16 So Judah said , "What can we say to my lord ? What can we speak ? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants ; behold , we are my lord's slaves , both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been found ." 17 But he said , "Far be it from me to do this . The man in whose possession the cup has been found , he shall be my slave ; but as for you, go up in peace to your father ."
18 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 e with your servant ; for you are equal to Pharaoh . 19 " My lord asked his servants , saying , 'Have you a father or a brother ?' 20 "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.' 21 "Then you said to your servants , ' Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.' 22 "But we said to my lord , 'The lad cannot e leave his father , for if he should leave his father , his father would die .' 23 "You said to your servants , however, ' Unless e your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again .' 24 "Thus it came about when we went up to your servant my father , we told him the words of my lord . 25 " Our father said , 'Go back , buy us a little food .' 26 "But we said , 'We cannot e go down . If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down ; for we cannot e see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.' 27 "Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons; 28 and the one went out from me, and I said , "Surely he is torn in pieces ," and I have not seen him since e . 29 'If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow .' 30 "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 , 31 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 . 32 "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 e .' 33 "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 . 34 "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 ?"
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.