Then Judah came near to him, and said, Ah! my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant; for thou art even as Pharaoh.
The silver cup has turned up in Benjamin's sack. Judah steps out from his brothers and pleads with the governor of Egypt, not knowing that he is Joseph. What he says will change everything.
One writer points to two things: why Judah became the spokesman, and how far he has changed.
Things were arranged so that the apparent guilt fell on Benjamin. Judah had stood as guarantor for him to Jacob. That brought Judah forward as the spokesman. He had led the way in selling Joseph to the Midianites who were going to Egypt, and he spoke then with a hard heart. Now he has to speak about Benjamin, and what a change is clear! Instead of hardness, great tenderness of feeling, especially for his old father, Jacob. Then it did not matter how Jacob would feel; now it mattered everything to him.
Judah begs that this powerful man's anger will not fall on him. But his fear runs deeper than the missing cup.
Tell me, what wrongdoing was there over the cup? None; but it served to rouse conscience. It brought up the twenty pieces of silver, and the wickedness of their history in days gone by. The poet said it well: "Conscience makes cowards of us all." They were in a miserable state as they say to Joseph, "and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself." But the truth must come out. And it is a great thing when God reaches the conscience in this way.
Judah simply retells the facts. Yet the facts that once fed the brothers' hatred now come out with affection.
Here we have a most earnest pleading, full of touching affection… We see a heart that has been brought right, at the very point where the sin lay. "We said to my lord, We have a father, an old man." Ah, there was no tearing of his heart now! "And a child of his old age, a little one." How little they thought of that once! "And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him." Can we not feel how far his brothers now were from hating Joseph for their father's love to him!
Judah's plea is tender. But what proves it is real?
This indeed is excellent, but these are words and may be only empty profession. Words must be proved by deeds… As a son he pleads for Jacob. He is our father. He is an old man. He loves Benjamin, and "his life is bound up in the boy's life." How can "I see the evil that would find my father"? As a true brother he pleads for Benjamin. He is "a lad," "a little one," "our youngest brother."
Notice also what Judah does not do. He describes his father's grief in full, though every detail of it accuses him.
There is no attempt on Judah's part to protect himself from the consequences of his crime. There is no attempt to soften his actions or their results. He vividly describes Jacob's grief, which implies their guilt. The account of this is not toned down with a view to improving Judah's current situation.
Judah had promised his father he would answer for Benjamin. His speech ends by making that promise cost him everything.
Judah's appeal is no empty rhetoric; he offers to give himself up to save Benjamin. This spirit of self-sacrifice marks all true intercession. "Blot me, I pray you, out of Your book," said Moses. "I could wish myself accursed," said Paul. "Let me be slave instead of Benjamin" (in effect), says Judah. All these said what they were willing to do: the wounds of Christ show what He has done.
Why plead at all with someone who has already decided to bless you?
Many find it hard to see why we should need intercession with God at all, when He already stands in perfect love towards us. But look at Joseph. He stood in perfect love towards these forgiven sinners. From the beginning he had fully made up his mind to save and bless them. And yet how natural, how fitting, how beautiful and moving is Judah's noble, generous intercession! It did not alter the final outcome (though it may have hastened it), but it altered everything else.
Commentators also read this scene as a picture of Israel's future meeting with Christ. The wording below, "equal to Pharaoh," comes from an older translation of the verse.
He came near to Joseph, as Israel will yet eventually come near to the Lord Jesus without realizing who He is. He asks Joseph not to be angry that he speaks again, "for," he says, "you are equal to Pharaoh." In just the same way, Israel in a coming day will confess that Christ is equal to God.
- Coming near. The brother who took the lead in selling Joseph is the one who now steps closest to him.
- Conscience. The cup was not the real charge; it woke an old guilt, and the plea for mercy came from a heart finally caught.
- Change. The same details that once fed his hatred — an old father, a favoured little one — are now the very things he pleads for.
- Cost. True repentance proves itself by deeds: Judah offers to stay as a slave so Benjamin can go free.
- Consequence. Joseph had already decided to save them, yet Judah's pleading altered everything else — and may have hastened the outcome.
My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?
Judah's plea opens by repeating a question the ruler of Egypt had asked them earlier — a question about a father and a brother. His whole speech grows out of that question. What stands out is how differently these men answer it now.
Years before, these men had hated their father's favourite son. Now the ruler's question makes them speak about a father and a brother:
Here indeed we have a most earnest pleading, full of touching affection... "My lord asked his servants, saying, Have you a father, or a brother?" There we clearly have a heart that has been brought right, exactly where the sin lay. "We said to my lord, We have a father, an old man." Ah, there was no tearing of his heart now! "And a child of his old age, a little one." How little they once thought of that! "And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him." Can we not feel how far his brothers now were from hating Joseph because their father loved him!
They do not know it, but the ruler is Joseph himself, the brother they wronged. His harsh manner was not coldness. He was aiming at their conscience.
This was taking them up for the good work of restoring their souls, though the process is humbling and painful. Conscience must be dealt with honestly, or nothing is done. And Joseph aims at it at once. He makes himself strange to them. He speaks to them through an interpreter, and he speaks roughly. He must get their conscience into action, whatever it costs him in personal feeling. His love, for the present, must be firm; its hour for melting and tenderness lies ahead.
Now Benjamin is the one in danger, and the same choice faces them again.
Their own lips must now give the verdict. The question is about to be put: are they what they once were, or have they received a heart of flesh? Will the sorrows of Benjamin move them, as the cries of Joseph once failed to do? Will the grief of the aged father at home plead with their heart, as once it did not? This place, this moment, was the field of Dothan again. They were returning, in spirit, to the place where all their offence was committed.
Judah's words about the old man and the boy show whose grief now fills his mind.
Judah's mind has clearly been brought into communion with Jacob's. True repentance brings the mind of the one who has sinned into communion with the mind of God. It leads the soul to see how the sin affected the Son of God, and what grief it caused God. This appears to be a central feature of true repentance.
A changed man can still be only a talker. Judah's next words put his own freedom on the line.
These are words, and may be mere empty profession. Words must be proved by deeds. Judah therefore comes forward on behalf of the brothers, and proves the reality of their words by what they are prepared to do. He can say, "Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers." As a son he pleads for Jacob. He is our father, he is an old man, he loves Benjamin. As a true brother he pleads for Benjamin... But this appeal to Joseph shows more than repentance: it also shows that confidence has in some measure been won. A beautiful picture of that "repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" which always accompanies a true work of grace.
One commentator reads this scene as more than family history:
Joseph's brothers, in Genesis 42 to 44, foreshadow the twelve tribes of Israel (including Judah) in their future restoration. Then they will be led to accept the rejected but true Joseph. Their story also brings to light certain principles about the work of restoration and the meaning of true repentance.
- Question. The ruler's question about a father and a brother lands where their guilt lay. Their answer shows how much has changed.
- Conscience. Joseph's rough manner was love holding itself back. Conscience must be dealt with first, or nothing else follows.
- Dothan. Benjamin's danger puts them back in the old scene. Their own lips must now say whether they are still the men they were.
