Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ Then you said to your servants, Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ Then you said to your servants, Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’
“When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’
Comment: They know that although they have not stolen anything and have realized that someone, presumably Joseph, is setting them up. Maybe hoping that Joseph will think that one of his high officials has something against foreigners, but certainly with a passionate hope that Joseph will see their honesty they begin the to tell the whole story about Benjamin’s standing as the only surviving a son of a dead, very favourite wife. They highlight the agony and great burden of their father to give permission for Benjamin to be brought as per Joseph’s demands. Their story oozes with pain and hurt and pleads for empathy and understanding. But he has more to say yet……Remember that Judah is speaking and he has offered his life and all that he has to his father’s wrath if he doesn’t bring Benjamin back home again.
Prayer: Judah is desperate and I suspect hoping for You to act, Father. Teach me to hope and trust in You as I pray Father.
As I read it! 