What does Genesis 44:25 mean? [⇑ See verse text ⇑]

In a moment of desperation, Judah is attempting to soften an Egyptian ruler's heart (Genesis 44:18–24). He pleads on behalf of his father Jacob and his youngest brother Benjamin by telling the Egyptian about their family situation. In their first visit, this same ruler had demanded they come back with the youngest brother (Genesis 42:19–20). This came at great risk to their aging, emotional father (Genesis 43:14). Judah reported that they told their father, an old man, what the Egyptian ruler said about not being able to buy grain again unless they brought their brother (Genesis 42:19–20). Judah does not realize that the man in front of him is also his brother: Joseph (Genesis 42:7–8), sold by Judah and the oldest ten sons of Jacob twenty years earlier (Genesis 37:24–28).

What Judah leaves out of the story is meaningful, as well. He does not tell this powerful man that their father initially refused to send Benjamin (Genesis 42:38). He jumps forward to the moment when Jacob told them to go and buy more food (Genesis 43:11–13).