What does Genesis 44:19 mean?
Judah is boldly speaking to the Egyptian ruler who holds Benjamin's fate in his hands (Genesis 44:12–17). He hopes to soften the man's heart toward Benjamin, Jacob, and the rest of them by telling the story of what has happened in their family. Judah does not yet know the man to whom he speaks is his own brother, Joseph—the one he'd sold into slavery twenty years ago (Genesis 42:7–8, 21–23).He reminds Joseph that he had asked, during their first trip to Egypt to buy grain, whether the ten brothers had a father or another brother (Genesis 42:9–13). Joseph, of course, remembers it all perfectly, but he will let Judah make his speech.
