Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 43:8
And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, [and] also our little ones.
Verse 8. Send the lad with me] As the original is not yeled, from which we have derived our word lad, but naar, it would have been better had our translators rendered it by some other term, such as the youth, or the young man, and thus the distinction in the Hebrew would have been better kept up. Benjamin was at this time at least twenty-four years of age, some think thirty, and had a family of his own. See Ge 46:21.
That we may live, and not die] An argument drawn from self-preservation, what some have termed the first law of nature. By your keeping Benjamin we are prevented from going to Egypt; if we go not to Egypt we shall get no corn; if we get no corn we shall all perish by famine; and Benjamin himself, who otherwise might live, must, with thee and the whole family, infallibly die.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Judah, for his age and prudence, and penitent carriage for his youthful follies, was most beloved and regarded by his father.
The lad; so he calls him, because he was the youngest of all, though he was now thirty years old, and a father of divers children. See Gen 30:22; 35:18; 41:46; 46:21.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Judah said unto Israel his father, send the lad with me,
and we will arise and go,…. Directly to Egypt for corn; Judah calls Benjamin a lad, because the youngest brother, and tenderly brought up by his father, who had an affectionate fondness for him as if he had been a child; otherwise he must be thirty two years of age, for he was seven years younger than Joseph, who was now thirty nine years of age; yea, Benjamin must have children of his own, who went with him and his father into Egypt, Ge 46:21; for the computation of Benjamin’s age, see Ge 30:22;
that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, [and] also our little ones; he argues, that if they with Benjamin went down to Egypt for corn, there was a possibility, yea, a probability that they would all live, even Benjamin also; but if not, they must all in course die, and Benjamin likewise; and therefore it was most prudent and advisable, for the sake of all their lives, of them and theirs, and for the sake of Benjamin among the rest, for whom Jacob was so particularly concerned, to let him go with them to Egypt for corn, since he must die if they did not go, and he could but die if he did go; and there was great likelihood, if not a certainty, he would not; at least Judah was confident he would not, as appears by what follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He then repeated the only condition on which they would go to Egypt again, referring to the death by famine which threatened them, their father, and their children, and promising that he would himself be surety for the youth ( , Benjamin was twenty-three years old), and saying, that if he did not restore him, he would bear the blame ( to be guilty of a sin and stone for it, as in 1Ki 1:21) his whole life long. He then concluded with the deciding words, “ for if we had not delayed, surely we should already have returned a second time.”
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(8) The lad.Benjamin was now between twenty and thirty years of age. The term lad in Judahs mouth is one of affection, but even in itself it suits very well to a youth of this age. Rebekah (in Gen. 24:16) is called in the Hebrew a lad (see Note there), and so is Shechem in Gen. 34:19. The assertion, therefore, that Benjamin is here represented as a mere boy, is disproved by the use of the word in the Hebrew.
Our little ones.Heb., our tafs that is, our households. (See Note on Gen. 34:29.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Judah said The eloquent plea of Judah seems to have had more weight with Jacob than the expressed wishes of all his other sons .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And 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. I will be surety for him. At my hand you will require him. If I do not bring him to you and set him before you I will have sinned against you for ever. For unless we had lingered surely we would now have returned a second time” ’
Judah realises how difficult it is for his father and he offers himself as the guarantee of Benjamin’s return. It is clear that the position is desperate. Unless they do go only death awaits them and their families.
“The lad.” Benjamin is probably about thirty, but in the eyes of his far older brothers he is still ‘a lad’, the baby of the family.
“I will have sinned against you for ever.” Clearly a powerful oath basically taking all guilt on himself with all that that would mean for his future.
