Genesis 43:8-10

‘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.