There was a famine in the Land of Canaan. Jacob heard that there was grain to be had in Egypt, so he sent his sons to buy provisions for his family.
In the meanwhile, Joseph had become governor over Egypt. When his brothers came to him to purchase grain, he recognized them but did not reveal to them who he was; he accused them of being spies and forced them to return with his beloved younger brother, Benjamin, the son of Rachel, their mother. He then ordered his servants to put the money they had paid for their grain back inside their sacks, and to hide his favorite cup in Benjamin's sack. Then he sent his soldiers to look for the "stolen" cup, and they discovered it in Benjamin's sack (Genesis 44:1-13).
The brothers panicked: they were sure that this would be the end of them, and in any case the end of Benjamin, their father's most beloved child, who now would become a slave in Egypt.
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