Genesis 44:33

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.