Genesis 43:9
I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever: I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:
Genesis 43:9 is Judah's pledge to Jacob to be personally responsible as surety for Benjamin, promising to bring him back and set him before Jacob and to bear the blame forever if he failed, so that Jacob could hold him accountable. The pledge was made because Jacob was reluctant to let Benjamin go to Egypt, clinging to him with all the strength of a mother's love as all that was left of the mother he loved after the deeply felt loss of Joseph. His own life was bound up in the lad's life, so that separation would kill him, yet famine pressed the family for food and forced a second journey to Egypt. The Egyptian ruler had solemnly demanded that the brothers not see his face unless their youngest brother was with them. Judah promised that if Jacob would send Benjamin with them they would go for food, and pressed the urgency by pointing out that lingering over Benjamin had already wasted time enough for a journey to Egypt and back.
His surety persuaded and compelled Jacob to permit Benjamin to go with his brothers to Egypt to obtain food. In letting him go, Jacob sought the ruler's favor with a present and directed his sons to take double money and to return the money found in their sacks. When the cup was found with Benjamin and he was threatened with slavery, Judah reminded Joseph of that pledge and fulfilled it by nobly offering to remain himself as a bondman and slave in Benjamin's place and let the lad go up with his brethren. He pleaded his father's great grief over the loss of Joseph and that he could not meet his father without Benjamin with him.