Genesis 44:1-2

FURTHER TROUBLES, AND JUDAH’S APPEAL, Genesis 44:1-34.

2. My cup, the silver cup A large silver goblet or bowl, out of which, according to Genesis 44:5, Joseph was wont to divine . The practice of divining from goblets obtained among the Egyptians and the Persians, and is mentioned by several ancient authors . The practice was to pour clean water into the goblet, and then look into it as into a mirror to discern the future. Sometimes small pieces of gold and silver and precious stones were dropped into the water, and their appearance closely scrutinized, and certain incantations were pronounced in order to evoke some intelligible answer from the unknown and mysterious divinity supposed to abide within the water. There is nothing said in this chapter that necessarily implies that Joseph practiced divination. All his action in the case was designed to awe and prove his brothers, and bring out their real feeling towards Benjamin. Yet, in that time of strange mixture of superstition and religion, it is possible that Joseph, intimate with the arts of the Egyptian priests, and skilled in the interpretation of dreams, may have had something to do with the magic of the people whose manners he so largely adopted.