Is not this it from which my lord drinks, and by which indeed he divines? you have done evil in so doing.
All Commentaries on Genesis 44:5 Go To Genesis 44
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
To divine. This was spoken by Joseph to his steward in jest; alluding to the notion of the people, who took him to be a diviner. (Challoner)
St. Thomas Aquinas, 2, 2, q. 195, a. 7. Hebrew may be translated without attending to the points, "Is not this the cup, out of which my lord drinketh; and he has augured, or discovered, by it the evil which you have committed. "Pliny (Natural History xxx. 2.) mentions a method of divining, by means of water in a basin. (Calmet)
The Egyptians probably supposed, that Joseph used some means to disclose what was hidden; and he alludes, in jest, to their foolish notion. (Haydock)
He had a right to afflict his guilty brethren; and as for Benjamin, who was innocent, he made him ample recompense for this transitory terror. Some think that the steward said, in which he is wont to divine, unauthorized by his master. (Menochius)
