GENESIS 44
24 “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’
30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
– Genesis 44:24-34
GENESIS 44 JUDAH INTERCEDED FOR BENJAMIN
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
When the silver cup was found in Benjamin’s sack, Judah talked to Joseph
Judah interceded for his brother and pleaded for Benjamin’s release
He offered his own service to Joseph in place of his youngest brother
He explained to Joseph how it would kill their father if he didn’t come home.
Judah surprised us here in this account. When Joseph tested them and placed the silver cup in Benjamin’s sack, it was likely to examine their hearts. After years have gone by, he wondered if they also treated Benjamin with such envy just like they treated him in his youth. But we see a changed heart in Judah in this scene when he interceded for his youngest brother for the sake of his father’s life and also for his family’s lives. He was willing to offer his own service to be the servant of Joseph in place of Benjamin. He exuded the love for a brother and his father’s well-being.
REFLECTION
- What do you think Judah meant when he said verse 34?