- Communion. Judah now shares his father's grief. One writer calls this a central mark of true repentance.
- Surety. He proves it by offering to stay in Egypt himself so the boy can go home free.
And we said to my lord, We have an aged father, and a child born to him in his old age, [yet] young; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.
Judah is answering the ruler of Egypt with a piece of family history. He names an aged father, a youngest son born late in life, a brother counted dead, and a father's love resting on the son who is left. Every detail he lists was once a reason for jealousy — and the man he is telling it to is the brother he is calling dead.
Judah repeats the very things about Jacob's favourite son that his brothers had once resented. One writer takes the verse phrase by phrase, in an older translation, and shows how each part lands now.
Here indeed we have a most earnest pleading, full of touching affection... "We said to my lord, We have a father, an old man." Ah, there was no tearing of his heart now! "And a child of his old age, a little one." How little they once thought of that! "And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him." Do we not feel how far all his brothers now were from hating Joseph for Jacob's love to him!
Judah reports one of Rachel's sons dead — to that son's own face. One writer sees here a picture of Israel meeting Christ one day without knowing Him.
He came near to Joseph, as Israel will one day come near to the Lord Jesus without realising who He is... Judah recounts their answer: their father was still alive and had a younger son, the only remaining son of his mother, since her only other son was dead. Not exactly a convincing statement as far as Joseph was concerned!
Judah's argument rests on what the loss will do to Jacob. One writer explains why Benjamin holds that place in his father's heart.
Joseph and Benjamin were the only sons of Rachel, the wife Jacob had loved (29:18). Losing Benjamin would be the event most comparable to losing Joseph, whom Jacob loved "more than all his sons" (37:3). Now Benjamin is the most beloved: "and his father loves him" (v. 20). Judah is no longer occupied with how God may act in retribution, but with Jacob's love for his son and his grief.
The same writer draws the principle out of it:
You can see that Judah's mind has been brought into communion with Jacob's. True repentance brings the mind of the one who has sinned into communion with the mind of God. It leads the soul to appreciate how the Son of God was affected by it, and what grief this caused God. This appears to be a central feature of true repentance.
Two people fill Judah's speech, and this verse names them both: the old man and the young brother. One writer hears in that plea the measure of their repentance.
Judah's touching appeal breathes a pleading love. That love proves how deep the repentance is that has been worked in their souls. The heart of stone has indeed been changed into a heart of flesh. As a son he pleads for Jacob. He is our father, he is an old man, he loves Benjamin (20)... As a true brother he pleads for Benjamin. He is "a lad," "a little one" (v. 20).
Judah ends by offering to stay as a slave so the boy can go home. Set beside his earlier record, that offer shows how far he has come.
Judah presented the whole case about his father and Benjamin with very great feeling, the kind that can only spring from deep and genuine emotion. His closing request proved it was real: he asked to stand in Benjamin's place. He was ready to face lifelong slavery himself rather than see his brother taken and his father's grey hairs brought down with sorrow to the grave. We saw Judah in a very bad light in both Genesis 37 and Genesis 38. Now we see the complete change that real repentance produces.
Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. She gave him one name, his father gave him another, and each one carries its own meaning.
The youngest son of Jacob by his beloved wife Rachel. She died at his birth and named him BEN-ONI, meaning "son of my sorrow," but his father named him BENJAMIN, "son of the right hand"... A type of Christ both as exalted at God's right hand (Benjamin), and, as rejected, the occasion of Israel's tribulation in the last days (Ben-oni).
- Reversed — A father's old age, a father's love — these once fed his brothers' hatred of Joseph. Now they are Judah's reasons to beg for Benjamin.
- Blind — He reports a brother's death to that brother's own face. It is a picture of Israel drawing near to Christ without knowing Him.
- Felt — His concern has moved from himself to his father. Repentance brings the mind of the sinner into communion with the mind of God.
- Twofold — He pleads as a son for the old man and as a brother for the young boy. Love that deep proves the heart of stone has become a heart of flesh.
- Offered — The man who once sold a brother now asks to take a brother's place. That complete change is what real repentance produces.
And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down to me, that I may set mine eye on him.
Judah stands before the ruler of Egypt, pleading for his youngest brother's life against a demand that felt cruel. He repeats the ruler's own words back to him — so why did the man with every reason for revenge long to see Benjamin's face?
Judah's first argument looks back to an earlier meeting. He shows that the family had already objected to this very demand.
Judah reminds him that they had protested before. Their father was so attached to Benjamin that he would not think of letting him leave. But Joseph had firmly insisted that if Benjamin did not come, he would refuse to see them (vv. 21-23).
Judah can repeat the demand word for word. Notice how he now speaks about his father and about the boy.
"My lord asked his servants, 'Have you a father, or a brother?'" There we clearly have a heart that has been brought right, exactly where the sin lay. "And a child of his old age, a little one." How little they thought of that once! "And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him." Do we not feel how far the hearts of all his brothers were from hating Joseph now because of Jacob's love for him!
The demand could sound cold, like an order to produce a suspect. What happened when Joseph saw Benjamin points the other way.
When Joseph sees him in Egypt, he begins, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" But his iron self-control breaks down. He has only time to say, "God be gracious to you, my son," and then he hurries out to hide his tears.
Joseph had settled his kindness long before this scene. The delay was not in his heart but in theirs.
Joseph, when he saw them, knew them, but they did not know him. He had purposes of grace toward them, as his conduct throughout proved. No bitterness, no vindictiveness was found in him whom they had cruelly treated. He would have them at ease before him, and at home with him; but repentance must first be worked in them. How did he bring this about? They must judge themselves for the past.
From the end of the story, his rough treatment looks different.
At first sight, Joseph's dealings appear strange, rough and arbitrary. We can now see that wisdom governed them — wisdom that reached its aim: the true restoration of his brothers.
Commentators also read Rachel's two sons as a picture of Christ. A "type" here means a person whose story pictures Christ in advance.
Joseph's brothers had rejected him, a picture of Israel's rejection of the Lord Jesus. Joseph is therefore a type of Christ in suffering before exaltation. Benjamin ("son of the right hand") is a type of Christ, the Messiah, reigning in glory.
On that reading, the wish to see the boy is a longing with a purpose behind it.
But Joseph's heart longs after Benjamin. That is, Christ longs to display this character of power for them. For this they must first come to repentance. He uses the Messiah of their hopes and prophecies to bring their hearts back to Himself, the true one.
- Demand. Joseph would not see the brothers again unless the youngest came with them. Judah repeats that condition word for word.
- Design. The rough treatment was not temper but method. Dealings that look strange at first turn out to be wisdom aimed at restoration.
- Delay. Joseph had settled on grace from the start. What was missing was repentance in his brothers. They had to judge themselves for the past before he could have them at ease with him.
- Desire. The wish to set eyes on the boy was love, not suspicion. When Joseph saw Benjamin, his self-control collapsed and he left the room to weep.
- Display. Read as a picture, Benjamin is the "son of the right hand," Christ reigning in glory. The longing to bring him near shows that Christ waits to show that power to His people. First, repentance brings their hearts back to Him.