“Unless we had lingered – .” They have already waited longer than they should have done because of Jacob’s obstinacy. By now their case was so desperate that they should have been to Egypt and back again with further corn. The non-mention of Simeon may suggest that they have now practically given up hope for him, or alternately the certainty that his fate will not affect his father’s decision one way or another. In this incident Simeon is irrelevant. Jacob does not come well out of it. Meanwhile Simeon has been lingering and languishing in an Egyptian prison.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 43:8. Send the lad Benjamin was now more than twenty-four years of age, and a father of several children, see ch. Gen 46:21. The Hebrews call the youngest of the family a lad, without regard to age, 2Sa 18:12, 1Ch 22:5. See also ch. Gen 37:30.
That we may live and not die The famine being severe, their corn is quickly spent. Jacob, with tender regard for his family, presses them to go; but Judah convinces him of the hopelessness of their journey, unless he will spare Benjamin, solemnly engaging to be surety for his return in safety. Judah’s argument was very persuasive; he urged that Jacob could obtain nothing by withholding Benjamin, since, if he stayed at home, he must perish with all the family by famine: whereas, if he went, there was great probability of his returning in safety.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 43:8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, [and] also our little ones.
Ver. 8. Send the lad. ] A large lad, that was thirty years old, and had ten children. But he is so called, because the youngest son of them, and the father’s darling.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 37
A SURETY FOR BENJAMIN
“And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:”
Gen 43:8-9
God the Holy Spirit is anxious for every believer to enjoy the comforting assurance of salvation in Christ. He is our Comforter. That is the work he was sent to perform. His method of comfort is to take the things of Christ and show them to us (Joh 16:7; Joh 16:13-14). He knows that the more fully we know Christ, and the more clearly we see him, the more we shall enjoy the comfort and assurance of our salvation in him.
Therefore, the Spirit of God always points us to Christ, especially in the inspired volume of Holy Scripture. He not only tells us who Christ is, what he has done, and what he is doing for us, he also uses metaphor after metaphor to show us pictures of our great Savior, pictures designed to assure Gods believing people that all is well between us and our God.
We have seen this repeatedly throughout the Book of Genesis. When Adam and Eve were naked, God provided them with the skins of an innocent victim, and clothed them (Gen 3:21) portraying Christ as our Righteousness, Redemption, and Salvation. When the flood came, God saved Noah by an ark (Gen 7:15-16), portraying Christ as our Ark of refuge from the wrath of God, and our salvation by his Substitutionary sacrifice. As the ark bore all the wrath of God so that Noah and his family bore none, so Christ bore all the wrath of God for his people and we bear none (Rom 8:1). As Noah and his family suffered all the wrath of God in the ark, so Gods elect have suffered all the wrath of God in Christ (Gal 3:13). When Isaac was bound to the altar on Mt. Moriah, God provided himself a lamb for a burnt offering (Gen 22:8; Gen 22:13), typifying Christ as our Substitute (Joh 1:29; 2Co 5:21). When Jacob was alone, helpless, and afraid, God showed him a ladder by which he could ascend to God (Gen 28:12-13), picturing the Lord Jesus Christ as our Mediator.
Here (Gen 43:8-9), the Spirit of God gives us another beautiful and instructive picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the grace of God in him. As Judah became surety for Benjamin, assuming all responsibility for Him, so the Lord Jesus Christ, who sprang from the tribe of Judah, became Surety for Gods elect before the worlds were made, in the covenant of grace, assuming total, absolute responsibility for the salvation of his people (Heb 7:22). In this study, I will try to set forth what a surety is and how the Lord Jesus Christ performs the work of a surety on our behalf.
What is a surety?
A surety, is one who binds himself to stand good for another. A surety is one who approaches one person on behalf of another person. He is a representative man who lays himself under obligation to another person for the one he represents. In this sense, Christ is our Surety. He drew near to God the Father on our behalf, before the world began, and laid himself under obligation to God for us (Psa 40:7-8; Joh 10:16-18).
A surety is one who strikes hands with another in solemn agreement. Suretyship, to a man of honor, is a voluntary bondage (Pro 6:1-2). When Christ became our Surety, he voluntarily placed himself in bondage to his Father until his service was performed (Isa 50:5-7; Joh 10:16-18; Heb 10:5-14).
