“And Israel said, “Why did you deal so wrongfully (literally: “wickedly”) with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?” (Notice the inevitable human tendency to seek to blame someone, someone to concentrate one’s anger upon when one feels helpless to contend against what seems to one to be an irredeemable circumstance. So irrational is Israel in his fear that he is effectively accusing the brothers of wilfully divulging the very information to the “enemy” that would cause him the greatest ultimate hurt in an attempt to harm him deliberately. Even in their great sin against Joseph they never intentionally sought to hurt their father: it was but one of the many catastrophic consequences of so great a sin – motivated purely by the demonic wisdom of self-seeking and envy as described in James 3, but never a personal attack against their father. As a matter of fact, his complete and utter devastation and prolonged seemingly irredeemable grief actually served as an unexpected and severe punishment they only fully appreciated the far-reaching effects of in the aftermath of their impulsive sin. What Israel is effectively accusing them of here is wholly illogical and is the direct chaotic result of failing to Trust the Lord implicitly but rather leaning on one’s own understanding when attempting to decipher the minutiae of human control or lack thereof as opposed to placing one’s Faith in the One who Divinely Controls the big picture.) But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words. (Had Israel been in a calmer state of mind this information might have piqued his curiosity, for anyone who comprehends the psychology of man – a gift of emotional intelligence I am sure the blessed nation of God is inevitably favoured with – would immediately ask himself, why does this prominent foreigner harbour such a unique interest in the intimate details of a family of strangers; what could possibly motivate him to care so considerably? I doubt Israel would ever be able to guess the truth, seeing as he had been fully convinced of Joseph’s demise, but for a less fearful man, not so overcome with anguish in anticipation of the worst, this conundrum would have made for much tantalising pondering. As it stands however, the information serves only to substantiate the factual truth in yet another persevering way, a beautiful testimony to the glorious truth of what was taking place all along, to look back upon even humorously once all is revealed.) Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” (In this small matter the brothers answer simply and truthfully, as innocent men have the glorious privilege of doing – for the guiltless need never yield to defensiveness or sophisticated complicated reasoning, for factual truth will always inevitably favour them, exposing rather the accuser as the one being at fault: a beautiful time-honoured principle that pervades the stories of all men throughout all of time, since the fall rendered guilt and innocence, truth and lie, accuser and accused a persistent issue. This principle is perpetually highlighted throughout most of the narratives found in the Scriptures.) Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, (it is good that Judah reminds Israel of the bare life-or-death facts here in no uncertain terms; no longer pandering to his fearful denial) both we and you and also our little ones (Judah is kind enough not to mention Benjamin’s name here explicitly, in other words, that he will perish anyway, but it is heavily implied as we also take note of the uncanny similarity in the phrases “the lad” and “our little ones”). I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. (Funnily enough, what Judah is staking here in offering up himself as surety is no small matter, he might not be Israel the man’s favourite son but he is integral to Israel the nation: for he preserves the generational line for King Jesus the Christ, the King of kings.) If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever (in his ignorance of what truly happened to Joseph, this might seem a greater bargaining chip from Jacob’s point of view, but ironically bearing the lifelong blame for the demise of a beloved son of Jacob’s is not a sensation Judah is unfamiliar with and is actually not such a hard price to pay as he is already accustomed to it). For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.” (Despite initially honouring his father’s wishes submissively not to allow them to take Benjamin back with them straight away, Judah has now reached the end of his rope. He might initially have been patient with his father in light of what happened to Joseph and the pain it caused him, coloured of course by his own sense of lingering guilt, but I think after this highly unfair accusation Judah recognises that his father’s rationality is in turn being coloured by fear to the detriment of the entire household. The very critical matter of their imminent demise from starvation is furthermore exceedingly pressing and can no longer warrant the luxury of denial. If Judah does not take charge of the situation, in effect commanding his father’s fear to stand down, they will all perish. There is of course also the pervading simple matter of the fact that no-one has any reason to doubt that this peculiar foreign leader will not honour his word, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if the brothers couldn’t subconsciously detect that they are dealing with the type of man who has a heart-understanding of the values of honesty and integrity that they themselves have been brought up to love and honour as God-fearing Hebrew men. They might not fully understand why he would return their moneybags to them or supply them with as much grain as they could carry the first time, but could it be that he is but a kind and generous man? Once one has started to entertain the seeds of doubt and suspicion that the enemy will always inevitably sow in an attempt to deceive us and torment us mentally, it can be exceedingly difficult to be restored to the simple truths right before our very eyes.)

“⁶And Israel said, “Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?”

⁷But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

⁸Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. ⁹I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.”

– Genesis 43:6-10 (NKJV)