Genesis 43:8 Commentary and Bible Study

Again Judah steps in. He is not going to say anything as rash as Reuben had done. He will be surety for Benjamin’s life, and will protect Benjamin’s life with his own. How different was this to the evil that Judah and the other brothers had done to Joseph more than twenty years before. Then, he had sold his terrified younger brother into slavery, and hidden this from his father. Now he is speaking openly to his father and promising to defend Benjamin’s life. He understands the affection his father has for Benjamin. He is still speaking respectfully, but this has got to be done. He is now ready to take personal responsibility for Benjamin and bear the blame if he fails to bring him back to his father safely. He adds that if Jacob had not delayed they would have completed the second visit and been back by now. This is a very different Judah: Joseph’s medicine is already starting to work.However there is still one lie outstanding between them, and that is the terrible fact of what they did to Joseph. That fact seems beyond their power to admit. It would so condemn them in the eyes of their father, that they do not know what would happen to them, so they go on maintaining the lie. But every lie is going to have to come out eventually, even this most uncomfortable of lies. Judah adds that the delay is making a second visit to Egypt to purchase more grain has already cost them dear, and he hints that this delay is due to Jacob’s holding out on them and refusing to let Benjamin accompany them.