This is what the Lord Jesus Christ did as the Surety for Gods elect, in the everlasting covenant of grace, before the world began. He drew near to God the Father on behalf of his elect (Pro 8:30-31). Because justice must be maintained, even in the exercise of mercy, (Pro 17:15), our great Surety promised to faithfully perform all that God required for the salvation of his people. Our Savior pledged himself, according to the will of God, to bring in an everlasting righteousness for us, satisfy all Gods law and justice on our behalf, to put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself, to give the chosen a new, holy nature in the new birth, to raise them up in glorification and perfection, and at last present them to the Father in the perfection of holiness to the praise of the glory of his grace.
Upon this pledge of suretyship, our Savior, the Son of God, struck hands with his Father in solemn agreement. Eph 1:3-14; Rom 8:28-30, and 2Ti 1:9-10 simply cannot be understood except in the light of this fact. God the Father trusted his Son to fulfill his suretyship engagements (Eph 1:12). He entrusted his elect into the hands of his dear Son as their Surety, as a man entrusts sheep to the care of a shepherd (Joh 10:14-18). As Israel said to Judah, so God the Father said to our Surety, Take them, and go! Bring them again to me in the perfection of holiness (Joh 6:39). The matter of our salvation was then and there settled forever (2Ti 1:9). The experience of salvation is the reception of the promise of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised and gave his elect in Christ before the world began (2Ti 1:10; Heb 9:14-17). All the blessings of grace come to chosen, redeemed sinners in the form of a testament, or a will; but they were promised as the reward of Christs obedience as our covenant Surety.
How did Christ become our Surety?
With men a surety is a mere guarantor, a co-signer, one who is jointly responsible with the principle debtor for the payment of a debt. This is not the kind of surety Christ is. He did not merely agree to meet our obligations to Gods law if we, by some circumstance or condition, became incapable of meeting our own obligations. Christ, as our Surety, took upon himself all responsibility for the totality of our obligation to Gods holy law and justice.
With men, a man may be legally forced into suretyship. A father is legally responsible for the debts and liabilities of his minor children. A husband is legally responsible for the debts and liabilities of his wife. But Christ willingly, voluntarily, cheerfully placed himself in servitude to God the Father, to obey his will and fulfill his law, as the Surety of his elect. And at the moment he became our Surety, he became servant to God his Father (Isa 42:1; Isa 49:3; Joh 10:17-18). Our Saviors subordination to the Father as our Surety does not imply any lack of equality between the Father and the Son in the Godhead. It is a voluntary subordination. The Lord Jesus Christ is an absolute Surety by voluntary consent.
When Christ became our Surety, he took the whole of our debt upon himself. He became responsible for our obligations to God. As soon as he was accepted as our Surety, we were released from all our debts and obligations to Gods holy law. As soon as God the Father accepted his Son as our Surety, he set us free. He ceased looking to us for satisfaction. He freed us from all the curse, penalty, and obligation we would incur by reason of sin, and looked to his Son alone for the satisfaction of our debts (Job 33:24). This is beautifully illustrated for us in the case of the apostle Paul and Onesimus (Phm 1:8).
When Christ became Surety for us, all the sins of Gods elect were imputed to him in the mind and purpose of God. By divine imputation, our sins were placed to his account. He became responsible for them. Christ was made to be sin for us when he hung upon the cursed tree; but he became responsible and accountable to God for our sins when he became our Surety. They were laid to his account from eternity (Isa 53:6; Psa 40:12; Psa 69:5; 2Co 5:19).
When Christ became our Surety, we were redeemed, justified, pardoned, and made righteous in the sight of God. Gods forbearance, patience, and longsuffering with this world is due to the suretyship engagements of Christ. Gods eye has always been upon the blood. It is the blood of Christ, our Surety, that held back the hand of Gods judgment when Adam sinned. The Old Testament saints were pardoned and justified upon the basis of Christs obedience as our Surety, though he had not yet actually rendered that obedience (Isa 43:25; Isa 45:22-25; Rom 3:24-26). Those men and women had knowledge of and faith in Christ as their Surety (Job 19:25-27; Psa 32:1-4; Psa 119:122; Isa 38:14).
