Genesis 44

Joseph continues testing his brothers. This time the focal point goes to Judah. Judah was an interesting case. While not a good brother, we would have to say that him and Reuben were more compassionate than the others. Reuben had a plan in mind to try to spare Joseph when the others wanted to kill him. Judah initiated the plan to sell him into slavery. This was certainly not a good thing, but it did spare Joseph's life.

Here Judah shows great compassion for his father. He is willing to stay as a prisoner to ensure that Benjamin could go home. He was afraid that losing Benjamin would be the death of his father. Perhaps he learned a lesson from the anguish that he saw when his father thought that Jospeh was dead. Judah chooses to do something in consideration of others. Eventually from the family line of Judah comes a great king named David and further down the line comes Jesus. Judah may be finally getting himself on the right track with this willingness to become a prisoner for the sake of others. We cannot go back and erase the bad the choices we make in the past, but we can learn from them and do better in the future. Judah seems to be growing, and so can we.