What Does Genesis 44:5 Mean?

"'Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.'" The steward's accusation identifies the cup in two ways: it is the cup from which the official drinks, and it is the instrument by which he practices divination. The divination function (using objects: cups, oil, water: to determine hidden information through supernatural means) was a legitimate and high-status practice in ancient Egypt. A senior official's divination implement was both personally precious and ritually significant: the theft of such an object would be an extremely serious offense.

The divination element of the accusation adds a supernatural dimension to what the brothers are being told they stole: this is the instrument through which the official contacts or reads divine communication. The man who told them in Genesis 42:24 that "it is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer": is now, in the steward's accusation, described as someone who divines with a cup. The contrast between Joseph's actual theological position (interpretations belong to God, not to technique) and the Egyptian court's understanding of him as a diviner is the gap between Joseph's Hebrew theology and his Egyptian official persona.

"You have done evil in doing this": the moral verdict is the conclusion. The accusation has moved through factual claim (the cup is here, in your baggage) to relational evaluation (you repaid evil for good) to moral verdict (you have done evil). The steward is delivering a comprehensive indictment: factual, relational, and moral. The brothers who are about to be overtaken will face an accusation of this scope: and their response will be the final measure of who they have become in the twenty-two years since Genesis 37.