16 And Judah said, What are we to say to my lord? how may we put ourselves right in his eyes? God has made clear the sin of your servants: now we are in your hands, we and the man in whose bag your cup was seen. 17 Then he said, Far be it from me to do so: but the man who had my cup will be my servant; and you may go back to your father in peace.
18 Then Judah came near him, and said, Let your servant say a word in my lord's ears, and let not your wrath be burning against your servant: for you are in the place of Pharaoh to us. 19 My lord said to his servants, Have you a father or a brother? 20 And we said to my lord, We have an old father and a young child, whom he had when he was old; his brother is dead and he is the only son of his mother, and is very dear to his father. 21 And you said to your servants, Let him come down to me with you, so that I may see him. 22 And we said to my lord, His father will not let him go; for if he went away his father would come to his death. 23 But you said to your servants, If your youngest brother does not come with you, you will not see my face again. 24 And when we went back to your servant, our father, we gave him an account of my lord's words. 25 And our father said, Go again and get us a little food. 26 And we said, Only if our youngest brother goes with us will we go down; for we may not see the man's face again if our youngest brother is not with us. 27 And our father said to us, You have knowledge that my wife gave me two sons; 28 The one went away from me, and I said, Truly he has come to a violent death; and from that time I have not seen him, 29 If now you take this one from me, and some evil comes to him, you will make my grey head go down in sorrow to the underworld. 30 If then I go back to your servant, my father, without the boy, because his life and the boy's life are one, 31 When he sees that the boy is not with us, he will come to his death, and our father's grey head will go down in sorrow to the underworld. 32 For I made myself responsible for the boy to my father, saying, If I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever. 33 So now let me be my lord's servant here in place of the boy, and let him go back with his brothers. 34 For how may I go back to my father without the boy, and see the evil which will come on my father?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 44:16-34
Commentary on Genesis 44:1-17
(Read Genesis 44:1-17)
Joseph tried how his brethren felt towards Benjamin. Had they envied and hated the other son of Rachel as they had hated him, and if they had the same want of feeling towards their father Jacob as heretofore, they would now have shown it. When the cup was found upon Benjamin, they would have a pretext for leaving him to be a slave. But we cannot judge what men are now, by what they have been formerly; nor what they will do, by what they have done. The steward charged them with being ungrateful, rewarding evil for good; with folly, in taking away the cup of daily use, which would soon be missed, and diligent search made for it; for so it may be read, Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, as having a particular fondness for it, and for which he would search thoroughly? Or, By which, leaving it carelessly at your table, he would make trial whether you were honest men or not? They throw themselves upon Joseph's mercy, and acknowledge the righteousness of God, perhaps thinking of the injury they had formerly done to Joseph, for which they thought God was now reckoning with them. Even in afflictions wherein we believe ourselves wronged by men, we must own that God is righteous, and finds out our sin.
Commentary on Genesis 44:18-34
(Read Genesis 44:18-34)
Had Joseph been, as Judah supposed him, an utter stranger to the family, he could not but be wrought upon by his powerful reasonings. But neither Jacob nor Benjamin need an intercessor with Joseph; for he himself loved them. Judah's faithful cleaving to Benjamin, now, in his distress, was recompensed long afterwards by the tribe of Benjamin keeping with the tribe of Judah, when the other tribes deserted it. The apostle, when discoursing of the mediation of Christ, observes, that our Lord sprang out of Judah, Hebrews 7:14; and he not only made intercession for the transgressors, but he became a Surety for them, testifying therein tender concern, both for his Father and for his brethren. Jesus, the great antitype of Joseph, humbles and proves his people, even after they have had some tastes of his loving-kindness. He brings their sins to their remembrance, that they may exercise and show repentance, and feel how much they owe to his mercy.