And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.
This is part of Judah's plea for Benjamin, spoken privately to Joseph apart from the other brothers, reporting that when they came up to their father Jacob they told him Joseph's words demanding that Benjamin be brought to Egypt. The title "my lord" is Joseph, whom the brothers so address when recounting what he had said to them in Egypt. That report is the message they carried home to Jacob during the famine and the beginning of the events that tested their loyalty to their father and to Benjamin.
In the plea surrounding this report Judah explains Jacob's reluctance to let Benjamin go to Egypt, his great grief over the loss of Joseph, and that Benjamin is all that is left of the mother Jacob loved. Judah himself had pledged to become surety for Benjamin and to bear the blame forever if he did not bring him back to Jacob. He appeals for his father's sake because Jacob fears losing Benjamin, whose absence would bring Jacob deep grief, since Jacob's life is bound up in the lad's life so that separation would kill him.
The report leads to Judah's noble offer to remain as a bondman in Benjamin's place and let Benjamin go up with his brothers, because he cannot face his father without the lad.
This is part of Judah's plea for Benjamin, spoken privately to Joseph apart from the other brothers, reporting that when they came up to their father Jacob they told him Joseph's words demanding that Benjamin be brought to Egypt. The title "my lord" is Joseph, whom the brothers so address when recounting what he had said to them in Egypt. That report is the message they carried home to Jacob during the famine and the beginning of the events that tested their loyalty to their father and to Benjamin.
In the plea surrounding this report Judah explains Jacob's reluctance to let Benjamin go to Egypt, his great grief over the loss of Joseph, and that Benjamin is all that is left of the mother Jacob loved. Judah himself had pledged to become surety for Benjamin and to bear the blame forever if he did not bring him back to Jacob. He appeals for his father's sake because Jacob fears losing Benjamin, whose absence would bring Jacob deep grief, since Jacob's life is bound up in the lad's life so that separation would kill him.
The report leads to Judah's noble offer to remain as a bondman in Benjamin's place and let Benjamin go up with his brothers, because he cannot face his father without the lad.