's sack; and pointing his
finger at him, the Egyptian said that he would take him back to be his
master's slave, but as for the rest of the men, they could go on their
journey to their homes.
The brothers wrung their hands at these words, and their hearts sank
within them. Judah had promised his father that he would bring
Benjamin back again safe and sound, and now the lad was to become
the slave of this terrible young ruler! After all, the man's kindness of
the day before was only intended to make them feel the pain all the
more when he seized their young brother to be his slave. They could
not return to their old father without him. They would go back to the
Egyptian city, they said, and all go to prison together rather than part
with Benjamin.
In those days, when Hebrews were overcome with grief they tore their
clothes, that all might see how sorrowful they were; and Judah was the
first to seize his tunic and tear it down the front from neck to hem, and
the others did the same. In a mournful procession they followed the
Egyptian's chariot back to the city; and the people gazed at them as
they passed, and laughed.

When they reached Joseph's house and entered the courtyard, they sent
in a very humble message, begging that he would see them. And when
they came into his presence they knelt before him with bowed heads,
till their brows touched the coloured pavement.
"What is this that you have done?" he asked. "Do you not know that
such a man as I can find out secret things?"
Joseph wished to frighten them, but in his heart he was glad that his
brothers had not gone away, leaving Benjamin behind in slavery. They
were kinder now than on that day so long ago when they sold him to
the dark merchantmen in the far-off Vale of Dothan.
In a pleading voice Judah told the terrible Egyptian that all of them
were now his slaves. But Joseph replied that he only wanted the man
who stole his silver cup; the rest could return to their father.
Then Judah had more to say. Holding up his hands for mercy, he told
the story of how they had begged their old father to let Benjamin come;
adding that if they returned without him, the old man would die of grief.
And to Joseph's surprise, he begged