Comentario sobre Génesis 44:34

He said, For how shall I go up to my father,³²Verse 34 here. in order to let him [Jacob] know that he [Judah] would choose to be a permanent servant rather than go up to his father without the lad for he could not bear to see his sorrow, as he would constantly weep and mourn for him all day. Judah mentioned this so that he should not suspect him of planning some deceit since he would know how to escape better than the lad.

כי איך אעלה, even though I know he will be pained by my failing to return it is better for me not to have to watch him in his anguish

איך אעלה אל אבי והנער איננו אתי, "for how could I go up and face my father when the lad is not with me?" Yehudah meant that even if he were not guilty of failing to honour his guarantee, how could he look at the anguish of his father. Perhaps he meant to explain why they had all offered themselves as slaves to Joseph already previously. They could not bear to return to Canaan and face their father without Benjamin.

Yehudah may also have used the argument used by the woman from Tekoah in Samuel II 14,2-20. This woman had been employed by Yoav to bring about a reconciliation between David and his son Absalom. Absalom had been exiled for killing his half-brother Amnon after the latter had raped his sister Tamar. David was very unhappy about all this, and Yoav aimed to resolve the problem. The woman from Tekoah presented a ficticious case and asked for David's judgment. The judgment involved bringing to justice the remaining son of that woman who reportedly had slain her other son. Yehudah argued that once he would return to his father without Benjamin having explained that he was quite innocent in the matter, his father, having already lost his favourite son, would certainly not bereave himself a second time by consigning Yehudah to exile; this is the reason Yehudah presented a second argument, i.e. that his father would die from heartbreak.