And we said to my lord, The youth cannot leave his father if he should leave his father, [his father] would die.
Judah stands before the governor of Egypt and retells the whole story, including what the brothers said when they were first ordered to bring Benjamin down. Why should an old man's life hang on one young son, and why is Judah — who once helped break that father's heart — the one pleading for him?
Judah repeats things the brothers had already said. What has changed is the feeling behind them:
Here indeed we have a most earnest pleading, full of touching affection... "We said to my lord, We have a father, an old man." Ah, there was no tearing of his heart now! "And a child of his old age, a little one." How little they once thought of that! "And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him." Do we not feel how far his brothers' hearts now were from hating Joseph because Jacob loved him!
Judah's words about his father dying have a source. Notice where they come from:
Verse 22 puts the matter very eloquently: "If he should leave his father, his father would die." Verse 29 does the same: "And if you take this one also from me, and harm should come to him, you will bring down my grey hairs with misery to Sheol." These words echo Jacob's own words after the loss of Joseph (37:35).
That echo shows what repentance had done to Judah's mind:
Judah's mind has clearly been brought into communion with Jacob's. True repentance brings the mind of the one who has sinned into communion with the mind of God. It leads the soul to appreciate how his sin affected the Son of God, and what grief it caused God. This appears to be a central feature of true repentance.
Joseph designed the whole situation as a test. Would these men do again what they did before?
Benjamin stands in the place that once had been Joseph's — the youngest and best-loved son of his father. Benjamin shall pass into bondage, as once Joseph had filled the place of a slave. The ten brothers are perfectly free, as once before, to return to their father in peace. What will they do in these circumstances?... Will they abandon their brother to slavery knowing him to be innocent?... Will they return to Jacob to face his grief with some false story to account for the absence of Benjamin as once they had accounted for the loss of Joseph? Ah, no! grace has worked in these men, repentance has done its work.
A confession can be just talk. Judah's plea ends with an offer that costs him everything:
Words must be proved by deeds. Judah, therefore, comes forward on behalf of the brothers, and proves the reality of their words by what they are prepared to do. He can say, "Let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers." The pleading love that breathes through Judah's touching appeal proves how deep a repentance has been worked in their souls. The heart of stone has indeed been changed into a heart of flesh. As a son he pleads for Jacob: he is our father, he is an old man, he loves Benjamin, and "his life is bound up in the boy's life." As a true brother he pleads for Benjamin.
Judah steps forward and offers to take the boy's place himself, of his own free will. Writers see a larger pattern in that:
No one among Israel's sons was so fit and strong an intercessor as Judah. He stood there as the head of the family, since Reuben and the others had been set aside. He also stood as the voluntary surety. So Christ "bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors."
The change in these men went all the way down:
Their envy and selfish cruelty had given way to tender love for their father and for his affection for the younger son of Rachel. The old jealousy was uprooted; and the one who took the lead was ready to become a slave to the governor, so that Benjamin might return to be his father's joy and comfort, instead of death if he stayed a slave.
- Echo. Judah's warning that the father would die repeats Jacob's own words of grief after losing Joseph. The sorrow has landed on the man who caused it.
- Communion. True repentance brings the offender's mind into communion with the mind of the one he grieved — and, in the end, with the mind of God.
- Test. Joseph put Benjamin in his own old place — best loved, innocent, headed for slavery. Would the brothers walk away a second time?
- Proof. Words alone can be empty; Judah proved his by offering to stay as a slave so the boy could go home.
- Surety. Judah answers for another at his own cost. Commentators see there the pattern of Christ, who bore the sin of many and intercedes for transgressors.
And thou saidst to thy servants, Unless your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.
Judah stands before the ruler of Egypt and retells the whole story of how his family came to be there. Then he quotes the governor's own terms back to him: no youngest brother, no audience. Everything the brothers need — food, life, their father's peace — now hangs on the one boy their father cannot bear to lose.
The demand was not a formality. One writer points out that Joseph set up the whole situation to copy the scene of the old crime. He wanted to test what the brothers said about themselves.
They have said, "We are honest men." So Joseph will place them in a situation that will show whether at last they can act as true brothers and true sons. With the utmost wisdom Joseph will re-enact the past. Once again ten men will have to act in regard to a younger brother. Once again they will have to face an aged father with his great love for the younger son.
One writer reads Joseph and Benjamin together as a picture of Christ. Joseph is the brother who was rejected and then raised to power far from home. Benjamin is the son of his father's right hand. On that reading, Joseph's condition is not a whim. It is a necessity.
There can be no restoration and no reconciliation until Joseph and Benjamin are together. There is relief, it is true, but no deliverance for Israel. He who was separated from his brothers, but is now in glory, must have the son of his father's right hand. This is Christ rejected but exalted on high, and taking on as well the character of the man of power who deals with the earth... So this became the great question: how to bring Benjamin down — how to connect him with Joseph. But the truth is, there was another moral need to meet — how to get their hearts and their consciences set right all round.
Judah repeats the governor's terms word for word, with no excuse. The way he now speaks about his father and the boy gives him away:
Here we see a heart that has been put right, exactly where the sin lay. "We have a father, an old man." There was no tearing of his heart now! "And a young brother, the child of his old age." How little they thought of that once! "His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him." Do we not feel how far all his brothers' hearts now were from hating Joseph because of Jacob's love for him!
Judah's whole argument rests on what losing the boy would do to the old man at home. One commentator finds the mark of true repentance in that.
Judah's mind evidently has been brought into communion with Jacob's. True repentance brings the mind of the one who has sinned into communion with the mind of God. It leads the soul to see how the sin touched the Son of God, and what grief it caused for God. This appears to be a central feature of true repentance.
Judah had more at stake than his brothers. One writer explains why he is the one who pleads:
Judah in particular had made himself the guarantor for Benjamin, so he was now in a dreadful position. What could he do now but plead for consideration from the governor?
This verse shuts a door. What follows in the story opens it, and the ruler they feared drops the disguise.
True repentance is answered. Joseph can no longer control himself — he weeps, and demands all others leave... He no longer speaks harshly to them, nor does he use an interpreter. Instead, he speaks these meaningful words: "I am Joseph." He says to them, "Come near to me, please." All notions of distance have disappeared.
- Condition. Joseph made the youngest brother the price of an audience: no Benjamin, no face.
- Design. The demand re-stages the old crime. Ten men again stand between a favoured younger brother and a grieving father.
- Necessity. As a picture, there is no reconciliation until Joseph and the son of his father's right hand come together, and until hearts and consciences come right.
- Evidence. Judah repeats the terms without excuse. He speaks of his father's love for the boy with no jealousy left. He feels the wrong from his father's side, not only his own.
- Reversal. The face withheld is the face revealed: "I am Joseph… Come near to me." Every distance the test created is gone.
And it came to pass when we came up to thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.
Judah is pleading before the ruler of Egypt. He retraces the whole story: the demand to bring Benjamin, the journey home, and the words they carried back to their old father. Why does Scripture slow down to record what the sons told their father?
