And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.
Joseph laid down as the condition for his brothers' return that unless their youngest brother came down with them to Egypt they would not see his face again. That demand made Jacob reluctant to let Benjamin go to Egypt. To overcome his father's fear, Judah pledged himself as surety for Benjamin, promising to bear the blame forever if he did not bring the lad back to his father.
When Judah afterward pleaded privately with Joseph he recalled that demand and set forth Jacob's great grief at the loss of Joseph, that Benjamin was all that was left of the mother Jacob loved, and that Jacob's life was bound up in the lad's life, so that to be separated from Benjamin or to have him kept in Egypt would kill the aged father and leave him devastated. Judah therefore nobly offered to remain himself as a bondman in Benjamin's place and to let Benjamin go up with his brothers, because he could not meet his father without Benjamin with him.
Joseph laid down as the condition for his brothers' return that unless their youngest brother came down with them to Egypt they would not see his face again. That demand made Jacob reluctant to let Benjamin go to Egypt. To overcome his father's fear, Judah pledged himself as surety for Benjamin, promising to bear the blame forever if he did not bring the lad back to his father.
When Judah afterward pleaded privately with Joseph he recalled that demand and set forth Jacob's great grief at the loss of Joseph, that Benjamin was all that was left of the mother Jacob loved, and that Jacob's life was bound up in the lad's life, so that to be separated from Benjamin or to have him kept in Egypt would kill the aged father and leave him devastated. Judah therefore nobly offered to remain himself as a bondman in Benjamin's place and to let Benjamin go up with his brothers, because he could not meet his father without Benjamin with him.