“Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.”
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. The substitution offer — let me stay in place of the boy — is the climax of Judah's transformation. The man who proposed selling Joseph is now offering himself in Benjamin's place. Hebrews 7:22 describes Jesus as the guarantee of a better covenant; Judah offering himself as substitute anticipates the one who offers himself in place of all. The application: the offer of oneself in place of another is the highest act of covenant love available to a human being. Judah has become someone different from the man who said, what will we gain if we kill our brother?
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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