This story could have been short. One writer gives two reasons why God's Word tells it in full:
We might have summed up the restoration of Joseph's brothers in two or three sentences. God's Word, however, describes it down to the smallest details. One reason may well be that it is vital to understand the truth of repentance and restoration. Another reason, sadly, may be that restoration is often a lengthy process. This is not because God is slow to forgive but because the human heart is slow to repent.
Judah says they passed on the words of his lord. He then describes what those words cost his father, with nothing edited to help his own case:
There is no attempt on Judah's part to protect himself from the consequences of his crime. There is no attempt to soften his actions or their results. He vividly describes Jacob's grief, which implies their guilt. The account is not toned down with a view to improving Judah's current situation.
The same writer sets this against a confession that leaves the worst part out:
Everyone honest enough to admit it will confirm how easy this is. We stress some details and leave out or play down others. We make our failure sound less serious, so the damage seems smaller. Here is an example of such a softened confession. Aaron said, "I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." The actual account says that he "fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf" (Exodus 32:4, 24).
Judah repeats the very things that once made his brothers hate Joseph — a father's love for the youngest son. Now he speaks of them with no resentment:
Here we have a most earnest plea, full of affection... It shows a heart put right, exactly where the sin lay. "We have a father, an old man." There was no tearing of his heart now! "And a young brother, the child of his old age." How little they thought of that once! "His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him." How far his brothers now were from hating Joseph because their father loved him!
Judah's whole plea turns on what his words would do to Jacob. Once Jacob's feelings meant nothing to him:
Instead of hardness, great tenderness of feeling, particularly for his old father, Jacob. Then it mattered nothing how Jacob would feel; now it mattered everything to him. Here we see the working of a repentance not to be repented of.
One writer draws a wider principle from this change:
Judah's mind has clearly come into communion with Jacob's. True repentance brings the mind of the one who has sinned into communion with the mind of God. It makes the soul see how the Son of God felt that sin, and what grief it caused God. This appears to be a central feature of true repentance.
One writer sets Judah's pleading in a wider order of events: forgiveness first, then a stretch of discipline and intercession.
Discipline and intercession mark the time between the forgiveness of sins and the public recognition — the adoption, as Romans 8 calls it... No one, however, was so fit and strong an intercessor among Israel's sons as Judah. Reuben and the others had been set aside, so Judah stood as the head of the family. He also stood there as the voluntary surety. In the same way Christ "bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors."
- Report. Judah retells the whole errand, down to the words he carried home to his father. God's Word keeps these small details so we can grasp repentance and restoration.
- Reality. Judah shades nothing to improve his own position. Aaron's confession left out his own hand in making the calf; Judah lets the full weight of his father's grief stand.
- Reversal. The very things that once fed his hatred — an old man's love for his youngest son — he now speaks of with tenderness. His heart came right at the exact point where the sin lay.
- Ransom. Judah stands as the voluntary surety and pleads for his brother — and in him commentators see Christ, who "bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors."
- Restoration. Restoration is often a long process — not because God is slow to forgive, but because the human heart is slow to repent.
And our father said, Go again, buy us a little food.
Judah stands before the ruler of Egypt with his youngest brother under arrest, and he retells the family's story from the start. One ordinary line from his father — go back and buy a little food — shows why they returned, what they expected, and how far their hearts had moved.
The brothers had no plan to return to Egypt. Only the empty sacks put them back on the road — and even then they waited for their father to speak first.
As long as the food lasted, the dreaded condition stayed on hold. But when their supply ran out, they had to face the facts. They had to find God above their hopes as much as their fears. He turned their faults to their profit, yet was abundant in fitting mercy to His own glory. The sons left it to their father to propose a fresh visit to Egypt; and it is not Reuben but Judah who states the case.
Two words in the father's order are worth weighing: buy and little.
Jacob first says they must not go; then, "Go again, buy us a little food." The words "buy" and "little" usually go together. Someone who thinks of buying salvation only expects a little of it. And indeed there is no one on earth who can pay for more than a little.
The same writer points out how late and how unwillingly they came to the man who could save them.
But they will not go to their saviour until they have proved that every other source is used up. Even then they go very unwillingly. And there is every sign that, if they had known who he was, they would sooner have gone to the other end of the earth.
Judah could have shaded the story to help his own case. Instead he repeats his father's words and the family's grief just as they were. The account tells against him as he tells it.
Judah's determination proves that he is not trying to protect himself from the consequences of his crime. He does not soften what he did or what came of it. He describes Jacob's grief vividly, and that grief points to the guilt of Joseph's brothers. He does not tone the account down to improve his own situation.
Judah's speech keeps circling back to his old father. That is where the change in him shows.
Instead of hardness, we see great tenderness of feeling, above all for his old father, Jacob. Then it did not matter how Jacob would feel; now it mattered everything to him. Here we see the working of a repentance that no one ever regrets.
Kelly hears the same change in every clause of the speech:
Here we plainly have a heart that has been brought right, at the very point where the sin lay. "We said to my lord, We have a father, an old man." Ah, there was no tearing of his heart now!
Judah's retelling ends with a proposal: let him stay as a slave so the boy can go home. That offer is what proves the story was not just a well-told excuse.
Deeds must prove words. So Judah comes forward on behalf of his brothers, and proves their words are real by what they are prepared to do... A beautiful picture of that "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" which always goes with a true work of grace.
Michael Hardt sees the brothers as a picture of the twelve tribes of Israel, "in their future restoration when they will be led to accept the rejected but true Joseph" (Michael Hardt).
- Hunger. The brothers moved only when the grain ran out. Need, not desire, sent them back to the one they had wronged.
- A little. Whoever thinks of buying help expects only a little — and no one on earth can pay for more than a little.
- Reluctance. They tried every other source first, and even then they hardly wanted to go.
- Honesty. Judah repeats the whole story without softening it. Every detail deepens his own guilt.
- Love. His father's heart once meant nothing to him. Now it means everything, and he offers himself as a slave to spare it.
But we said, We cannot go down if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.
Judah stands before the ruler of Egypt, repeating what the brothers had told their father back home: without Benjamin, there was no point going back. His words raise two questions: why the ruler set that condition, and what has changed in men who once hated their father's favourite son.
The brothers had no room to negotiate. The ruler set the terms, and hunger forced the family to accept them.
As long as the food lasted, the dreaded condition stayed out of sight. But when their supply ran out, they had to face the facts. God proved to be above their hopes as much as above their fears, turning their faults to their profit. The sons left it to their father to propose a fresh visit to Egypt; and it was Judah, not Reuben, who stated the case. They were absolutely forbidden to see the ruler's face without Benjamin. With him they were ready to go down and buy the food they needed; without him they dared not go.
Judah repeats the family conversation plainly. In the same speech he describes an old father, a small child of his old age, and a brother the father loves. That love once made these men hate Joseph.
Here we clearly have a heart that has been brought right, exactly where the sin lay. "We said to my lord, We have a father, an old man." There was no tearing at his heart now! "And a child of his old age, a little one." How little they once thought of that! "And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him." Do we not feel how far the hearts of all his brothers now were from hating Joseph because of Jacob's love for him!
