Judah and Reuben

"You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you." (Genesis 42:37, Reuben guaranteeing the safety Benjamin)

"Please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me?" (Genesis 44:33-34, Judah pleading for the freedom of Benjamin)

The offers of Judah and Reuben are instructive in how these two brothers of Joseph had changed since the time they had sold their brother into slavery.

Reuben, the one who had previously looked for a way to rescue Joseph, now tells his father that if any harm befalls brother Benjamin, then Jacob can feel free to kill Reuben’s sons.

Judah, whose idea it was to sell brother Joseph into slavery for thirty pieces of silver, offers himself as a hostage in order to protect little brother Benjamin.

People change with time, but not always for the better.

Strange, is it not, that Reuben would offer his sons as expiation for his own wrongdoing, yet Judah (an ancestor of Jesus) would would offer himself. We don't want to read too much into events such as this, but Judah offered to do what his descendant the Messiah in fact did do: offer himself for the freedom of another.