“Genesis 44:18-34”

Thursday, April 16, 2020

“Then Judah approached him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are equal to Pharaoh. My lord asked his servants, saying, “Have you a father or a brother?” We said to my lord, “We have an old father and a little child of his old age. Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.” Then you said to your servants, “Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.” But we said to my lord, “The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.” You said to your servants, however, “Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.” Thus it came about when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. Our father said, “Go back, buy us a little food.” But we said, “We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.” Your servant my father said to us, “You know that my wife bore me two sons; and the one went out from me, and I said, ‘Surely he is torn in pieces,’ and I have not seen him since. If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.” Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad’s life, when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, “If I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever.” Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me—for fear that I see the evil that would overtake my father?’”

---End of Scripture verses---

“Then Judah approached him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears…” (verse 18) “The encounter between Joseph and his brothers has now reached its climactic moment. A personal appeal to the great man is Judah’s last desperate resort. He pours out his heart in what is the longest speech in the Book of Genesis, although it could not have lasted more than five minutes. Divided into three parts, the address recapitulates recent events (vv. 18-29), stresses the adverse impact of Joseph’s act upon their father (vv. 30-32), and culminates in a personal offer to take Benjamin’s place as a slave (vv. 33-34). It makes no mention of the theft of the goblet or of the innocence or guilt of the accused. This shrewd but simple appeal to Joseph’s sense of fairness and mercy attempts to invoke his humanity through repeated references to the state of their aged father. It is also designed to impress Joseph with the speaker’s noble self-sacrifice. Judah’s eloquence is effective because it is deferential yet dignified, spirited but not provocative, full of pathos and passion, yet restrained and transparently sincere.” (Nahum Sarna)

“Do not be angry with your servant; for you are equal to Pharaoh.” (verse 18) From the outset of Judah’s plea, he admitted he had no right and was in no position to negotiate with a person of such elevated status. Joseph was the second most important and powerful man in the most dominant kingdom in the whole world. Judah knew that if he aroused the anger of such a lofty leader a fury of unmatched proportions could be unleashed upon him. But he also knew that a person with power “equal to Pharaoh” had the authority to grant his brother a full pardon if there was only a tender heart within him that could be touched by a persuasive emotional entreaty. The unbearable thought of breaking the devastating news to his father that Benjamin wouldn’t be coming back home expelled any fears of inciting the ruler’s wrath.

“We have an old father and a little child of his old age.” (verse 20) Benjamin was a “little child” in comparison to his brothers who were much older, and his young age also explained why he had been left at home with his “old father” who was well over 100 years of age. The term “child of his old age” was used to describe Joseph in Genesis 37:3 to explain why “Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons.” “Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.” The revelation that Judah believed Joseph to be dead may have provoked some momentary perverse satisfaction within Joseph’s mind, but the mention of his long-departed mother and his father’s special love for her children must have diminished Joseph’s indignation and unbolted the emotional floodgates. Then to hear that his father’s tormented mind had been tortured for two decades by images of Joseph being “torn to pieces” (verse 28) must have ripped his poor heart to shreds.

“When he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow.” (verse 30) Judah knew that his father would be beyond the point of recovery and consolation, and the loss of Benjamin would send him to his grave (Sheol). Of course, the implication here was that Joseph would share in the responsibility along with the brothers of killing their father with grief beyond compare. “For your servant became surety for the lad to my father…” (verse 32) This detail explained why Judah had assumed the position of spokesman for the family and maintained such a personal stake in the matter.

“Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.” (verse 33) “The one who had been responsible for the sale of Joseph into slavery (37:26f.) now unwittingly offers to become the slave of his own victim! The story has come full circle, and the stage is set of the dramatic denouement, brought on by Judah’s noble gesture of self-sacrifice and the moving image of his father’s misery.” (Nahum Sarna) “This is the pinnacle of the Joseph story. Here Judah stood forth as a willing sacrifice to spare the life of his brother, and at a time when he might have supposed that Benjamin could have been guilty. After all, the cup was in his sack. Right here was, ‘the turning point in the relations between Joseph and his brethren.’ In this magnanimous action, Judah earned the right to supplant his brother Reuben as the successor to the patriarchal birthright. It was this heart-breaking plea that opened the fountain of tears in the heart of the long-lost brother then upon the throne of Egypt.” (James Burton Coffman)

Please read Genesis 45:1-8 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

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