The speaker is a surprise. Commentators point out that a storyteller would not have chosen him.
To anyone who has gained anything from prophecy, it is clear that a novelist would have picked Reuben as the natural one to take up the case, going by Genesis 37. Judah would have looked far from promising, especially when we read of the disgusting figure he cuts in Genesis 38. But the truth according to God is that Judah was the one whom grace had now fitted for the work.
Judah does not stop at words.
Judah's appeal is no empty rhetoric; he offers to give himself up to save Benjamin. This spirit of self-sacrifice marks all true intercession. "Blot me, I pray you, out of your book," said Moses. "I could wish myself accursed," said Paul. "Let me be a slave instead of Benjamin," says Judah in effect. All these said what they were willing to do: the wounds of Christ show what He has done.
But why plead at all with someone who has already decided to bless you?
Many find it hard to see why we should need to intercede with God at all, when His attitude towards us is already one of perfect love. Well, here Joseph was in an attitude of perfect love towards these forgiven sinners. From the beginning he had fully made up his mind to save and bless them. And yet Judah's intercession is so natural, so fitting and fine, so beautiful and moving — noble, generous and magnificent. It did not alter the final outcome (though it may have hastened it), but it altered everything else.
Commentators also see a larger picture in the two brothers. The ruler's face stays hidden until the younger one comes.
Joseph is, as we know, Christ once rejected and suffering, now exalted: this is the One whom Israel does not know. A Christ who simply triumphs and reigns on earth is the Benjamin found among them. This is true both in the days of the Lord's rejection and in the last days. They were ready for the conqueror; the Sufferer — not knowing their own deep need — they have refused. Yet the two are really one: even Benjamin was first Ben-oni. For them the Conqueror cannot come until they receive the Sufferer — not merely faith in a sufferer, but the One who has been this. Power lies with Joseph, not with Benjamin.
- Condition — The ruler's terms were absolute: no Benjamin, no face. When the food ran out, the family had to face the facts they had been avoiding.
- Conviction — Judah now speaks of the father's love for the youngest son without bitterness. The jealousy that once drove them is gone.
- Spokesman — Reuben was the obvious candidate and Judah the least likely one. Grace, not natural fitness, put Judah in this place.
- Sacrifice — Judah offers to stay as a slave so Benjamin can go free. Moses and Paul said what they were willing to do; Christ's wounds show what He has done.
- Sight — Benjamin pictures the reigning Christ Israel wants; Joseph is the rejected Sufferer they refuse. The two are one, and they will not see the face until they receive both.
And thy servant my father said to us, Ye know that my wife bore me two [sons];
Egypt's ruler is about to take Judah's youngest brother as a slave. Judah answers by repeating his father's own words — and the man listening is the other of the two sons those words name.
Joseph's handling of his brothers was not cruelty or whim. He set up circumstances that forced the past to repeat itself. That way the brothers could not just claim a change — they had to show it.
They had sinned as brothers before their brother, and as sons before their father. One they treated with the utmost cruelty, the other with the grossest deception. Now the time has come to test them. Joseph will prove how far any real change has taken place in them. They have said, "We are true men." So Joseph will set up circumstances to show whether at last they can act as true brothers and true sons. With the utmost wisdom Joseph will re-enact the past. Once again ten men will have to act in regard to a younger brother. Once again they will have to face an aged father with his great love for the younger son.
Jacob speaks of Rachel as "my wife," and counts only her two sons. That one sentence explains why Benjamin is not just one brother among twelve.
Joseph and Benjamin were the only sons of Rachel, the wife Jacob had loved (29:18). Losing Benjamin would be the loss closest to losing Joseph, whom Jacob loved "more than all his sons" (37:3). Now Benjamin is the most beloved: "and his father loves him" (v. 20), and "his life is bound up with his life" (v. 30). Judah is no longer occupied with how God may act in retribution, but with Jacob's love for his son and his grief.
The brothers once hated Joseph because their father loved him. Now Judah says that same favouritism out loud. The resentment is gone.
"We said to my lord, We have a father, an old man." Ah, there was no tearing of his heart now! "And a child of his old age, a little one." How little they thought of that once! "And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him." Can we not feel it? His brothers were now far from hating Joseph for Jacob's love of him!
Judah has stopped thinking about his own danger. His father's sorrow has become his own sorrow, and he says so without softening a word of it.
We can see that Judah's mind has come into communion with Jacob's. True repentance brings the mind of the sinner into communion with the mind of God. It leads the soul to realise how that sin affected the Son of God, and what grief it caused God. This appears to be a central feature of true repentance.
He could have trimmed the story to make himself look better. He does the opposite.
He describes Jacob's grief in vivid detail, and that implies the guilt of the brothers. He does not soften the account to improve his own situation.
Judah had led the sale of Joseph. Now he offers to stay in Egypt as a slave so his youngest brother can go home.
They had sold Joseph into slavery, and Judah had been the leader in it. They had to face slavery as their own doom, Judah above all, before they could know grace on Joseph's part. Judah, to save Benjamin, volunteers to be the slave in his place. He faces the very doom to which he had consigned Joseph. When he reached that point, relief came.
- Repeat — Joseph set the old scene up again: ten brothers, one favoured younger son, one grieving father. Real change shows under the same pressure that once exposed the sin.
- Rachel — "My wife bore me two sons" names Joseph and Benjamin. Taking Benjamin would strike Jacob in the same place Joseph's loss struck him.
- Reversed — the father's love for the younger son once fed their hatred. Judah now repeats it with warmth, and that is the clearest proof his heart has turned.
- Realise — real repentance means sharing the grief your sin caused, and telling the story without hiding your own guilt.
- Replace — Judah offers himself for the slavery he once imposed on his brother. At that point the testing stops and relief comes.
and the one went out from me, and I said, He must certainly have been torn in pieces; and I have not seen him [again] hitherto.
Judah stands before Egypt's governor and pleads for Benjamin, quoting his father's grief over a son who went out one day and never came back. He does not know that the governor is that son, and that the wild beast was his brothers' lie.
Jacob did not reach that conclusion on his own. His sons steered him into it years earlier.
The account shows the crafty way Jacob was led to jump to the conclusion that a wild animal had killed and eaten Joseph. His brothers avoided telling a plain lie; they only implied it, and Jacob fell into their trap.
So when Judah repeats "Surely he has been torn to pieces," he echoes the very words his own cruelty put in his father's mouth.
Nothing forced this old wound into the open. Judah brought it up himself, in front of the one person on earth who knew the truth.
They deceived their father. Ah, you say, bad men. Have you never deceived your father? ... You may try to forget your sins, but wait a moment — God has a great memory and a long look-out. Many, many years rolled by; in fact they let about forty years roll by before it all came out. But note this: it must come out. "Be sure your sin will find you out," is a God-given word.
The brothers had already felt regret over Joseph. Regret was not what Joseph was waiting for.
