What does Genesis 44:27 mean?

Judah has just explained to an Egyptian ruler that he and his brothers told their elderly father that they could not return to buy any more grain unless they brought Benjamin with them. This was the ruler's demand (Genesis 42:19–20), and it was out of their control. This is part of Judah's desperate plea for mercy (Genesis 44:18–26). He does not realize that he's speaking to his own estranged brother, Joseph (Genesis 42:7–8), who was sold into slavery twenty years earlier (Genesis 37:24–28).

Now Judah reports their father's response. This reveals the painful depths of Jacob's favoritism for Rachel and her two sons. Jacob said, "My wife bore me two sons." At least in that moment, Jacob thought nothing of Leah, his two servant wives, or his other ten sons as rising to the level of wife and sons in the same way.

Once again, the reader is given reasons to understand how Jacob's other sons came to resent Joseph (Genesis 37:3–4). How could they not? Judah, however, betrays no emotion at Jacob's statement. In fact, his whole speech to Joseph is about trying to save Benjamin for the sake of his father. He has clearly matured in his character.