And Juda said to him: What shall we answer my lord? or what shall we say, or be able justly to allege? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are all bondmen to my lord, both we, and he with whom the cup was found.

“האלהים מצא GOD HATH FOUND OUT — We know that we have done no wrong, but it has been brought about by the Holy One, blessed be He, that this should come upon us. The Creditor has found an opportunity to collect His debt (Genesis Rabbah 92:9). מה נצטדק How shall we justify ourselves? — This is a verbal form of צדק. In the same way every root whose first letter is צ when used in the Hithpael or Nithpael takes a ט instead of the ת of the prefix. This, however, is not placed before the first radical letter, but between the first two letters of the root. For example: נצטדק of the root צדק; (Daniel 4:13) “and let it be wet (ויצטבע)” of the root צבע to steep; Joshua 9:4) “and made as if they had been ambassadors (ויצטירו)”, of the same root as ציר in (Proverbs 13:17), ציר אמונים a faithful ambassador”; (Joshua 9:12) “we took our provision (הצטידנו)” of the same root as צדה in (Genesis 45:21) צדה לדרך “provision for the way”. And in the same way, with a root whose first letter is ס or ש, when it is used in the Hithpael, the ת of the prefix separate (i.e. is placed between) the first two letters of the root. For example: (Ecclesiastes 12:5) “and the grasshopper shall drag itself along heavily (ויסתבל)” from the root סבל “to carry a load”; (Daniel 7:8) “I considered (משתכל הוית) the horns”, from the root שכל to reflect on: (Micah 6:16) “for the statutes of Omri are kept (ישתמרו)” from the root שמר to keep; (Isaiah 59:15) “And he that departeth from evil (משתולל) is regarded as a fool”, from the same root as שולל in (Job 12:17) “He leadeth counsellors away (שולל) as though they were fools”; (Exodus 9:17) “Thou treadest down (מסתולל) my people”, from the same root as סלולה in (Jeremiah 18:15) “a way not trodden down (סלולה).””

“And Judah said, what shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak?.... Signifying that they were nonplussed, confounded, knew not what to say; they could not acknowledge guilt, for they were not conscious of any, and yet could not deny the fact, the cup being found on one of them; and though they might have a suspicion of fraud, yet were afraid to speak out what they suspected, and therefore were at the utmost loss to express themselves: or how shall we clear ourselves? to assert their innocence signified nothing, here was full proof against them, at least against their brother Benjamin: God hath found the iniquity of thy servants; brought it to their remembrance, fastened the guilt of it on their consciences, and in his providence was bringing them to just punishment for it; meaning not the iniquity of taking away the cup, which they were not conscious of, but some other iniquity of theirs they had heretofore been guilty of, and now God was contending with them for it; particularly the iniquity of selling Joseph; this was brought to their minds before, when in distress, and now again, see Gen 42:21, behold, we are my lord's servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found; hereby fulfilling his dream more manifestly than ever; for, by bowing down to the earth to him, they might be thought to do no other than what all did, that came to buy corn of him; but here they own themselves to be his servants, and him to be lord over them, and to have dominion over them all, and them to be his slaves and bondmen.”

“What shall we say, etc. - No words can more strongly mark confusion and perturbation of mind. They, no doubt, all thought that Benjamin had actually stolen the cup; and the probability of this guilt might be heightened by the circumstance of his having that very cup to drink out of at dinner; for as he had the most honorable mess, so it is likely he had the most honorable cup to drink out of at the entertainment.”

“Iniquity. He begins with the greatest humility, acknowledging that they were justly punished by God for some transgression, though they were, in his opinion, innocent of any theft. (Haydock) — Perhaps he might imagine, that Benjamin had been guilty, (Bonfrere) and is willing to bear a part of the blame with the rest; or his conscience still presents before him the injustice done to Joseph so long before. (Haydock)”

“Judah said, What shall we say?--This address needs no comment--consisting at first of short, broken sentences, as if, under the overwhelming force of the speaker's emotions, his utterance were choked, it becomes more free and copious by the effort of speaking, as he proceeds. Every word finds its way to the heart; and it may well be imagined that Benjamin, who stood there speechless like a victim about to be laid on the altar, when he heard the magnanimous offer of Judah to submit to slavery for his ransom, would be bound by a lifelong gratitude to his generous brother, a tie that seems to have become hereditary in his tribe. Joseph's behavior must not be viewed from any single point, or in separate parts, but as a whole--a well-thought, deep-laid, closely connected plan; and though some features of it do certainly exhibit an appearance of harshness, yet the pervading principle of his conduct was real, genuine, brotherly kindness. Read in this light, the narrative of the proceedings describes the continuous, though secret, pursuit of one end; and Joseph exhibits, in his management of the scheme, a very high order of intellect, a warm and susceptible heart, united to a judgment that exerted a complete control over his feelings--a happy invention in devising means towards the attainment of his ends and an inflexible adherence to the course, however painful, which prudence required. Next: Genesis Chapter 45”