And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, 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.
The very facts that once fed their hatred
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.
William KellyHere 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!
Speaking of a dead brother to the living one
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.
Leslie M. GrantHe 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!
Repentance that takes in the father's feelings
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.
Michael HardtJoseph 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:
Michael HardtYou 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.
Pleading as a son and as a brother
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.
Hamilton SmithJudah'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).
The man who sold a brother offers himself instead
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.
F. B. HoleJudah 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.
The one who is left
Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. She gave him one name, his father gave him another, and each one carries its own meaning.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe 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).
Summary
- 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.