Contrary to popular belief, repentance is more than just a feeling of regret. Joseph's brothers, who had boldly stated "we are honest," did feel regret. Their words in chapter 42 prove two things. First, their conscience was active. Second, they regretted the consequence of their deed: "And now behold, his blood also is required." But this is not yet true repentance. More is required before Joseph reveals himself.
In his plea Judah dwells on the two things he once resented: an old father's love, and a favoured younger son.
There we have clearly a heart that has been brought right, exactly where the sin lay. "We said to my lord, We have a father, an old man." Ah, there was no tearing of his heart now! "And a child of his old age, a little one." How little they thought of that once! "And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him." Do we not feel it? The hearts of all his brothers were now far from hating Joseph because of Jacob's love for him!
Judah could have edited this detail out. Mentioning a lost son and a grieving father only made his side of the case look worse.
Judah's determination proves that he does not try to shield himself from the consequences of his crime. He does not try to soften his actions or their results. He describes Jacob's grief vividly, and that implies the guilt of Joseph's brothers. He does not tone down the account to improve his current situation.
The same writer takes this one step further, from Jacob to God.
Judah's mind has clearly been brought into fellowship with Jacob's. True repentance brings the mind of the one who has sinned into fellowship with the mind of God. It leads the soul to see how the Son of God was affected by the sin, and what grief this caused God.
Judah has just named the loss of one brother. Now he offers to lose himself rather than let a second one go.
They had to face slavery as their doom, Judah especially, before they could know Joseph's grace... Judah, to save Benjamin, volunteers to be the slave in his place. He faces the very doom to which he had consigned Joseph. When this point was reached, relief came.
Commentators see more in this lost brother than one family's grief.
Joseph was a clear picture of the One who was rejected by His brothers and separated from them. Yet He is now exalted in a place outside them, for the blessing of people all over the world.
- Found out. The words Judah quotes echo his own lie. Decades of silence did not bury it: be sure your sin will find you out.
- Not enough. Regret over consequences is not repentance. The brothers felt that years earlier, and Joseph still stayed hidden.
- Feeling rightly. Real repentance brings your mind into fellowship with the mind of the one you wronged. Judah now feels his father's loss as his own.
- Telling truly. Judah describes that grief and softens nothing, though every word deepens his own guilt.
- Standing in. He then offers to take the slavery he once handed to Joseph — and at that point, relief came.
And if ye take this one also from me, and mischief should befall him, ye will bring down my grey hairs with misery to Sheol.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And now, when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad is not with us, -- seeing that his life is bound up with his life,
Judah stands before the ruler of Egypt with one argument left: not evidence, not money, but his father's heart. Joseph's men found the cup in Benjamin's sack. The other brothers can walk away free. Everything now turns on what they do with their father's favourite son.
Joseph arranged the whole scene so that history could repeat itself — or not. They again have the chance to leave a favoured younger brother behind.
Benjamin stands in the place that once had been Joseph's — the youngest and best-loved son of his father. Benjamin is to go into slavery, just as Joseph once filled the place of a slave. The ten brothers are completely free, as they were before, to return to their father in peace. What will they do now? Will they abandon their brother to slavery, knowing he is innocent?
Jacob had two sons by Rachel, the wife he loved. One was gone. Everything the old man had left now rested on the boy standing in front of Joseph.
Joseph and Benjamin were the only sons of Rachel, the wife Jacob had loved (29:18). Losing Benjamin would be the loss most like losing Joseph, whom Jacob loved "more than any other of his sons" (37:3). Now Benjamin is the most loved: "his father loves him" (v. 20) and "his life is bound up in the boy's life" (v. 30). Judah is no longer thinking about how God may punish them. He is thinking about Jacob's love for his son, and his grief.
Judah spells out what that bond means in practice.
Judah pleads with Joseph: if he comes back to Jacob without Benjamin, the shock for his father would be so great that he would die.
Years earlier, a father's love for one son was exactly what the brothers could not bear. Now Judah pleads on the strength of that same love.
Here we have a heart that has been set right at the very point where the sin lay… "A young brother, the child of his old age." How little they thought of that once! "His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him." Can we not feel how far his brothers now were from hating Joseph because of Jacob's love for him!
Judah now carries in his own mind what the loss would mean to Jacob.
You can see that Judah's mind has come into communion with Jacob's. True repentance brings the mind of the one who has sinned into communion with the mind of God. It leads the soul to realise how the Son of God was affected by that sin, and what grief it caused for God. This appears to be a central feature of true repentance.
Judah had guaranteed Benjamin's safety to Jacob before the journey. Here he pays on that guarantee with himself.
The offer Judah makes is moderate, and at his own risk: "Send the boy with me… I will be a pledge of his safety." Jacob trusts him at once and lets Benjamin go. Jacob judged his character well, for Judah honoured that pledge when he stood forward in Egypt and offered himself as a substitute for Benjamin.
Offering to stay as a slave is what turns a moving speech into proof.
Judah laid out the whole case about his father and Benjamin with very deep feeling. Such feeling could only spring from something intense and genuine. He proved it real by his closing plea: let him stand as substitute for Benjamin. He was ready to face lifelong slavery himself rather than see his brother taken and his father brought down in sorrow to the grave. We saw Judah in a very bad light in both Genesis 37 and Genesis 38. Now we see the complete change that real repentance produces.
Joseph had decided on kindness long before Judah opened his mouth. That does not make the pleading pointless.
Many find it hard to see why there should be any need for intercession with God, when He is already full of love towards us. Well, here Joseph was full of love towards these forgiven sinners. From the beginning he had made up his mind to save and bless them. And yet how natural, how fitting, how beautiful and moving is Judah's noble, generous intercession. It did not alter the final outcome (though it may have hastened it), but it altered everything else.
- Test: Joseph put Benjamin in the place he himself had once filled, and left the brothers free to abandon him again.
- Bond: Jacob's life hangs on Benjamin's return. Losing Rachel's second son would repeat the loss of the first.
- Feeling: Judah has entered into his father's grief. That shared mind, not regret alone, is the mark of real repentance.
- Proof: Judah keeps his pledge. He offers himself as a slave in the boy's place.
- Effect: Joseph had settled on love before the plea began. The plea did not change his purpose. It changed the pleaders.
it will come to pass when he sees that the lad is not [there], that he will die; and thy servants will bring down the grey hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to Sheol.
Judah stands before the governor of Egypt and describes what he cannot face: going home to his father without the youngest son. His plea rests on one fact — his father's life is bound up in the boy's — and it is the answer to the test Joseph has set.
Behind Judah's plea stands a scene built to repeat an old one, point for point.
Benjamin stands in the place that once had been Joseph's — the youngest and best-loved son of his father. Benjamin shall pass into bondage, as once Joseph had filled the place of a slave. The ten brothers are perfectly free, as once before, to return to their father in peace. What will they do in these circumstances? Will they again act as in the days of old in the fields of Dothan? Will they abandon their brother to slavery knowing him to be innocent?
The plea itself is the evidence. Judah speaks in two directions at once — for the father and for the boy.