The Lord Jesus Christ became our Surety by his own voluntary will. He was accepted as our Surety in the covenant of grace before the world began. And we were accepted of God in him (Eph 1:6).
What did the Lord Jesus Christ agree to as our Surety?
When Christ became our Surety, he made certain promises to God the Father in the name of his covenant people which he is honor bound to perform. The promises were voluntarily made, without any constraint or force, except the constraint of his love and the force of his grace. But now, having made the promises, he is bound, bound by his own honor, to perform them. What are those promises? What did Christ agree to do as our Surety? Basically, our eternal Surety agreed and promised to do two things.
First, he agreed to fulfill all our responsibilities to God. Standing as our Surety, in an absolute sense, Christ did not simply assume part of our responsibility in a given area, leaving us to make up the balance. He willingly became absolutely responsible for his people in all things.
He agreed to render that perfect obedience to the law of God, which we were obliged to do, establishing perfect righteousness for us. He worked out and brought in an everlasting, perfect, legal righteousness for his people (Rom 5:19; Jer 23:6; Joh 17:4). Our Savior also agreed to satisfy the penalty of the law as our Substitute (Gal 3:13; Joh 19:30). By his perfect obedience, in life and in death, the Lord Jesus Christ magnified the law and made it honorable in the redemption of Gods elect (Heb 10:5-14).
Second, Christ our Surety agreed to bring all his elect safe to glory (Joh 10:16-18). This is the Fathers will which he came to perform (Joh 6:39-40). Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ became responsible to bring Gods Benjamins safely home. If I bring them not to thee, and set them before thee, he said, then let me bear the blame forever. It is because of his suretyship engagements for his elect that the Son of God says, Them also I must bring. What our Surety has sworn to do he must do (Heb 2:13).
He reconciled us to God by his sin-atoning death. He entered into heaven as our Covenant-Head, and claimed our eternal inheritance in our name as our Surety. He will, in the last day, present all of his elect faultless before the throne of his Fathers glory with exceeding, great joy (Ephesians 5; Jud 1:1; Heb 2:13). In that day, He will appear without sin; and we (all for whom he is Surety) shall appear with him without sin. God the Father will say to Christ our Surety and to all his people, Well done!
Child of God, the suretyship engagements of Christ ought to cause your heart to leap with joy. The whole of our acceptance with God is in Christ, our Surety. Our relationship with the eternal God does, in great measure, determine what we do; but what we do does not, in any measure whatsoever, determine our relationship or acceptance with the eternal God, our heavenly Father. The whole of our assurance is Christ, our Surety.
In my Surety I am free! His dear hands were pierced for me!
With His spotless garments on, I am as holy as Gods own Son!
The whole of our security is Christ, our Surety. — His covenant engagements, — His redemptive work, finished at Calvary, — His gospel promise (They shall never perish!), — and his glory as our Surety and Mediator upon the throne of universal monarchy, — These are the things, the only things, which give believing hearts peace before God.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
lad with me: Gen 42:38, Gen 44:26, Exo 20:12
that we: Gen 42:2, Deu 33:6, 2Ki 7:4, 2Ki 7:13, Psa 118:17
also our: Gen 45:19, Gen 50:8, Gen 50:21, Num 14:31, Ezr 8:21
Reciprocal: Gen 29:35 – called Gen 44:16 – Judah Gen 44:20 – a child Gen 44:32 – General Gen 46:28 – Judah Neh 5:2 – we take up corn
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 43:8. Judah said unto his father He, on account of his age, prudence, and penitent carriage for his youthful follies, was much beloved and regarded by his father, and, on this occasion, was likely to have the greatest influence in persuading him. Send the lad with me So he terms him, because he was the youngest of all, though he was now thirty years old, and a father of divers children.