5764. 'And you will be innocent' means that each of the rest will be his own master since they are not involved in the blame. This is clear from the meaning of' him who is innocent', when compared to a slave, as one who is his own master since, it follows, he is not involved in the blame. Among gentiles in former times it was customary, when one person sinned, to consider his companions too to be blameworthy; indeed it was customary to punish an entire household for a crime committed by an individual member. But such a law is derived from hell, for in that place all companions band together, intent on evil. Indeed the communities there have been established in such a way that they act as a united whole against what is good; thus they are held in association with one another even though each individual harbours deadly hatred against another. Their unity and friendship are those of thieves. As a consequence, since companions in hell band together intent on evil, when they do perform evil all of them are punished. But to mete out that kind of punishment in the world as well is utterly contrary to Divine order, for in the world good people live in association with evil ones since one person does not know what another is like interiorly, and for most of the time is. not concerned to know. The Divine law for people in the world therefore is that each should pay for his own iniquity, referred to in Moses as follows,

Fathers shall not die because of sons, and sons shall not die because of fathers; they shall be put to death, each for his own sin. Deuteronomy 24:16.

And in Ezekiel,

The soul that has sinned shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. Ezekiel 18:20.

From all this one may see the implication of the following: Jacob's sons said, 'With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be slaves to my lord'; but the one sent by Joseph amended that judgement, saying, 'He with whom it is found will be my slave, and you will be innocent'. Something similar occurs in what follows below, where Judah speaks to Joseph, in verses 16-17, 'Behold, we are my lord's slaves, even ourselves, even he in whose hand the cup was found'. And Joseph said, 'Far be it from me to do this; the man in whose hand the cup was found, he will be my slave, and you, go up in peace to your father'.