The love that breathes through Judah's moving appeal proves how deeply repentance has done its work in their souls. The heart of stone has truly become a heart of flesh. As a son he pleads for Jacob. He is our father, he is an old man, he loves Benjamin (20), "his life is bound up in the lad's life" (30)... As a true brother he pleads for Benjamin.
Judah's words about his father's death are not his own. They are Jacob's, quoted back.
Judah is no longer taken up with how God may punish them. He is taken up with Jacob's love for his son, and with Jacob's grief... Judah's words here echo Jacob's own words after he lost Joseph (37:35). Judah's mind has clearly come into communion with Jacob's. True repentance brings the mind of the one who has sinned into communion with the mind of God. It leads the soul to see how that sin affected the Son of God, and what grief it caused God. This appears to be a central feature of true repentance.
The change in Judah shows in what he is willing to lose.
He was ready to face slavery for life himself rather than see his brother taken and his father's grey hairs brought down with sorrow to the grave. We saw Judah in a very bad light in both Genesis 37 and Genesis 38. Now we see what a complete change real repentance produces.
One writer sees in this offer a picture of something larger: a man who takes on a debt that is not his, then speaks up for the guilty.
No one among Israel's sons was so fit and strong an intercessor as Judah. He stood there as the head of the family, since Reuben and the others had been set aside. He stood there too as the voluntary surety. In the same way Christ "bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
Joseph had decided to save them before Judah opened his mouth.
Many find it hard to understand why there should be any need to plead with God, when He is in an attitude of perfect love towards us. Well, here Joseph was in an attitude of perfect love towards these forgiven sinners. From the start he had made up his mind to save and bless them. And yet how natural, how fitting, how beautiful and moving is Judah's noble, generous, and magnificent plea. It did not change the final outcome (though it may have brought it sooner), but it changed everything else.
Joseph's answer comes next, and it is not the answer a judge would give.
Joseph had not been causing his brothers pain because he wanted to. Everything he did was only to lead them to this place of repentance. He meets them now not as a judge, but as a brother… His love could no longer hide itself. "Make everyone go out from me," he said, and then he made himself known to his brothers. He showed them his thoughts, how kind they were. He set free their guilty conscience, and bound up their broken hearts.
- Test — The cup in Benjamin's sack set up the old crime again. The best-loved son was bound for slavery. The others were free to walk away.
- Grief — Judah passes the test. He describes his father's sorrow in his father's own words. Repentance had reached past regret into shared feeling.
- Surety — The brother who once let a brother go into slavery now offers to go himself. That way his father's grey hairs will not go down in sorrow.
- Intercession — Pleading did not change Joseph's mind. He had already decided to bless them. It changed the pleaders, and everything between them.
- Revelation — Once repentance was real, the hiding ended. Joseph dropped the role of judge, made himself known as a brother, and bound up their broken hearts.
For thy servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I bring him not to thee, then I shall be guilty toward my father all my days.
Judah once let his brother Joseph be sold into slavery. Now he stands before that same brother, not knowing who he is, and offers his own freedom to save Benjamin. The whole chapter has been testing one question: have these men changed?
Judah had already persuaded Jacob to let Benjamin go by pledging himself. Other translations call this standing surety. One writer notes what that promise cost Judah, and that he kept it:
The offer Judah makes is moderate, and at his own risk. "Send the boy with me … I will be surety for him." Jacob instantly trusts to him and lets Benjamin go. In doing so, Jacob showed once more how well he read character. Judah nobly kept his pledge of suretyship: he stood up in Egypt and offered himself as a substitute for Benjamin.
Another writer sets that pledge against Judah's past:
What he failed to do in the case of Joseph, he now does in the case of Benjamin; he stands surety for his safety.
The phrase "bear the blame" is stronger in Hebrew than it looks. One writer points out that Judah's word here is the ordinary Hebrew word for "sin":
Judah uses exactly the same word in the book of Genesis, where we must certainly translate it, as the King James Version does, "bear the blame" or "sin" (Gen. 44:32).
So Judah is not offering to feel sorry. He asks to stand as the guilty one for life if Benjamin never goes home.
One writer links Judah's pledge to a word the New Testament uses of Jesus.
In Hebrews 7:22, we read that Jesus was made "a surety of a better covenant." Genesis 43:9 gives an excellent illustration of what suretyship involves. If there is any breakdown, the blame of it must lie for ever on the surety, and everything will be demanded from him. Were there any breakdown in the new covenant, the blame of it would rest upon Christ for ever. But, no! Its stability and the security of all its blessings are ensured for eternity.
The same writer puts it as words the Lord Himself might say:
The new covenant is a declaration of the grace of God; and it is as if our Lord said, "Should it not stand imperishable and for ever, let Me bear the blame of it for ever."
The brothers had already said the right things. Judah's offer turns their words into proof.
This indeed is excellent, but these are words and may be only empty profession. Words must be proved by deeds. So Judah comes forward for his brothers. He proves their words are real by what they are ready to do. He can say, "Let your servant remain instead of the boy as a slave to my lord; and let the boy go up with his brothers." The pleading love that runs through Judah's moving appeal also proves how deep a repentance has been worked in their souls.
Another writer notes what Judah never once tries to do:
This determination proves that Judah makes no attempt to shield himself from the consequences of his crime. He does not try to soften what he did or what it caused. He vividly describes Jacob's grief, which implies their guilt. He does not tone that account down to improve his own position.
Writers treat Judah's speech as a model of intercession. They set it beside two others who offered to take the place of the guilty.
No one among Israel's sons was so fit and strong an intercessor as Judah. He stood there as head of the family and as the voluntary surety: so Christ "bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." Judah's appeal is no empty rhetoric; he offers to give himself up to save Benjamin. This spirit of self-sacrifice characterises all true intercession. "Please blot me out of your book," said Moses. "I could wish that I myself were accursed," said Paul. "Let me be slave instead of Benjamin" (in effect), says Judah. All these said what they were willing to do: the wounds of Christ show what He has done.
- Pledge. Judah made himself surety at his own risk, and here he keeps his word instead of walking away free.
- Blame. The Hebrew behind "bear the blame" is the word for sin. Judah asks to stand as the guilty one in Benjamin's place.
- Surety. Hebrews 7:22 calls Jesus the surety of a better covenant. If it could fail, the blame would rest on Him for ever. It cannot fail.
- Proof. Words must be proved by deeds. Judah softens nothing about his guilt and asks for no escape from the cost.
- Pattern. Self-sacrifice marks all true intercession. Moses, Paul and Judah said what they were willing to do. The wounds of Christ show what He has done.
And now, let thy servant stay, I pray thee, instead of the lad a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren;
Judah once made his younger brother Joseph suffer, and here he offers to suffer in Benjamin's place. The offer answers the question Joseph's long testing has been driving at: have these men really changed?
Joseph had suffered from his brothers' envy of a favoured son. Judah's offer tells him what has become of that envy.
The immense change God had worked in his brothers was now made clear to Joseph. Their envy and selfish cruelty had given way to tender love for their father and for his affection toward the younger son of Rachel. The old jealousy was torn up by the roots. The one who took the lead was ready to become a slave to the governor, so that Benjamin might return and be his father's joy and comfort, instead of his father's death if Benjamin stayed a slave.
