בְּ֭נִי אִם־עָרַ֣בְתָּ לְרֵעֶ֑ךָ תָּקַ֖עְתָּ לַזָּ֣ר כַּפֶּֽיךָ׃
Anakku, jika engkau telah menjadi penjamin bagi sesamamu, jika engkau telah mengikat janji dengan orang asing melalui jabat tangan,
Rabbeinu Bahya
According to Bereshit Rabbah 93,1 the words “for your servant has guaranteed the lad,” are reminiscent of what Solomon said in Proverbs 6,1: “my son if you have become surety for your friend, etc.” It is customary for the guarantor to ask the potential borrower: “do you want me to guarantee the loan for you?” Concerning such an invitation to become a surety for a second party, Solomon warns (Proverbs 6,2) “you are trapped by the words of your mouth.” The guarantor usually agreed to the lender’s request and this is why Solomon describes him as trapping himself by his words. In verse three of that chapter. Solomon warns a guarantor who is trapped by his guarantee that in order to extricate himself from his commitment he should try to use humility and plead with his friend. He should ask for an extension from the lender and should ask the borrower to release him from his guarantee. Solomon used Yehudah’s guarantee of Binyamin as the model for these verses and his advice. Having heard all this, Joseph replied: “why did you not guarantee your other brother just as you have guaranteed the safety of Binyamin?” He added that he could see in his goblet that Yehudah sold his other brother for a sum of money and caused his father a great deal of anguish so that he exclaimed: “Joseph has been torn to shreds by a wild beast.” Whereas Joseph at the time had not been guilty of a sin against Yehudah, Binyamin had proven to be a thief.
When Yehudah heard Joseph’s words he exclaimed in a loud voice: “how can I go up and the lad is not with me, etc.?” He challenged Joseph to debate the issue with him, at the same time telling his brother Naftali, the most fleet-footed one of their number, to check the number of public markets in Egypt in preparation for going to battle. Naftali came back reporting that there were twelve such market places. Yehudah undertook to destroy three of them single-handedly. Joseph warned him that Egypt was not comparable to Shechem. If they were going to destroy Egypt this would be equivalent to destroying the earth. (seeing the whole earth depended on Egypt’s grain supplies). To this Yehudah replied that Joseph had accused him and his brothers of being spies already when they came to Egypt the first time, a totally unjustified accusation. Secondly, he had accused them of looking for weak points in Egypt. Thirdly, he had accused them now of stealing the goblet. Whereas he, Yehudah, swore in the name of the Almighty G’d, Joseph, by contrast had sworn by the life of Pharaoh the pagan. It was clear that if he would draw his sword he would cause a blood-bath in Egypt.
After this outburst by Yehudah, Joseph told him that if he dared draw his sword, he, Joseph, would strangle him with it by wrapping it around his own neck. To this Yehudah replied: “if I so much as open my mouth I will swallow you.” Joseph countered: “if you open your mouth I will shut it with a rock.” Yehudah then asked: “what shall I tell my father if I return without Binyamin?” To this Joseph replied: “tell him that the rope followed the bucket” [— an allusion to Binyamin having a genetic tendency to steal. Rachel his mother had stolen the teraphim having given birth to a son who became a thief also.] Yehudah shot back that Joseph was framing them and judging them for a sin they had not committed. Joseph retorted that the only perverted justice at stake was the sale of their brother. Yehudah then said that the holy fervor which had imbued him in their fight against Shechem which was caused because of sin involving illegitimate sex was beginning to fill him now. Thereupon Joseph replied that the sin of illegitimate sex he should be thinking about was that of sleeping with his daughter-in-law Tamar. He implied that it did not take much to extinguish Yehudah’s supposedly sincere fervor. Yehudah responded shouting: “I am boiling over with fury and no one takes me seriously!” Joseph said it would be easy to cool down Yehudah’s anger. Thereupon Yehudah announced that he was about to go and paint the market places of Egypt with the blood of its people. To this Joseph replied that this was nothing new. The brothers had experience in painting their brother’s coat with blood and bringing it to their father suggesting to him that it was Joseph’s blood and that the latter had been attacked and killed by a ferocious beast. At that point all the brothers agreed to destroy Egypt. When Joseph realized this he said to himself: “I have to reveal myself to them so that they will not destroy Egypt.” At this point he said to them: “I am your brother Joseph.”
When Yehudah heard Joseph’s words he exclaimed in a loud voice: “how can I go up and the lad is not with me, etc.?” He challenged Joseph to debate the issue with him, at the same time telling his brother Naftali, the most fleet-footed one of their number, to check the number of public markets in Egypt in preparation for going to battle. Naftali came back reporting that there were twelve such market places. Yehudah undertook to destroy three of them single-handedly. Joseph warned him that Egypt was not comparable to Shechem. If they were going to destroy Egypt this would be equivalent to destroying the earth. (seeing the whole earth depended on Egypt’s grain supplies). To this Yehudah replied that Joseph had accused him and his brothers of being spies already when they came to Egypt the first time, a totally unjustified accusation. Secondly, he had accused them of looking for weak points in Egypt. Thirdly, he had accused them now of stealing the goblet. Whereas he, Yehudah, swore in the name of the Almighty G’d, Joseph, by contrast had sworn by the life of Pharaoh the pagan. It was clear that if he would draw his sword he would cause a blood-bath in Egypt.
After this outburst by Yehudah, Joseph told him that if he dared draw his sword, he, Joseph, would strangle him with it by wrapping it around his own neck. To this Yehudah replied: “if I so much as open my mouth I will swallow you.” Joseph countered: “if you open your mouth I will shut it with a rock.” Yehudah then asked: “what shall I tell my father if I return without Binyamin?” To this Joseph replied: “tell him that the rope followed the bucket” [— an allusion to Binyamin having a genetic tendency to steal. Rachel his mother had stolen the teraphim having given birth to a son who became a thief also.] Yehudah shot back that Joseph was framing them and judging them for a sin they had not committed. Joseph retorted that the only perverted justice at stake was the sale of their brother. Yehudah then said that the holy fervor which had imbued him in their fight against Shechem which was caused because of sin involving illegitimate sex was beginning to fill him now. Thereupon Joseph replied that the sin of illegitimate sex he should be thinking about was that of sleeping with his daughter-in-law Tamar. He implied that it did not take much to extinguish Yehudah’s supposedly sincere fervor. Yehudah responded shouting: “I am boiling over with fury and no one takes me seriously!” Joseph said it would be easy to cool down Yehudah’s anger. Thereupon Yehudah announced that he was about to go and paint the market places of Egypt with the blood of its people. To this Joseph replied that this was nothing new. The brothers had experience in painting their brother’s coat with blood and bringing it to their father suggesting to him that it was Joseph’s blood and that the latter had been attacked and killed by a ferocious beast. At that point all the brothers agreed to destroy Egypt. When Joseph realized this he said to himself: “I have to reveal myself to them so that they will not destroy Egypt.” At this point he said to them: “I am your brother Joseph.”