[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.
And Judah said - We have here a most pathetic speech
which Judah made to Joseph on Benjamin's behalf. Either Judah was a better
friend to Benjamin than the rest, and more solicitous to bring him off;
or he thought himself under greater obligations to endeavour it than the
rest, because he had passed his word to his father for his safe return.
His address, as it is here recorded, is so very natural, and so expressive
of his present passion, that we cannot but suppose Moses, who wrote it
so long after, to have written it under the special direction of him that
made man's mouth. A great deal of unaffected art, and unstudied rhetoric
there is in this speech.
-
He addressed himself to Joseph with a great deal of respect
calls him his lord, himself and his brethren his servants, begs his patient
hearing, and passeth a mighty compliment upon him, Thou art even as Pharaoh,
whose favour we desire, and whose wrath we dread as we do Pharaoh's.
-
He represented Benjamin as one well worthy of his compassionate
consideration, he was a little one, compared with the rest; the youngest,
not acquainted with the world, nor inured to hardship, having been always
brought up tenderly with his father. It made the case the more piteous
that he alone was left of his mother, and his brother was dead, viz. Joseph;
little did Judah think what a tender point he touched upon now. Judah knew
that Joseph was sold, and therefore had reason enough to think that he
was not alive.
-
He urged it closely that Joseph had himself constrained them
to bring Benjamin with them, had expressed a desire to see him, had forbidden
them his presence, unless they brought Benjamin with them, all which intimated,
that he designed him some kindness. And must he be brought with so much
difficulty to the preferment of a perpetual slavery? Was he not brought
to Egypt in obedience, purely in obedience to the command of Joseph, and
would not he shew him some mercy?
-
The great argument he insists upon was the insupportable
grief it would be to his aged father, if Benjamin should be left behind
in servitude. His father loves him, Genesis 44:20. Thus they had pleaded
against Joseph's insisting on his coming down Genesis 44:22.If he should
leave his father, his father would die, much more if he now be left behind,
never to return. This the old man of whom they spake, had pleaded against
his going down. If mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my grey hairs,
that crown of glory, with sorrow to the grave. This therefore Judah presseth
with a great deal of earnestness, his life is bound up in the lad's life,
when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will faint away and die immediately,
or will abandon himself to such a degree of sorrow, as will, in a few days,
make an end of him, And (lastly) Judah pleads, that, for his part, he could
not bear to see this. Let me not see the evil that shall come on my father.
-
Judah, in honour to the justice of Joseph's sentence, and
to shew his sincerity in this plea, offers himself to become a bond - man
instead of Benjamin. Thus the law would be satisfied; Joseph would be no
loser, for we may suppose Judah a more able bodied man than Benjamin; Jacob
would better bear that than the loss of Benjamin. Now, so far was he from
grieving at his father's particular fondness for Benjamin, than he is himself
willing to be a bond - man to indulge it.
Now, had Joseph been, as Judah supposed, an utter stranger
to the family, yet even common humanity could not but be wrought upon by
such powerful reasonings as these; for nothing could be said more moving,
more tender; it was enough to melt a heart of stone: but to Joseph, who
was nearer a - kin to Benjamin than Judah himself, and who, at this time,
felt a greater passion for him and his aged father, than Judah did, nothing
could be more pleasingly nor more happily said. Neither Jacob nor Benjamin
needed an intercessor with Joseph, for he himself loved them. Upon the
whole, let us take notice,
-
How prudently Judah suppressed all mention of the crime that
was charged upon Benjamin. Had he said any thing by way of acknowledgment
of it, he had reflected on Benjamin's honesty. Had he said any thing by
way of denial of it, he had reflected on Joseph's justice; therefore he
wholly waves that head, and appeals to Joseph's pity.
-
What good reason dying Jacob had to say, Judah, thou art
he whom thy brethren shall praise, Genesis 49:8, for he excelled them all
in boldness, wisdom, eloquence, and especially tenderness for their father
and family.
-
Judah's faithful adherence to Benjamin now in his distress
was recompensed long after, by the constant adherence of the tribe of Benjamin
to the tribe of Judah, when all the other ten tribes deserted it.
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