Genesis 44:18

Then Judah came near unto him,.... Being the spokesman of his brethren, and the surety of Benjamin: he plucked up a spirit, put on courage, and drew nearer to the governor, and with much freedom and

And he said, God forbid that I should do so: but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father. No JFB commentary on these verses.

Judah made a little nearer approach to him, that he might present his humble petition to him. In my lord’ s ears, in thy hearing; for this phrase doth not necessarily imply that he whispered in his ears; as appears from . Thou art even as Pharaoh; as thou representest his person, so thou art invested with his majesty and authority, and therefore thy word is a law; thou canst do with us what thou pleasest, either spare or punish us, and therefore we do justly deprecate thine anger, and most humbly entreat thy favourable audience and princely compassion to us.

Genesis 44:18 Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’ s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou [art] even as Pharaoh.Ver. 18. For thou art even as Pharaoh.] This he saith the better to insinuate; for great men love to hear of their honour, and are tickled with their great titles. Paulus Jovius, writing of Pompey Colomia, Bishop of Reatino, saith, that when the said bishop, by the means of many great personages, was reconciled again, and brought into favour with the Pope, whom he had formerly offended; and that when they signified so much unto him in a short letter, in whose superscription, Bishop of Reatino, by chance, was left out; he receiving the letter, threw it away, and bade the messenger go seek some other Pompeio, to whom the letter was directed.

Verse 18. Thou art even as Pharaoh.] As wise, as powerful, and as much to be dreaded as he. In the Asiatic countries, the reigning monarch is always considered to be the pattern of all perfection; and the highest honour that can be conferred on any person, is to resemble him to the monarch; as the monarch himself is likened, in the same complimentary way, to an angel of God. See 2 Samuel 14:17-18. Judah is the chief speaker here, because it was in consequence of his becoming surety for Benjamin that Jacob permitted him to accompany them to Egypt. See Genesis 43:9. "EVERY man who reads," says Dr. Dodd, "to the close of this chapter, must confess that Judah acts here the part both of the affectionate brother and of the dutiful son, who, rather than behold his father's misery in case of Benjamin's being left behind, submits to become a bondman in his stead: and indeed there is such an air of candour and generosity running through the whole strain of this speech, the sentiments are so tender and affecting, the expressions so passionate, and flow so much from artless nature, that it is no wonder if they came home to Joseph's heart, and forced him to throw off the mask." "When one sees," says Dr. Jackson, "such passages related by men who affect no art, and who lived long after the parties who first uttered them, we cannot conceive how all particulars could be so naturally and fully recorded, unless they had been suggested by His Spirit who gives mouths and speech unto men; who, being alike present to all successions, is able to communicate the secret thoughts or forefathers to their children, and put the very words of the deceased, never registered before, into the mouths or pens of their successors born many ages after; and that as exactly and distinctly as if they had been caught, in characters of steel or brass, as they issued out of their mouths. For it is plain that every circumstance is here related with such natural specifications, as if Moses had heard them talk; and therefore could not have been thus represented to us, unless they had been written by His direction who knows all things, fore-past, present, or to come." To two such able and accurate testimonies I may be permitted to add my own. No paraphrase can heighten the effect of Judah's address to Joseph. To add would be to diminish its excellence; to attempt to explain would be to obscure its beauties; to clothe the ideas in other language than that of Judah, and his translators in our Bible, would ruin its energy, and destroy its influence. It is perhaps one of the most tender, affecting pieces of natural oratory ever spoken or penned; and we need not wonder to find that when Joseph heard it he could not refrain himself, but wept aloud.

18–34. Judah’s Intercession This is one of the most beautiful and pathetic passages in Hebrew narrative. Judah’s speech falls into two unequal divisions: (1) Genesis 44:18-31 a simple recapitulation of the story, (2) Genesis 44:31-34 his self-sacrificing offer of himself as a substitute for Benjamin. The points emphasized are (a) Joseph’s previous demand to see Benjamin, (b) the aged father’s unwillingness to let him go, (c) the certainty that the loss of Benjamin would be Jacob’s death, (d) the offer to stay in Benjamin’s place.

18. Judah came near and said — Nothing in all literature surpasses this appeal of Judah in behalf of his brother and his father.