Gen 37:26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
Gen 37:27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
Gen 37:35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son.” So his father wept for him.
Gen 42:4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him.
Gen 43:8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die.
Gen 43:9 I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life.
Gen 44:16 “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup
Gen 44:32 Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’
Gen 44:33 “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers.
(NIV)
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The past catches up – it often does. Judah, a tainted individual with family problems adds one more to the list when he proposes selling his brother (by his own words “our own flesh and blood”) to the slave traders. Jealousy and envy has clouded his judgement, the same way it clouded Cain’s. Judah’s sin is almost equivalent to Cain – both sought the end of their brother – only Judah’s method was more indirect. However, there is one key difference between the two men – Judah realized his mistake while Cain never admitted his.
What changed Judah? Perhaps seeing the pain of his father moved Judah back to the path of righteousness. We don’t know for sure, but he appeared to have been conscious and carried the guilt of his early transgressions until finally, in Gen 44:33, the years of accumulated progress toward righteousness reaches a high point. What was the relationship between Judah and Joseph in the latter years? The bible doesn’t detail this, but we know that Judah of tainted past was eventually transformed to Judah of future kings. Centuries later, a great king in the line of Judah will unite all of Israel and from his line, will come the messiah.
Genesis 49:9-12 details Jacob’s blessing on Judah:
Gen 49:8 “Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you.
Gen 49:9 You are a lion’s cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
Gen 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.
Gen 49:11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
Gen 49:12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.
Humankind is filled with imperfections; we have all sinned – how we choose to respond to that makes all the difference.
Shalom.