And when 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.
Empty sacks
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.
William KellyAs 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.
"A little food"
Two words in the father's order are worth weighing: buy and little.
The Bible TreasuryJacob 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 last place they wanted to go
The same writer points out how late and how unwillingly they came to the man who could save them.
The Bible TreasuryBut 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.
Telling it straight
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.
Michael HardtJudah'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.
"Our father said"
Judah's speech keeps circling back to his old father. That is where the change in him shows.
F. B. HoleInstead 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:
William KellyHere 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!
Words backed by an offer
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.
Hamilton SmithDeeds 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.
More than family history
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).
Summary
- 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.