Commentary for Genesis 42:37

MY TWO SONS ‘TAMITH’ (THOU SHALT SLAY). Under penalty of a curse,¹⁷⁰Ramban’s intent is to explain that the word tamith is not to be understood literally as meaning that Reuben was ready to forfeit the lives of his two sons. Instead, the word is to be understood in a general sense, i.e., that Reuben is willing to be punished, but not that Jacob slay Reuben’s sons. Reuben obligated himself to return Benjamin to his father, as he said to him, My two sons ‘tamith,’ meaning, “May thy punishment be upon me if I do not bring him back to you.” This is similar in intent to that which Judah said: Then I shall have sinned against thee all my days.¹⁷¹Further, 43:9.
Now Reuben said, My two sons, although he actually had four.¹⁷²Ibid., 46:9. His intent in saying “two” was to state that “in place of one of your sons, it should be visited doubly upon my sons.”
Now Jacob did not rely upon Reuben as he did upon Judah,¹⁷³For when Judah gave his promise to his father that he would bring back Benjamin, he finally consented to send him along (43: 9-13), but Reuben’s plea went unanswered. for Judah prevailed upon his brethren.¹⁷⁴I Chronicles 5:2. Thus suggesting that Judah’s great influence upon his brothers would assure their cooperation in bringing back Benjamin under all circumstances. Moreover, Reuben had already sinned against his father,¹⁷⁵Above, 35:22. and therefore he would no longer rely upon him. Generally, Judah’s counsel was sound: i.e., to leave the patriarch alone until there was no bread in the house, for then he would listen. This — [Judah’s reference to the complete absence of food] — is indicated by Judah’s words to his father: That we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.¹⁷⁶Further 43:8.

את שני בני תמית, he cursed (conditionally) now two of his sons that they should die if he would not bring back Binyamin safely. The matter is similar to an incident related in Shabbat 108 where Rav said to Shemuel “may it be G’d’s will …that your children will not live.” The curse came true. [The story is extremely enigmatic, seeing that Rav who had thought that Shemuel had treated him not only in a miserly fashion, but had caused him physical discomfort deliberately, had become aware in good time that Shemuel, an outstanding physician, had done what he did in order to relieve an ailment Rav had clearly been suffering from. In spite of this, the conditional curse was fulfilled, much as Yaakov who had cursed the thief who had stolen Lavan’s teraphim not knowing that it had been Rachel. Although the condition had been that if the thief would be found he should not live, Rachel died in spite of the thief (she herself) never having been found. Ed.]

לאמור את שני בני תמית, saying: "you may kill my two sons, etc." The reason the Torah inserts the expression לאמור at this point is that Reuben was not willing to utter such a sentence outright, seeing that even a conditional curse by a wise man may have fatal consequences (Makkot 11). He phrased his offer in such a way that the meaning was unmistakable though he did not actually speak about killing his sons.

את שני בני תמית, two of my sons. [he had four. Ed.] Reuven said something foolish in even suggesting that his father might kill his own grandsons. Yaakov responded: (not in text) “you are a foolish firstborn what makes you think that your sons are not also my sons?” Seeing that Reuven’s suggestion was so foolish, Yaakov did not even bother to formally reply to it. It did not deserve to be dignified with a serious answer. He just told him that he would not send Binyamin with him and the other brothers.

Es war dies gut gemeint, es lag aber nicht die geringste Ursache darin, Jakob zur Änderung seiner Entschlüsse zu bewegen.

According to Bereshit Rabbah 91,9 Yaakov told him that he was a foolish firstborn seeing that he assumed that his sons were only his sons and not also the sons of their grandfather.

The reason he said ואת שני is that he referred to two of his four sons.

The word תמית is to be understood as "you may punish." We find a similar punishment being inflicetd upon Aaron, when G'd killed two of his four sons as an expression of His anger at Aaron's share in the sin of the golden calf. Compare ובאהרון התאנף Deut. 9,20. Vayikra Rabbah 7,1 makes this point. Reuben made it clear that he did not want to risk losing more than two of his sons if he failed to honour his guarantee of Benjamin's safe return. His reason was that if he risked more he would nullify the merit of having fulfilled the commandment to be fruitful. He therefore risked only something that would not impair his standing in the Hereafter. Yehudah understood Reuben very well; this is why he undertook to risk even his life in the Hereafter in order to secure Jacob's consent to take Benjamin to Egypt and to secure their lives in the present world first (compare 43,9).

תנה אותו על ידי, "Put him in my charge, etc." Perhaps Reuben's knowledge that he had no share in the guilt of selling Joseph gave him confidence that both he and Joseph would return unharmed. He alluded to the fact that only he was able to have such confidence seeing the other brothers bore the guilt of having sold Joseph, by twice emphasising "entrust him to my hands," and "I will return him,"