Genesis 44
Judah Pleads with Joseph

Judah approached Joseph and recounted the entire story to him; and ended by pledging himself as a slave to Joseph in order to secure Benjamin’s freedom. He said that the loss of Benjamin would kill Jacob and he would give his life in place of Benjamin’s. This is a far different Judah than the one we saw 22 years earlier …when the brothers were arguing what to do with Joseph in the pit. What happened over these years to change Judah? Well…he had already lost two sons (Chapter 38) so he could empathize with Jacob over his fears of first losing Joseph and now the possibility of losing Benjamin also:



“You know that my wife bore me two sons; and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn to pieces”; and I have not seen him since. But if you take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”



Even though Jacob had twelve sons from four wives, he considered only the sons of his beloved Rachel as “his sons.” Judah felt Jacob’s pain at the thought of losing his second son Benjamin and he offered himself to Joseph; Judah accepted the fact that Jacob loved Benjamin more than he loved Judah (and the rest of the ten sons), so he willingly offered himself so that his father could be reunited with Benjamin. Joseph recognized this change in Judah (perhaps in the others, too); they had passed Joseph’s final test.