Genesis
44:18 ¶ Then Judah came near unto him,
and said, Oh 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. 19 My lord asked his servants,
saying, Have ye a father, or a brother? 20
And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of
his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his
mother, and his father loveth him. 21
And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may
set mine eyes upon him. 22 And we said
unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his
father, his father would die. 23 And thou
saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye
shall see my face no more. 24 And it
came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words
of my lord. 25 And our father said, Go
again, and buy us a little food. 26 And
we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go
down: for we may not see the man’s face, except our youngest brother be with
us. 27 And thy servant my father said
unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: 28 And the one went out from me, and I said,
Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since: 29 And if ye take this also from me, and
mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the
grave. 30 Now therefore when I come to
thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is
bound up in the lad’s life; 31 It shall
come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and
thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with
sorrow to the grave. 32 For thy servant
became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee,
then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. 33 Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant
abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his
brethren. 34 For how shall I go up to my
father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall
come on my father.
Judah pleads for
his father, that Benjamin not be kept as a servant but that Judah take his
place. He offered himself as surety for Benjamin’s safety, after all. He
implores this mighty Egyptian official, whom he does not know as his brother,
Joseph. Judah, who in 37:26 persuaded his brothers that, rather than kill
Joseph, they should sell him to the Ishmaelites, was instrumental in Joseph
having the opportunity to be the de facto ruler of Egypt’s internal policies
regarding the preparation and survival of this famine.
This is a time of
great tension and, as far as the brothers know, the fate of Benjamin, their
fate, and their father’s all hinge on this Egyptian official’s sense of mercy.
It is a time of desperation, fear, and anxiety. To them, everything hinges on
this official’s decision. Can you imagine how filled with confusion and dread
and apprehension they must be? I wonder if they imagined how filled with
confusion, fear, and apprehension Joseph must have been when he was thrown in
that pit and then sold by his own brothers as a slave to traveling traders.
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