Judah's speech was moving. But how can anyone know that a change of heart is real?
This is excellent, but these are words, and words may be empty profession. Words must be proved by deeds. So Judah comes forward on behalf of the brothers, and proves the reality of their words by what they are prepared to do. What is more, the pleading love that breathes through Judah's touching appeal proves how deep the repentance is that has been worked in their souls. The heart of stone has indeed been changed into a heart of flesh.
Before the journey, Judah promised Jacob that he would answer for Benjamin himself. This verse is where he keeps that promise.
Judah makes no large offers at the expense of his sons; the offer he makes is far more moderate, and at his own risk. "Send the boy with me … I will be a pledge of his safety." Jacob trusts him at once and lets Benjamin go. In doing so, Jacob showed again that he could read character. Judah nobly made his pledge good: he stood forward in Egypt and offered himself in Benjamin's place.
Judah is the one asking for mercy, which gives him every reason to play down his part in the crime.
This determination proves that Judah is not trying to protect himself from the consequences of his crime. He does not try to soften what he did or what it caused. He vividly describes Jacob's grief, which implies their guilt — the guilt of Joseph's brothers. He does not tone the account down to improve his own situation.
Standing in for someone else is not unique to Judah. Others in Scripture asked to bear the cost themselves, and one did.
Judah's appeal is no empty rhetoric; he offers to give himself up to save Benjamin. This spirit of self-sacrifice marks all true intercession. "Please blot me out of your book," said Moses. "I could wish that I myself were accursed," said Paul. "Let me be a slave instead of Benjamin," says Judah, in effect. All of these said what they were willing to do: the wounds of Christ show what He has done.
Set the offer beside the way Judah once treated Joseph, and the change is unmistakable.
The last words of Judah to Joseph are refreshing in the way they reach the root of the whole matter. He asks Joseph to let him take Benjamin's place as a slave, and to let Benjamin return to his father. What a contrast to the way Judah had once treated his younger brother Joseph! This was the very end Joseph had been seeking: to see in Judah a genuine repentance that was willing to suffer as he had made his brother suffer. This is the repentance seen in the criminal crucified beside the Lord Jesus. He said that he and the other man deserved the punishment they received.
One commentator reads the scene as a pattern of something still ahead for Israel. The turning point is Judah's willingness to enter the sorrow himself.
Here the repentance is tied directly to the rejection of Joseph, and it comes home to the conscience of Joseph's brothers. So it will be in the end with Israel. It is not a question of the law here; the repentance points to the Messiah. … In the end Judah comes into prominence in connection with Benjamin. He takes his father Israel's sorrow to heart — the sorrow over Benjamin and the loss of Joseph — and puts himself into it. Then Joseph, in his glory, reveals himself to them as their brother.
after It is a lovely scene.
- Uprooted. The envy that once turned on Joseph is gone. Judah now pleads for the favoured younger brother instead of resenting him.
- Proved. Repentance that stops at words proves nothing. Judah's offer to take Benjamin's place proves his words by deeds.
- Honest. He shields himself from nothing. He does not play down the crime or its cost to his father.
- Kept. Judah promised Jacob he would answer for Benjamin. He makes that promise good by standing in Benjamin's place.
- Revealed. Once Judah enters his father's sorrow, Joseph makes himself known. One commentator sees here a pattern of Israel's future meeting with the Messiah.
for how should I go up to my father if the lad were not with me? -- lest I see the evil that would come on my father.
Judah's last words to Egypt's ruler turn the whole Joseph story. He offers to stay as a slave so the youngest brother can go home. He cannot face his father without the boy. That fear raises the real question of these chapters: what has changed in the men who once sold a brother and let their father grieve?
Judah's reason for refusing to go home is not fear of punishment. It is what losing the boy would do to his old father at home.
Joseph and Benjamin were the only sons of Rachel, the wife Jacob had loved. Jacob loved Joseph "more than any other of his sons," and losing Benjamin would come closest to that loss. Benjamin is now the most loved son: "his father loves him," and "his life is bound up in the boy's life." Judah is no longer occupied with how God may act in retribution, but with Jacob's love for his son and his grief.
Earlier the brothers said the right words. Words can be empty. This verse tests them.
Judah comes forward for the brothers. He proves their words are real by what they are prepared to do… Love breathes all through Judah's appeal. That pleading love proves how deep the repentance is that has been worked in their souls. The heart of stone has indeed been changed into a heart of flesh. As a son he pleads for Jacob. He is our father, he is an old man, he loves Benjamin, and "his life is bound up in the boy's life." How can I "see the evil that would find my father"? As a true brother he pleads for Benjamin.
Judah had led the plan to sell Joseph into slavery. Now he asks to be the slave himself.
They had sold Joseph into slavery, and Judah had been the leader in that. They had to face slavery as their own doom, Judah above all. Only then could they know the grace Joseph had for them… Judah, to save Benjamin, volunteers to be the slave in his place. He faces the very doom to which he had consigned Joseph. When this was reached, relief came.
Judah does not soften the story to help his own case, either.
This determination proves that Judah does not try to protect himself from the consequences of his crime. He does not try to soften what he did or what it led to. He describes Jacob's grief in vivid terms, which implies their guilt.
Judah asks nothing for himself. Commentators see in that the mark of every genuine plea made on another's behalf.
Judah's appeal is no empty speech; he offers to give himself up to save Benjamin. This spirit of self-sacrifice marks all true intercession. "Please blot me out of your book," said Moses. "I could wish that I myself were accursed," said Paul. "Let me be slave instead of Benjamin," says Judah in effect. All of these said what they were willing to do: the wounds of Christ show what He has done.
Joseph had kept his distance through three chapters of testing. Two simple phrases in Judah's speech ended it.
He wept again as he saw the work of repentance going on in his brothers. In his own way he longed for them deeply. At last Judah's words were too much for him. Conviction of conscience had then ended in restoration of heart. Again and again Judah said "the old man" and "the lad." Those words had an eloquence that prevailed, and Joseph could no longer hold himself back.
Writers read this story as more than family history.
Joseph's brothers, in Genesis 42 to 44, foreshadow the twelve tribes of Israel, Judah included. They picture Israel's future restoration, when they will be led to accept the rejected but true Joseph. Their story also brings to light certain principles about the work of restoration and about true repentance.
- Father first. Judah's plea turns on the old man at home; what he cannot face is not slavery but his father's sorrow.
- Proof, not protest. Earlier the brothers confessed with words. Here Judah proves it by offering to bear the cost himself.
- The same doom. The man who led the sale of one brother into slavery now volunteers for slavery to free another. Only then does relief come.
- Costly pleading. Self-sacrifice is the mark of real intercession. Moses and Paul said what they would give; the wounds of Christ show what He gave.
- Love released. "The old man" and "the lad" on Judah's lips broke Joseph down. He stopped testing and made himself known — a preview, some writers hold, of Israel's future restoration.