Commentary for Genesis 44:7

חלילה לעבדיך FAR BE IT FROM TIIY SERVANTS — It is a degradation (חולין a profane thing) — this is an expression denoting a shameful act. The Targum חס לעבדיך “a sparing to thy servants!” signifies “May there be a sparing from God upon us that we should not do this thing” The expression חס ושלום occurs often in the Talmud in this sense — Forbearance and peace!

למה ידבר אדוני כדברים האלה?, as if he were suspecting all of us?

למה ידבר אדוני כדברים האלה, "Sir, why do you say such things?" The brothers not only objected to what the adjutant had accused them of directly but even to what he had implied, i.e. כדברים האלה, "words similar to these!" Whereas up to that point they were going to use the argument that they had proven their honesty by returning the money, they now had to add something more. This is why they introduced their argument with the words הן כסף, וגו. They agreed that a thief might indeed act in the manner suggested by the adjutant, i.e. establish his credentials by a spurious act such as claiming to return money which he had never stolen in the first place. However, no person who had legally acquired what he had found and had discovered this only after having travelled a long distance as had the brothers, would go to so much trouble merely in order to establish such a point. Besides, they had long ago disposed of the actual money they had discovered. It was totally unbecoming to suspect them of having returned the money for any ulterior motive. Only meticulously honest people would do what they had done. As to the adjutant's argument that the goblet was so valuable because of its properties connected with sorcery, this was meaningless to them. It might be of value to the adjutant's master, but as far as they were concerned the goblet was a mere silver trinket, not worth more than hundreds like it. After all, they were not sorcerers; what good would possession of this goblet be to them?

למה ידבר אדוני כדברים האלה? וגו'...הן כסף אשר מצאנו בפי אמתחותנו השיבונו אליך ואיך נגנוב, “why does my lord speak such words? ..Here the money we found in the mouth of our feeding bags we returned; how is it possible to think we would steal, etc.” Our sages used this argument as one of ten classic pieces of logic (קל וחומר) which are spelled out in the Torah. The argument is: “if we returned even what we found, how could we be suspected of stealing outright?” (Bereshit Rabbah 92,7)

May God spare us from doing such a thing... [Implying,] since we have not done it. Re’m asks: On חלילה לך מעשות כדבר הזה (18:25), Onkelos translates חלילה as קושטא (truth). [Why does he translate it here differently?] Re’m answers: [There, it refers to Hashem. And] being “spared” is not applicable to Hashem, since He is not subject to the mercy of others.

חלילה, wir würden es für eine Ertötung unseres ganzen geistigen und 8.7. חלילה sittlichen Charakters halten, wenn wir dies getan hätten.